NXT Heritage Cup

NXT Heritage Cup is a unique professional wrestling championship for the male roster of WWE’s developmental brand NXT. While traditional championships are represented by a title belt, the Heritage Cup, as the name suggests, is a trophy carried by the winner of the cup. All the matches for the Cup are only contested under the British Round Rules. The title was originally introduced for NXT UK but was brought to NXT after the former shut down in 2022.

Current NXT Heritage Cup Champion

Charlie Dempsey is the current NXT Heritage Cup Champion. He is currently in his second reign with the title after defeating Tony D'Angelo on the August 13, 2024, episode of NXT at the WWE Performance Center. Dempsey is a member of No Catch Quarter Crew alongside Drew Gulak, Myles Borne, and Damon Kemp. Dempsey became only the second wrestler after Noam Dar to win the Cup more than once.

What are the British Round Rules?

Unlike the other titles, the NXT Heritage Cup can never be defended in a traditional match. It can also not be defended in some other gimmick matches like Hell in a Cell, Ladder Match, Battle Royal, and so on. The cup is to be always defended in a British Round Rules match, given its origin was for the NXT UK brand.

Here, the match is divided into six rounds, each lasting for three minutes each. The player gets a point if he covers his opponent for a pinfall, or gets a submission, or wins via count out. In case, one player wins, the round ends before three minutes. If not, the round automatically ends after three minutes and no superstar gets a point for that particular round. No matter how the round ends, there is a break of 20 seconds for the stars.

The match is conducted in a Best-of-Three format and the star who first gets two points is announced the winner. In case, all the six rounds gets completed and no star has two points, the one with more points is crowned the winner or the match is announced as a draw. There are two more exceptions to the two-point rule. If a star wins by disqualification or knockout, he need not win two rounds to get the victory.

List of NXT Heritage Cup Champions