Who Was Banished From NXT After Losing At Heatwave?

NXT superstar and former champion could be main roster-bound after losing big match.

by Scott Carlson
NXT Say Goodbye
WWE

Santos Escobar's time in NXT 2.0 has wound down.

The leader of Legado Del Fantasma lost a street fight to Tony D'Angelo at NXT Heatwave Tuesday night, which carried the stipulation that if he lost, he would be booted from the brand. Had Escobar won, the rest of Legado would have been released from their affiliation with D'Angelo's family and regained their autonomy as a group.

The two crews were unified several months ago when D'Angelo defeated Escobar, which meant Legado had to come under Tony D's leadership. However, Santos never really took orders well, constantly undermining his new boss and costing him several title matches. It basically defeated the purpose of the original stipulation, as Escobar just sabotaged D'Angelo until they agreed to this final confrontation.

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Tuesday's match saw Santos take the fight to Tony D immediately, throwing a steel chair at the Don of NXT before the bell. Plunder became involved pretty quickly, and all the seconds -- Cruz del Toro, Stacks, Joaquin Wilde and even Elektra Lopez -- getting involved. Both men hit each other with weapons, with D'Angelo falling on top for the win to send Escobar packing.

This almost certainly means that we'll see Santos on the main roster in the near future. The question is whether the rest of Legado Del Fantasma finds a way to get free of D'Angelo's family to join him, or if they stay in this wacky arrangement in NXT.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.