Why were the NXT Tag Team titles vacated?
WWE recently announced that NXT Tag Team Champions MSK relinquished their titles. The news arrived just four days after they had captured the championship on April 2, 2022, at NXT: Stand and Deliver.
Nash Carter & Wes Lee (MSK) won the tag team titles in a triple threat match. They defeated Imperium and The Creed Brothers to become two-time tag champs. However, WWE had them relinquish their gold due to a serious issue.
It begs the question: Why were the NXT Tag Team titles vacated? We have the answer for you right here.
The current NXT Tag Team Champions have relinquished the titles.
This Tuesday on #WWENXT new NXT Tag Team Champions will be crowned.
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According to reports, an old photo of Carter impersonating Adolf Hitler surfaced online. It led WWE to release Carter four days after he and Lee became champs. The release meant Lee was left alone as champion, forcing MSK to relinquish the titles.
A bad look for NXT
Meanwhile, Nash Carter's soon-to-be ex-wife Kimber Lee accused him of abuse. She shared pictures with a split lip as proof. However, Carter's tag team partner Wes Lee's wife said Kimber lied, and it was her who mentally abused Carter.
Regarding Carter's release, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio said WWE booked MSK to become champions despite rumors of Carter's Hitler impersonation doing the rounds:
"Obviously there were lot of allegations of abuse and there was a picture that surfaced of him dressed as Hitler and I think the most amazing thing about it to me is that there were rumblings about this well over a week ago, to the point where he did a job on NXT last week. I thought, well, it’s probably gonna be the end of him. And then Saturday came, and they won the Tag Team titles. And now here we are and he’s been fired."
After Carter's release, WWE crowned new tag champions for Tuesday nights. They had a Gauntlet match to determine new titleholders, with Pretty Deadly emerging as the winners.
An illegal move in the match's final stretch led to Pretty Deadly landing their Spilt Milk finisher to win the titles. What makes it more impressive is that it was their debut NXT 2.0 match.