New WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Triple H Gives NXT Contract To Drake Maverick

By Marc Middleton

El Hijo del Fantasma is your new WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion and Drake Maverick has earned a NXT contract.

It's interesting to note that WWE has apparently stopped using "interim" for the tournament to crown a new NXT Cruiserweight Champion. It was previously announced that an interim champion would be crowned because champion Jordan Devlin was stuck in the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic. The finals of the tournament took place as tonight's NXT main event and saw Fantasma defeat Maverick to win the title. The announcers billed Fantasma as the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion.

Tonight's main event saw an appearance by the masked mystery men that have been involved with abducting NXT Superstars and confronting Fantasma in recent months. They faced off with Fantasma at ringside while he was down, but Maverick nailed a suicide dive to take them down. That led to Fantasma bringing Drake back into the ring and putting him away for the win.

After the match, Drake received a show of respect and chant from the trainees sitting in the crowd as fans. This was to be his last WWE appearance after he was released back on April 15 as a part of the company-wide cuts brought on by COVID-19. WWE allowed Drake to work the tournament as it had announced already, but there were rumors this week of Drake re-signing with the company. Triple H met Drake on the stage as he waved goodbye, then shook his hand and offered him a NXT contract. Drake then signed the contract and raised it in the air as NXT went off the air on the USA Network.

This is Fantasma's first title reign since debuting for NXT earlier this year. There's no word yet on what will happen with Devlin, but he won the title back on January 25 at Worlds Collide, by defeating champion Angel Garza, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Travis Banks in a Fatal 4 Way. WWE recognizes his reign at 130 days. Devlin vs. Fantasma is expected to take place at a later date after Devlin is able to travel back to the United States.

Drake, as Rockstar Spud, was shown during an Impact Wrestling teaser for their Slammiversary pay-per-view earlier this week, along with other recently released WWE Superstars – EC3, Eric Young, Curt Hawkins, Mike and Maria Kanellis, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson, plug a Bulgarian flag for Rusev. It's safe to say that Maverick will not be appearing at Slammiversary. It's been speculated that Impact used most of those names to generate buzz for the event.

Stay tuned for updates on Fantasma and Drake's new NXT contract. Below are several shots from tonight's match at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando:

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