List of NXT Champions

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The NXT Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, defended as the top championship of their NXT brand division. The championship was first introduced on the July 1, 2012, episode of NXT when NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes announced a Gold Rush tournament, involving four developmental roster wrestlers and four main roster wrestlers competing to be crowned as the inaugural NXT Champion in a single elimination tournament. Seth Rollins became the inaugural NXT Champion by defeating Jinder Mahal in the tournament finals on July 26, 2012 (aired August 29).[1][2]

As of February 4, 2025, there have been 33 reigns among 25 different champions and three vacancies. Samoa Joe has the most reigns at three. Finn Bálor has the longest combined reign at 504 days. Adam Cole's reign is the longest singular reign at 396 days (403 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay), while Karrion Kross' first reign is the shortest at 4 days (3 days as recognized by WWE) as he had to relinquish the title due to a legitimate injury he suffered in winning it. Bo Dallas holds the record as the youngest champion, winning the title two days before his 23rd birthday (although WWE recognizes it was 18 days after his 23rd birthday due to tape delay), while Samoa Joe is the oldest champion, winning the title at 42.[3]

Oba Femi is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated previous champion Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe in a triple threat match at NXT: New Year's Evil on January 7, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.

Title history

More information No., Reign ...
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Days recog. Number of days held recognized by the promotion
+ Current reign is changing daily
Close
More information No., Champion ...
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDays recog.
WWE: NXT
1 Seth Rollins July 26, 2012 NXT Winter Park, FL 1 133133 Title was established on July 1, 2012, for WWE's developmental brand NXT. Rollins defeated Jinder Mahal in the eight-man NXT Championship tournament finals to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes his reign as beginning on August 29, 2012, when the match aired on tape delay. [4][5]
2 Big E Langston December 6, 2012 NXT Winter Park, FL 1 168153 This was a no disqualification match.
WWE recognizes Big E's reign as beginning on January 9, 2013, when the match aired on tape delay.
[6]
3 Bo Dallas May 23, 2013 NXT Winter Park, FL 1 280260 WWE recognizes Dallas' reign as beginning on June 12, 2013, when the match aired on tape delay. [7]
4 Adrian Neville February 27, 2014 Arrival Winter Park, FL 1 287286 This was a ladder match. [8]
5 Sami Zayn December 11, 2014 TakeOver: R Evolution Winter Park, FL 1 6262 This was a title vs. career match where if Zayn had lost, he would have voluntarily quit NXT. [9]
6 Kevin Owens February 11, 2015 TakeOver: Rival Winter Park, FL 1 143142 Owens won when the referee decided that Sami Zayn was unable to continue. [10]
7 Finn Bálor July 4, 2015 The Beast in the East Tokyo, Japan 1 292292 [11]
8 Samoa Joe April 21, 2016 NXT Live Lowell, MA 1 121121 [12][13]
9 Shinsuke Nakamura August 20, 2016 TakeOver: Brooklyn II Brooklyn, NY 1 9191 [14]
10 Samoa Joe November 19, 2016 TakeOver: Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada 2 1413 [15]
11 Shinsuke Nakamura December 3, 2016 NXT Osaka, Japan 2 5656 [16][17]
12 Bobby Roode January 28, 2017 TakeOver: San Antonio San Antonio, TX 1 203202 [18]
13 Drew McIntyre August 19, 2017 TakeOver: Brooklyn III Brooklyn, NY 1 9191 [19]
14 Andrade "Cien" Almas November 18, 2017 TakeOver: WarGames Houston, TX 1 140139 [20]
15 Aleister Black April 7, 2018 TakeOver: New Orleans New Orleans, LA 1 102108 [21]
16 Tommaso Ciampa July 18, 2018 NXT Winter Park, FL 1 238237 WWE recognizes Ciampa's reign as beginning on July 25, 2018 and ending on March 20, 2019 due to both episodes airing on tape delay. [22][23]
Vacated March 13, 2019 NXT Winter Park, FL The title was vacated due to Tommaso Ciampa requiring neck surgery. Aired on tape delay on March 20, 2019. [24]
17 Johnny Gargano April 5, 2019 TakeOver: New York Brooklyn, NY 1 5756 Defeated Adam Cole in a two out of three falls match to win the vacant title. [25]
18 Adam Cole June 1, 2019 TakeOver: XXV Bridgeport, CT 1 396403 WWE recognizes Cole's reign as ending on July 8, 2020, when the following match aired on tape delay. [26]
19 Keith Lee July 1, 2020 NXT:
The Great American Bash

