NXT Review – 02.10.26

Let’s see where we are at the moment: Evolve | Impact | Smackdown | 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, Mike Rome on ring announcements, and Kelly Kincaid on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. We will be losing the services of the aforementioned Kincaid over the coming weekend, so shoutout to her for all the fine work she’s done. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever…TOGETHER

Say his name, and he appears! NXT Men’s Champion Joe Hendry heads to the ring as Booker decides to once again bless us with his rendition of Hendry’s theme song. Hendry thanks the NXT crowd for believing in him and gets a “You deserve it!” chant in response. Hendry mentions that he had never been in a high-stakes ladder match before and he was looking up at Ricky Saints on top of the ladder, and then he heard the words “We believe!”. Those words inspired Hendry to ascend and handle Saints before grabbing the belt and becoming the NEW NXT Men’s Champion. Hendry runs down his list of accomplishments and calls them all steps along the way to becoming the NXT champion. Hendry says we’re just getting started and we’re going to take NXT to new heights. Here’s The Vanity Project out to interrupt. Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake says he’s so inspired by Hendry he could run through a wall, but all the zero IQ fans should be quiet and pay attention to him. Drake calls Hendry “mid at best” and says he goes viral for looking “this damn good”. Drake, Baylor, and Smokes enter the ring while Drake mentions trying to take Hendry out because he doesn’t belong in NXT. Hendry insults the non-coordination of the Project’s clothing, and Drake brushes that off to challenge Hendry for the title. Hendry says he has no problem kicking Drake’s ass. A brawl breaks out and Hendry cleans house until getting clipped by Drake. The Project take over and Drake nails Hendry with a running knee. Drake grabs the NXT title and hoists it aloft as his music plays.

Here’s Zaria and Sol Ruca in the locker room bickering over last week. Ruca calls them a great team who have to figure things out. Zaria wants to know why it can’t be her time and suggests they stay out of each others way during the tag match.

Here’s Jaida Parker on her way to the ring while cutting a promo about her upcoming match. We go to commercials.

Here’s NXT Interim GM Mr. Stone being confronted by Keanu Carver. Carver seems perturbed about Jackson Drake getting a title shot before him while a distracted Stone mentions that he made the match because Shawn Michaels wants chaos and Stone wants to deliver. Carver says if chaos is what they want…and leaves. Stone realizes the implications and gives a short chase before realizing what he’s done and backing off.

Jaida Parker vs Blake Monroe

Parker attacks prior to the bell before being backed off by the ref. Monroe whips her robe at Parker and bails to the floor. Parker goes out and then they head in when the bell rings. Parker whips Monroe to a corner and then waffles her with a German. Parker pushes Monroe into a leg scissors submission, but Monroe rolls her over and starts whaling away. Parker slaps the leg scissors back on and pulls Monroe to the center of the ring. Monroe rolls into the ropes to break it up and then yanks Parker’s throat over the top rope. Monroe hits a Thesz Press and goes to ground and pound. Parker pushes Monroe off and then hoists Monroe who slips off and pushes Parker into the turnbuckles. Parker hoists a charging Monroe on to the apron and yanks her shoulder. Parker goes out and gets run face-first into the announce table. We go to commercials.

Monroe makes fun of Parker’s high-step celebration and then hits a second rope-rana and a short shotgun dropkick. Parker catches Monroe’s boot attempt and smashes her with a back elbow and a huge lariat. Parker wallops Monroe with a Samoan Drop and then runs into a Monroe back elbow. Parker waffles Monroe in a corner and then hits her butt-drop that sends Monroe to the floor. They start slugging it out on the floor and Parker sends Monroe into the steps. There’s more clubbering and the ref’s count reaches ten for a double countout.

I wasn’t sure if we were going to get a clean finish here but instead we got no finish whatsoever. A DCO obviously means THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE but this didn’t really make me want to see more of these two, quite frankly. Monroe seemed out of sorts tonight and Parker wasn’t moving with her normal vigor. There were some glimmers here but maybe these two need more reps against each other. The vibe felt off in this one from the time the bell rang. It was about 2.25* or so when the DCO happened and we’ll just leave it there.

