The NXT North American Championship is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

created and promoted by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. It is primarily defended as the secondary men's championship of the

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

brand division, the promotion's

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. The current champion is

Wes Lee Deveon Everhart Aikens (born November 2, 1988) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Wes Lee, and is the current NXT North American Champion in his first reign ...

, who is in his first reign. The championship was introduced during the March 7, 2018, tapings of ''

'' (

aired Air is the name given to the atmosphere of Earth. Air or AIR may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art *Air (Maillol), ''Air'' (Maillol), a sculpture by Aristide Maillol *Air (painting), ''Air'' (painting), a painting by Jan van Kess ...

March 28) and the inaugural champion was

Adam Cole Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Adam Cole. He is also known for his tenures with WWE and Ring of Honor (ROH). Col ...

. At the time, NXT was still regarded as a developmental territory for WWE. In September 2019, the company began promoting NXT as its "third brand" when the ''NXT'' television program was moved to the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

. Two years later, however, NXT reverted to its original function as WWE's developmental brand. In January 2022, the

NXT Cruiserweight Championship The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. Before its retirement, it was defended across the NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live brand divisions, which were d ...

was unified into the North American Championship. The title is distinct from the

WWF North American Heavyweight Championship The WWF North American Heavyweight Championship was a relatively short-lived title in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1979 until 1981. It was established as the WWWF North American Heavyweight Championship on February 13, 1979 b ...

, as it does not carry the lineage of the former title, which was contested from 1979 to 1981.

History

Adam Cole NXT North American Champion (cropped)

In June 2012,

established

as their

, replacing

Florida Championship Wrestling Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August ...

(FCW). It was not until 2018, however, that a secondary championship was established for the brand. During the March 7, 2018, tapings of ''

'' (

March 28), NXT General Manager

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

announced a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

for TakeOver: New Orleans to determine the inaugural NXT North American Champion. Later that night, EC3,

Killian Dain Damian Mackle (born 20 February 1985) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Killian Dain and since his departure from WWE he has reverted back to his ring name on the indep ...

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

Lars Sullivan Dylan Miley (born July 6, 1988) is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE under the ring name Lars Sullivan. He joined WWE in 2013 and spent several years training at the WWE Performance Center before making his ...

, and

Velveteen Dream Patrick Clark Jr. (born August 19, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE where he performed under the ring name Velveteen Dream. Clark began his professional wrestling career in 2014, when he debuted in ...

were announced as the participants in the match. At the event, Cole won the match to become the inaugural champion. While NXT had originally been established as WWE's developmental territory, the NXT North American Championship was introduced in the midst of NXT establishing itself as WWE's third major brand. This became official when NXT was moved to the

in September 2019, thus making the NXT North American Championship a third secondary title for WWE, along with the

WWE Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, currently defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster ...

and

WWE United States Championship The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#Location-specific championships, championship promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, currently de ...

. In September 2021, however, NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand. In January 2022, the

was unified into the North American Championship. At the special New Year's Evil episode of ''NXT 2.0'' on January 4, 2022, reigning North American Champion

Carmelo Hayes Christian Brigham (born August 1, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. Hayes is a former one-time NX ...

defeated Cruiserweight Champion

Roderick Strong Christopher Lindsey (born July 26, 1983), better known by his name Roderick Strong, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand, as the leader of Diamond Mine, but is currently inactive due to ...

. The Cruiserweight Championship was retired with Hayes going forward as North American Champion. The title was defended on the main roster for the first time when champion

Solo Sikoa Joseph Yokozuna Fatu (born March 18, 1993) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE. He currently performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Solo Sikoa where he is a member of The Bloodline and a former NXT North American Ch ...

, who had been promoted to

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

shortly before winning the title, defended it on the September 16, 2022, episode of ''

'' against

Madcap Moss Michael Carter Rallis (born October 10, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and former college football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Madcap Moss. Early life Rallis ...

Belt design

The championship belt was unveiled by WWE executive and NXT head

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

on April 3, 2018. Featuring three gold plates on a thick brown leather strap, the rounded center plate features a globe that only shows the continent of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The banner above the globe reads "North American" and above the banner is the NXT logo. The lower banner at the bottom of the globe reads "Champion". In what has become a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the two side plates feature a removable center section which can be customized with the champion's logos; the default side plates feature a vertical NXT logo on a globe. This was WWE's first secondary title to feature customizable side plates. It was the only NXT championship to feature the NXT logo for the default side plates until the introduction of the

NXT Women's Tag Team Championship The NXT Women's Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling women's tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. The current ch ...

in 2021; the other NXT championships feature the WWE logo.

Reigns

As of , , there have been 17 reigns between 14 champions and two vacancies. The inaugural champion was Adam Cole.

has the longest reign as champion at 231 days (209 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay, but still the longest).

Johnny Gargano John Anthony Nicholas Gargano (born August 14, 1987) is an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name Johnny Gargano. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is best known for his time in NXT, wh ...

has the most reigns at three, with his first reign being the shortest at 4 days (due to tape delay, however, WWE recognizes that Gargano's first reign lasted 25 days, thus recognizing

's reign as the shortest at 7 days). Dream is the youngest champion at 23 years old while

Damian Priest Luis Martínez (born September 26, 1982) is an American professional wrestler of Puerto Rican descent. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Damian Priest, and is a member of the stable The Judgme ...

is the oldest at 37.

is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated

, Oro Mensah,

Nathan Frazer Benjamin Timms (born 23 July 1998) is an English professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under ring name Nathan Frazer. Professional wrestling career Early caree ...

and Von Wagner in a five-man

on October 22, 2022 in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

Halloween Havoc Halloween Havoc is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE for the company's developmental brand, NXT. As the name implies, it is a Halloween-themed show held in October. It was originally produced as an annual pay-per-view ...

Notes

References

External links

Official NXT North American Championship Title History
{{NXT North American Championship WWE NXT championships North American professional wrestling championships