NXT Review – 01.27.26

It’s a busy time so let’s take a minute to catch up: Evolve | Impact | Smackdown | SNME (Mine / SK) | Raw

NXT comes to the airwaves on the CW and Netflix from the Performance Center in Orlando, FL. The announce team for tonight’s show includes Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls and analysis and Mike Rome on ring announcements. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Ricky Saints welcomes us to the PC because he’s at the commentary desk AGAIN. Joe Hendry‘s music plays, but he’s laying on the ground backstage while surrounded by the Vanity Project. His opponent for the evening, Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake is holding a chair. NXT GM Ava comes into scene to ask the crew what they’ve done, and they OF COURSE beg off responsibility for Hendry’s condition because EVERY ATTACK PERPETRATOR MUST NOT BE THE OBVIOUS PERSON in WWE lately. (Seriously, Hunter. STOP this and stop giving Shawn ideas.) Ava is informed that Tony D’Angelo has just arrived so she tells referee Vicky D’Errico to get medical for Hendry and to keep an eye on Drake, Smokes, and Baylor. D’Angelo is flanked by a group of security goons as he enters. Saints, Vic, and Booker are at the desk and inform us that the tag team championship match is going to be up first, so Saints decides that’s not for him and leaves.

NXT Tag Team Championship: Darkstate (Saquon Shugars and Osiris Griffin) vs OTM (Bronco Nima and Lucien Price)

It’s Shugars and Nima to start, and Nima tosses Shugars around as we get underway. Griffin tags in and Nima and Price hit a bunch of double team stuff to send Shugars and Griffin to the floor to regroup. Griffin pounds on Nima from behind and then hits a vertical suplex. Hank and Tank are shown watching the match from backstage in an inset. Price tags in and he and Nima drop Griffin with simultaneous big boots. Price covers Griffin for two. Griffin slugs Price and tags in Shugars, who slaps on an armlock. Price growls at Shugars who is shaken by it before Price runs him into a corner. Shugars tags in Griffin who runs into a Price powerslam. Shugars comes in from behind and gets a slam of his own. Price tags in Nima and they work over Griffin before he escapes to tag in Shugars. Niam hits two suplexes but Shugars fights his way out of a third and blind-tags in Griffin. They hit a double team move that drops Nima to the mat. Nima fires up with a suplex on Griffin and Shugars charges in as does Price. Price tosses Shugars to the floor where he lands on Cutler James. Nima does a Bronco Buster type move on Griffin who’s draped over the second rope as we go to commercials.

Griffin is working over Nima in a corner when the show returns. Nima predictably fights his way out of it as Joseph informs us that Joe Hendry has been taken to a hospital (Were there no LOCAL MEDICAL FACILITIES available, Victor?) Griffin and Shugars hit a double team neckbreaker on Nima and Shugars covers Nima for two. Nima kicks Shugars off so Shugars responds with a Dragon Screw leg whip. Griffin tags in and misses a springboard dive and then Nima dumps Shugars to the floor. Nima and Griffin crash together while attempting cross-bodies. Price and Shugars get tags and Price runs wild for a bit. Price dumps Shugars on top of Griffin and covers for two. Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes run out and during the distraction, Shugars rolls up Price for three.

This match was clunky and awkward and not very good. I’m not sure OTM are ready for longer matches at this point, or perhaps the rushed nature of everything was supposed to indicate that everyone was thrown off their game. Either way, this was just okay at best. The extended heat sequence on Nima happened during the break and there was no real flow to this during either television sequence. It felt like it was just kind of an exhibition to get to the post-match dust-up. I would have rather seen Hendry-Drake, quite frankly. 1.5*

Winners AND STILL NXT Tag Team Champions – Darkstate (Shugars roll up on Price)

Post-match sees a giant brawl break out as Hank and Tank charge out, Chase U joins the fray, and OTM jump into the middle of it. Shugars and Griffin smile from the ring and celebrate their win. Here’s Niko Vance and Shawn Spears charging in from behind to smash Shugars down and then drop Griffin with a double team facebreaker. Vance and Spears have matching mohawks!

