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What's the story?
Shane Strickland, a former Major League Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, is finishing up with that promotion next month, according to a report from PWInsider.com.
PWInsider notes that he'll be done with MLW after tapings on December 13th and 14th.
In case you missed it . . .
Strickland started wrestling in 2009 and has also been a fixture in Lucha Underground as Killshot since it's inception. He's also been active with Evolve and Combat Zone Wrestling.
Combat Zone Wrestling is known for its hardcore matches. It has helped propel stars like Dean Ambrose, Sami Callihan and LAX (Ortiz and Santana, then known as EYFBO) to the next level of their careers.
Strickland is also a former CZW Heavyweight Champion.
His high-flying style also mixes in strong strikes, kicks and suplexes. For anyone who hasn't seen him in action, his Weapons of Mass Destruction match with Dante Fox (aka AR Fox) is highly recommended.
Strickland's role as Killshot has perhaps helped to expand his brand to the world who hasn't seen him compete in person.
Lucha Underground allowed him to portray a military character who had allegedly left a fellow soldier (Fox) behind in action.
That feud was one of his main storylines as were his battles with Marty 'the Moth' Martinez and his trios storyline with the Mack and Son of Havoc. He won the MLW Heavyweight Title in August by defeating current NXT wrestler Matt Riddle.
The heart of the matter
PWInsider.com also noted that Strickland has been on the WWE's radar for some time due to WWE's working relationship with Evolve.
They also revealed that he would likely start in NXT as a member of the January Performance Center recruits rather than on the main roster of WWE is he is indeed signed.
What's next?
Strickland is just one of the names that have been rumored to be headed to WWE once his obligations to other promotions are completed.
If he is indeed heading to NXT, then they have a built-in feud they can immediately play upon with Riddle.
Both will be a few of the newer, big-name wrestlers to NXT that may just make up the foundation once Aleister Black, Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano and the Undisputed Era all join the main roster.
The turn over between the NXT call-ups and the new batch of recruits can usually help make the transition much smoother.
With several call-ups expected to be made after the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania respectively, Strickland could certainly help the transition.
How soon, though, is the question. With the terms of his Lucha Underground contract not know, he might have a no-compete clause that prevents him from competing for either 30, 60 or 90 days.
If it's any of those, the earliest he could be featured on NXT TV would be February or March of 2019.
