North American title vacated, new champion to be decided at NXT Halloween Havoc

The NXT North American Championship has been vacated, and a new champion will be crowned in a ladder match at Halloween Havoc.

Tuesday’s show opened with Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes appearing in Shawn Micheals’ office. Michaels said that although Sikoa won the title, he was not a choice in the fan voting and was not a potential opponent, and therefore had to vacate the title. Sikoa relinquished the title. However, when Hayes asked for the title back, Micheals rejected him, saying that Hayes had “played the system” and got burned as a result. Micheals then made a match “in six weeks” at Halloween Havoc, where Hayes will face four other people in a ladder match to determine the new champion.

Micheals additionally said qualifying matches will take place over the next few weeks on NXT to determine who will enter the ladder match.

Sikoa, who made his main roster debut at Clash at the Castle earlier this month, made a surprise appearance on last week’s NXT, challenging Hayes after Hayes and Trick Williams laid out his original opponent, Wes Lee. An impromptu match was held, with Sikoa picking up the win. On last Friday’s SmackDown, Sikoa defended the title successfully against Madcap Moss.

It was reported back on August 31 that a Halloween Havoc Saturday event was being planned for October 22.