Bronson Reed Wins WWE NXT North American Championship
Bronson Reed defeats Johnny Gargano in NXT cage match.
Bronson Reed is your new WWE NXT North American Champion, having defeated Johnny Gargano in a steel cage match on last night's black and gold show.
The big beefy Australian scored his first-ever NXT championship by pinning Gargano after subverting the usual WWE cage escape trope and opting to put his opponent down decisively instead. Rather than walking out of the door and scoring an easy victory, Bronson scaled the turnbuckles and hit his Tsunami splash for the pinfall.
Much of the bout revolved around a classic face vs. heel game of cat and mouse, with Gargano characteristically evasive, calling on interference from Austin Theory in the process. Reed was made to overcome all of this to score the victory.
Bronson celebrated in the ring after taking the strap, with pyro going off in the background.
Thus ends Johnny Gargano's third North American Title reign. Gargano took the belt from Leon Ruff in a Triple Threat bout also featuring Damian Priest in December and previously defended against Reed at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, though Bronson earned this rematch after defeating Theory a few weeks ago. Now, he's on top.