NXT's Keith Lee Announces He Will Relinquish North American Championship

The NXT North American Championship is now vacant after Keith Lee surrendered the title belt to open WWE NXT on Wednesday.

Lee defeated Adam Cole in the main event of The Great American Bash on July 8 to simultaneously hold the NXT and North American belts. He said going forward he'll be focusing on the former, and NXT general manager William Regal revealed the plan to coronate a new North American champion:

Wednesday's announcement wasn't too surprising since wrestlers generally don't hold two singles titles for very long, for the reasons Lee outlined. The secondary championship almost always becomes an afterthought, which doesn't benefit anybody.

In one of the more famous examples, then-WWF President Jack Tunney ordered the Intercontinental Championship to be vacated following The Ultimate Warrior's victory over Hulk Hogan in a winner-take-all match at WrestleMania VI.

NXT has done a great job of making the North American Championship feel meaningful, something that isn't true of the secondary belts on Raw and SmackDown. It has often served as a springboard for the champion as well. Cole and Lee went on to earn NXT's biggest prize, while Ricochet's reign ended shortly before his call-up to the main roster.

Fans will be eagerly waiting to find out the participants in the ladder match at NXT TakeOver XXX on Aug. 22.