Published: 3 seconds ago by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: 3 seconds ago by Connel Rumsey
Connel has over five years of wrestling journalism experience writing about some of the biggest stories from across the wrestling world. Being a fan for 20 years, Connel has an expansive knowledge from a wide range of various wrestling promotions, including WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA and Joshi.
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At NXT Heatwave, Grayson Waller finally captured the NXT Championship for the first time in his career, picking up the win in the four-way main event over Cruz Montana, Tony D’Angelo and Zilla Fatu.
Since his win, countless members of the NXT roster have been chasing the title, with his next challenger set to be determined on next week’s NXT show.
Tonight’s show will feature six potential challengers for the title going at it in a six-man tag team match, with the winners facing off next week in a three-way for the title shot.
Here is every potential next challenger for the NXT Championship ranked.
EK Prosper
EK Prosper is one of the most exciting wrestlers on the NXT men’s roster right now, with his high flying offence capturing the hearts of NXT fans watching at home.
However, Prosper recently came up short in his attempt to become AAA Cruiserweight Champion, and is coming off a recent loss against Keanu Carver.
EK is ranked bottom of this list, but realistically any of these six could be the next in line at the title, so I still wouldn’t consider him incredibly unlikely, I just don’t think he is who they will go with right now.
Mason Rook
Debuting right at the top of NXT by taking out NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo, Mason Rook has slowly found his footing in the upper midcard of NXT.
Coming off a win over Kam Hendrix, this will be the first time Mason gets the chance to challenge for the NXT Championship.
With a lot of potential challengers standing in his way, it doesn’t seem as though this will be the time for him.
Saquon Shugars
Saquon Shugars has broken out as a singles star after leaving DarkState, recently picking up the win over Dion Lennox in their weaponised Cage Match on NXT.
Following his win, Shugars has taken aim at Grayson Waller’s title, with him even being one of the very first to fire back at Waller’s promo upon his return to the brand.
A match against Waller would be a great way to help establish him as a top star on the NXT brand.
Cruz Montana
Cruz Montana seemed destined to become the next NXT Champion upon signing with the brand following his TNA departure.
However, it was Waller who ended up picking up the win and taking the title, though the end goal with his run still seems to be a match with Montana, with Montana winning the title.
In which case, it depends entirely on how long Waller will be in NXT for, and if his reign is going to last a little longer, Montana’s shot at the belt will probably be held off for now.
Keanu Carver
Over the past few weeks, Keanu Carver has been having issues with NXT General Manager Robert Stone with him feeling ignored by Stone.
It was actually Keanu’s brainchild to set up this series of matches to determine Waller’s challenger, with him on paper seeming like the favourite to become the number one contender.
The only potential holdup is that Keanu is the only one of the six that could be seen as a heel, so running a heel vs. heel match may be off putting, though the crowd will almost certainly cheer Keanu.
Tony D’Angelo
Tony D’Angelo reigned as NXT Champion for 148 days before losing the title to Grayson Waller at NXT Heatwave.
After losing his NXT Championship to Grayson Waller, Tony D’Angelo is looking to get his title back as part of this series of matches.
With speculation about a potential main roster call up looming, Tony remaining in NXT means he will likely be sticking around at least for one more match.
Tony will likely win this to set up a rematch, potentially with the stipulation where he must leave NXT if he loses.
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