In addition to the complications of actually filming shows, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is also a particular problem for wrestlers who live outside the US and are unable to get to those shows due to travel restrictions. One such wrestler is NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin, who still lives in his native Ireland and is currently unable to make it to Orlando, where NXT is filmed.
On today’s episode of WWE’s The Bump, NXT General Manager William Regal made an appearance (from home, of course) to announce that NXT will be holding a tournament in Devlin’s absence, to choose an Interim Cruiserweight Champion:
Due to current events, obviously Jordan Devlin is in Ireland, and he cannot defend his NXT Cruiserweight Championship, so I’ve decided that in the meantime we will hold a tournament for the NXT Cruiserweight Interim Champion. Now the competitors and the execution of this tournament I will let everybody know over all NXT social platforms in the next few forthcoming days so… believe me, we’re making the best of it.
The “Interim” part is interesting, and presumably means that Jordan Devlin will get a match upon his return with whoever holds that title, to determine the ongoing Cruiserweight Champion. And knowing Jordan Devlin, he’s bound to have a chip on his shoulder about it.
Regal was also asked about the NXT Tag Team Championship, which is currently held by Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne, with the latter currently being stuck in the UK. However, he wasn’t ready to announce anything on that yet:
Yes [laughs] another perplexing thing. So, Pete Dunne is in the UK, so… the Broserweights being the tag team champions… I’ve still got decisions to make on that, and hopefully I’ll have some kind of… I’m forming options. I want it to be the best possible option, and I will be letting you know hopefully in the next week.
Regal also promoted tonight’s “final” match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. We still don’t know what’s going on with NXT UK going forward, but of course that’s not Regal’s domain despite his own nationality.