It started with a promo battle a few weeks back, with Roderick Strong building off his well-received biographical vignettes and a big win over Eric Young to say he was coming for the NXT title.
The man who holds that prize, and fancies the whole brand “his”, thought that was a ridiculous notion. And he told Roddy that to his face. With a ramp between them, but still.
Fast forward to earlier today, and Strong, his fiancé Marina Shafir and their son Troy entered the Performance Center during a Roode photoshoot. The Glorious One took the opportunity to insult Roddy and his family some more, and the Messiah of the Backbreaker snapped!
Roode’s vow to give Strong a title match any time, anywhere was obviously heard by General Manager William Regal, as just after that scene aired on the June 21 episode of NXT, it was announced these two will meet for the championship on July 5.
Of course, the edition of the show which will air in two weeks will film Friday night at Full Sail Live, so, you’ll know more about this match soon, if you’re into the whole spoiler thing.
Getting men’s and women’s title bouts out of the way now means they’re open to book rematches or entirely new feuds for August’s TakeOver: Brooklyn III. And with a deep NXT roster, don’t be surprised if we see some fresh match-ups between now and SummerSlam weekend.
Stay tuned.