It appears Lince Dorado has returned to World Wrestling Entertainment pretty much out of nowhere, as he wrestled as part of an NXT live event in Citrus Spring, Florida tonight opposite Friday Night SmackDown, defeating Josh Black.
Dorado's last match on screen for WWE was a losing effort against Cedric Alexander on the August 20, 2021 episode of WWE Main Event, following a series of losses mostly alongside his Lucha House Party tag team partner Gran Metalik.
Dorado first came to WWE through the Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016 before eventually becoming a major part of the 205 Live brand, competing in the cruiserweight division on a consistent basis before eventually forming the Lucha House Party group with Metalik and Kalisto.
Since his departure from WWE in 2021, Dorado has been wrestling across a wide variety of indie promotions including Major League Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and more, most recently losing to Rich Swann at CZW's Cage of Death 22 event on December 21st.
Dorado talked about his return to NXT with the following post on X:
It is currently unknown to what capacity Dorado has returned—whether this is a true return with him re-signing with the company in an official capacity, if this was a one-off commitment of sorts, or if it's just the start of things to come with he and WWE working on a deal following this appearance.
Full results from this NXT live event include:
- Shotzi Blackheart defeated Nikkita Lyons
- Cutler James defeated Anthony Luke
- Wendy Choo defeated Zena Sterling
- Lince Dorado defeated Josh Black in his return appearance
- Charlie Dempsey (with Wren Sinclair) defeated Yoshiki Inamura (with Josh Briggs)
- NXT Heritage Cup Champion Lexis King defeated Tavion Heights
- Sol Ruca defeated Derrian Gobourne
- Ridge Holland won a rumble match of sorts to earn himself a title shot for the NXT Championship. He will face Oba Femi at some point in the future.
- Gigi Dolin (accompanied by Shotzi) defeated Jacy Jayne (accompanied by Fatal Influence's Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx)
- NXT Champion Oba Femi defeated Brooks Jensen
Are you excited to see Lince Dorado back in WWE? Should he be part of the NXT roster or go to either Raw or SmackDown? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!