NXT Tag Team Championships Vacated Due to Injury

Reports came out last week stating Danny Burch had suffered a potential separated shoulder during last week’s NXT main event between Burch & Oney Lorcan against Finn Balor and Karrion Kross. WWE’s Matt Camp confirmed that injury via Twitter on Tuesday, uploading a X-Ray of Burch’s injured shoulder. NXT general manager William Regal then announced that the tag titles have been vacated.

“I can confirm this incredibly unfortunate news and make the difficult decision to vacate the #WWENXT Tag Team Titles. Furthermore, I will address the state of the titles further tomorrow night on @WWENXT,” Regal tweeted.

Burch and Lorcan won the tag titles on the Oct. 21 episode of NXT thanks to interference from their new manager Pat McAfee.

The timing of the injury couldn’t be much worse for the Black & Gold Brand. NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver is just over two weeks away, MSK are still the No. 1 contender’s thanks to winning the Dusty Cup but haven’t received their match due to Wes Lee’s broken hand and perennial contenders The Undisputed Era just broke up due to Adam Cole’s heel turn.

Luckily, Regal has some options in terms of booking a vacated title match. Factions like Legado del Fantasma and Imperium are one option, former champions Breezango is another and there are still teams like the Grizzled Young Veterans, Killian Dain & Drake Maverick and Ever-Rise who have never held the gold.

TakeOver: Stand & Deliver will mark NXT’s first two-day event, with the first half taking place on the April 7 episode of NXT on the USA Network and the second half a day later on Peacock. Three matches have been confirmed so far:

• NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai vs. Raquel Gonzalez (Night One)
• NXT Championship: Finn Balor vs. Karrion Kross (Night Two)
• NXT Cruiserweight Championship: Jordan Devlin vs. Santos Escobar (Unification Match)