As the dynamic duo of Booker T and Vic Joseph pointed out multiple times on commentary, Wes Lee hasn't exactly had the best year as a member of NXT.
His long-time partner, Nash Carter-now Zachary Wentz, whom he's been tagging with since 2018 as The Rascalz on the indies and MSK in NXT, was released due to allegations of outside-of-the-ring improprieties, and after suffering through the growing pains of being a singles start, he we watched his shot at Carmelo Hayes' North American Title dashed due to a backstage beat down by the “The Kid” and Trick Williams. Despite winning a fan vote to decide on Hayes' challanger, Lee had to watch from the back as none other than Solo Sikoa, the former NXT Superstar who had already debuted on SmackDown a few weeks prior, returned to his own stomping ground to secure gold once more.
That gold was supposed to be Lee's, and it would appear he never quite let that go.
Entered into the Five-Way Ladder Match to decide on the next NXT North American Champion following Shawn Michaels' decision to vacate the belt due to Sikoa's non-NXT status, Lee wanted to prove that he not only belongs in the NXT Universe, as opposed to traversing the indies with Wentz and Trey Miguel, but can be a singles performer.
And that, friends, is what Lee did.
Despite taking some serious offensive maneuvers from opposite members of the match, including a brutal toss from Von Wagner that saw former Impact star crash through the commentary table, Lee kept popping up, and in the end, when the match came down to Hayes versus his should-have-been opponent at the One-Year NXT 2.0 Anniversary show, a new champion was named – a first-time singles champion if Booker and T and Vic Joseph are correct.