NXT has been going through some major changes recently as Oba Femi relinquished his championship and Ava announced her departure from WWE last week. Heading into this week’s episode of NXT the brand was without a General Manager, and without a champion, but both issues were solved by the end of the night.
At the beginning of the show Shawn Michaels named Mr. Stone the new interim General Manager of NXT, and later in the night Ricky Saints, Shiloh Hill, Sean Legacy, Jackson Drake, Dion Lennox, Keanu Carver and Joe Hendry faced off in a ladder match for the vacant NXT Championship.
The match was action packed from bell to bell and featured a lot big spots. At one point all of the competitors teamed up to bury Keanu Carver under a pile of ladders as they attempted to take him out of the match. However, Carver managed to escape the pile of ladders and then he went on a rampage.
Ricky Saints attempted to climb the ladder, but Carver quickly ran into the ring and started climbing the ladder next to Ricky. They battled back and forth as they each stood on a ladder side by side. Ricky pushed Keanu’s ladder to send him flying over the top rope and into a ladder that was set up on the outside.
Saints took a second to celebrate and when he turned around Joe Hendry was at the top of the ladder. They both tried to pull the title down, but ultimately Hendry was able to knock Ricky Saints off and grab the belt to become the new NXT Champion.
RAISE YOUR HANDS 🙌@joehendry is the NEW NXT CHAMPION! pic.twitter.com/ccGF7UaWch
— WWE (@WWE) February 4, 2026