NXT Revenge: Part One Review – 04.14.26

By Niz on 14 April 2026

So, off the heels of Stand & Deliver and last week‘s show, we start a two week program called NXT: Revenge. This week’s show comes to the CW/Netflix airwaves from The Performance Center in Orlando, FL. The announcing team for tonight’s show includes Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls and analysis, Mike Rome on ring introductions, and Sarah Schreiber on backstage interviews and breaking news. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Kelani Jordan vs Jaida Parker

Booker wants Joseph to shut up during Parker’s entrance music so he can “vibe”. Sadly, he does not request the same thing during Jordan’s entrance.

They bully each other around to start, and Parker pushes Jordan to the floor off the break. Jordan yanks Parkers head onto the top rope but eats a Parker slap in retaliation. Parker picks Jordan up and kicks her after a sunset flip attempt. Parker grabs a side headlock and clubbers away when Jordan tries various escape methods. Jordan finally breaks out and kicks Parker but gets yanked into an armdrag before getting trucked by Parker. Parker hits a back body drop and Jordan goes to the floor. Jordan trips Parker up but misses a charge before they both clothesline each other down. We go to commercials.

Jordan hits a snapmare takeover and continues to work Parker’s knee that she injured during the break. Jordan torques Parker’s knee around a ringpost and then clips her from behind. Jordan eats a back elbow and then gets rammed into a turnbuckle as Parker fires up. Parker hits a German as Jordan yanks off a turnbuckle pad. Jordan kicks Parker in the knee and then slaps on an STF. Parker tries for the ropes so Jordan pulls her back into the middle and slams her knee into the mat. Jordan puts the stink-mouth on Parker which fires her up. They slug it out a bit and Parker eats a front kick before Jordan nips up. Jordan misses a charge and then runs into a Parker fall-away slam. Parker trucks Jordan a couple of times and then hits a Backstabber. Parker runs Jordan into a corner and hits the butt drop move before high stepping across the ring. Jordan bails and runs Parker back-first into the apron when she gives chase. They go back in and Jordan hits a rolling cutter that gets two. Jordan ascends and Parker fires up with a slap before joining her. Jordan slugs Parker off and dives but Parker catches her. Parker hits a Falcon Arrow and covers for two. Parker charges and runs her hip into the exposed turnbuckle when Jordan slips away. Jordan hits a thrust kick and then hits the One Legged Moonsault for three.

This evens the match results between the two at one apiece so I would assume there would be a rubber match to settle things coming at some point. This was functionally fine but the big action piece happened during commercials and the presentation suffered a bit as a result. I still feel like Jordan’s best work was as a babyface but she’s trying to make the heel thing work. Jordan was smoother tonight and didn’t look like she was counting steps as much as she normally does. Parker mostly took a beating in the second act as she was dealing with her knee. Not too bad for an opener. 2.75*

Winner – Kelani Jordan (Split Legged Moonsault)

EARLIER TODAY here’s Shiloh Hill holding a clipboard in one hand and a hammer in the other. Hill is running through a list on his clipboard and here’s Ricky Saints arriving to ask what Hill is building before surmising it might be related to time travel. Hill asks Saints if the hammer he’s holding is a superconductor and then tells him that if he was building a time machine he wouldn’t have been done until at least last week before cackling at Saints. Here’s Ethan Page entering to ask if it’s a bad time and Saints proclaims that Page has saved him from further Hill nonsense. Page says they need to talk about Stand & Deliver and they bicker a bit but Page wants to extend an olive branch because they work better together. Page asks for Saints help tonight to win the title and promises Saints the first shot should he win. They hug it out as Hill grimaces at the whole scene in the background. We go to commercials.

Page’s shirt was open to his navel and I was fully distracted by it. Shiloh Hill remains awesome.

THE NXT FOCUS PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Zaria and Sol Ruca. Ruca talks about the journey they took as friends and teammates up until the point where Zaria attacked her. Ruca thought their bond was stronger than their ambitions and all Zaria does is offer excuses. Ruca wants to know what Zaria’s excuse is going to be after Last Woman Standing next week.

