The WWE Speed Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotionWWE. It is a specialized championship for NXT, the promotion's developmental brand, in which matches have a five-minute time limit. The current champion is Raw's El Grande Americano, who is in his first reign which is the longest recognized reign for the title. He defeated Dragon Lee during the Speed tapings on May 5, 2025 (aired May 7).
The title was unveiled on March 27, 2024, to be exclusively defended on Speed, which streamed exclusively on the social media platform X. It was originally regarded as an internet championship and was open to wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. The inaugural champion was Ricochet, who was a member of the Raw roster at the time of his reign. On August 24, 2025, following the cancellation of Speed, the title was officially moved to the NXT brand but still open to challengers from Raw and SmackDown, as well as WWE's partner promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Mexican subsidiary Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
On February 9, 2024, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced a partnership with X to introduce WWE Speed, a weekly video series to stream exclusively on the social media platform where wrestlers would perform in matches with a five-minute time limit.[1] The following month on March 27, WWE commentator Corey Graves announced that Speed would premiere on April 3, 2024, but regular matches would instead be three minutes in length. An eight-man tournament was also announced to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion that would take place over the first few episodes of the program. It was also revealed that male wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and NXTbrands were eligible to challenge for the title.[2]
The inaugural Speed Championship tournament final, which was taped in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 26, 2024, and aired on tape delay on May 3, saw Ricochet defeat Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural champion.[3][4] This tournament final also confirmed that the championship matches would have a duration of five minutes instead of Speed's regular three-minute length.[5] On the July 17 episode, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes fought to Speed's first time-limit draw in their semifinal match. It was decided that both men were eliminated from the tournament with the winner of the other semifinal, Baron Corbin, receiving a bye to the tournament final to face Andrade for the title.[6]
Following the July 9, 2025, episode, the future of Speed came into question as the series stopped uploading new episodes without explanation. Various news outlets began reporting that the program had been quietly cancelled, but neither WWE or X made any statements on the show's status.[7] Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer further clarified that WWE had not taped any episodes after July 9 and his WWE contacts had no knowledge on the program's future.[8] Around the same time, reigning Women's Speed ChampionSol Ruca began appearing on NXT with the title. In an interview on August 19, Ruca said that the Speed Championships previously only appeared on Speed as it was "a separate universe being on X". She was then given permission by WWE to carry the title on NXT programming.[9] A few days later at Heatwave, NXT general manager Ava announced that the men's and women's Speed Championships would be defended on the NXT brand going forward, with qualifying tournaments open to wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown, Evolve, as well as wrestlers from WWE's partner promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Mexican subsidiary Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), starting from the September 2 episode of NXT.[10]
On the October 14 episode of NXT, Ava announced the men's tournament would restart on the October 21 episode. Axiom (SmackDown), Sean Legacy (listed as Evolve), Zachary Wentz (TNA), and Jasper Troy (NXT) would contest for #1 Contendership against El Grande Americano (listed as AAA).[11]
Inaugural tournament
Quarterfinals Speed (aired April 3-April 17, 2024)
As of November5, 2025, there have been four reigns between four champions (five when counting two wrestlers portraying the same character). The inaugural champion was Ricochet. The character of El Grande Americano is recognized for having the longest reign at 184+ days (182+ days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay); Americano was originally portrayed by Chad Gable until June 30, 2025, when Ludwig Kaiser took over due to Gable's injury, with Gable holding the title for 56 days (54 days as recognized by WWE) and Kaiser holding it for 128+ days. Ricochet has the shortest reign at 42 days. Gable, as Americano, is also the oldest champion at 39, while Dragon Lee is the youngest at 29.
The current champion is El Grande Americano from Raw, who is in his first reign. He defeated Dragon Lee during the May 5, 2025, tapings of Speed (aired May 7).[17][18]
Defeated Johnny Gargano in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes Ricochet's reign as beginning on May 3, 2024, and ending on June 14, 2024, when the episodes aired on tape delay.
WWE recognizes Americano's reign as beginning on May 7, 2025, when the episode aired on tape delay. Chad Gable portrayed the Americano character when he won the title, but after he suffered a legitmate shoulder injury, Ludwig Kaiser took over the character on June 30, 2025. On August 24, 2025, at Heatwave, NXT general manager Ava announced that the championship would be defended on the NXT brand going forward, but still open to challengers from WWE's other brands, as well as wrestlers from partner promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and sister promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
↑ The character was originally portrayed by Chad Gable until June 30, 2025, when Ludwig Kaiser took over due to Gable's injury.
↑ WWE officially recognizes 182+ days due to tape delay. Americano was originally portrayed by Chad Gable until June 30, 2025, when Ludwig Kaiser took over due to Gable's injury, with Gable holding the title for 56 days (54 days as recognized by WWE) and Kaiser holding it for 128+ days.
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