WWE News: WWE NXT Championship To Be Defended At WrestleMania 31?

WWE NXT has been making waves the last number of months with some five-star matches. The characters on the show are beloved by the fans and the entire developmental system has been praised for it. So would be it be out of the realm of possibility to see WWE NXT represented at WrestleMania 31? It’s not as crazy as you might think.

Although Triple H is against having NXT part of WrestleMania Axxess, they are set to be part of a number of matches there. So we assume that this will be all we see of the NXT roster. However, there are rumblings of having an NXT Championship match on the card and WWE didn’t seem too shy about getting fan interest in it.

During a “5 Things” segment on YouTube, WWE decided to do a video about the five things fans expect to see in 2015. During the segment, the host Tom Phillips claimed that fans expected to see NXT Champion Sami Zayn defend the NXT Title at the event. Due to the rise in popularity of WWE NXT, it appears that this was something done to gauge interest. Since many fans have already asked for it and now more support for the NXT Title match has been reached, WWE might be forced to add it.

WWE NXT has become it’s own brand really. Because of this, fan interest has grown heavily. WWE also runs into the happy coincidence that NXT is on the WWE Network where most will end up watching WrestleMania 31. They want to draw interest to the product, and having two guys you can only see on NXT on the WrestleMania card seems like a no-brainer.

Here is where the problem comes in. People think that if it is done, it will develop into a battle royal or something along those lines. This does not seem likely as WWE wants to continue the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. We could see NXT people involved in this, but it will perhaps only include main roster talent. That means that the match could go down at a pre-show event that WWE would have available on the WWE Network or on YouTube streaming before WrestleMania truly gets underway.

Whether it is a simple pre-show add or on the main card, the fact that it is there at all shows how far WWE NXT has come. It also intrigues everyone and makes many who weren’t sure of WWE’s direction seriously want to be part of the company. Top names on the indie scene who were against ever joining WWE now have a big reason to join, which only makes the company better in the long run.

We’ll have to see what WWE plans to do, but many backstage are high on NXT. So the representation seems likely. What do you think though, should WWE have an NXT Championship match basically open WrestleMania 31?

[IMG Credit: Sports Keeda]