WWE NXT: Ranking Every Performer to Hold the NXT Championship

Credit: WWE.com

9. Tommaso Ciampa

As NXT’s current Champion, Tommaso Ciampa only ranks so low here because his reign still feels young. Since returning from injury at TakeOver: Philadelphia to attack former partner Johnny Gargano after his own failure to capture the NXT Championship from Andrade “Cien” Almas, Ciampa has become one of the very most hated heels in all of wrestling.

In fact, for most of 2018, Ciampa forewent having music play during his entrance, instead entering to a torrent of boos from the audience.

Ciampa’s everlasting feud with Gargano is bound to draw comparisons to the feud between former NXT stars Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and that is far from a bad thing. The pair’s careers are at this point inextricably intertwined so that each of their respective runs in NXT is defined in relation to the other.

Ciampa winning the NXT Championship came seemingly out of nowhere, as dethroning Aleister Black on an episode of NXT’s weekly show, while not unlikely, was certainly surprising.

It seems an inevitability that Gargano himself will be the one to dethrone Ciampa, but only time will tell. Until then, “the Blackheart” has cemented himself not only as one of NXT’s most consistent performers, but as one of its most consistent champions.