WWE.com has officially announced that both EC3 and Ricochet will make their in-ring debuts for the Wednesday night NXT brand at next month’s NXT Takeover: New Orleans special. Both men will participate in a 6-Man Ladder Match to crown the first ever NXT North American Championship, which was revealed at this week’s television tapings at Full Sail University.

Technically New Orleans will mark the NXT “return” for EC3, who actually competed under the name Derick Bateman years ago when the yellow brand was still a (terrible) reality competition series.

At this point it appears that both EC3 and RIcochet will be keeping their “indie” names going forward, as they were listed as such in the WWE.com article confirming their debuts, and introduced by those names by William Regal at Wednesday’s television tapings.

Very Excited for EC3

I wish it wasn't the North American Championship. I'd rather have it be the Television (or Network) Championship. I miss seeing that being defended every week.

Another friggin belt...

I remember during the invasion Foley said if you don't have one there's obviously something wrong with you. Getting there.

Yep a 1 hour show now has 4 belts.

In fairness, NXT has the talent to move to a 2-hour presentation if it wanted. Whether it will happen is another matter entirely but the depth is there.