No winner – Double count-out finish

Post-match sees the crowd chanting “let them fight!” while Parker works over Monroe with a group of refs and Security trying to break it up. Parker wants Hipnotic but Monroe yanks a ref in front of it. Monroe tries to escape into the crowd and eventually does, so Parker starts smashing the Security goobers around a bit.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Tatum Paxley who says that she felt suffocated by her friendship with Izzi Dame. Paxley says she spent so much time looking for something to complete her, but what she was looking for was her actual self. Paxley says she lost sight of who she was, so she let go and when she did, everything slowed down. Paxley says the peace was already inside her and the feud with Dame is about clarity, and when it’s over she’ll walk out as the version of Tatum Paxley she was meant to be. We go to commercials.

Here’s Kale Dixon confronting Uriah Connors over him leaving Chase U last week. Connors says Andre Chase held him back and that’s why he left. TNA International Champion Stacks Lorenzo, Arianna Grace and Lexis King wander in as Dixon leaves in a huff while saying he’d never listen to this bunch. Grace mentions that Chase and Dixon couldn’t understand what Connors has been going through. Connors mentions that his dad and King’s dad have some history and he’ll talk to his dad about it.

Here’s a quick promotion for the upcoming movie Psycho Killer with some guy sitting in a mask behind Booker and Joseph. The kid sitting next to this guy seems unsure of exactly what’s going on and I don’t blame him.

WWE Men’s Speed Title Tournament Semi-Final: Josh Briggs vs Eli Knight

As always, tournament matches have a three minute time limit. The winner of this will face Elio LeFleur for the right to take on Men’s Speed Champion Jasper Troy. Briggs hits a big flying forearm to start and then sends Knight to the apron. Knight ascends and hits a big cross-body. Briggs bails to the floor and then eats a flying boot from Knight. Knight hits a moonsault and then follows Briggs back in. Briggs snatches Knight into a backbreaker and smashes Knight with a reverse lariat before covering and getting two. Briggs wants a chokeslam and Knight rolls through and gets a quick two. Knight hits a superkick and a running knee. Knight ascends and hits another moonsault before covering Briggs and getting three.

So look, before I make fun of Josh Briggs, I will say Knight undershot his finishing moonsault and really caught Briggs hard with his knees, so I hope Briggs is okay. Now, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you lost to Eli Knight in two minutes, you giant goober! Phew. Glad I got that out of my system. Okay, so clearly they’re going for “small flippy guy versus the power game of Jasper Troy” for the Speed final because LeFleur and Knight are cut from the same small, flippy cloth. That being said, I would suspect Troy is keeping that title for a bit because I don’t know that they have a plan for him otherwise and I think they want him to work with a variety of opponents. We will see. Briggs…I don’t know where things go for him. Booker has sent a bunch of coded messages on commentary about Briggs and now there’s this. Honestly, if you would have told me that Fallon Henley and Brooks Jensen would have been in much better places than Briggs after that group broke up I would have really had to think about it, but here we are. I’ve now written more words about this than took up the match recap, so let’s just move on. 1.75*

Winner – Eli Knight (Moonsault)

Post-match sees Elio LeFleur come to the ring to show some respect for Knight, only for both of them to get jumped by WWE Men’s Speed Champion Jasper Troy. Troy smashes both guys around and it ends with Troy chokeslamming Knight on top of a prone LeFleur.

Here’s Darkstate heading to the ring as we go to commercials.

Here’s Lola Vice being checked in Medical as Mr. Stone checks on her. Stone says he’s got a match booked for her against Kelani Jordan but she’s got to be cleared to get it. A ref comes in to grab the Medical person while saying there’s something going on elsewhere, so he and Stone leave in a hurry. Kelani Jordan uses this distraction to fly in and wallop Vice from behind before smashing her hand once again. The cameras follow along to see that Keanu Carver has wrecked a bunch of goobers in a backstage area.

