Your New WWE NXT Champion Is... Dolph Ziggler?

Raw tag team wrestler captures NXT 2.0's top prize at Roadblock on Tuesday.

by Scott Carlson
Zolph Ziggler NXT
WWE.com

Dolph Ziggler captured the NXT Championship on Tuesday night at NXT Roadblock, ending Bron Breakker's two-month reign.

Ziggler pinned Tommaso Ciampa in a wild triple threat match that included interference from Dolph's Dirty Dawgs tag partner (and former NXT Champion) Robert Roode. Breakker, a standout rookie in the rebooted NXT 2.0, had held the brand's top prize since New Year's Evil and made his Raw debut Monday night, but he was unable to hold onto the title.

The title change marks the first time that an active member of the Raw or SmackDown roster has won the NXT title. It also means that Dolph, who won only his second match of the year, will walk into NXT Stand and Deliver during WrestleMania 38 weekend as champion. It's unclear at this very early stage if Breakker will get a rematch for the title since he didn't factor into the decision.

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It's possible after seeing Bron on Raw that WWE decision-makers could be wide-eyed and want to bring him to the main roster permanently, though that would defeat the purpose of developmental. As bright as Breakker's star is, he's had just 18 career matches total.

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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.