NXT Review – 02.03.26

Let’s see where we are after a very busy week in WWE: Evolve | Impact | Smackdown | Royal Rumble | Raw

It’s a big night for NXT, and the show 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, Kelly Kincaid on backstage interviews and breaking news segments, and Mike Rome on ring announcements. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Here’s Robert Stone entering Shawn Michaels office to find out that he is the new INTERIM NXT GM. They shake on it, and we go to a promo package for the NXT Men’s Championship ladder match. This will be the first time since 2015 that the title will be decided in a ladder match.

Women’s North American Championship Triple Threat: Izzi Dame (C) vs Thea Hail vs Lola Vice

Niko Vance and Shawn Spears are out to support Dame as usual. Mike Rome does in-ring announcements and we’re off. Hail gets a quick roll up on Vice for two. Vice grabs a roll up on Dame for two. Hail gets a backslide on Vice for two. Dame runs both of them over with lariats. Dame yanks up Hail and tosses her into Vice, and Dame then follows by splashing Hail in a corner. Vice leaps on Dame’s back but Dame flies backwards into a corner to shake her off. Dame eats some superkicks and goes to the floor as Vice and Hail square off. Vice wants an armbar but Hail holds her off, so Vice tries for a triangle choke. Hail slides out and wants a Kimura, but Vice slips out of it and they both eat a top rope Codebreaker from Dame. Dame trucks both of them in opposite corners as we see Ricky Saints arriving in an inset. Dame slams Vice and Hail breaks up the cover at two. Vice breaks up a Hail cover and starts slapping Dame. Vice dumps Hail to the apron and she decides to charge over and hit a rana on Niko Vance for some reason. There’s a big scrum that ends with Vice and Dame on the floor while Hail paws at the title. We go to commercials.

Hail comes off the top to hit a Blockbuster while Dame hits a Samoan Drop on Vice and everyone is down. They start slugging it out and Vice comes out firing kicks that stagger Dame and Hail. Vice goes for back and forth Hip Attacks but Hail flies up with an Exploder before Dame flies in with a shotgun dropkick on Hail before covering Vice for two. Dame hits a sit-out powerbomb on Hail but Vice breaks up the cover at two. Hail hits a cross-body on Dame and Vice and then trucks them both down with double sledges. Hail hits an Exploder on Dame and then a drop slam on Vice. Hail wants a springboard senton but ends up in a Vice submission. Dame breaks up that with a senton of her own but she eats a Vice roundhouse. Hail slaps a Kimura on Vice, but Vice slips it and rolls Hail back into a rear naked choke. Hail rolls over and gets a two on Vice, and Dame flies in with a pump kick on Vice. Hail hits a DDT on Dame but she sneaks out to the apron before Hail can cover her. Here’s Kelani Jordan from the back to start smashing Vice around. Jordan yanks out a ladder and smashes it on Vice’s exposed hand. Hail uses the distraction to grab a roll up on Dame for two, and then slaps on a Kimura. Dame dumps Hail over the top rope throat first, and then she yanks up Hail for a sit-out powerbomb. Dame covers and gets three.

Here’s the good from this match: It got better after the commercial break. It didn’t get great or even very good, but it got better. I legit don’t understand why selling just doesn’t matter anymore. If you, a human, get hit in the face with a punch, you aren’t going to shake it off in one second and be right back at the other person. You’re going to feel that impact and need to deal with it internally. Apparently everyone in NXT have dipped into the Fountain of No Pain Ever because selling is just not a thing. In a vacuum, this was fine for what it was but it was a lot like every other television title match you’ve seen in this brand, it went too fast and no one sold. Jordan and Vice’s thing continues, and Hail once again can’t do it in a big setting. Dame’s reign feels kind of adrift at this point and she needs some new competition. 2.75*

Winner AND STILL NXT Women’s North American Champion – Izzi Dame (sit-out powerbomb on Hail)

Wren Sinclair and Evolve Women’s Champion Kendal Grey congratulate Sol Ruca for her performance in the Royal Rumble that included Ruca dumping out NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne. (Ruca had an excellent performance in the Rumble if you haven’t seen it – she made it to the final three!) Zaria wanders in and seems bitter, and Ruca mentions that she got a call and told her not to mention anything to anyone about Saudi. Zaria says ZaRuca is fine but she wants to win tonight because it’s HER TIME.

Tony D’Angelo is wandering backstage and he’ll explain his recent actions after commercials.

EARLIER TODAY after checking on a moaning Andre Chase, Uriah Connors tells Kale Dixon that he’s not going to apologize for anything he did last week. Here’s TNA International Champion Stacks Lorenzo, Lexis King and Arianna Grace wander in to mention Connors birthright. Dixon suggests a tag match and King appears to accept. Good, I guess?

