The first hour of tonight’s WWE NXT was pretty stacked, but there were still some surprises in the second hour. After a handicap match that featured Axiom and Scrypts taking on Dabba Kate, Scrypts and Axiom didn’t get a lot of time to celebrate the hard-earned victory. That’s because they were attacked in the ring by Monday Night Raw Superstars Los Lotharios, aka Humberto Carrillo and Angel Garza. Garza and Carrillo slammed down Axiom and Scrypts and then soaked in the welcome-back chants from the crowd, and later on they made it clear that they are going for the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Currently Gallus rules over the NXT Tag Team Division, as they successfully defended their Titles against The Creed Brothers at NXT Battleground. Their next challengers will be decided during week one of NXT Gold Rush, which happens next week. The match will be between three teams, including Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, Edris Enofe and Malik Blade, and Hank Walker and Tank Ledger.
Whoever wins the match will face Gallus for the Titles, but they will be watched closely by Garza and Carrillo. Carrillo and Garza watched over the announcement of the match and looked on as all three teams started to brawl inside the ring. They revealed that this was the Tag Team roster they wanted to mix it up with, and they aren’t just interested in mixing it up, but also claiming some Title gold.
It’s been a busy few weeks for NXT, especially when it comes to crossovers with Raw and SmackDown. Over the past few weeks, NXT has had appearances from stars like Baron Corbin, Dana Brooke, and Mustafa Ali. That follows several months filled with crossover, including stars like The New Day, Natalya, Viking Raiders, and Apollo Crews. Now Rollins and Los Lotharios are making appearances, and they will likely be far from the last to do so.
That seems to be a part of a grander plan for NXT to truly become a third brand for WWE, something it’s pursued in the past only for the direction to change abruptly. Now it seems it is on that trajectory again, something WWE CEO Nick Khan alluded to in an interview with THR.
“Initially, NXT was on WWE Network. And then when the pandemic hit, USA/NBCU needed content, we did not miss a week of production. So we went with Tuesday nights NXT on USA from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time. NXT ratings are also trending up … so that is going in the right direction,” Khan said.
“We think NXT has the viability to be its own standalone brand instead of just being a developmental system – a third brand, if you will, where you can see cross-over from our superstars on Raw and SmackDown to NXT while our young talent develops there. Once we get all of that situated, then we will look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well,” Khan said.
Are you excited for more crossovers in NXT? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
