The NXT Heritage Cup was a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was a specialized championship for NXT, the promotion's developmental brand, defended exclusively under British Rounds Rules. The inaugural champion was A-Kid while the final champion was Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo.

Unveiled on September 10, 2020, as the NXT UK Heritage Cup, it was originally established as a secondary championship for NXT UK, which was a sister brand of NXT based in the United Kingdom. At Worlds Collide on September 4, 2022, all other NXT UK championships were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts due to the closure of NXT UK. The Heritage Cup, however, was the only championship from either brand that was not contested at the event. The title then saw months of inactivity until April 4, 2023, when it was transferred to NXT. During Lexis King's reign from January to April 2025, the British Rounds Rules were suspended.

WWE lists the title's official retirement as July 12, 2025, but it remained active on their website for nearly a year until June 2026. Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo won the vacant title by defeating Tony D'Angelo by 2–1 on the June 24, 2025, episode of NXT. During The Great American Bash on July 12, D'Angelo stole the Heritage Cup and threw it off a bridge, after which it was not seen on television again. In June 2026, WWE updated the history, officially retiring the title with Stacks's reign retroactively ending on July 12, 2025.

History

On September 10, 2020, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced the relaunch of the United Kingdom-based NXT UK brand, following a production hiatus since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the relaunch, the promotion announced the NXT UK Heritage Cup tournament to crown the inaugural NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion. The announcement also revealed that the Heritage Cup would be defended just like any other championship, but all matches would be contested under British Rounds Rules.

Only seven of the eight competitors for the tournament were revealed during the initial announcement: "Flash" Morgan Webster, Noam Dar, Alexander Wolfe, A-Kid, Dave Mastiff, Trent Seven, and Joseph Conners. The eighth competitor was determined on the October 1 episode of NXT UK in a triple threat match in which Kenny Williams defeated Ashton Smith and Amir Jordan to win the final spot. The tournament itself also began on October 1 and took place across episodes of NXT UK. The final aired on tape delay on November 26 where A-Kid defeated Seven to become the inaugural champion (the date the episode was taped is unknown).

In August 2022, WWE announced that NXT UK would go on hiatus after the Worlds Collide event on September 4, and the brand would relaunch as NXT Europe at a later time. At Worlds Collide, all other NXT UK championships were retired after they were unified into their respective American-based NXT championship counterparts. The Heritage Cup was the only title from either brand to not be contested at the event. The last match for the title occurred during the July 7, 2022, taping of NXT UK, which aired on tape delay on August 25, where Noam Dar became a two-time Heritage Cup Champion. Following this, the title saw months of inactivity until the April 4, 2023, episode of NXT when Dar, with the Heritage Cup, made his NXT debut and stated he would defend the title whenever he wanted. The title was subsequently transferred to NXT and renamed NXT Heritage Cup, with the first NXT defense of the championship coming at NXT Battleground on May 28, which was also the first time the title was defended in the United States.

After Charlie Dempsey won the Heritage Cup in February 2024, his stable, No Quarter Catch Crew, announced the "Catch Clause", where any member of the stable—Dempsey, Drew Gulak, Damon Kemp, and Myles Borne—could defend the Cup, but only Dempsey was officially recognized as champion. The Catch Clause was invoked for the first and only time on the March 19 episode of NXT, with Gulak defeating Chase University's Riley Osborne by 2–1. On the December 24 episode of NXT (taped December 17), Dempsey lost the Heritage Cup to Lexis King by disqualification, the first instance of the Heritage Cup changing hands by disqualification. However, according to NXT general manager Ava, there was a grey area in British Rounds Rules regarding disqualification of the reigning champion, and announced that Dempsey and King would compete for the Heritage Cup in a sudden death one-fall match at NXT: New Year's Evil on January 7, 2025, the first instance of the Heritage Cup not being contested under British Rounds Rules. King won to solidify his win of the Heritage Cup. Subsequently on the February 4 episode of NXT, King announced that his Heritage Cup defenses going forward would be one-fall matches instead of British Rounds Rules. After Noam Dar defeated King on the April 23 episode of NXT to win his record fourth Heritage Cup, the British Rounds Rules were reinstated.

During reigning champion Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo's feud with Tony D'Angelo in mid-2025, the latter stole the NXT Heritage Cup and tossed it off a bridge during The Great American Bash on July 12, 2025. Following this incident, Lorenzo did not appear with the Cup nor was he referred to as champion on-screen, but the championship remained listed as active with Lorenzo as the reigning champion in the official title history on WWE's website. In February 2026, Lorenzo jokingly acknowledged that he was still the champion on social media. On June 3, 2026, WWE's website was updated to list the Cup as retired, with the end date of Lorenzo's reign and the official retirement date listed as July 12, 2025.

British Rounds Rules

Matches consisted of six three-minute rounds with 20-second breaks between each round. Matches were 2-out-of-3 falls. Falls could be won by pinfall, submission, or knockout (countout). Once a fall occurred, the round ended. The match ended once a wrestler had won two falls. In the event of a disqualification or knockout, the match instantly ended without the need for two falls. If all six rounds were completed, whoever was ahead on falls won the match. If tied, the champion retained.

Tournaments Color key  KO   Won the match via knockout   ✔   Scored a fall via pinfall   ✔   Scored a fall via submission   —   Round ended in a 3-minute time limit draw Inaugural tournament

NXT UK Heritage Cup #1 Contender's Tournament

Heritage Cup trophy design Unlike other professional wrestling championships, the Heritage Cup was represented by a trophy instead of a title belt. The trophy itself was a silver cup, the front of which had a gold shield-shaped plaque that had a vertical NXT logo and below it the text "Heritage Cup". Below the cup was a physical representation of what was formerly the NXT UK logo, which was modeled after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) on either side of the arms in gold, with a red shield at the center which had a gold vertical NXT logo. A small WWE logo was affixed at the center of the X in both NXT logos. A gold banner below this also said "Heritage Cup". This all sat atop a wooden base that was circled in gold name plaques which notated both the reigning and previous champions.

Reigns Over the title's near six-year history, there were 12 reigns between eight different champions and one vacancy. A-Kid was the inaugural champion. Noam Dar had the most reigns at four and his second reign was the longest at 341 days; however, due to tape delay, WWE officially recognizes his second reign as lasting 292 days, but still the longest. Dar also had the longest combined reign at 850 days (799 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay). Mark Coffey had the shortest reign at 14 days, but WWE officially recognizes 42 days due to tape delay, and as a result, WWE officially recognize that Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo had the shortest reign at 17 days. Coffey was also the oldest champion at 32 years old, while A-Kid was the youngest at 23. The final champion was Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo.

NameYearsNXT UK Heritage CupSeptember 10, 2020 – April 18, 2023NXT Heritage CupApril 18, 2023 – July 12, 2025

Combined reigns

†Indicates the current champion RankWrestlerNo. ofreignsCombineddaysCombined days by WWE1Noam Dar 4 850 7982Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo 1 344 173Charlie Dempsey 2 203 2094A-Kid 1 N/A 1745Tyler Bate 1 N/A 1606Lexis King 1 126 1187Tony D'Angelo 1 91 908Nathan Frazer 1 70 699Mark Coffey 1 14 42

Notes

References

External links Official NXT Heritage Cup title history