Here’s Blake Monroe in the women’s locker room making fun of Jaida Parker. Nikkita Lyons sucks up to her and says they’re aligned. Lyons says she’s been through a lot with Parker and tells Monroe that she should definitely touch grass. Lyons says she will face Parker tonight, and Monroe questions how she’ll repay her. (I think Lyons needs about tree fiddy.) We go to commercials.

Jaida Parker vs Nikkita Lyons

As a reminder, this is Lyons first match on NXT television since last February. Lyons hits an armdrag and then goes behind. Parker works a wristlock in response before Lyons slugs her way out of it. Parker grabs a headlock and then goes back to the arm work. Parker smashes Lyons down and covers for two. Lyons hits a back elbow and a roundhouse kick that misses by six inches but Parker sells anyway. Lyons goes to ground and pound and then slugs Parker in a corner. Lyons runs Parker into several turnbuckles and then stands on her. Lyons hits a forearm and covers Parker for one. Lyons hits a fisherman’s suplex and then grabs a double underhook Pearl River Plunge that gets two. Parker fires up and they start slugging it out before Parker hits a spinebuster. Parker slaps Lyons into place along the ropes and hits her butt-drop on Lyons mid-section. Parker hits Hipnotic on Lyons and then yanks her up for a pumphandle into a Liger Bomb. Parker covers and gets three.

I’d love to know what happened with Nikkita Lyons behind the scenes. She was a featured player in the early days of NXT 2.0 and here she is a few years later working Evolve and doing quick jobs every ten months on NXT television. She seems like a goofball in real life and maybe they just didn’t see it with her after awhile, but they’ve also kept her around when they’ve tossed a bunch of other folks over the side of the boat. It’s weird. Jaida did her thing, gave Lyons a bit of shine, and then closed her out like she should. We’ll see what happens with her and Monroe moving forward. This wasn’t a squash, per se, but it wasn’t exactly long and had a fairly decisive finish. 2*

Winner – Jaida Parker (Pumphandle into a Liger Bomb)

Post-match sees Blake Monroe pop up on the video board to say that Parker’s win wasn’t glamourous. Monroe promises to see Parker soon, so Parker goes to the camera and barks right back at her.

EARLIER TODAY Tavion Heights was backstage with Elio LeFleur and Eli Knight and he daps them up for debuting on NXT last week despite both of them losing. Lexis King, Stacks Lorenzo and Arianna Grace join the scene and King (In a cowboy hat!) starts talking shit about Heights. King insults Heights and talks about he and Grace’s “birthright” to success. Everyone yells, and we go to commercials.

Here’s The Elegance Brand to cut a promo on Sol Ruca and Zaria. Heather and M mention how fake the friendship is and the Personal Concierge mentions the injuries that Zaria is carrying, and promises to keep the Knockouts titles forever.

Zaria is on the phone with Ruca, and she’s apparently not coming tonight? Who can tell. Here’s Thea Hail to complain about fake friendships in NXT, and Zaria says Hail “stumbled” into her title. Hail and Zaria bicker over whether or not Hail earned her title, and Zaria leaves.

Here’s NXT North American Champion Ethan Page as Myles Borne walks up. Page says Borne has another big opportunity tonight and wants to know if Borne will be righteous or ruthless. Page mentions how Dion Lennox doesn’t give a damn and that’s why Darkstate has gold while Borne has “participation awards”. Borne tells Page to not worry about how he handles business. Here’s Ricky Saints to sidle up, and Borne says if he sees Saints out there, he’ll drop his ass. Page calls Saints obnoxious and says it’s funny that that’s the only way to get aggression out of Borne. Dion Lennox makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Ava is on the phone with someone and mentions they have the “deepest women’s division in the world”. (You put Nikkita Lyons in a match tonight, Ava. Let’s slow our roll, shall we?) Here’s Jackson Drake and Swipe Right to inquire about Joe Hendry, and Ava says he’s not cleared as the heels all feign being upset at that news. Ava says she knows they attacked Hendry and Baylor tells her she can’t prove it was them who did it. Ava says since she can’t prove they attacked Hendry, Drake is just in the ladder match for the title. She also then mentions that if Hendry can get cleared in time, he’s in as well. Hey, let’s just put everyone in it and see what happens! (This show feels like a fever dream at this point.)

