NXT Review – 06.30.26

By Niz on 1 July 2026

NXT is coming off of the Great American Bash and are back in The Performance Center in Orlando, FL. The announcers for tonight’s show are Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls and analysis, Mike Rome on ring intros, and apparently no backstage reporter this evening. It’s time to start the Road to Heatwave, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Here’s some highlights from the Bash to start the show. Back in the arena, Joseph declares we will feel the FALLOUT tonight.

Here’s NEW NXT Women’s Champion Kendal Grey with WWE Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinlclair and Grey is asking Sinclair if she’s coming out with her, and Sinclair says that Grey has this. Grey emerges to a good pop from the PC crowd. Grey trips going up the steps and grins to the crowd. Grey says she’s more nervous for this promo than she was for the match on Sunday, because she says she’s not super good at it. Grey would hide under her desk when she was a kid, and she just hopes the crowd is cool to her. Grey mentions John Cena picking her for Iron Survivor last year put a lot of pressure on her, but no one puts pressure on her like Grey does to herself. Grey talk about not losing a lot before she got to WWE, but trying for the Women’s title caused her to have to deal with the self doubt that came with losing a bit more regularly. Sunday at the Bash proved to her that she’s still got the winning gene. Grey says Lola Vice looked like a champion where she can’t sit in the makeup chair for five minutes before needing to move around. Grey says she won’t dress up like a Barbie and will be nervous about how she sounds in promos, but she’s going to wrestle like a champion when the bell rings. Grey says she’s going to take THIS DIVISION to heights it’s never seen before. Grey says she thrives on competition and she will dictate everything in matches from now on. Here’s Wren Sinclair out with a double layer cake which she hands to Grey before saying SURPRISE. Sinclair says that Grey deserved her moment but now it’s time to acknowledge that they both came out of the Bash as champions.

Here’s Kelani Jordan out to turd up the punchbowl. Jordan starts yelling about how Grey and Sinclair are celebrating opportunities that she’s never been given, and she was assaulted by a lunatic at the Bash. Here’s said lunatic, Tatum Paxley, looming up behind Jordan from the crowd and onto the barricade. Jordan senses it and turns into a Paxley cross-body. Paxley and Jordan start clubbering away while Grey and Sinclair take handfuls of cake to eat while saying “Welcome to NXT!”

There’s some commotion backstage and it’s Keanu Carver standing overtop of a fallen AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Vikingo while holding a LEAD PIPE. A horrified NXT GM Robert Stone bursts onto the scene as Carver barks about EK Prosper now not having a title match tonight. We go to commercials.

Here’s Izzi Dame presumably watching Grey and Sinclair’s celebration while muttering to herself that if things had gone right she would have been North American champion, Women’s Champion, or Speed Champion. Here’s NXT Women’s North American Champion Zaria in to question that logic and to remind Dame that she beat Tatum Paxley twice while Dame failed to do so. Some loud noise starts emanating from the Women’s Locker Room and Dame finds a headbanging Lizzy Rain behind the door. Dame tells Zaria she’s going to fix things herself while Zaria has no idea what she’s saying due to the volume of Rain’s music.

A concerned Robert Stone is approached by Kelani Jordan wondering if he saw the Paxley attack on her, and Stone says he didn’t because he was dealing with the Vikingo situation, which has resulted in a cancellation of the Latin American title match. Stone wants to chat with Keanu Carver at length now, but Jordan only wants to talk about Tatum Paxley. Jordan describes what happened and Stone cuts her off and makes Paxley-Jordan for our MAIN EVENT of the show. Jordan leaves in a huff and Stone finds Keanu Carver. Carver will now face EK Prosper tonight!

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Vanity Project (Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes) (C) vs Galeno del Mal and El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.

If you don’t follow AAA, DW3 and Galeno are real-life brothers and the sons of the legendary Dr. Wagner Jr. and grandsons of the even more-legendary Dr. Wagner. Galeno is 6’3″ and 285 pounds of wrecking machine and is currently feuding with Omos in AAA (Omos is part of a stable called El Ojo that also contains the aforementioned El Hijo del Vikingo and part of the company’s ownership in DorianRoldan). Baylor and Smokes are out with Jackson Drake and Myka Lockwood as usual.

Smokes starts with Galeno and Smokes gets trucked down before tagging in Baylor. DW3 tags in and he starts firing rights at Baylor. DW3 slips a charge and whales Baylor in the back. Smokes grabs a blind tag and gets mashed into Baylor when he charges. DW3 hits three kicks on Smokes and sends him to the floor as well. DW3 hits a tope con hilo and he and Galeno eye up the belts as we go to commercials.

Smokes and DW3 are duking it out when the show returns and DW3 drops Baylor off the apron with an elbow. DW3 hits an enziguri on Smokes who falls into a Baylor tag. Baylor cannot prevent DW3 from tagging in Galeno who trucks Baylor twice before mashing a charging Smokes with a lofted throw and a thrust kick that sends him to the floor. Galeno mashes Baylor in a corner with lariats and then yanks him up for a powerslam. Galeno hits a huge splash and Smokes breaks up the cover at two. Galeno dumps Smokes and Baylor escapes a Galeno Special attempt by scampering through his legs to tag in a quickly-recovered Smokes. Galeno tosses Smokes in and smashes him with a knee lift before tagging DW3 back in. Galeno lofts DW3 into a big splash, DW3 covers Smokes, and Baylor saves by putting Smokes foot on the ropes. Smokes grabs a roll up for two and Baylor tags in. Baylor and Smokes hit a lofted dropkick on DW3 and Baylor’s cover gets two. DW3 and Baylor start slugging it out and DW3 nails Baylor with an enziguri. Galeno tags in and hits a standing Sliced Bread that gets two. Galeno and DW3 hit a combined splash where DW3 comes off of Galeno’s shoulders onto Baylor but Smokes flies in to break up the cover. Galeno misses a charge and Baylor dumps him to the floor. DW3 mashes a charging Baylor and then drops Drake off the apron when he jumps up to interfere. Smokes comes from the floor up to smash DW3 who turns right into the Vanity Project finisher and Smokes covers DW3 for three.

I was happy to see Galeno and DW3 in this match as I like both of them a great deal and really think Galeno is one to watch. They were good here, but the two-man shoulder splash spot at the end was pretty awkward. Other than that, this was mostly them tossing Baylor and Smokes around and I enjoyed that. They were going for a big star number here and didn’t quite get there for me but it was fun and different to see two bigger luchadores toss around smaller American opponents as opposed to what we usually see. I think this one might be worth seeking out on youtube if it’s posted. 3.5*

Winners AND STILL NXT Tag Team Champions – The Vanity Project (Smokes double stomp on DW3)

Here’s Robert Stone surrounded by Stacks Lorenzo, Uriah Connors, Arianna Grace, Bronco Nima, and Lucien Price. Stacks and Connors point out the three defenses in four months that the Vanity Project have made (STONE KEPT THEM OFF THE BASH, GUYS, DO YOU NOT WATCH THE SHOW!?) and says he and Stacks want a shot. Price and Nima want a shot as well, and here’s Sean Legacy in to say he and his partner want a shot. Cutler James and Osiris Griffin enter to throw their names in the hat. Somehow, Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno sneak in (There’s a LOT of people in this tiny room at this point.) and an exasperated Stone says the tag titles should be defended more often and there will be a fatal four-way next week to determine new number one contenders. He puts everyone but Dar and Moreno into the match and Stone tells them to build up their resume before coming back for a shot.

The Vanity Project have remained in the ring for Jackson Drake’s match coming up next, and we go to commercials.

Jackson Drake vs Mason Rook

Lockwood, Smokes, and Baylor remain at ringside in support of Drake. Rook bullies Drake to a corner and Drake blasts him with a calf kick. Drake wants to snap mare Rook over but can’t, and then Rook trucks Drake before hitting a powerslam for two. Rook smashes Drake with a chop and covers him for two. Rook yanks Drake’s arms behind him and jams a knee in his back. Booker gets a phone call from Kam Hendrix which he takes live on the air. Hendrix says he’ll be back soon and he’s 61.5% recovered at the moment. Back in the ring, Drake hits a springboard 360 stomp on Rook before gyrating. Drake misses a springboard moonsault as Rook walks casually away, Samoa Joe-style. Rook splashes Drake in a couple of corners before smashing him with a lariat and standing senton. Rook covers Drake for two and we go to commercials.

Rook’s splash attempt meets Drake’s knees when the show returns. Drake hits a knee lift and a springboard cutter that gets two. Drake puts the boots to Rook who rises up for some chops. Drake hits a back body drop and a helicopter slam. Rook hits a cannonball and covers Drake for two. Drake tries a backslide and then slips away when Rook tries to sit on him. Drake hits a springboard stomp and covers Rook for two. Rook hits a Northern Lights bomb and covers Drake for two. Rook misses a charge and Drake snaps off a DDT for two. We reset with both guys down. Rook hits a headbutt and Drake slips off his back to hit a Destroyer. Drake hits an enziguri and a poison rana, but Rook no-sells it and blasts Drake with a lariat. Rook yanks up Drake for a sit-out powerbomb and Drake somehow kicks out at two. Rook yanks up Drake and as Lockwood distracts the ref, Rook uses Drake as a weapon to take out a charging Smokes. Rook yanks up smokes and tosses him on to Baylor, but this allows Drake to hit a backstabber on Rook. Lockwood holds Rook’s foot down out of the ref’s eyesight as Drake covers for three.

I enjoyed this because tiny heel with a stable versus an alone bigger person is a story that almost always works. Rook’s power game versus Drake trying to figure out how to actually beat someone so much bigger than him made a bunch of sense here. The crowd really got into it after Drake kicked out of the last powerbomb and even though the cheating worked with the finish, I think everyone got something out of this. Neither of these guys is the finished article yet but for a developmental match, this was pretty darn good I thought. 3.5*

Winner – Jackson Drake (Backstabber with Lockwood interference)

Post-match sees a grumpy Rook start smashing around Baylor and Smokes before bellowing at Drake.

Here’s Tate Wilder hyping up EK Prosper in the locker room. Wilder says Prosper beat Carver once and he can do it again, so a fired up Prosper leaves to head to the ring as we go to commercials.

Here’s Robert Stone ending a phone call as Kali Armstrong enters for a chat. Armstrong wants some opportunities and thinks she can beat Kendal Grey. Stone says actions speak louder than words and Armstrong leaves.

EK Prosper vs Keanu Carver

Carver had a confrontation with Hank & Tank during the Bash tailgate party that ended with Carver smashing Hank through a table. Prosper hits a dropkick and some right forearms but Carver smashes him into a corner and yanks Prosper up. Prosper slips off Carver’s back and runs right into some ground and pound. Carver pulls Prosper down and grabs an elbow lock while torquing Prosper’s neck. Prosper fires off some rights but Carver cuts that off with a clubbering right of his own. Prosper slips a charge and mashes Carver with a dropkick. Prosper sends Carver to the floor and then nails him with a dropkick when Carver tries to return. Prosper hits a tope con hilo and then dropkicks Carver into the apron. Prosper hits a tornado DDT and then runs Carver back in. Prosper ascends for a frog splash and covers Carver for two. We go to commercials.

Carver has Prosper on the mat when the show returns as we’re shown highlights of a huge Carver release German that happened during commercials. Carver smashes Prosper around but Prosper fires up with some kicks before Carver cuts it off with a lariat. Carver tosses Prosper halfway across the ring and then torques on Prosper’s neck again. Carver clubbers Prosper down and then yanks him up. Prosper slips off of it and nails Carver with a stunner and superkick. Prosper hits a running lariat and a springboard moonsault. Prosper ascends and hits a flying leg lariat and a reverse roundhouse. Prosper wants a tope and Carver mashes him coming through the ropes. Carver yanks up Prosper and smashes him face-first on the announce table. Carver tosses Prosper back in and here’s Tank Leisure out to smash Carver through the barricade. The ref didn’t see the confrontation and Carver beats the count at nine. Prosper immediately smashes Carver with a running high boot and then ascends. Prosper hits a moonsault and covers Carver for three.

Paying off a storyline from a pre-show event that not many people saw was kind of a choice but at least they gave context prior to the match. Carver’s aura of never staying down after big moves is pretty cool in a vacuum but he couldn’t overcome the attack from Tank here to finish off Prosper, and that’s something we can chew on down the road with Prosper now holding two wins over him. 3*

Winner – EK Prosper (Moonsault)

Here’s Kendal Grey with Robert Stone and Stone reminds Grey that Kali Armstrong has to earn a title match, he’s not just giving her one. Stone mentions making a number one contenders match for the women’s North American title between Izzi Dame, Lizzy Rain, Thea Hail, and Layla Diggs for next week. Here’s Nattie in with Evolve Women’s Champion Nikkita Lyons, Karmen Petrovic, and Layla Diggs to talk about how they’ve all earned the things they’ve gotten. Nattie wants a title match, and Stone says Grey will defend against Nattie next week. Hmm.

Jaida Parker makes her entrance and we go to commercials.

Karmen Petrovic vs Jaida Parker

Petrovic is out with Nattie, Lyons, and Diggs and they now have a hand gesture! It’s not as iconic as Too Sweet or anything but here we are. Parker bullies Petrovic to a corner but offers a clean break. Petrovic gets tripped up and Parker works a side headlock. Petrovic blasts Parker with a kick but gets caught when she charges. Parker dumps Petrovic in a corner and then hits her butt-drop/high stepping move before dumping Petrovic to the floor. Parker barks at the entire crew and Petrovic uses that to trip Parker up. Petrovic rams Parker into a corner and then drops a bunch of rights on her head. Petrovic puts the boots to Parker and then mashes her with a running kick. Petrovic mocks Parker’s high stepping which immediately fires her up. Petrovic shakes off Parker’s flurry and wallops her with Eat Defeat for two. Petrovic whales away with kicks but Parker smashes her with a back elbow in response. Petrovic works a single leg but Parker turns it over and pulls Petrovic into the Rings of Saturn. Nattie helps break that up and Petrovic goes to the floor. Parker tosses Petrovic back in and the ref conveniently turns to check on Petrovic. Parker is grabbed by Lyons and punched by Nattie before Lyons runs her back in. Parker shakes all of that off and smashes Petrovic around before dropping her with a gourdbuster. Parker hits Hipnotic and finishes things with the Deja Vu lofted powerbomb.

I kind of thought maybe Petrovic might get a heel-assisted win here since she just had a big AAA reveal, but the NXT stories trumped that and she came up short against a peeved Parker. I’m assuming Parker will get involved in Nattie’s title match next week to continue all of this but for now, this was fine for what it was. 2.5*

Winner – Jaida Parker (Deja Vu powerbomb)

Parker puts the stink-mouth on Nattie as she exits.

THE NXT FOCUS PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE sees Shiloh Hill checking the blackness of Tatum Paxley’s hair. Paxley says she’s going to beat Kelani Jordan tonight and puts over Hill’s performance at the Bash. Paxley says her and Hill know how to tap into the darkness and they hug as Paxley leaves. Niko Vance slides into scene to mention that the Culling is better off having tossed Paxley and that dead weight Shawn Spears out of the group. Hill doesn’t like Vance’s talk about Paxley, and Vance says “nice smile” before leaving. THE MAN LOST A TOOTH, NIKO. HE’S STILL PRETTY HANDSOME OKAY?!

We’ll hear from NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo when the show comes back from commercials.

Here’s Dorian van Dux backstage sporting a swank NWO shirt as Sean Legacy charges in to say they have to be on the same page when it comes to approaching Robert Stone about stuff. Legacy explains the fatal fourway and van Dux is fired up.

Here’s NXT Men’s North American Champion Myles Borne chatting with his old stable-mate Wren Sinclair and putting over their title retentions at the Bash. Here’s Tavion Heights in and Sinclair scampers away. Heights mentions how tight Hank and Tank are and Borne mentions he’s been trying to tell Heights about that stuff this entire time.

Here’s NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo out for a chat. He’s still got a bandage over his eye from last week’s BURNING CONTRACT. D’Angelo says you can take waking up every day for granted, and he was in the back of an ambulance last week burnt and scared that he might lose his eye. D’Angelo had to sign some hold harmless agreements in order to defend the title and he thought about having to do that. D’Angelo says he showed up with a purpose and used blind rage to spear NARAKU through the Roost and says he’s now done with NARAKU. D’Angelo says his eye will make a full recovery, and he says he’s the captain of his fate. D’Angelo thinks there’s no one in the locker room with enough in their belly to take his title. As he’s leaving, here’s Kendal Grey out for a fist-bump with D’Angelo. Grey gets a nice hand and suddenly here’s NARAKU smashing D’Angelo from behind with a STEEL CHAIR. NARAKU runs D’Angelo into the ring and then hits a front Side Russian Leg Sweep that sees D’Angelo land back-first on the chair. We go to commercials.

Kendal Grey has joined commentary and Joseph and Booker run down next week’s card with two fatal four-ways happening, the men’s tag and the women’s North American titles being the focus of those. Grey talks about watching Nattie on Total Divas and says she’s ready for Nattie next week.

Tatum Paxley vs Kelani Jordan

They bully each other around and Jordan blasts Paxley with a knee before ramming her head into a top turnbuckle. Jordan lifts a knee and then smashes Paxley down. Paxley laughs it off and Jordan nails her with a running splash for two. Paxley grabs a headlock and then tosses Jordan over by her hair to slap on a rear chinlock. Jordan escapes and mashes Paxley with an elbow. There’s some rope running and Paxley hits a dropkick that sends Jordan to the floor. Jordan catches a between-the-ropes dropkick attempt and dumps Paxley to the floor. Jordan misses an Asai moonsault attempt and Paxley hits a thrust kick to Jordan’s mid-section as we go to commercials.

Right before commercials Kali Armstrong came from out of nowhere to attack Kendal Grey at ringside. Once the show returns Grey and Armstrong are both gone as Jordan kicks Paxley around. Paxley catches Jordan’s foot and starts smashing her with forearms. Paxley hits a 360 uranage and we reset as Joseph talks about Paxley’s ankle being damaged during commercials. They slug it out and Paxley wins the skirmish by trucking Jordan down a couple of times. Paxley hits a release German and a step-up enziguri. Paxley hits a rolling Pele kick and gets two. Paxley ascends and misses her 450 attempt. Jordan springs up and ascends for a splash that misses. Paxley hits a slingshot suplex and a sit-out Fisherman’s buster that gets two. Paxley slaps on a submission but Jordan goes to the damaged ankle to break the hold. Jordan stomps on Paxley’s ankle and then locks on a submission of her own. Paxley slips out of it and there’s a series of rollups that ends with Jordan tumbling to the floor. Paxley meets Jordan with a forearm but Jordan fires one back in response. Jordan ascends and Paxley joins her. Paxley’s leg gets caught and Jordan blasts it with ahigh boot. Jordan misses a cutter and meets a kick from Paxley. Paxley wants Cemetery Drive but Jordan slips out of it. Jordan hoists Paxley up for some kind of driver and then hits a twisting Angle Slam. Jordan finishes things with the Split-Legged Moonsault.

Man, that got a little botchy right at the end but they held it together well enough to get to the finish. I don’t think this one will go down in the record books as any kind of legendary confrontation but things happen on live television. 2*

Winner – Kelani Jordan (Split-Legged Moonsault)

Post-match sees Paxley being attacked by Nikki Blackheart but Joseph doesn’t refer to her by that name, only saying that she’s the hottest free agent and NXT is getting stronger and stronger. Blackheart destroys Paxley and gets a bunch of thumbs down from the NXT UNIVERSE. The credits roll and we’re out.

I’m not sure that anyone in the crowd knew who Nikki Blackheart was but that was an interesting way to debut her. Remember when people used to sit in the stands before debuting? That was fun. Anyway, this show started hot and kind of petered out along the way. Overall, I thought the show hit the points it needed to to start setting up Heatwave and we’ll move on to next week (which they taped tonight after the show, so please do NOT discuss spoilers in the comments).

Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a great Wednesday.