Ricky Saints made a big splash with his WWE NXT debut, and over the following weeks, he has continued to be a hot commodity. Tonight Saints had his first shot at Title gold, and not only did he show up, but he showed out, defeating Shawn Spears to win his first Championship in WWE and become the new NXT North American Champion in the process. The Ricky Saints era in NXT has now truly begun.
Saints and Spears have a history in their time before WWE, as both were also stars in AEW previously. That’s been alluded to in their backstage segments, and now it was all finally coming to a head for the NXT North American Championship.
Saints was always going to be an underdog due to the nature of facing off against a faction alone, and that definitely came into play during the match. Not only did everyone try and intervene at times, but they managed to be successful in one key moment where Izzi Dame gave the Championship to Spears and he hit Saints in the head with it while the referee wasn’t looking.
That wasn’t enough to get Spears the win though, and Saints would then go on a tear, taking out the other members of the group and throwing them to the floor before hitting Spears with the finisher and getting the 3-count. Now Saints has Title gold for the first time in WWE, but you have to imagine this feud isn’t over.
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What makes this win even more surprising is that earlier in the same episode there was a whole backstage segment focused on The Culling, seemingly building them up as a family and power to be reckoned with in NXT. The Title was obviously a huge part of their new beginning, and now that’s gone, but what’s worse is how they were taken down.
Saints literally took everything they had and several attempts to cheat, including a successful one where he got hit with the Title, and then he managed to take down everyone on the team before knocking out their leader. If you want to make a faction look weak, this is certainly one way to do it, so unless there’s a major change coming in their overall storyline, it feels like it’s going to be a while before they can be built back up as a legitimate threat.
What did you think of Saints’ first WWE Title win? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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