Keith Lee Beats Dominik Dijakovic, Retains North American Title at NXT TakeOver
February 17, 2020
In the continuation of their long-running rivalry, Keith Lee beat Dominik Dijakovic to retain the North American Championship at NXT TakeOver: Portland on Sunday.
The match lived up to the hype as Lee and Dijakovic unloaded on each other with everything they had.
Lee finally kept down Dijakovic for the three count with the Big Bang Catastrophe.
The two men have faced each other several times on NXT TV in recent months, and they always seem to raise their respective games and put on matches to remember.
Given their history, it was fitting that Dijakovic established himself as the first challenger for Lee's title after Limitless beat Roderick Strong of Undisputed Era to become the new North American champion a few weeks ago.
Both Dijakovic and Damian Priest expressed their desire to challenge Lee, which led to an impromptu No. 1 Contender's match won by Dijakovic. The following week, he beat Killian Dain as well, which further cemented his status as the first in line for a title shot.
Lee and Dijakovic once had a rivalry based on hatred, but that changed leading up to NXT TakeOver: WarGames when they agreed to join forces as part of Team Ciampa to take down Adam Cole and the rest of Undisputed Era.
Team Ciampa was victorious in that match, which brought Lee and Dijakovic closer together and helped them earn mutual respect.
While Dijakovic is a physical marvel who is slowly establishing himself as a top guy in NXT, Lee is seemingly already there. He has been popular since his debut, but it reached another level at Survivor Series in November.
Lee got down to the final two of that match with Roman Reigns and pushed The Big Dog to the limit before falling, and that performance has helped make him arguably the hottest commodity in NXT.
Also, Limitless was part of the men's Royal Rumble match in which he had a memorable confrontation with WWE champion Brock Lesnar, which raised his stock even more.
Taking the North American Championship from Strong was a natural progression for Lee, but Dijakovic stood in his way Sunday with an eye toward halting his momentum and sending him tumbling back down the card.
Lee was up to the challenge, though, and he may be in line for a lengthy, successful title reign after getting past Dijakovic.
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