WWE News: Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe for NXT Championship Announced for NXT Takeover 36

The main event of WWE NXT Takeover 36 on Sunday, August 22 is official. The NXT Champion Karrion Kross will defend his championship against Samoa Joe because Kross attacked Joe two weeks ago and Joe wants revenge. Joe was recently hired by NXT as an enforcer and then last night on NXT TV, he signed up again as a wrestler.

Here’s the official announcement on WWE.com:

NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe

Consider him provoked.

Karrion Kross finally went too far, and Samoa Joe struck a deal with Mr. Regal to return to the ring to challenge the NXT Champion at NXT TakeOver 36.

Mr. Regal had originally brought Samoa Joe to the NXT management team to restore order following a chaotic NXT TakeOver: In Your House. The defiant Kross continued to run rampant over the black-and-gold brand, and an attack of Mr. Regal proved to be the final straw.

Can Samoa Joe go strike-for-strike with Kross and end his destructive reign? Or will Kross leave another decorated Superstar in his wake?

Don’t miss the two warriors collide for the NXT Title at NXT TakeOver 36 at 8 ET/5 PT on Sunday, Aug. 22, streaming exclusively on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.

It should be noted that Kross debuted on Raw two weeks ago. He has a loss against Jeff Hardy, who used the ropes to assist in winning the match and then Kross beat Keith Lee this past Monday on Raw. Since Kross is on Raw now, a title loss to Joe is very possible.

As for Samoa Joe, the 42-year-old last had a match on WWE TV in February 2020. Joe suffered a concussion during a taping of a WWE TV commercial after that. Since then, he did commentary work on Raw for a full year, was released after WrestleMania and then brought back to NXT recently.

There are two official matches for NXT Takeover 36 right now:

NXT Championship: Karrion Kross (c) vs. Samoa Joe

NXT UK Championship: WALTER (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov

Some other matches are obvious based on NXT programming like Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai. However, those previously mentioned title matches are the only two matches that are official right now.