Dion Lennox mentions touching the title last week and says he was that close. Lennox says the title will be coming to him and he doesn’t care if it’s Drake or Hendry because he’s coming. Cutler James takes the mic and questions why Tony D’Angelo would ever mention their name after they sent him away for six months. James says Darkstate is stronger than ever and D’Angelo is lonelier than ever. James says this is their first and final warning to leave them alone. Osiris Griffin and Saquon Shugars put the badmouth on The Culling. Here’s Shawn Spears and Niko Vance in the NXT Roost to say that they know that Darkstate are all about divide and conquer and Vance says the Culling thrive on hunting. Here’s OTM’s Bronco Nima in the crowd to shout about Darkstate and Swipe Right. Lucien Price says a few words to Spears and Vance as well, and here’s Hank and Tank to talk about having a taste for the tag titles. They have a match tonight with Swipe Right later but are coming for the titles. A giant brawl breaks out and here’s Tony D’Angelo to smash Lennox and James around before standing over their fallen bodies.

Here’s Joe Hendry making his way to the ring as we go to commercials.

Here’s Kelly Kincaid catching up with Mr. Stone who says that there will be a triple threat number one contenders tag team match next week with The Culling, OTM, and Hank and Tank. Whomever wins that match will get a title shot against Darkstate at the big Atlanta show. Stone excuses himself and runs into Shiloh Hill who’s wearing a Jason mask. NXT Men’s North American Champion Ethan Page enters and cuts off the discussion with Hill and Stone. Stone excuses Hill and asks what he can do for Page. Page mentions wanting another match to break the “number of defenses” record, and they brainstorm before ending with Stone suggesting Myles Borne. Hill wanders back in to retrieve HIS MACHETE and Stone decides to give the title shot to Hill.

NXT Men’s Championship: Joe Hendry (C) vs Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake

Drake is accompanied by Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes, as usual. Drake starts with a shotgun dropkick followed by a running boot in a corner. Drake ascends and wallops Hendry with a swanton before covering and getting two. Drake hits some Yes kicks and an enziguri before hitting a standing Shooting Star Press. Hendry rolls over and yanks Drake up for a side powerbomb. Hendry beals Drake and then wallops him with a back body drop. Hendry sends Drake to the floor and follows out. Drake hits a double thrust but Hendry cuts off that flurry with some uppercuts. Hendry snap-mares Drake into a headlock and Drake escapes with a head-scissors. Hendry goes back to the headlock and then slams Drake after some rope running. Hendry covers and gets two. Hendry works the headlock again before running Drake’s head repeatedly into a top turnbuckle. Hendry hits an overhead suplex and covers for two. Drake pulls Hendry throat-first onto the second rope and then dumps Hendry to the outside. Baylor and Smokes get ejected after running Hendry into the ring steps as Drake was trying to distract the ref. We go to commercials.

Drake is working an inverted chinlock when the show returns. Hendry rolls out of it and smashes Drake with a rolling neckbreaker. They start slugging it out and Hendry smashes Drake with a lariat. Hendry hits a fall-away slam and nips up to a huge pop. Hendry wants the Standing Ovation but Drake slips it so Hendry yanks Drake up for an Angle Slam that gets two. Drake rolls through a powerbomb attempt and gets two. Drake hits a bridging German and gets two. Drake hits a running knee and gets two. A dumbfounded Drake decides to ascend but Hendry catches him coming off the second rope and hits a huge powerbomb. Hendry hits the Standing Ovation and covers Drake for three.

This was low-key great. I very much enjoyed the second act after Baylor and Smokes were sent to the back. Drake, for being a skinny vain heel, held up his end of the bargain and his offense looked fairly crisp. Hendry managed to overcome the early odds and then figured out a way to beat the heel challenger. Wrestling formulas don’t have to be complicated, you know? Match of the night thus far but it was not a big hill to climb. 3.75*

Winner AND STILL NXT Men’s Champion – Joe Hendry (Standing Ovation chokeslam)

Post-match sees a hooded Ricky Saints fly in to attack Hendry. Saints leaves Hendry laying and snatches up the title before dropping it on a fallen Hendry.

Here’s Wren Sinclair and Evolve Women’s Champion Kendal Grey chatting about the upcoming main event. They agree that they’re going to bring home the title opportunity to the WRENQCC.

Hank and Tank make their entrance as we go to commercials.

Darkstate seem upset by the happenings on tonight’s show, and Cutler James says he’ll handle the D’Angelo problem next week. I BET YOU WON’T CUTLER YOU STUPID GOON.