Tony D’Angelo has a new butt-rock theme song and the crowd is totally silent for his entrance. D’Angelo says it’s been seven months since he spoke to the NXT crowd, and he’s got some things he has to get off his chest. The lights come up and a “Tony, Tony” chant breaks out. D’Angelo runs down his list of accomplishments in NXT and mentions he was happy about a year ago with his family. All of it was taken from him, and it was the wake up call he needed. D’Angelo mentions when you’re good in his business you get a crew and family, and Darkstate ruined it all. D’Angelo says he needed to remember who he was before his family imploded and what he does best, which is bouncing people’s heads off the mat. D’Angelo says he came back and nobody knew anything about why he was there. D’Angelo mentions it’s a selfish business, and he came back for two reasons. D’Angelo mentions wanting to punish Darkstate and says he’s going to take everything from them. The second reason will be made known once he’s done with Darkstate.

THE NXT FOCUS PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Shiloh Hill and his study of ladder matches in preparation for tonight’s championship match. Hill mentions that Joe Hendry can teleport! Hill is holding a Bowie knife while cutting this promo, and mentions how we’ll all see him soon. I’m starting to come around on Shiloh, not going to lie.

Elio LeFleur makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Speed Champion Jasper Troy chats about the four contenders for his title who will be Elio LeFleur, Charlie Dempsey, Josh Briggs, and Eli Knight. (Troy says Dempsey will not pull any “George Hackenschmidt stuff” on him should they meet and like….WHAT?!)

WWE Men’s Speed Tournament: Elio LeFleur vs Charles Dempsey

There’s a three minute time limit here, as always. They crash together with cross-bodies as the bell rings. They exchange backslides for two counts and LeFleur blasts Dempsey with a roundhouse kick. Dempsey bails and LeFleur goes right out after him with a moonsault. LeFleur tosses Dempsey back in and Dempsey catches him with a bridging suplex that gets two. Dempsey stomps away at LeFleur and then smacks LeFleur with a forearm. Dempsey smashes LeFleur’s elbow but eats a right from LeFleur. Dempsey drops LeFleur over the top rope. LeFleur grabs a roll up for two, and then hits a big kick on Dempsey. LeFleur hits a top rope drop kick but runs into a bridging suplex by Dempsey that gets two. LeFleur hits a crucifix driver and covers Dempsey for three.

For a sprint with no selling this was decent enough. I think LeFleur is still a bit rough around the edges but he’s stepped in and handled the transition to working the hard cam and the basics of North American wrestling fairly well. His athleticism will play well for him, he just needs reps against this crew to settle himself down a bit. Dempsey is a pro’s pro at this point, but I’d really like to see him level up at some point and start wrecking fools with his catch stuff. Anyway, this might be one to check out on youtube if it gets posted. One of the better Speed matches in a while. 3*

Winner – Elio LeFleur (Crucifix driver)

Kelly Kincaid is backstage with Joe Hendry and points out that he’s probably not at 100% after the attack from the Vanity Project last week. Hendry says that won’t stop him from achieving his goal tonight. Hendry says it’s been seven months since he’s held a title and he came to NXT to win a championship. Hendry says he’s going to give the Universe a bigger reason to say his name.

Zaria and Sol Ruca make their entrance as we go to commercials.

We get a quick video highlights package on all of the NXT recent alumni and current performers who fared fairly well in the Rumbles this past weekend. Everyone really did acquit themselves and the brand quite well.

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship: The Elegance Brand (Heather and M By Elegance) (C) vs ZaRuca (Sol Ruca and Zaria)

The Personal Concierge announces the Elegance Brand who are lead by Ash By Elegance. Daria Rae is in attendance and sitting in the audience for this one. It’s M and Zaria to start and Zaria trucks M down as Ruca makes a blind tag. Ruca hits a standing moonsault and covers M for two as Zaria appears grumpy about the tag. Ruca eats a superkick from M, and then runs into a reverse thrust kick .Heather tags in and puts the boots to Ruca in their corner, and M tags back in. M shoulders Ruca and then tags Heather back in. They hit a double team move on Ruca and Heather covers for two. Ruca snatches up Heather and drops her with a helicopter facebreaker. Ruca kicks Heather into her corner and then forcefully tags in Zaria. Zaria drops an elbow on Heather and covers for two. Zaria runs Heather into a corner and trucks her before hitting a couple of suplexes. Zaria smashes Heather with a knee and then yanks her up to choke her. Ash jumps up on the apron to distract and it works as Heather is able to send Zaria down onto the second turnbuckle before smashing a charging Ruca with a Codebreaker through the ropes. M tags in and hits a pump kick that sends Zaria to the floor. The Elegance Brand celebrates as we go to commercials.

