First, we need to rewind back five weeks to Takeover: In Your House on June 7 when Io Shirai dethroned Charlotte Flair for the NXT Women’s Championship. Flair is doing some of the best work of her career both in the ring and on the microphone across all three brands. Charlotte is reportedly not done in NXT for now – she is merely taking a break; most likely to let that particular storyline breathe. Perhaps she will once again challenge for the NXT Women’s Title at the next Takeover – which will presumably be on the same weekend as SummerSlam in August.
Moving on to the North American Championship match that took place on June 24 between Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor. It was a smart decision on HHH’s part to have Lee retain the title. He has been such a great North American Champion over the past five months. It also needs to be considered that Lee has never held the NXT Championship (since he earned a title for title match with Adam Cole), while Gargano and Balor have.
Gargano has been a triple crown champion in NXT (the only one), so he has done about everything there is to do over the course of his five years. Gargano might be about ready to move on to the main roster. Balor on the other hand simply came back to NXT to go back to his roots that originally made him a star in the wrestling business and arguably the best performer in the world; Balor already has a great reputation and list of accolades so he doesn’t need anymore but rather just needed to find himself once again. Keith Lee is fresh, a good human being and there is really no feat he can’t perform physically – agility-wise or in terms of strength.
On the first night of The Great American Bash on July 1 Dexter Lumis is by far the man who stood out the most. Lumis has acquainted himself with the NXT universe very quickly. Having just debuted after WrestleMania, no one is quite sure what to make of him when they look into his eyes. Roderick Strong earned some praise as well because he has been so consistent over the past 3 ½ years throughout his NXT tenure. To round it out, Io Shirai looked utterly fantastic as always in her match with Sasha Banks.
On Night 2 of The Great American Bash a brand-new NXT Champion was crowned in Keith Lee. Lee also has become the first ever double Champion in NXT – and the first double Champion in WWE in five years. The last one was Seth Rollins when he beat John Cena for the United States Championship at SummerSlam 2015. This was in a title-for-title match with his WWE World Heavyweight Championship also up for grabs. It makes perfect sense that Keith Lee got the victory because not only is his momentum skyrocketing, but it was time for a change of pace for the NXT Title. Adam Cole has held the title for about 400 days; he was a fantastic champion who lasted longer than most – but it is time to let other stars shine.
Keith Lee will not hold the NXT Championship and the North American Championship for more than – say two months. One would have to think he might hold the NXT Title for quite a while and be the face of the brand, but he will probably lose the North American Championship within a month or two. It’s hard for anyone to have the physical endurance to be a double Champion for a long time. It also supports the unselfish mentality in professional wrestling to allow others to shine in the spotlight and it betters the company so they can build new stars for the future.