Hank & Tank vs Swipe Right (Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes)

It’s Baylor and Tank to start. Baylor slugs Tank and grabs a rear waistlock. Tank escapes and drops Baylor gut-first on the mat. Tank works Baylor’s arm and tags in Hank. Hank continues working Baylor’s arm but catches a Smokes knee in the back when he runs the ropes. Smokes tags in and he and Baylor drive shoulders into Hank before Smokes covers for two. Tank tags in and trucks Smokes before Hank splashes Smokes. Tank covers and gets two. Hank tags in and he splashes Smokes in a corner before mounting him over the top turnbuckle. Tank tags in and Hank uses Tank’s head like a battering ram before Tank covers for two. Hank tags in and runs Smokes into a top turnbuckle before clubbering away. Hank whips Smokes to the opposite corner and covers for two. Smokes fires up with a slap and tags in Baylor. Smokes and Baylor work Hank over in their corner as we go to commercials.

Tank is fighting both guys in Swipe Right when the show returns. Tank finally makes a tag and Hank flies into smash Baylor and Smokes around. Hank drops Baylor onto Smokes and then crushes Smokes with a flying elbow and a helicopter slam that gets two. Smokes and Hank exchange slaps and Hank fires up with a wheelbarrow slam that gets two. Baylor flies in with an elbow on Hank and then drops Tank from the apron to the floor. Baylor and Smokes combine on a mounted dropkick that ends up getting two on Hank. Chaos breaks out and Smokes gets dropped to the floor. Hank and Tank hit HONK HONK on Baylor and Smokes flies in break up whatever was coming next. Everyone ends up down and here’s OTM trying to come out from the back, with the Culling following closely behind. The distraction allows Jackson Drake to fly in with a high knee on Tank. Baylor covers Tank and gets three.

This was an overbooked mess at the end because they can’t help themselves at times. I actually was kind of enjoying an NXT men’s tag match for once but the second act went right off the rails at the end. Move after move after move, no one selling, and then a wildly overbooked finish just burned the whole thing to the ground. Look, I get what they’re going for and quite frankly, we’ve been pointing out the lack of juice in the men’s tag division for quite some time. This is Shawn’s attempt at restarting the whole thing so let’s hope it works the way he wants it to. The problem is that NONE of these teams feel anywhere near a level that would see them ascend to the next level at this point for varying reasons, so Shawn still has a fair amount of work to do. This was a fascinating experiment in watching a decent match go right off the track at breakneck speed. 2.5*

Winners – Swipe Right (Interference from Jackson Drake as Baylor covers Tank)

Post-match sees The Vanity Project mugging for the camera as Joseph starts running down next week’s card as it stands now.

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

Kelly Kincaid is with Sean Legacy who mentions being caught in Keanu Carver’s path of destruction tonight. Legacy wants Carver in Atlanta and he’ll wait for Carver’s decision.

Swipe Right come up to Mr. Stone who inserts them into the tag team contenders match next week making it a four-way. Myles Borne comes up to complain about not getting a match with Ethan Page, and Stone offers the advice to “do something out of character” to get that opportunity. Borne says “Understood” and we go back to running down upcoming matches that will be happening next week and then in Atlanta in two weeks.

Zaria and Sol Ruca vs Wren Sinclair and Evolve Women’s Champion Kendal Grey

As a reminder, the person who scores either a pinfall or submission here gets a title shot with Jacy Jayne. Grey grabs a quick roll up on Ruca for two directly after the bell. There’s some acrobatics that lead to a standoff. Ruca and Grey exchange waistlocks and Ruca’s charge meets a Grey elbow. Sinclair gets a tag and she and Grey work a chinlock-dropkick move that gets two. Sinclair works Ruca’s arm and Ruca nips up to kick Sinclair off. Zaria tags in and trucks Sinclair in a corner. Zaria pushes Ruca in the chest after Ruca used her as a springboard to smash Sinclair. The ref counts that as a tag and Ruca snap-mares Sinclair into a cover only to see Zaria pull her off in a fit of pique. Ruca hits an X-Factor on Sinclair and covers for two. Zaria gets a blind tag and gives Ruca the gas face as she enters. Zaria yanks Sinclair around before Sinclair escapes a bunch of Zaria clothesline attempts. Sinclair trips Zaria over onto the second rope after a helicopter rana and tags in Grey. Grey and Sinclair hit kicks on Zaria before Grey hits a top-rope assistend double stomp on Zaria that gets two. Grey gets shoved off by Zaria who runs into a Grey high boot. Sinclair tags in and Zaria fights her way out of a suplex attempt to wallop both Sinclair and Grey with rear suplexes. Zaria tags Ruca in and they manage to work together to hit the double team fist drop on Sinclair. Ruca’s cover is again broken up by Zaria who then barks at Ruca about it being her time. Grey and Sinclair come in and finally end up dumping Ruca and Zaira to the floor. Sinclair ascends for a big top rope cross-body on Ruca and Zaria, and then Grey hits a moonsault on both of them as we go to commercials.