M hits a pump kick on Zaria as the show returns. Heather tags in and M drops her on top of Zaria for a two count. Heather pounds away and then tags in M. M sends Heather into a Zaria elbow and then M misses a charge. Zaria comes over to Ruca and won’t tag her in. Zaria hits a lariat on M, and then M clips her when Zaria tries to do the same thing to Heather. M hits a Codebreaker on Zaria and covers her for two. M and Zaria exchange headbutts and lariats. Ruca finally just tags herself in and she runs wild on Heather and M. Ruca hits a shotgun dropkick on Heather and then runs her over with a knee. Ruca’s cover gets two. Heather grabs a roll up for two on Ruca, and M tags in. Heather hits a moonsault and M then ascends but misses the Exclamation Point moonsault. Zaria gets a blind tag and she and Ruca start beefing before they decide to hit simultaneous spears on the charging Heather and M. Zaria hoists M as Ash yanks Heather out of harms way. M slips off and pushes Zaria right into Ruca’s Sol Snatcher. The Personal Concierge has the attention of the referee as Ruca gets snatched out of the ring and run into the ring steps by Ash. Heather tags in and she hits a double stomp on a prone Zaria before covering and getting three.

Firstly, Heather and M have leveled up in a big way, and M especially is someone to keep an eye on because of her size and athletic abilities. I would imagine she’s on Shawn and Hunter’s radar at this point. The Elegance Brand is a wonderful heel act and I’m glad for them and TNA to get this kind of shine on a WWE show. Zaria and Ruca were game here but the cracks that have been showing for awhile seemed to really break open in this one. We’ll see where it leads. Regardless, this was a good old-school tag match with actual heel psychology and I enjoyed it a bunch. 3.75*

Winners AND STILL TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions – The Elegance Brand (Heather double stomp on Zaria)

Post-match sees Daria Rae come out to hand the titles back to the champions as Ruca and Zaria stare them down from the ring.

Here’s Ethan Page with The Vanity Project as Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake warms up for the main event. Page says they maybe should have finished the job with Joe Hendry, and Page also mentions being done with Myles Borne. Smokes and Baylor guffaw about Borne not listening to Page, and it turns out that they have a tag match against Hank and Tank next week. Page tells Drake to not rush anything tonight, and we go to commercials.

Before the show, Jaida Parker was attacked by Blake Monroe at a merch stand in the NXT Parking Lot. Monroe was hauled away by Security.

Chase U (Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors) vs TNA International Champion Stacks Lorenzo and Lexis King

Andre Chase is out with his team as he’s apparently well enough to be out there. Arianna Grace is with Stacks and King, and no one gets intros here. Connors hits a forearm on Stacks as the bell sounds and then follows with a dropkick. Stacks lifts a knee but runs into a Connors elbow. Dixon tags in and grabs a sunset flip on Stacks that gets two. Dixon grabs a deep armdrag as Connors and King scream at each other. Connors draws the refs attention for this as King blasts a charging Dixon in the back to slow his momentum. Stacks hits a backdrop suplex on Dixon as we see Dion Lennox dapping up his Darkstate teammates in an inset. Connors gets a tag and slips a Stacks charge before blasting him with a roundhouse from the apron. Connors runs into a superkick from King and they start exchanging slaps. King elbows Connors down and then runs him into his team corner. Connors fights his way out of the corner and tags in Dixon. Dixon comes in to smash Stacks and King around for a bit. Dixon runs into Stacks boots on a moonsault attempt and King tags in. King hits a running forearm on Dixon’s head before following with the Coronation. King’s cover gets three.

I bet you can guess how quick all of this went. Chase U feels like such a relic at this point that maybe it’s time to just let the whole thing go. Stacks and King are a fine heel duo and I guess it’s good for both of them to have something to do both here and in TNA. There wasn’t much to this and you don’t have to seek it out unless you have a fetish for seeing another anguished Andre Chase face in the post-match shenanigans. 1.5*

Winners – Stacks/King (King Coronation on Dixon)

Post-match sees the heels leave and Connors following behind them as Joseph speculates that he’s just left Chase U. Fatal Influence are making their way out for a chat as we go to commercials.

