Image: WWE
A new Cruiserweight Champion was crowned on the TakeOver: Stand & Deliver fallout edition of NXT.
On NXT tonight, Kushida answered Santos Escobar’s open challenge and defeated Escobar to win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Escobar was going for the Phantom Driver near the end of the match, but Kushida turned it into a pinning attempt. They traded two counts, then Kushida pinned Escobar to win the title.
This is the first title that Kushida has held since joining WWE in 2019. During his NJPW career, Kushida was IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion six times.
Going into tonight’s show, Escobar was the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion after defeating Jordan Devlin in their ladder match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night two last Thursday. Escobar and Devlin had both claimed to be the rightful NXT Cruiserweight Champion leading into that match.
Kushida was also in action at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. He lost to Pete Dunne on night one of the event.
As NXT general manager William Regal was congratulating Kushida backstage after his title win tonight, Devlin walked up and confronted Kushida. Devlin said Kushida might have beaten Escobar, but Devlin is the best wrestler in the world under 205 pounds. Devlin said Kushida is lucky that Devlin has to go home for a little while — but he’ll be back and will be coming for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Kushida told Regal that he’ll face Devlin anytime.
Devlin defeated Kushida when they faced off on NXT three weeks ago.