WWE has officially announced that Oba Femi has kept the belt in the ring and withdrawn from the NXT Championship after defeating TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater on Tuesday’s episode of “WWE NXT,” a move that shocked general manager Ava backstage. Femi confirmed on social media earlier in the day that his title reign, and the entire era of “NXT,” is over.
On Tuesday afternoon, the official “NXT” X (formerly Twitter) account posted that Femi has officially vacated the title. “Stay tuned” for more details, the post said. As of this writing, the account has not posted any information about the future of the tournament, or whether a tournament might be held to name a new champion. As Tuesday’s show came to a close, Tony D’Angelo, who returns to the brand at Deadline, was in the crowd watching as the “NXT” cameras cut back to the in-ring title shot.
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Fermi clinched the title for the second time after taking back gold from Ricky Saint at the deadline. With the victory, Femi went on to face undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in Saturday night’s main event, a match that saw John Cena’s final wrestling match. However, Fermi didn’t get a fair chance at Rhodes as Drew McIntyre interfered with their match. After his impressive performance in the tournament, Fermi was rumored to be called up to the main roster. Clips of him have been airing on “WWE Raw” and “WWE SmackDown” for weeks.
“The Ruler” won his first NXT Championship in 2025 at New Year’s Evil. He signed with WWE in December 2021 as part of the Next in Line (NIL) program, but did not officially debut on “NXT” until April 2023.
Read more: Wrestling Inc.’s 30 Best Wrestlers Under 30 of 2025
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