Fatal are in the ring and NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne has a mic. Jayne asks the crowd if they know what it feels like to wait for something only to have it snatched away at the last second. Jayne mentions being in the Royal Rumble and she felt like she was on fire after throwing “that sad-ass Kelani Jordan” over the top rope. Jayne puts over THIS DIVISION and says everything was going perfect until Sol Ruca cheap-shotted her and tossed her out. Jayne says she’s been carrying THIS DIVISION all year and mentions Ruca going viral for her Sol Snatcher. Jayne says it’s fine that Ruca stole her moment because Jayne is going to kill the hype. Here’s Zaria emerging from the back to mention that it’s time for her to take her opportunities. Jayne mocks Zaria and says the reason that Zaria doesn’t get opportunities because everyone loves Ruca and merely tolerates Zaria. Jayne says Ruca earns her shots while Zaria hasn’t really done anything yet. (I mean…I thought Roman ethered Punk last night, but DAMN.) Here’s Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair to interrupt and Grey points out that it took all of Fatal to help beat her at New Year’s Evil. Grey says it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of how she’ll do it in terms of pinning or tapping Jayne out. Zaria tells Grey to mind her business and Sinclair chirps up to say Grey deserves a shot way more than Zaria does. Zaria calls Sinclair a sidekick, and here’s Sol Ruca from the back to mention that all of them want a shot at Jayne’s title. Ruca and Zaria bicker and Jayne tells them all they can handle their business in couples therapy because she only wanted to chat with Ruca. Here’s BRAND NEW INTERIM NXT GM Robert Stone to say that his first act as acting GM is to make a tag match between WrenQCC and ZaRuca and whomever scores the pinfall will be the next challenger for Jayne’s title in three weeks at the Center Stage Atlanta show. (This won’t happen but if Sinclair some how snuck this pinfall next week I think I might leap out of my chair with joy – not that I dislike any of these performers, I just think it would be NEATO.)

Kelly Kincaid catches up with Kelani Jordan backstage, and Jordan says that Vice can’t knock out anyone now that she broke Vice’s hand.

Ricky Saints makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair discuss next week’s tag match with Charlie Dempsey. Lexis King, Stacks, Arianna Grace, and Uriah Connors enter as King asks Dempsey if he’s had enough time to think about what they’ve talked about. Dempsey looks vexed but we don’t get an answer. Joseph announces Roadblock for Tuesday March 31st at the Theatre at MSG. Joseph runs down next week’s card which includes Blake Monroe vs Jaida Parker, and the previously mentioned women’s tag match with the title shot on the line.

Vacant NXT Men’s Championship Ladder Match: Ricky Saints vs Jackson Drake vs Keanu Carver vs Shiloh Hill vs Joe Hendry vs Dion Lennox vs Sean Legacy

For the record, there’s like zero chance I’m going to be able to recap everything that happens in this match so sorry in advance if that’s a problem for you. It’s also 1:30 AM and I’m an avowed HATER of ladder matches, so there’s also that. Booker decides it’s time to sing along with Hendry’s theme prior to the bell ringing. Everyone starts slugging it out at the bell and it ends up with Carver smashing Drake and Legacy around before dumping Legacy on top of a ladder. Carver drops Drake on the ladder and then wants to do it to Hill, but Lennox breaks it up and Hill manages to dump Carver on the ladder. Saints and Hendry square off and Saints hits a spear on Hendry before mashing Hill and Lennox with a double tornado DDT. Saints ropewalks with Legacy in tow and then runs him into a ladder. Hendry smashes Saints with a ladder and then waffles a couple of other guys. Hendry sets up the ladder and Drake cuts that off. Hendry yanks Drake off the ladder and then Drake responds by smashing Hendry away. Drake actually ascends and touches the title before a revived Hendry dumps him throat-first on the top rope. Hendry powerbombs Drake onto the full group of opponents on the outside. Hendry hits a tope legdrop on the whole crew as we go to commercials.

Carver is wrecking people on the outside as the show returns. Carver literally rips a ladder in two and then he and Hill get smashed by a Legacy dive. Legacy hits a sliced bread on Lennox and then sets up the ladder before ascending. Drake yanks him down and he ascends. Legacy and Drake ascend on opposite sides and start slugging it out on the top. Hill has taken the ripped-apart ladder and is using the pieces as STILTS (Yo, I am starting to LOVE Shiloh Hill at this point. At least they figured out something innovative to do with a ladder, FINALLY. Holy crap this visual is incredible.) Hill wrecks Drake and Legacy but Carver comes over to put Hill on his shoulders. Lennox uses this as an opportunity to hit a Doomsday Device on a prone Hill. Lennox dumps Carver and ascends but Saints cuts that off. Lennox hits Saints with a spinebuster on a ladder and then ascends again. Hendry yanks him off and chokeslams him on a corner ladder. Hendry ascends and Drake yanks him off before roundhousing him. Legacy and Drake start battling and Drake hits a swanton on Legacy to send him to the floor. Drake ascends and Saints cuts that off before getting smashed by Carver. Drake manages to dump Carver to the floor and instead of ascending he decides to hit a twisting splash on the whole crew on the floor as we go to commercials.