NXT Men’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Dion Lennox vs Myles Borne

Lennox gets pulled into a side headlock before he gets trucked by Borne. Lennox fires up and bodies Borne down. Lennox works a front facelock before Borne slaps on some head-scissors. They grapple a bit before Borne gets a quick roll up for two. Borne gets an inside cradle for two. Lennox gets a backslide for two. Borne hits a dropkick and then eats a Lennox kick in reposnse. Lennox runs Borne into a corner and trucks him before covering and getting two. Lennox gets rolled up for two as the crowd is starting to turn on this match. Borne gets another inside cradle for two. Lennox misses a charge and Borne hits a couple of running forearms. The crowd fires up for Borne as he and Lennox slug it out. Lennox hits a lariat and then drops Borne to the floor. Lennox goes out and clubbers away before Borne fires up and runs Lennox into the ring steps. Ethan Page is out to bark at Borne as we go to commercials.

Borne is fighting his way out of an armlock when the show returns. Lennox hits a back elbow but misses a charge. Borne hits a bridging German and gets two. Borne hits a powerslam and they start slugging it out. Borne smashes Lennox down and then waffles him with a dropkick. Borne hits a jumping knee and a snap suplex. Lennox tries to use the ropes in a quick roll up but the ref catches it. Lennox goes to the eyes and Borne drops him with a lariat. Page slides his NA title belt into the ring and distracts the ref, but the ref catches Borne with the belt. Lennox snatches up Borne and plants him with an Emerald Frosion before covering and getting three.

This was another awkward encounter where both guys repeated sequences constantly. I’m not sure what has happened to the summer version of Myles Borne who at times looked like the second coming of young Randy Orton. Whatever this story is with him and Page is not helping him in the slightest. Lennox is clunky in singles and has a somewhat limited moveset. But, we have to put a bunch of people who aren’t ready for prime time in a ladder match for the big title and he’ll be one of them, I guess. 2*

Winner – Dion Lennox (Emerald Frosion)

Post-match sees Page barking at Borne who grabs his title and smashes Page in the head with it. Borne stands over Page and yells at him.

Here’s Tony D’Angelo entering Ava’s office where Ricky Saints and Ava are chatting about Keanu Carver. Saints says he doesn’t want anyone, while casting a glance back at D’Angelo, to ruin his moment when he wins the title for the second time. Saints leaves and D’Angelo asks why Ava bailed him out. Ava says NXT needs him and she needs to know if he’s in or out. D’Angelo says he’ll let everyone know what his intentions are next week and it’s not the same D’Angelo we all knew. Ava pointedly tells him NOT to interfere in the ladder match next week, and D’Angelo leaves.

Tavion Heights makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors are arguing backstage as Andre Chase rolls his eyes next to them. Connors mentions that they need to be more ruthless because everyone else is leaving them behind. Chase and Dixon leave as Lexis King sidles up to tell Connors that his father should be proud. (If you’re not aware, Connors father is Fit Finlay.)

Lexis King vs Tavion Heights

Highlights are shown of Heights beating King in eight seconds during the Men’s Speed tournament, before subsequently losing to Jasper Troy in the finals. King attacked Heights right after that match to set this encounter up. Heights smashes King over with a single leg driver that gets two. King claps Heights ears from the apron and then hits a springboard clothesline that gets two. Heights yanks King up and then wallops him with a powerslam that gets two. Heights runs King into a corner and trucks him before clubbering him down. King escapes and hits a back elbow, but King dumps Heights to the floor in response. King hits a running boot and then rams him into the barricade. King hits a superkick and then kicks away at Heights arm. Stacks and Arianna Grace wander out as King and Heights slug it out mid-ring. Heights hits a sling blade but meets a double boot from King. Heights yanks up King and drops him to the mat before yanking him up again for a gut-wrench suplex. Heights smashes King with a lariat and then misses a second one as Heights tumbles to the floor. Stacks points Heights back to the ring and he misses a springboard dive as King slips away. King hits the Coronation rolling neckbreaker and covers Heights for three.

