10 NXT Superstars who won titles in their first year on the main roster

#8. Ricochet carried his NXT success to RAW

Ricochet defeated Samoa Joe to win the United States Championship

Ricochet joined NXT in January 2018 and captured the NXT North American title by defeating Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver Brooklyn 4 about seven months later.

6️⃣3️⃣0️⃣ = NEW CHAMP@KingRicochet has defeated @SamoaJoe to claim his FIRST title in @WWE! #WWEStompingGrounds #AndNew pic.twitter.com/1PJ8dyBe4L
— WWE (@WWE) June 23, 2019

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Ricochet's main roster debut came on RAW in February 2019 when he teamed up with Finn Balor to take on Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush. He later allied with Aleister Black, whom he had won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with at NXT. Although an entertaining team, they failed to win any gold.

However, the WWE Draft separated them following WrestleMania, sending Ricochet to RAW and Black to SmackDown.

The One and Only became the number one contender for the United States Championship in June after winning a fatal-five-way elimination match. He went head to head with the United States Champion Samoa Joe at Stomping Grounds on June 23.

At Stomping Grounds, Ricochet surprisingly pinned Joe to become the United States Champion, nearly four months after his main roster debut.

About the author

Ahmed Hamdy is an Egyptian journalist with a decade of experience in sports journalism, specializing in pro wrestling and football.

Hamdy kicked off his career as a sports reporter for Al-Ahram Weekly. He then became a producer/reporter for Mal Masr TV program on the Egyptian channel ON TV. In the following years, Hamdy worked as a reporter for several international news outlets, including Deutsche Welle (Germany), As-Safir (Lebanon), and Al-Monitor (U.S.A).

In 2014, Hamdy joined leading Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm, where he is now a Senior Sports Editor. In addition to all that, the Egyptian also worked as a sports editor for Sport360 and feature writer for Manshoor.com.

Hamdy has covered several sports events throughout the past few years, including WWE's tour in Egypt and the 2019 African Cup of Nations.

The experienced journalist joined Sportskeeda's pro wrestling feature writers team in early 2021. Since then, his work has managed to get millions of reads.

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Edited by James Sullivan

10 NXT Superstars who won championships in their first year on the main roster

#8. Ricochet carried his NXT success to RAW