It was a big episode of NXT on Wednesday night that saw former indie manager Stokely Hathaway – now Malcolm Bivens – make his NXT televised debut with his new tag team and Io Shirai earn a spot in the Ladder Match. But two of the most interesting parts of the show were brief vignettes that may have escaped some people’s attention. The first appearance of former IMPACT Wrestling stars Killer Kross and Samuel Shaw – renamed Dexter Lumis – in vignettes to announce their impending individual arrivals.
DEXTER LUMIS
A regular on the Florida indie circuit since the mid-2000s, Samuel Shaw finally made television when he joined TNA/IMPACT Wrestling in 2012. He remained with the company for a few years before departing in 2015 (although he did briefly return in 2017). He continued to work hard on the US indie scene and signed to WWE in 2019. Repackaged as Dexter Lumis, he’s been working NXT Live Events since last March and made a brief appearance on NXT TV in the Breakout Tournament last June, but went out in the first round to Bronson Reed. In a potential blink and you’ll miss it, coming out of commercial and just before NXT North American Champion Keith Lee came to the ring to talk about Damian Priest, a video package briefly introduced the dark mind of Dexter Lumis.
https://twitter.com/BruiserRipley/status/1243226100752355329
KILLER KROSS
Perhaps one of the most anticipated signings of 2020 by WWE was that of former IMPACT star Killer Kross. Kross debuted with IMPACT in 2018 after tearing up his local Las Vegas indie scene, as well as runs with AAA Lucha Libre in Mexico and Lucha Underground. He immediately became a top heel with the company, but after a year with the company, he became embroiled in behind-the-scenes issues and was sent home by IMPACT. While he continued to work the US indies, he vanished off of TV. He signed with WWE early this year and is now closer than ever to making his debut in NXT. Some people who turned off Wednesday’s NXT a few minutes early, thinking it was just going to be another long-winded promo between Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and Triple H, missed the Doomsday Clock countdown finale – which first began in late February – interrupt the ending, as Kross’ face finally appeared on NXT TV to announce his impending arrival (Killer Kross’ vignette starts around 4:20 in the video below).
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