Grayson Waller backed up his promise to make history on Sunday night.
In the main event of Heatwave in Edinburg, Texas, the Australian star defeated Tony D’Angelo, Cruz Montana, and Zilla Fatu to capture the NXT Championship for the first time in his career.
The Fatal 4-Way match featured non-stop action, driven by the heated rivalry built among all four competitors over recent weeks. Waller and Montana previously clashed in a #1 contender’s match on August 11, but Fatu’s debut resulted in a no contest, prompting Robert Stone to put everyone into the title bout.
Late in the match, Fatu came agonizingly close to victory after hitting a Samoan Spike, but Waller prevented the count by pulling the referee out of the ring.
In the closing sequence, D’Angelo hit Montana with a spear, but Montana countered with the Spin the Block and seemed poised to secure the win. Waller intervened, dumping Montana out of the ring before he could make the cover, then capitalized on the grounded D’Angelo to score the pinfall and claim the WWE NXT Championship.
The title change ends D’Angelo’s 148-day reign, which began at Stand & Deliver on April 4 when he defeated Joe Hendry, Ricky Saints, and Ethan Page in another Fatal 4-Way match.