The Men’s Speed Title will finally arrive in NXT.
Back in August, NXT General Manager Ava confirmed that the Speed Title would be defended on the developmental brand going forward. However, it was notable that WWE only brought back the women’s version leading into No Mercy. A tournament took place that crowned the number one contender for Sol Ruca’s Speed Championship.
Laney Reid beat Candace LeRae to earn that opportunity, but she pulled from the match due to “injury”. Instead, Jaida Parker got the chance to become the new Speed Champion, but Sol Ruca successfully retained her belt at No Mercy. Ruca now seems to be on the path of fighting Blake Monroe for the prestigious North American title, so WWE is now bringing in the Men’s Speed Championship.
It’s been confirmed that a four man tournament will determine a challenger for the Men’s Speed title. Smackdown’s Axiom is set to face EVOLVE’s Sean Legacy and TNA’s Zachary Wentz will take on NXT’s Jasper Troy. The winner of the match will meet El Grande Americano, who’s the current Men’s Speed Champion. WWE never gives a date on when the title match is set to take place.
The inaugural Speed Champion was crowned on April 26, 2024, though it didn’t officially air until May 3, 2024. Ricochet first won the belt and kept it for 42 days before Andrade beat him on June 7th. Next up would be Dragon Lee, who held the title for a respectable 172 days before dropping it to El Grande Americano. The WWE star has only defended the belt one time.
It’s unknown why WWE is keeping the Speed titles around when they had the perfect opportunity to quietly let these belts vanish once the Speed matches disappeared on Twitter. WWE isn’t doing much with Ruca holding the belt and though the concept of only having three minute matches is interesting, the fans won’t care unless there’s a notable story surrounding it.
The Speed title feels like a stripped down version of the Cruiserweight division. Of course, WWE making the belts official canon lore can mean that they have something important planned for the near future. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks with the Speed title and tournament.