Samoa Joe is the new NXT Champion. Joe defeated Karrion Kross in the main event of TakeOver 36 to capture the title. the victory now makes Samoa Joe the only person to hold the top prize in NXT 3 times.
In his return match to NXT, Samoa Joe hit The Muscle Buster onto Kross to pick up the pinfall victory. Joe had little to no ring rust in the main event, and looked like he hadn’t lost a step following his absence from in-ring competition.
The match was Joe’s first for over a year. Back in April 2020, the new NXT Champion was part of the first round of many WWE releases throughout the months. Shortly after this announcement, Samoa Joe was quickly resigned to WWE and became an enforcer on NXT to aide General Manager William Regal. Following multiple provoking by now former champion Karrion Kross, Joe was cleared to compete and the match was set for August 22nd.
Samoa Joe’s victory was not the only title change on the show. Ilja Dragunov defeated WALTER to become the new United Kingdom Champion is a hard hitting match earlier in the show.
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