After more than a year away, a former Cruiserweight Champion is returning to NXT with a new name and new identity!
Shortly after Jordan Devlin won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in January of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rendered him unable to travel to defend the title in the United States, and Santos Escobar was crowned the Interim Crusierweight Champion after winning a tournament the following April. However, Devlin returned to NXT in March of 2021 to set up a ladder match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver which would determine who had true claim to the belt.
In the end, Santos Escobar emerged the Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion, and Devlin hasn’t been seen in NXT since.
On the latest episode of NXT 2.0, however, a new vignette aired to announce that Devlin was on his way back to the United States, but that he would be arriving with a new name and identity. In a voiceover, the star said that winds of change are blowing, and that he’s left his home in Dublin for a very good reason before a caption revealed that his name was now JD McDonagh.
“Do you hear that? That’s the winds of change. I think the winds of change are blowing around NXT 2.0. If I’m gonna leave my home, my penthouse overlooking my city, Dublin City, you know it’s for a damn good reason. You’ll find out why soon enough. Everyone in NXT 2.0 is gonna find out that you never bet against an ace.”
Never bet against an ace.
JD McDonagh… coming soon!#WWENXTpic.twitter.com/9CGuZNqf8S
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) June 22, 2022
Devlin returned to NXT UK following the events of Stand & Deliver, and competed there throughout 2021. His last match saw him face Ilja Dragunov in a Loser Leaves NXT UK Match, and he was forced to leave the promotion when he failed to capture Dragunov’s NXT UK Championship.
JD McDonagh is the latest in a long list of stars who’ve undergone recent name changes in WWE, including NXT stars Katana Chance, Alba Fyre, Cruz del Toro, and Giovanni Vinci.
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