Here’s Joe Hendry out for his concert. Booker gleefully sings along with Hendry’s theme as Hendry sits down. Hendry talks about losing the Men’s NXT title and now he’s facing some difficult questions. Hendry says that he looked in the mirror and “Joe says no” to giving up. Hendry sings about Tony D’Angelo leaving the mafia and claiming the title, before singing about the number of challengers that will be stepping up. Here’s Keanu Carver out to interrupt and Hendry says they aren’t going to do this, but Carver ignores that and fisticuffs break out. Hendry smashes Carver with a guitar and Carver totally no-sells it before slamming Hendry’s head into the mat a bunch. Carver goes to the floor and smashes Hendry and a few Security guys through the barricade. Carver glares back at Hendry as the segment ends.

This will be a match for Night Two of Revenge and I’m interested to see the booking. Hendry might be headed up to the main and if he is, his last work might be putting Carver over on the way out. If he’s staying down, I’d expect him to win a hard-fought battle. We’ll see how it plays out.

Here’s NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo in a pre-taped promo to talk about tonight’s defense against Ethan Page. D’Angelo mentions Page breaking Oba Femi’s reign number with the North American title and how Femi is about to go to war with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. D’Angelo says he took the title from Femi and he picked Page because he doesn’t like him and because he’s been at the forefront of NXT for the last two years. (Turns out Tony was talking about the NA title but I seriously couldn’t follow his train of thought – I thought he was talking about the main Men’s title.) D’Angelo says he’ll smash Page and his ego to keep the title. We go to commercials as the “Kali Armstrong debuts!” graphic indicates what’s coming next.

Here’s NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice in the locker room and she’s joined by WWE Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. They hug it out as Vaquer says the title looks good on her. They wish each other luck in their respective matches.

Kali Armstrong vs Skylar Raye

Armstrong will be competing in an eight women gauntlet eliminator for the Evolve Women’s Championship on tomorrow evening’s Evolve show ON TUBI, so check back on Thursday for our good friend Phred‘s report on those results. Raye offers a handshake which Armstrong slaps away before slamming her to the mat and grabbing an elbow lock. Raye eats a knee after escaping, and then Raye fires up with a helicopter face slam. Armstrong snatches Raye up for a spinebuster after some rope running and then bullies Raye in a corner. Armstrong hits a huge spear and then pulls Raye up for a running powerslam that gets two. Armstrong pie-faces Raye who fires up with some rights. Armstrong goes to some right jabs and then follows with a big right cross that gets two. Armstrong torques on Raye’s neck and then misses an elbow drop when Raye escapes. Raye hits some knees and a big sledge before running Armstrong over. Raye hits a back elbow off a charge and then follows with a tornado DDT that gets two. Raye ascends and Armstrong smashes her with a right when she jumps. Armstrong snaps off another big powerslam before hitting The Kali Connection (a massive running shoulder block) for three.

A nice debut for Kali, and if you’ve followed her in Evolve you know she’s got the athleticism and power game ready to go, she just needs a bunch of polishing. She’s working heel to start which is consistent with her work in Evolve, and she’s a hell of an athlete. Skylar Raye looked good for what this was meant to be, and I think being able to put on a performance like this in what is essentially a longer-form squash was a good look for her. No complaints here at all, other than again, Armstrong needs a bunch of reps at this level to get to where she wants to go. 2.25*

Winner – Kali Armstrong (The Kali Connection shoulder block)

Here’s NXT Tag Team Champions Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes, Blake Monroe, and Jackson Drake in NXT GM Robert Stone’s office. Stone says they made a statement last week and says that Monroe has earned a title match with Tatum Paxley for next week, but Paxley gets to pick the stipulation. Monroe is devastated at that news, but the Vanity Project kids pump her up and say she’s the rightful champion. They leave as Smokes and Stone have words at the end.

Ethan Page makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Highlights of the excellent Becoming Shawn Michaels documentary are shown when the show returns. See Kat‘s amazing review linked above for further details.

NXT Men’s Championship: Tony D’Angelo (C) vs Ethan Page

Mike Rome does the in-ring intros and we’re off. D’Angelo opens with some rights and rams Page’s head into a top turnbuckle a couple of times. D’Angelo slams Page and then clotheslines him down. D’Angelo gets popped with a right and some elbows as Page fires up. Page lifts a knee and then hits a rear suplex on D’Angelo. Here’s Ricky Saints at ringside, but he gets yanked down and pulled under the ring before he can do anything. Page and D’Angelo smash each other with simultaneous clotheslines as Shiloh Hill emerges from under the ring with a hogtied Ricky Saints in tow. Hill yanks Saints all the way up the aisle and to the back. D’Angelo yanks Page up for an overhead suplex that gets two. Page bails to the apron and D’Angelo follows. Page goes back in and hits a facebuster that drops D’Angelo to the floor. Page follows and hits a rolling neckbreaker on the floor as we go to commercials.

D’Angelo is fighting out of a side headlock when the show returns. Page hits a running Oklahoma Stampede for two. Page clubbers away and D’Angelo hulks up before dropping Page with a release German. D’Angelo hits an overhead suplex and another German before spearing Page down and getting two. D’Angelo pulls Page up and they start slugging it out. Page hits a pump kick but runs into one from D’Angelo. D’Angelo hits a rolling neckbreaker and then pulls Page into Fuhgettaboutit before covering and getting two. D’Angelo goozles Page who thumbs D’Angelo in the eye to get out of it. Page mounts D’Angelo in a corner and hits a second rope powerslam that gets two. Page ascends and hits a splash that gets two. Page grabs the title belt and gets into a tug of war with the ref, so D’Angelo sneaks in and rolls Page up for two. Page hits Ego’s Edge on the title belt and gets two. Page clubbers away with rights and then pushes him out to the floor. Page clears the announce table and pushes D’Angelo onto it. Page gets driven face-first into the barricade and then he puts Page on the table. D’Angelo spears Page on the table which doesn’t break, and then D’Angelo tosses Page back in. D’Angelo hits the Dead To Rights chokeslam and covers Page for three.

The crowd was into this but it left me a bit cold. D’Angelo’s new character, without being on the revenge tour from when he first re-emerged, is a pretty generic power babyface. His moveset is still the same but he’s not really emphasizing any of the amateur stuff that he used to use as The Don. He’s just kind of…there. Page remains a goober but he’s a solid opponent who generally is okay in matches where he respects his opponent, like tonight. There was nothing functionally wrong with this and the crowd enjoyed it, it just never got to another gear for me. 3*

Winner AND STILL NXT Men’s Champion – Tony D’Angelo (Dead To Rights chokeslam)

Here’s NXT Men’s North American Champion Myles Borne making his way out for a chat as we go to commercials.

Here’s an irate Ricky Saints backstage calling for Shiloh Hill. Hill is working on a project and has power tools, which drives Saints away while still bellowing at Hill.

Here’s Myles Borne mid-ring with a microphone to say that he pulled the black and gold right out of Johnny Wrestling at Stand & Deliver before sending him back to Smackdown. Borne says he’s deaf but he heard and felt the chairshot he took post-match from Dion Lennox. Borne says he “Darkstated Darkstate” last week and when you attack the North American champion, ain’t nobody safe. Here’s Darkstate out and Dion Lennox has a microphone. Lennox says they’ve dropped champions and won titles over the last year and he’s been fingertips away from the NXT title. Lennox says the Darkstate slump is over and the end to it is on Borne’s shoulder. Lennox offers two solutions, accept the fate or try to deny the inevitable. Borne says if Lennox wants a title match they can do that next week, no problem. Borne says his answer to Lennox’s ultimatum is option C where he keeps the title. Borne says if Darkstate attacks, Lennox isn’t getting the title match, and calls Lennox the leader of Darkstate with a decision to make. Saquon Shugars fires up to say there is not a leader of Darkstate and goes to attack, so Lennox says to stop because the future is that title. Shugars ignores that and goes into the ring. Borne hits him with Borne Again and Shugars gets yanked out to the floor. Lennox and Shugars bicker.

Whatever story they’re telling with Darkstate is just taking up space, it’s not all that interesting. Lennox is decent in singles but isn’t like head and shoulders above the rest of them. Shugars is a good mouthpiece and a bouncy heel who works very well in a group, but if they split up he’s just another tiny mouthy jackass. I never thought I’d say this but Darkstate need to get their shit together because apart, they drift right back into anonymity.

Here’s EK Prosper and Dorian Van Dux warming up prior to their Speed tournament match. We go to commercials.

Here’s Zaria‘s response to the earlier Sol Ruca piece. Zaria talks about her side of things and says it’s never Ruca’s fault when things went wrong. Zaria mentions that she’s the only one to ever kick out of the Sol Snatcher, and it took three of them to keep her down at Stand & Deliver. Zaria promises to be the Last Woman Standing next week.

I think Zaria is going to win this LWS match next week. I think that because if she doesn’t, and Sol ends up on the main roster, Zaria might be the biggest goober-loser in NXT history after it’s all said and done. Like…it was heading towards Lola Vice, but she finally managed to win the big title, so now it’s Zaria carrying the weight of “never ever wins a big match” on her shoulders.

WWE Men’s Speed Tournament: EK Prosper vs Dorian Van Dux

Prosper is the former Eli Knight, and Van Dux is on the Evolve roster currently. Like all Speed tournament matches, this has a three minute time limit. The winner gets Lexis King for the title, presumably next week.

Prosper slips a charge and there’s a bunch of acrobatics. Van Dux catches Prosper and dumps him to the outside before flying out to crush Prosper with an over-the-top-rope dive. Van Dux runs Prosper back in and splashes him for two. Van Dux gets hit with a sunset flip bomb and bails to the floor, and Prosper follows for a huge springboard moonsault on the floor. They go back in and Prosper hits a dropkick. Prosper misses a charge and gets caught by a Van Dux springboard dropkick. Van Dux crushes Prosper with a running lariat and gets two. Van Dux ascends and immediately gets waffled by a Prosper dropkick. Prosper hits an impressive standing rana and then wallops Van Dux with a running leg lariat. Prosper covers and gets two. They slug it out with kicks and knees, and Van Dux ascends for a top rope cutter. Instead of covering, Van Dux ascends again and misses a Shooting Star Press as Prosper slips away. Prosper ascends and hits a moonsault before covering and getting three with eight seconds to spare.

Now that’s a fun Speed match right there. I like Van Dux and think he’s going to be an interesting prospect moving forward. He’s a tiny muscled up cruiserweight with an attitude, and once he gets used to the American style, I think he could be a thing in NXT. Prosper reminds me of a taller Wes Lee and I think that’s about his ceiling. We’ll see how he does against Lexis King next week, but I suspect Birthright shenanigans will come into play. Anyway, this was fun. 2.5*

Winner – EK Prosper (moonsault)

Post-match sees a show of respect between the two competitors before Birthright emerges to bark at Prosper.

Here’s Robert Stone confronting Keanu Carver about his actions during the Joe Hendry segment. Carver promises that if Stone puts Hendry in the ring with him next week it will be his funeral. We go to commercials.

THE NXT CHRONICLE is on Kendal Grey. Grey mentions that her actions usually speak for her, but she’s had a lot of time to reflect after not winning the title at Stand & Deliver. Grey says no one knew who she was and thinks it’s cool to see how far she’s come in a year. Grey likes hanging with Wren Sinclair and having her as a part of her world. Grey also mentions her work in Evolve as Women’s Champion and how it assured her that she could become a WWE superstar. Grey talks about winning Iron Survivor and how John Cena handpicked her to be in that match. Cena meant a lot to her and her brother growing up and how she looked up to him. Grey mentions her tryout and how she had to overcome a lot of things, but she got confident and got her contract.

This was a solid re-introduction piece for Kendal. She is 100% one to watch in THIS DIVISION moving forward. There might not be another person in NXT with a higher upside right now, honestly.

Here’s Robert Stone ascending into the Performance Center rafters to have a chat with NXT Women’s North American Tatum Paxley. Paxley is laying on a shelf and tells Stone she likes to think up there. Stone wants to know what stipulation she wants, and Paxley tells Stone that it’s going to be a casket match as Shiloh Hill wheels in his newly-constructed black casket.

Joseph runs down next week’s card with the two North American title matches as the highlights, plus Carver-Hendry and Ruca-Zaria LWS as highlights. I continue to be disappointed with just how lame the NXT tag scene remains.

Jacy Jayne along with Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid make their entrance as we go to commercials prior to the main event.

Here’s Darkstate arguing backstage. Lennox and Shugars continue to bicker and Shugars continues to emphasize how Lennox is really thinking about himself. Cutler James says they have to focus on the group and Lennox points out that his shot is their only current shot at gold. Shugars remains disgusted by the whole thing and leaves.

NXT Women’s Championship: Lola Vice (C) vs Jacy Jayne

Mike Rome does in-ring intros. Henley and Reid remain at ringside as they lock up to start. Vice grabs a wristlock and they break before anything can happen on the mat. Jayne slaps Vice on the chest and a slap battle breaks out. Vice hits an armdrag and Jayne trips Vice up off the ropes. Vice grabs a crucifix for two and then rises as Jayne trucks her down. Vice wants an armbar but Jayne rolls her over to get her to relinquish. Vice kicks Jayne along the ropes and then sends her to the floor with a reverse thrust. Vice goes out and hits Reid with a flying tackle before getting walloped by a Jayne high boot. Fatal stand over Vice as we go to commercials.

Both women hit clotheslines as the show returns. They rise and slug it out. Jayne hits some kicks but misses an enziguri before Vice pulls her into a release German. Vice kicks Jayne down and and goes into her rapid fire low kicks routine. Vice shakes her moneymaker and wallops Jayne with a couple of Hip Attacks. Vice hits a side suplex and then hits a running tackle that gets two. Vice tries an anaconda vice and Jayne covers her for two. Jayne springs up for a reverse thrust kick but Vice responds with a back roundhouse kick that catches Jayne flush. Jayne goes to the floor and Vice goes out to try to push her back in. As soon as Jayne is in the ring Vice is confronted by Reid and Henley and the distraction is long enough that when Vice returns to the ring she’s immediately crushed by a Jayne knee lift. Jayne covers and gets two. Jayne hits a running back elbow and mounts Vice on a top turnbuckle. Vice pulls Jayne into a hanging submission so Reid distracts the ref as Henley hits her shitty swinging kick around the ring post. Vice topples to the floor and Henley sends her back in where Jayne wallops Vice with the Rolling Encore. Jayne cannot believe it when Vice kicks out at two. Jayne misses a charge and gets yanked into a guillotine. Jayne rises but Vice won’t release. Jayne rises again and then pulls Vice into a roll up that gets two. Jayne kicks Vice off and she’s met by a huge right hand from Reid while the ref has his eyes on Jayne. Jayne tries another Rolling Encore that misses, and Vice mashes her with a backfist. Vice covers and gets three.

An expected result, at least in my book. Champions in NXT almost never job in their first defense (sorry Tater, you’re the most recent example of this rare phenomenon) and Jayne HAS to be considered for the main here soon, and if not, she needs to be away from the main event for a minute. Now, the post-match stuff might suggest that she’s staying down to put one more person over, but we’ll see. Lola did well here for her first defense but her moveset is just kind of blandly steady at this point. She’s added almost nothing, and you know, she’s got impressive strikes but that’s all she has. I’d like to see her try to learn a few more things at some point. We’ll see how all of this goes. 3*

Winner AND STILL NXT Women’s Champion – Lola Vice (backfist)

Post-match sees Kali Armstrong fly out and crush Henley and Reid with clotheslines as they toss Jayne away to prevent her from getting hit. Armstrong charges up to the apron to stare down Vice, while Kendal Grey appears on the other side apron. Here’s Izzi Dame on the NXT Roost along with Niko Vance and Shawn Spears. Zaria appears in the aisle and gets jumped by Sol Ruca. Vice is surrounded by challengers as the credits roll and we’re out.

A middling show tonight, I have to be honest. Nothing was actively terrible but nothing stood out, either. Both singles title defenses were first defenses for their champs and thus produced no changes. The Hendry concert was kind of a wet fart to just set up next week. The Speed match was fun and a good showcase for those two competitors, and Kali Armstrong’s debut was solid. Like I said, nothing actively terrible but if you didn’t see this show and just read the results while seeing highlights on Youtube, you’d be okay. Next week seems like it could be more eventful and I’m excited for a few of those matches plus the ongoing Trials of Darkstate.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a good Wednesday.