WWE NXT Crowns New Champion In The First Match

WWE NXT started with quite a surprise. NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano is now a former champion! He lost his title to the newbie Leon Ruff under the strangest of circumstances. It seems like his Championship Curse is true after all!

As we saw earlier, whenever the first two-time NXT North American Champion Gargano has held a singles title in NXT, he lost in his first defense. His first North American Title reign lasted only 25 days, and he lost the NXT Championship in his first defense against Adam Cole last year.

This time, Gargano was out to “right” the wrong. NXT opened with Gargano standing inside the ring with a “Wheel of Challengers.”

He looked back to Halloween Havoc and the title win. He said that with the help of the wheel, he will break his Championship Curse.

Names on the wheel included former champion Damian Priest, Roderick Strong, Pete Dunne, Dexter Lumis, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Tommaso Ciampa, NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar, Adam Cole, The Velveteen Dream, Kyle O’Reilly, Kushida, and Timothy Thatcher.

Austin Theory’s name was on there earlier but was later removed. Ruff replaced Theory on the wheel. His name was written with a marker on a piece of paper and when the wheel spun, it landed on Leon Ruff.

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WWE NXT had some surprises in store for Johnny Gargano

Leon Ruff came down to the ring with a huge pop as the match began. This was his first title match after he signed with WWE in July.

Both superstars worked hard. However, Gargano always had the upper hand. The former Champion, Damion Priest, appeared on the other side of the glass barrier, startling Gargano.

He then tried to recover from the shock as he pinned Ruff for a two-count. Gargano torpedoed Ruff into the turnbuckles across the ring. Priest watched on, and he was not impressed.

Ruff took advantage as Gargano went to Priest and rolled up Gargano for the pin to win the title out of nowhere. Ruff could not believe it himself, as the referee handed him the title.

‘The Archer’ congratulated Ruff and put the title around his waist. Hilariously, the title fell from Ruff’s waist due to his size. Meanwhile, Gargano threw a fit in the ring.

What did you think about the match? Let us know in the comments below.