DarkState has its first tag team gold.
The new four-man faction picked up the NXT Tag Team Championships on Sunday night, overcoming Hank Walker and Tank Ledger via pinfall. The title change occurred as part of NXT Heatwave at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts.
In the lead-up to the match, DarkState wouldn’t clarify which of their four members would compete. But, it was finally revealed on Sunday that Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin would be in the bout, with Cutler James and Saquon Shugars at ringside.
Hank & Tank were gaining momentum late in the match and seemingly closing in on a win. After Walker delivered a dive off the top rope and to the outside onto three members of DarkState, it seemed as though the heel group’s numbers advantage wouldn’t play a factor in the finish.
But just moments later, the group sprang back up to their feet, preventing a double-team move from the defending champs from occurring. After Cutler ran Ledger groin-first into a ringpost (out of the referee’s view, thus avoiding a disqualification), DarkState was able to give Walker a Doomsday Device to win in 10 minutes.
Hank & Tank carried the NXT titles for over 120 days, first earning the belts at the promotion’s Stand & Deliver Wrestlemania weekend event in April, beating Fraxiom. They defended the belts three times on TV in recent weeks.
DarkState have earned titles just four months after the group made their in-ring debut together.
