New WWE NXT Champion crowned in ladder match

Joe Hendry is the NXT Champion.

Hendry outlasted six other wrestlers on Tuesday, climbing the ladder to win his first-ever NXT Championship. The finish had Ricky Saints shoving Keanu Carver off a ladder, sending him crashing through another ladder below. Saints, thinking he had it in the bag, did his pose then continued to climb but ran into someone he didn’t expect: Hendry. Both grabbed the title and had a brief pull-apart until Hendry clonked Saints with the title, sending him through a ladder. Hendry then unhooked the title to become champion.

The title was vacated after Oba Femi was called up to the main roster, choosing to leave the title in the ring after successfully defending it against Leon Slater at New Year’s Evil last month. Soon after, general manager Ava announced a ladder match for the vacant title.

Hendry was originally set to wrestle Jackson Drake last week in one of the qualifying matches. However, that show opened with Hendry being laid out. Ava saw Drake with a chair and later threatened to fire all three members of the Vanity Project. However, Drake convinced Ava that she couldn’t prove they were the ones behind the attack. The now former general manager relented and agreed to put Drake in the match, but also said she would put Hendry in as well if he was medically cleared.

Bryan Rose

Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.