Dragon Lee Shockingly Drops WWE NXT North American Title To Fast-Rising Breakout Star

It didn't take long for one rising star to cash in his opportunity at a chance at a "WWE NXT" title. Just one week after earning himself a contract for a title match at New Year's Evil, Men's Breakout Tournament winner Oba Femi defeated "WWE SmackDown" star Dragon Lee on Tuesday night to claim the "NXT" North American Championship. Lee had just finished successfully defending the title against Lexis King, who also held a contract for a shot at the title, when Femi came down the ramp for his chance at gold.

Lee, however, didn't go down easily. After Femi handed the referee the contract to start the match, Lee immediately went flying out of the ring at him, seemingly still having some fight left after his previous match. At one point, Femi looked to end things when Lee caught him with a tornado DDT. But Femi kicked out of the pin and was ultimately able to hit a monstrous powerbomb on Lee to earn the victory and the championship.

Femi, a former shot put and track and field athlete, joined WWE via the company's NIL program in 2021 and made his "NXT" debut in 2022. Per Cagematch, his championship win comes in just his 21st wrestling match. Just last week, Femi defeated Chase U student Riley Osbourne to win the first Men's Breakout Tournament since 2021; now, he's the 18th man to hold the North American title since its inception in 2018.

As for Lee, he likely heads back to the main roster following this loss, primarily competing on "SmackDown." He had been announced to wrestle at New Year's Evil alongside "SmackDown" stablemates the LWO, but was unable to make the show due to visa issues. However, Lee said earlier on the "NXT" broadcast that his visa problems had been cleared up, freeing him to return to regular action.