Night 2
Winter Park, FL 1 5244 This was a Winner Takes All match, in which Lee also defended the NXT North American Championship.
WWE recognizes Lee's reign as beginning on July 8, 2020, when the match aired on tape delay.
[27]
20 Karrion Kross August 22, 2020 TakeOver XXX Winter Park, FL 1 43 [28]
Vacated August 26, 2020 NXT Winter Park, FL Karrion Kross relinquished the title due to suffering a separated shoulder during his match at TakeOver XXX. [29]
21 Finn Bálor September 8, 2020 NXT:
Super Tuesday II
Winter Park, FL 2 212212 A 60-minute fatal four-way iron man match for the vacant championship took place on the September 1 episode of NXT Super Tuesday between Finn Bálor, Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, and Johnny Gargano, but the match ended in a tie between Bálor and Cole. NXT General Manager William Regal then scheduled a match between the two for the following week, in which Bálor defeated Cole to win the vacant title. [30]
22 Karrion Kross April 8, 2021 TakeOver: Stand & Deliver
Night 2
Orlando, FL 2 136136 [31]
23 Samoa Joe August 22, 2021 TakeOver 36 Orlando, FL 3 2120 [32]
Vacated September 12, 2021 Samoa Joe relinquished the title due to what WWE reported as an unspecified injury; Joe later clarified that the vacancy happened due to him testing positive for COVID-19 as well as the overall directional change of NXT, which saw NXT rebranded as NXT 2.0. [33][34][35]
24 Tommaso Ciampa September 14, 2021 NXT 2.0 Orlando, FL 2 112111 This was a fatal four-way match for the vacant championship, also involving LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Von Wagner. [36]
25 Bron Breakker January 4, 2022 NXT 2.0:
New Year's Evil
Orlando, FL 1 6363 [37]
26 Dolph Ziggler March 8, 2022 NXT 2.0:
Roadblock
Orlando, FL 1 2726 This was a triple threat match, also involving Tommaso Ciampa, who Ziggler pinned. [38]
27 Bron Breakker April 4, 2022 Raw Dallas, TX 2 362361 On September 4, 2022 at Worlds Collide, Breakker defeated Tyler Bate to unify the NXT United Kingdom Championship into the NXT Championship. The NXT United Kingdom Championship was retired with Breakker going forward as the unified NXT Champion. [39][40]
28 Carmelo Hayes April 1, 2023 Stand & Deliver Los Angeles, CA 1 182182 [41]
29 Ilja Dragunov September 30, 2023 No Mercy Bakersfield, CA 1 206206 [42]
30 Trick Williams April 23, 2024 NXT:
Spring Breakin'

Night 1
Orlando, FL 1 7575 Had Williams lost, he would have had to leave NXT. [43]
31 Ethan Page July 7, 2024 Heatwave Toronto, ON, Canada 1 8686 This was a fatal four-way match also involving Shawn Spears and Je'Von Evans, who Page pinned. [44]
32 Trick Williams October 1, 2024 NXT's debut on The CW Rosemont, IL 2 9898 CM Punk was the special guest referee. [45]
33 Oba Femi January 7, 2025 NXT: New Year's Evil Los Angeles, CA 1 28+28+ This was a triple threat match also involving Eddy Thorpe. [46]
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Combined reigns

Thumb
Inaugural champion Seth Rollins
Thumb
Record three-time champion Samoa Joe
Thumb
Longest reigning champion Adam Cole
Thumb
The longest combined reign champion Finn Bálor

As of February 4, 2025.

More information † ...
Indicates the current champion
Close
More information Rank, Wrestler ...
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns
Combined
days
Combined days
rec. by WWE
1 Finn Bálor2504
2 Bron Breakker2425 424
3 Adam Cole1396 403
4 Tommaso Ciampa2350 348
5 Adrian Neville1287 286
6 Bo Dallas1280 260
7 Ilja Dragunov1206 205
8 Bobby Roode1203 202
9 Carmelo Hayes1182
10 Trick Williams2173 172
11 Big E Langston1168 153
12 Samoa Joe3156 154
13 Shinsuke Nakamura2147
14 Kevin Owens1143 142
15 Karrion Kross2140 139
Andrade "Cien" Almas1140 139
17 Seth Rollins1133
18 Aleister Black1102 108
19 Drew McIntyre191
20 Ethan Page186
21 Sami Zayn162
22 Johnny Gargano157 56
23 Keith Lee152 44
24 Oba Femi128+
25 Dolph Ziggler127 26
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References

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