NXT has always done a great job maintaining the integrity of their titles. In the brief history of the black and gold brand, every title reign has meant something fans have appreciated that.
It was that reason that many people were surprised when Johnny Gargano’s second North American Title reign was cut short by a loss to Leon Ruff. Ruff made a big splash by defeating Gargano with a little help from Damien Priest to make a big splash into the NXT pool, although he has since lost the belt back to Gargano. Such a move seemed uncharacteristic for NXT and it left a lot of people scratching their heads.
Many fans feel the title reign made a joke of the belt not because of the title change, but how the company booked Ruff during his reign, as someone who was just lucky to have had the belt. It didn’t hurt that Priest treated him like a tiny child more than a grown man. It was little things like that which left fans upset and talking on the Wrestling Observer Forum about his reign. Someone asked why they decided to treat Ruff, and by connecting the dots the title, as a joke, when NXT has done a good job at making their champions and reigns meaningful.
Dave Meltzer responded to the fan with something simple and perhaps even insulting to the common NXT fan: “Somebody in creative thought it was funny.”
Not everything has gone south with that situation. Ruff has become a regular character on NXT television and it seems that they plan on at least trying to legitimize Ruff by making him a regular character on television now.
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