The NXT Breakout Tournament is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

single elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

for the NXT

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

. It was first introduced in 2019 and features eight wrestlers who are new arrivals on NXT (usually WWE Performance Center recruits making their NXT television debuts). The winner receives a championship match of their choice, which they can cash in at any time.

Winners, dates and venues of finals

Male winner's championship opportunity

: – Championship victory : – Championship match loss

Female winner's championship opportunity

: – Championship victory : – Championship match loss

Tournament history

2019

In 2019, WWE introduced the NXT Breakout Tournament, featuring eight male wrestlers from the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

making their NXT television debuts. The tournament was held through various television tapings of the weekly '' NXT'' show in June, with the final occurring in August, where Jordan Myles won by defeating

Cameron Grimes Trevor Lee Caddell (born September 30, 1993) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE as Cameron Grimes and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Impact Wrestling as Trevor Lee. Caddell mad ...

2021

After a one-year hiatus in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Breakout Tournament returned for a second edition in 2021, introducing eight new wrestlers from the Performance Center. Two qualifiers were held on the July 2 episode of '' 205 Live'', where Andre Chase and

Joe Gacy Joseph Ruby (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2020, he is signed to WWE, on the WWE SmackDown, SmackDown brand, where he performs under the ring name Joe Gacy and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks faction. Gac ...

won by defeating Guru Raaj and Desmond Troy, respectively. The Breakout Tournament began on the July 13 episode of ''NXT,'' and its final occurred on the August 24 episode of ''NXT''.

Carmelo Hayes Christian Brigham (born August 1, 1994) is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. He ...

won the 2021 tournament by defeating Odyssey Jones in the final.

2022

In 2022, the tournament featured eight female wrestlers from NXT for the first time, with the winner earning a

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champion is Jacy Jayne, who is in her fi ...

opportunity at any time. The 2022 edition began on the May 10, 2022 episode of '' NXT 2.0,'' and

Roxanne Perez Carla Gonzalez (born November 5, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. , she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Roxanne Perez. She is a former two-time NXT Women's Champion, and a former NXT Women' ...

defeated

Tiffany Stratton Jessica Lynn Woynilko (born May 1, 1999) is an American professional wrestler and former gymnast. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Tiffany Stratton and is the current WWE Women's Champion in he ...

in the final on the June 7 episode of '' NXT 2.0''. †

Nikkita Lyons Faith Marie Jefferies (born August 5, 1999) is an American professional wrestler, taekwondo practitioner, and musician. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT and Evolve brands under the ring name Nikkita Lyons. Jefferies has als ...

was injured during training and her semi-final opponent. Fallon Henley, originally got a bye to the finals, but

challenged Henley to earn her spot in the finals, in which Stratton then replaced Lyons in the tournament.

2023 Women's

The fourth edition of the Breakout Tournament was held in 2023, beginning on the October 3 episode of ''NXT''. The tournament's semifinals was held at the

Halloween Havoc Halloween Havoc is a professional wrestling List of NWA/WCW closed-circuit events and pay-per-view events, event currently produced by WWE. Since 2020, it has been held annually for the company's WWE brand extension, developmental brand, NXT (WWE ...

night one on October 24 and the final was held at Halloween Havoc night two on October 31.

Lola Vice Valerie Loureda (born July 19, 1998) is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Lola Vice. As a mixed martial artist, she competed in the wo ...

defeated Kelani Jordan in the final to win the 2023 tournament. † Reece replaced Jakara Jackson after Jackson was not medically cleared to participate.

2023 Men's

† King replaced Trey Bearhill after he attacked Bearhill with a chair.

References

{{WWE Tournaments WWE tournaments WWE NXT Recurring events established in 2019