Lexis King got his shot at the North American Championship on tonight’s NXT, and early on he wasn’t taking any chances. King focused on targeting the shoulder and arm of Femi to take away the Champion’s power, and his strategy was succeeding. King continued to wear down the Champ and keep him from leaning into the power game that has allowed him to knock around opponents during his Title reign, but then Robert Stone threw a wrench into things. While Stone didn’t get directly involved, he distracted King just enough to allow Femi to get back into the swing of things, and Femi would then close out King in a commanding fashion and retain his Championship.
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Stone came out to have a word with King, but King ended up sliding under the ropes and knocking Stone down. Femi was waiting back in the ring, but King managed to keep his momentum, at least until a massive clothesline from the Champ. Femi then launched King up in the air and slammed him down, and followed it up by throwing him up in the air again and then throwing him across the ring.
Femi slammed King down with a powerbomb and then got the pin and the win, containing his dominating reign. King will obviously be having some words with Stone and Von Wagner, Femi moves on to his next challenger. No word on who that will be, but let us know who you want to see him face in the comments.
Femi didn’t make an appearance in the Royal Rumble, though he easily could have. The Rumble did feature several big-time NXT talents though like Bron Breakker, Roxanne Perez, Tiffany Stratton, and Carmelo Hayes. During the conference call for Vengeance Day, Shawn Michaels spoke about those moments for them and what it meant to watch them on that big stage.
“Well, look, obviously huge for them and huge for NXT,” Michaels said. “I guess as I was telling them the other day, I had to pull them in Monday and just… Look, I’m so proud of all of them. Bron and Melo and Tiffany are sort of, I don’t know, the foundational people that we built this around from certainly my beginning. And it’s been just a heck of a journey with them.”
“And I now know I think how Hunter feels all the time watching a locker room full of his NXT guys just doing such a fantastic job out there. You really do. You’re so proud of them. And to your point, I think everybody had really fantastic moments,” Michaels said. “It was fun and enjoyable for them. It was everything you wanted it to be and everything I think they hoped it would be. And that’s always the best.”
Who should challenge Femi next? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
