{"id":183725,"date":"2026-01-07T17:57:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T23:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=183725"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:57:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T23:57:42","slug":"nxt-championship-officially-vacated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/01\/07\/nxt-championship-officially-vacated\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT Championship officially vacated"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-1320053869\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>WWE announced that Oba Femi has officially vacated the NXT Championship. Femi defeated Leon Slater to retain the title during Tuesday&#8217;s NXT show. Femi placed the title belt in the middle of the ring before leaving. Read the official details at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/shows\/wwenxt\/2026-01-06\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WWE.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Powell&#8217;s POV:<\/strong><\/span> WWE has been playing Femi highlight videos on Raw and Smackdown lately, so he is obviously main roster bound. The big question now is how the new NXT Champion will be crowned. As I wrote today in the NXT Hit List, I&#8217;d like to see a tournament rather than a single match to determine the new champion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#x1f6a8; BREAKING NEWS &#x1f6a8;<\/p>\n<p>After his victory at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NewYearsEvil?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NewYearsEvil<\/a>, Oba Femi has officially vacated the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWENXT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WWENXT<\/a> Championship. Stay tuned for more details. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NwMFVOuJjG\">pic.twitter.com\/NwMFVOuJjG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE NXT (@WWENXT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWENXT\/status\/2009007213206282361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><i>(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast--3275525\">Pro Wrestling Boom<\/a>, and also appears regularly on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/new-flagship-keller-powell-talk-cena-s-last-opponent-possibility-dynamite-s-6th-anniversary-ricky-saints-as-nxt-champ-bfg-preview--67959189\">Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast<\/a>. Reach him via email at <a href=\"mailto:dotnetjason@gmail.com\">dotnetjason@gmail.com<\/a> and on social media via <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/prowrestlingnet.bsky.social\">@prowrestlingnet.bsky.social<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/prowrestlingnet\">x.com\/prowrestlingnet<\/a>. For his full bio and information on this website, click <a href=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/about-us\/\">here<\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-2698604594\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":158880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[37,4755],"class_list":["post-183725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsticker","category-wwe_news","tag-nxt","tag-oba-femi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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