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What's the story?
According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was being reported that the first challenger for Andrade "cien" Almas' NXT Championship will be Johny Gargano. It became official at a recent NXT Taping when Gargano won a fatal 4-way by pinning Aleister Black and becoming the number one contender.
The initial plan was for a rematch between Andrade and Drew McIntyre, which had to be scrapped because of Drew suffering a bicep injury.
In case you didn't know...
Andrade Almas was previously known as La Sombra before making his debut on NXT in 2015.
Almas recently gained a lot of momentum after being paired with Zilina Vega and finally managed to win the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover: WarGames held on the 18 November 2017.
Johny Gargano, who also made his debut for NXT in 2015 is a former NXT Tag Team Champion with Tomasso Ciampa as a part of the team "DIY".
Johny lost to Pete Dunne at WarGames, however, managed to pick up the win in a number one contender fatal-4 way match against Aleister Black, Killian Dane and Lars Sullivan at a recent NXT Taping.
The heart of the matter
Johny Gargano was beaten up brutally by his former partner Tomasso at the end of the NXT Takeover: Chicago after the duo lost the NXT Tag Team Championships and has since performed as a singles competitor.
Johny has been proving his metal in the singles division having great matches with the likes of Andrade and Pete Dunne. It is high time that he got a shot at the NXT Championship.
What's next?
Now that Johny has become the new contender for the NXT Championship, it is highly likely that we will get a new NXT Champion soon.
The Title match has been announced for the next NXT: Takeover Philadelphia which will take place on 27 January 2018 at the Wells Fargo Centre, Philadelphia.
Author's take
Gargano also known as Johny Wrestling is one of the most talented and hardworking athletes on the NXT Roster right now. He has definitely deserved this opportunity for a long time and it is great to see this fan-favourite wrestler finally get it.
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