Legacy is ascending when the show returns. Hill flies in to cut it off and wallop Legacy with a big fist to the back. Legacy and Hill start slugging it out on the floor and Carver starts smashing everyone with a ladder. (Joseph: “This is the fastest-paced ladder match I’ve ever seen!” Vic, that ain’t a positive, trust me on this.) Hill flies in to crush Carver with a splash off the ring steps. Hill yanks out his dental bridge and then mashes Carver with a running knee. Everyone buries Carver in ladders and Hill tosses one of them in. Hill uses the ladder as a helicopter to waffle all of his opponents and then sets up a taller one in the middle. Drake mashes Hill with a ladder to cut off his flurry. Drake sets up a ladder bridge and gets immediately superkicked onto it by Legacy. Legacy hits a 450 onto the prone Drake before ascending. Lennox flies in to meet him up top and they slug it out. Legacy does some SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION on Lennox’s fingers, so Lennox bites him in response. Drake and Hill set up a second ladder and both ascend. Everyone reaches for the title and then start punching each other. Lennox finally manages to be up there by himself and here’s Hendry to yank him down before running Lennox into the ladder. Hendry gets dumped and yanks Lennox out with him. Hendry runs Lennox into a corner post and a revived Carver has emerged from the pile of ladders. Carver hits POUNCES on Drake and Hill. Carver runs the length of the ring and crushes Legacy into and through the bottom of the NXT Roost. A stunned Saints watches on before trying to ascend. Carver flies in and they start slugging it out on separate ladders. Saints pushes Carver down and through a ladder on the floor but decides that hitting his pose is more important than grabbing the title. OUTTA NOWHERE here’s Hendry on top of the ladder to fight it out with Saints. They both have a hand on the title and they try to pull it away from each other. Hendry hits Saints in the face with the title and Saints drops back-first onto a ladder. Hendry grabs the title and we have a NEW NXT Men’s Champion!

I liked this more than I thought I would but I do have some notes. One, it got a little too “you do a move and then you do a move and then you do a move” during some sequences. This does happen in NXT regularly, though. Secondly, some of the bumps were maybe a bit ill-advised but it seemed like they had really worked on the timing and choreography of the whole thing so no one did anything TOO stupid. Now, the Hill stilts thing was OUTSTANDING and he acquitted himself very well throughout the whole thing. Lennox, Drake, and Legacy were really just crash test dummies, which was a decent use of them. Saints was kind of an afterthought until the end sequence, which I thought was kind of odd. Hendry did the business when he had to and was my MVP, such as it is, of the whole thing. Also, I’m glad he won because A. it’s not Saints and B. Hendry now has this on his resume for when he eventually joins the main roster. I wish they had maybe just had him beat Oba for it on Oba’s way out, but Hunter probably put the kibosh on that idea pretty quickly given the push that Oba is now getting on the main. So it is what it is. There’s a new champion and hopefully this division can start sorting itself out again. Again, I enjoyed this more than I expected to. 4*

Winner AND NEW NXT Men’s Champion – Joe Hendry (grabs the title after smashing Saints in the face with it)

Hendry celebrates with the title as Booker once again sings along with his theme song. The credits roll as Hendry holds up the title on the top of the ladder and we’re out.

A MUCH better effort tonight than last week’s show. Thumbs up from me for a terrific effort from the team tonight. They didn’t dwell on Ava leaving and just went right to the predictable outcome of Robert Stone becoming the GM (the Interim thing is interesting in that maybe there’s more to come with this title unless Shawn and Hunter just stop caring about it, we’ll see how it goes). The Knockouts tag match was fun, the interactions with Jacy Jayne and her potential challengers were good, and the Speed match was actually entertaining for a nice change. I don’t know where this thing is going with all the legacy kids banding together but they clearly have something in mind – I’m not sure we need another heel stable but it seems to be the plan. I didn’t love the women’s NA three-way but it wasn’t like awful or anything. All in all, a much improved show and one that you as a fan can be happy with. Point out where I’m wrong in comments though, if you have to.

Shout-out to our friend Kat Bourne on her one year anniversary of reviewing Raw. Thanks for reading and commenting as usual, and have a good rest of your week.