Zaria has Grey over her back when the show returns. Grey escapes and hits a rear Codebreaker before crushing Zaria with a tornado DDT. Ruca and Sinclair tag in and Sinclair takes the advantage with a running lariat. Sinclair hits a rear suplex and an X-Factor of her own before covering Ruca for two. Sinclair misses a charge and Ruca hits a German in response. Ruca nails Sinclair with a missile dropkick and then misses a kick. Sinclair rolls up Ruca for two, and Ruca hits a running knee that gets two in response. G Ruca gets another roll up for two and Zaria gets a blind tag that pisses Ruca off. Sinclair dumps Ruca to the floor and then rolls up Zaria for a LONG two. Sinclair hits some chops and a rear thrust kick. Zaria fires up with a release German and Grey tags in. Grey tries for an armlock on Zaria who hooks her hands together to prevent it. Zaria escapes and hits a high knee but Grey grabs a roll up for two in response. Grey hits a superkick on Zaria who runs into Ruca as the ref counts that as a tag. Zaria doesn’t realize this and spears Grey out of her boots. Sinclair runs in and Zaria hits an F5 on her as Ruca “hits” the Sol Snatcher on Grey. (So this is going to be a talking point out of this because Grey left her head too low and Ruca completely whiffed on the Snatcher attempt.) Ruca and Zaria have combined covers but Ruca and Grey were legal so hers counts and she’s the new number one contender.

There’s a lot to unpack here but we still haven’t gotten to the fireworks factory with Ruca and Zaria yet. Will we ever? Well, Ruca’s title shot is in two weeks in Atlanta so I guess we’ll see what happens there. This was going along fine but the end sequence was rushed as hell. I don’t know whether the ref got a call from the back to go home quickly but the pace went NUTS at the end and no one sold anything from right after the armlock attempt on Zaria. The finish was convoluted but made sense within the rules for the match, although how anyone would count the last tag between Zaria and Ruca is beyond me. Grey and Sinclair are a really decent and fun team to watch and I hope they keep teaming in the wreckage of what was once a fun faction. Grey, especially, has leveled right up and feels like she’s got a very bright future. I enjoyed their work in this match a bunch. Ruca and Zaria are telling stories within matches right now and some of it works and some of it just feels like content. This break up has been going on WAY too long at this point. Let’s get’er done, Shawn. Good match, not great, and the rushed finish hurt it for me. 3.5*

Winners – Ruca/Zaria (Ruca Sol Snatcher on Grey – she becomes the Number One Contender for Jacy Jayne’s NXT Women’s Championship)

Joseph once again runs down the upcoming cards as Zaria and Ruca continue to stare daggers at each other. Fatal Influence emerge and Jacy Jayne holds up her title at Ruca as the show ends.

A mixed bag tonight. The first hour was not great, but things picked up a bunch in the second hour starting with Hendry’s defense against Drake. Everything flowed decently from there on out, but there were some hiccups along the way. The men’s tag match was a mess at the end, and Ruca and Grey’s botch of the Sol Snatcher was a bad look. I complain about this group of workers as a whole working way too fast and sometimes it catches up with them. When I yell at the television to slow the hell down, it’s just not working for me the way it’s meant to. We’ll call it thumbs firmly in the middle for this one, and hope that things pick up next week before we head to Atlanta for what’s looking like a decent card.

Thanks for reading and commenting as always. Have a good Wrensday.