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Santos Escobar Beats Jordan Devlin, Wins Cruiserweight Title at NXT TakeOver
April 9, 2021
Santos Escobar defeated Jordan Devlin in a Cruiserweight Championship unification ladder match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on Thursday.
As the two were battling atop a ladder, Escobar headbutted Devlin off and through another ladder that was wedged against the turnbuckle. That gave him a clear path to the two belts.
The unification match had been a long time coming, as both men entered TakeOver having held the title for over 300 days each.
Devlin was the first to win the belt when he beat Angel Garza, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Travis Banks in a Fatal 4-Way match at Worlds Collide in January 2020.
It wasn't long after that the COVID-19 pandemic forced some significant changes, including United Kingdom-based wrestlers going home and staying there. Also, with NXT UK not running for much of the pandemic, Devlin and many of its other stars had no exposure.
Because of that, the decision was made to hold a tournament to determine an interim cruiserweight champion in NXT. The tournament was won in June by El Hijo del Fantasma, who turned heel, unmasked and starting going by the name Santos Escobar thereafter.
With Devlin off television, Escobar firmly established himself as the titleholder, beating many talented challengers, including Drake Maverick, Swerve, Jake Atlas, Gran Metalik and Curt Stallion.
It wasn't until late last year that Devlin returned to TV, and he has since defended the cruiserweight title against the likes of Amir Jordan, Oliver Carter, Ben Carter and Trent Seven on NXT UK.
Once UK wrestlers received clearance to start appearing in the United States again, Devlin called out Escobar and said he would be returning to NXT to confront him.
That happened on March 17 and resulted in the Superstars agreeing to face each other at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to determine the one and only true cruiserweight champion.
There were huge expectations for the match given how long the story has been building beneath the surface, and both Escobar and Devlin delivered in that regard.
Ultimately, Escobar prevailed and ended Devlin's 400-plus-day reign, meaning the Cruiserweight Championship is likely to continue being defended primarily on NXT rather than NXT UK.
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