I, uh…I don’t know what’s going on tonight. Also, what in God’s name has happened to Myles Borne and Tavion Heights since leaving NQCC because I wouldn’t exactly call either one of them successful at this point. King may be getting a push here since he and Stacks are clearly working together (and have done so in TNA as well – please make sure to read our pal Saherrin’s recaps every week!). I guess you have to try with Pillman Jr at some point, although this will be maybe the third or fourth time I’ve written that exact sentence. Nothing to go seek out here unless you REALLY like Lexis King for some reason. 2*

Winner – Lexis King (Coronation)

Zaria rips down Sol Ruca’s nameplate in disgust as we go to commercials. Last week they were besties! I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO ATTACK SOMEONE ELSE MY GOD.

NXT ORIGINS shows us Finn Balor chatting about “just wrestling” prior to joining NXT. I WILL HEAR NO PRINCE DEVITT SLANDER, PAL. Balor says he became a superstar in NXT and looks back on his time there as being some of the best times of his career.

Zaria vs Thea Hail

Izzi Dame has joined the commentary team. Zaria pushes Hail around before trucking her. Hail grabs a side headlock and then hits a snap armdrag. Hail goes back to the headlock but Zaria tosses her off and hits a back elbow. Hail hits a dropkick that sends Zaria to the floor, and Hail hits a tope suicida before running Zaria back in. Hail gets dropped over the top rope after trying a Kimura, and then Zaria pump kicks her down. We go to commercials.

Zaria misses a charge but hits a big knee to Hail when she comes back at her. Zaria yanks Hail up in a corner to dangle a bit, before dropping her and flexing to the crowd. Zaria plunges into a Hail Codebreaker and then gets popped by some Hail rights. Hail hits a headbutt and a double sledge. Hail hits a back elbow and wants an Exploder but Zaria elbows her way out of it. Hail hits a rolling neckbreaker and gets two. Hail yanks up Zaria and hits a slam but she jumps off the ropes into a Zaria half and half suplex. Hail tries for another Kimura and finally locks it in. Zaria hoists Hail and dumps her over before spearing Hail into next week. Hail fires up with a DDT and then her and Zaria crash together and both go down. In an inset, we see Tatum Paxley sneak up on Dame from behind and waffle her with a cross body off the barricade. They start slugging it out as Booker yells WHAT THE HELL about forty times. Hail uses the distraction to roll up Zaria for three.

The finishes on this show have been pretty poor tonight, not going to lie. This is the second “let’s use distraction to allow for a roll up pin” and that’s just very sloppy from an agenting standpoint (Seriously, we give Tony Khan shit for running the same finishes on one show, I have to call out Shawn here for this.) and while I’m happy for Hail, this finish actually will detract from the match rating. 2.25*

Winner – Thea Hail (distraction roll up)

Post-match sees Hail extend a hand, which is slapped away. Here’s Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid entering to bark at Hail and Zaria. Hail puts a hand on Zaria’s shoulder to indicate she’ll fight with her, and Zaria decides to have none of that. Zaria yanks Hail up for the F5, and then chirps at Henley and Reid, who immediately back off. Sure. We go to commercials.

Charles Dempsey is backstage with Wren Sinclair and Evolve Women’s Champion Kendal Grey. Dempsey says he was impressed with them last week until they lost. Sinclair calls him a “negative Nancy”. Grey is distracted and mentions she still thinks she can beat Jacy Jayne for the title. Stacks, Lexis King, and Arianna Grace wander into scene and want a chat with Charles, as Grace mentions that he’s “one of us”. GOOBLE GOBBLE ONE OF US

NXT Men’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Andre Chase vs Keanu Carver

