{"id":137467,"date":"2025-07-03T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=137467"},"modified":"2025-07-02T23:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T03:35:04","slug":"what-if-yoshiki-inamura-becomes-nxt-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/07\/03\/what-if-yoshiki-inamura-becomes-nxt-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"What if Yoshiki Inamura Becomes NXT Champion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oba Femi has had a great run as NXT Champion so far. He has beaten several opponents, using his strength and athleticism to his advantage. With the Great American Bash next Saturday, it was announced that he was going to be defending his title at the event. In order to determine who was going to face him, there was a number one contender\u2019s match<\/a> on the July 1, 2025, episode of NXT. Jasper Troy and Yoshiki Inamura, who both have had a history with Femi, faced off in the match to determine his challenger.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the end, Inamura shockingly pinned Troy to head to the Great American Bash. Femi has the height and weight advantage, but he is capable of great things in the ring. If Inamura becomes NXT Champion in Atlanta, it\u2019ll be a surprise that will be a positive for him and NXT as a whole.<\/p>\n

Inamura\u2019s Win Will Strengthen the NXT and NOAH Partnership<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For the past couple of years, NXT has formed a partnership with Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH. Charlie Dempsey and Josh Briggs have competed in their events, which is where Briggs met Inamura. On the main roster, Omos had an excursion there at the beginning of this year.<\/p>\n

Bringing over Inamura to NXT has been met with great fanfare and even greater results. Having a NOAH wrestler in an NXT Championship match presents a major opportunity. Inamura could become NXT Champion, allowing for potential title defenses in Japan. That will give other wrestlers from the promotion a chance to win.<\/p>\n

Likewise, some NOAH wrestlers could also come over stateside to challenge for the title and wrestle in front of an American audience. If Inamura wins the NXT Championship, that will allow other NOAH wrestlers to make a name for themselves in NXT.<\/p>\n

The Win Would Continue an Interesting NXT Trend<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When champions are booked strongly, you know the match outcome before it even happens. There have been many times when a championship retention hasn\u2019t been surprising at all. That could either be good or bad, depending on your view of the champion. But there have been instances where surprising showings have led to unexpected champions.<\/p>\n

Ethan Page winning the NXT North American Championship and Jacy Jayne winning the NXT Women\u2019s Championship are two recent examples of that trend. Shawn Michaels isn\u2019t afraid to shock everyone in the arena with a match result.<\/p>\n

Everyone is expecting an Oba Femi win, just as they were expecting a Ricky Saints and Stephanie Vaquer win. However, there are instances where surprises are beneficial. Having Inamura win the NXT Championship would be another example of a shocking title change that could significantly alter the landscape of NXT.<\/p>\n

The Title Match Will Be One to Watch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Next Saturday, a dominant champion will face off against a scrappy underdog for the NXT Championship. Oba Femi has had a great run so far, beating everyone in his path. But don\u2019t count out Yoshiki Inamura. He has demonstrated that he deserves a championship match, not only because he defeated Jasper Troy, but also because he has showcased his talent in the ring.<\/p>\n

Many people see the match as an obvious victory for Femi, but some are hoping Inamura will shock everyone. Having an unexpected win could not only help him but NXT as a whole. It could open doors to more NOAH talent in the US, strengthening their partnership.<\/p>\n

Given his showing so far, there\u2019s no reason why more people from NOAH shouldn\u2019t come over from NXT. Every advantage is going to Femi, but Inamura pulling off the victory would be beneficial to everyone.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a> for more on Yoshiki Inamura and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oba Femi has had a great run as NXT Champion so far. He has beaten several opponents, using his strength and athleticism to his advantage. With the Great American Bash next Saturday, it was announced that he was going to be defending his title at the event. In order to determine who was going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":137495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,4,5,3],"tags":[622,8975,8734,7112],"class_list":["post-137467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-nxt-championship","tag-nxt-great-american-bash","tag-oba-femi","tag-yoshiki-inamura"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137467"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137498,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137467\/revisions\/137498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}