Austin Theory Returns On WWE NXT, New Feuds For The WWE NXT North American Title? (Videos)

Tonight's WWE NXT episode saw developments to the midcard and potential challengers for new NXT North American Champion Damian Priest.

Priest, who captured the vacant title in the 5-Man Ladder Match at "Takeover: XXX" this past Saturday night, was confronted early in the night by Timothy Thatcher, who previously failed to qualify for the Ladder Match. Thatcher made it clear that he wanted a title shot and the two had words, but the segment ended with Priest laughing and walking away.

Bronson Reed, who was a participant in Saturday's Ladder Match, was later interviewed backstage about how he deserves the first title shot from Priest, not Thatcher. Reed was interrupted by a returning Austin Theory, who ran Reed down and insulted him. Reed responded with a big slap across the mouth, but Theory just took it and smirked as Reed walked away.

Theory, who remains a member of the RAW roster as of this writing, made his first appearance since the June 22 RAW episode. He had been working the stable with Seth Rollins and Murphy until he was pulled from TV out of nowhere. It was reported on August 4 that WWE had suspended Theory for unknown reasons, but that was never confirmed. Rollins stated last week during a Sporting News interview that Theory had been away due to personal reasons.

"He had some personal issues that came up so he took some time off to sort through them for the past month or two. It's hard right now but we hope everything's good for him so we hope to have him back sooner than later," Rollins said last week.

Theory had been working NXT until right around WrestleMania 36 time when he was brought to RAW. There's no word yet on if he will be returning to RAW now that he's back on TV, but we will keep you updated.

Above is footage from the Priest – Thatcher backstage segment, and below is the Theory – Reed segment: