NXT Championship
| NXT Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:NXT Championship 2017.png
The NXT Championship belt with default side plates
(2017–present) |
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| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Tommaso Ciampa | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | July 18, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | July 1, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | NXT | ||||||||||||||||||
| Past design(s) | 125px | ||||||||||||||||||
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The NXT Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE for their developmental brand NXT. Introduced on July 1, 2012, it is the top championship of NXT. Seth Rollins was the inaugural champion. The current champion is Tommaso Ciampa, who is in his first reign.
History
The championship was first introduced on the July 1, 2012, edition of NXT when NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes announced a "Gold Rush" tournament, involving four wrestlers from the NXT roster and four wrestlers from the main roster competing to be crowned as the inaugural NXT Champion in a knockout tournament, replacing the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship that was retired in the same month. The first NXT Champion was crowned on the July 26, 2012 taping of NXT (aired August 29), with Seth Rollins defeating Jinder Mahal in the tournament final.[1][2] On November 19, 2016, at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, Samoa Joe became the first performer to hold the championship on more than one occasion.[3]
On WrestleMania weekend 2017, all NXT title belts were redesigned. The new title belts were unveiled at NXT TakeOver: Orlando that same night and given to the winners of their respective matches. Coming in line with the top championships of the main roster, the new design includes removable side plates with the WWE logo as default plates, which are customized to each champion.[4]
Inaugural tournament
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Richie Steamboat | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Leo Kruger | ||||||||||||||
| Richie Steamboat | ||||||||||||||
| Jinder Mahal | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Bo Dallas | ||||||||||||||
| Jinder Mahal | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Jinder Mahal | ||||||||||||||
| Seth Rollins | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Seth Rollins | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Drew McIntyre | ||||||||||||||
| Seth Rollins | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Michael McGillicutty | ||||||||||||||
| Justin Gabriel | ||||||||||||||
| Michael McGillicutty | Pin | |||||||||||||
Reigns
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As of April 18, 2024, there have been 16 championship reigns with 14 different champions. The inaugural champion was Seth Rollins. Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura have the most reigns with two. Finn Bálor's reign as champion is the longest at 292 days (WWE recognizes it at 293), while Samoa Joe's second reign is the shortest at 14 days. Bo Dallas holds the record as the youngest champion, winning the title two days before his 23rd birthday, while Bobby Roode is the oldest champion, winning the title at 39.
Tommaso Ciampa is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Aleister Black at the NXT tapings on July 18, 2018 (aired on July 25, 2018 on taped delay) in Winter Park, Florida.