Chase starts with a running boot but Carver shakes it off and drops Chase with a lariat. Carver shoulders Chase in a corner and then dumps Chase to the floor. Carver goes out and rips off Chase’s face protector before slamming Chase face-first into the apron. Carver pushes Chase’s face into a ring post before running him back in. Carver runs Chase into a big back elbow and then slams his face into a top rope. Carver lifts a knee before Chase fires up with some back elbows. Carver hits a snap suplex and gets two. Carver drops a knee and then misses a second attempt. Chase slips a charge and smashes Carver’s knee. Chase hits some chops along the ropes but Carver counters his side Russian leg sweep attempt with a right hand. Chase shakes it off and hits a tornado DDT before ascending. Chase hits a cross body from the top rope and gets one. Carver goes out and Chase follows. Carver trucks Chase into the apron, and Chase responds by tossing Carver and himself over the announce table. Carver leaps up onto the announce desk and backdrops Chase onto it. Carver runs him back in and yanks up Chase before hitting a rolling body slam that gets three.

I expected Carver to win this, and Chase is one of those opponents who makes sure to make your shit look like it hurts. Carver is a big powerful dude who’s clearly green as grass, but they’ll toss him into a ladder match and see what he’s got, I guess. There’s a lot of young and inexperienced folks in this ladder match at this point, even with the assumption that Hendry will be in it somehow. If not, it leaves RICKY SAINTS to carry the load for Shiloh Hill, Sean Legacy, Dion Lennox, Jackson Drake, and Carver. Scary. Anyway, this was fairly squash-tastic, as you might have expected. 2*

Winner – Keanu Carver (rolling body slam)

Post-match sees Carver continue to attack Chase before yanking off a turnbuckle pad to ram Chase’s face into it. Carver puts Chase’s head onto the top of the ring steps and stomps on it before refs and medical pour out from the back to prevent further damage. Joseph wants the graphics for next week’s show, and then runs down the card. Chase has chewed on his blood packet and is being attended to as Carver has a mic. Carver dares anyone to come see about him as the other ladder match participants are watching in the locker room. Shiloh Hill seems very enthusiastic to go out and chat with Carver as we go to commercials.

The ladder match group is in the ring when the show returns. Hill says the sounds of Chase’s bones snapping made him excited and Lennox cuts him off to tell him that he’s going to lose some more teeth if he keeps yapping. Sean Legacy says he’s been busting his tail and waiting for an opportunity, and he’s got nothing to lose. Legacy says he can be reckless and Jackson Drake cuts him off to mention that he’s a human highlight reel, but he’s calculated because he didn’t even have to break a sweat to get in the match. Drake says that the good news for everyone else is that they’ll be able to say they were there when he becomes the youngest double champion in WWE history. Here’s Ricky Saints with a ladder in the aisle. Saints ascends and tells everyone the view from up top is absolutely beautiful. Saints says he sees future champions, but he’s the road that has come up from the concrete jungle that is NXT. Carver says everyone is doing way too much talking, and a brawl breaks out. It ends with Carver eating a ladder shot from Saints before he ascends and tries to grab the title. Here’s Joe Hendry holding is arm at his side to enter the ring and chokeslam Saints down. Hendry stares up at the title before hitting his pose. Carver looms up from behind and yanks Hendry up for his rolling body slam. Carver points up at the title as he’s the only one left standing. Joseph runs down next week’s card again, and after the credits come up, we are out.

This was not their best effort. I freely admit that losing Je’von Evans, Trick Williams, and Oba Femi basically all at the same time would be a challenge for anyone as a booker, and there has to be some turbulence along the way. They’re cobbling things together while also dealing with the standard stuff from TNA, the main roster, et cetera. That being said, tonight suffered from bad finishes, some very awkward encounters, and a general feeling of lack of quality across the board. I’m sure things will clear up a bit next week with a relatively big non-named card coming up, assuming everyone overcomes whatever brain-rot infected creative this week. Thumbs leaning down, but there’s some hope for next week so we’ll see how things go.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Be careful out there, stay hydrated, and stay warm. Keep a look out for Phred’s Evolve review tomorrow, and make sure to read and comment there as well!