NXT Review – 07.21.26

By Niz on 22 July 2026

We’re slowly making our way towards Heawave, so tonight’s card feels fairly consequential in terms of the direction of that show. NXT comes to the CW/Netflix airwaves from The Performance Center in Orlando, FL. The announcers for tonight’s show include Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls and analysis, Mike Rome on ring intros, and no one apparently on interviews and news. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

Here’s NXT GM Robert Stone informing senior referee Adrian Butler that NARAKU and Tony D’Angelo are to be kept apart prior to their big Street Fight NXT Men’s Title match. Butler understands the assignment and leaves. Stone gets assurance from someone on the phone that they’re coming to the PC, and he’s then confronted by Thea Hail. Hail wants five minutes of Stone’s time but here’s Nattie Neidhart in to interrupt and Hail politely reminds Nattie that Jaida Parker might beat her tonight. Nattie brushes that off and wonders what Hail’s excuse is. Nattie promises to end Jaida Parker tonight and leaves, and Stone blows off Hail and leaves too.

Noam Dar, Romeo Moreno, and Saquon Shugars vs Darkstate (Osiris Griffin, Cutler James, and Dion Lennox)

Shugars hides his bat in the ring steps and gets handshakes from Dar and Moreno. The story here is that Shugars had a terrible time finding people to team with him during last week‘s show until coaxing Moreno in by mentioning Darkstate’s two runs as tag champs as a possible stepping stone should their team be victorious. Shugars wastes no time by attacking Darkstate at the bell and a Pier Six breaks out on the floor. Darkstate take control and Lennox tosses Dar in to get the bell rung.

Dar grabs a quick roll up for two and then blasts Lennox down with kicks for another two. Lennox fires off a high boot and Dar tags in Shugars. Lennox retreats and tags in Griffin. Shugars goes to work on Griffin’s hamstring with kicks and Griffin brushes him off with a right. Shugars charges right into a Griffin body slam and James tags in. He and Griffin hit a double team back elbow and then James blasts Shugars with an uppercut. Griffin tags in and he runs into a Shugars high boot. Shugars goes to the apron and hits a springboard-between-the-ropes knee clip on Griffin and Moreno grabs a tag. Moreno hits a springboard double stomp. Dar grabs a blind tag as Moreno and he combine on a high-low on Griffin. Dar and Moreno drive Darkstate to the floor and blast James and Griffin with kicks from the apron. They congratulate each other on the apron but Shugars decides to slide between them and out to the floor. Shugars wants Dar and Moreno to hit an announce table move but James and Griffin fire up to prevent that from happening. Moreno gets run into the barricade and Dar gets dumped before James and Griffin combine to send Shugars knee-first into the apron. They stand en masse over the fallen Shugars as we go to a break.

Lennox is beating up Dar when the show returns, and then he pops Moreno off the apron with a right. Lennox runs Dar into the Darkstate corner and Griffin tags in. Dar slips a Lennox charge and flies over to tag in Shugars. Shugars ducks Griffin and James before walloping Lennox with a between-the-ropes dropkick. Shugars sneaks back in and mashes James with a lariat before crushing James and Griffin with a springboard reverse cross-body. Griffin misses a charge and goes to the floor and Shugars hits a Falcon Arrow and a shotgun dropkick as Lennox breaks the cover up at two. Shugars pops Lennox a few times and sends him to the apron. Lennox gets dropkicked to the floor and Shugars gets caught by a James swinging backbreaker off a dive. James blasts a charging Moreno with an uppercut and Griffin tags in. Moreno gets dumped and Darkstate try their toss powerbomb on Shugars. Shugars rolls through as Dar and Moreno leap up to hold off James and Griffin, and the ref counts two. Shugars hits an enziguri on Griffin and tags in Moreno who hits a springboard missile dropkick on Lennox. James tags in as Shugars and Lennox tumble over the top rope to the floor. James gets clipped by Dar on the apron and Moreno crushes James and Griffin with a springboard cross-body from the top rope to the floor. Lennox yanks up Shugars but Shugars reverses and rams Lennox through the bottom of the NXT Roost in a fireman’s carry position. Dar and Moreno run James back in and a recovered Griffin yanks Dar over for a slam on the floor. Moreno gets two on a roll up attempt of James before running into a James high boot. Griffin tags in and he and James combine on a toss powerbomb on Moreno that ends things.

They presented this story as Shugars really targeting Lennox which makes sense, as Shugars attempted to hurt Lennox but his team still lost. I would assume we’re going to continue that part of things. For Dar and Moreno, I’m guessing this leads to Dar trying to calm Moreno down a bit from being so enthusiastic about partnering with people who are in their own situations. We’ll see. It’s good to see Dar back and working if nothing else. 2.5*

Winners – Darkstate (double toss powerbomb on Moreno)

Post-match sees Lennox and Shugars still fighting before being separated.

Here’s Lizzy Rain in the locker room with Jaida Parker, Skylar Raye, WWE Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinclair, and NXT Women’s Champion Kendal Grey. Rain is complaining about how tough THIS DIVISION is as Thea Hail walks in complaining about not being able to get thirty seconds with the GM. Parker tells Raye she’s got things against Reina Volcan tonight before mentioning Nattie who DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE. Grey drops a little poison into the room by mentioning that it’s Parker’s fault that any of them have to deal with Nattie and Parker stands in anger. Everything gets smoothed out by Hail and we go to a break.

Here’s NXT Women’s Champion Kendal Grey and WWE Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinclair out for a chat. Here’s AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion Lola Vice out and Grey tells Vice she’s glad they’re running it back. Vice says she’s worked too long and too hard to step to the side and she’s not done yet. Vice says she kept moving forward and runs down the list of people she had to overcome to get to the title. Grey points out that her name didn’t come out of Vice’s mouth, and Vice mentions how nervous Grey was when she first came out and clearly just needed validation. Grey says the title is the validation and she didn’t need years to prove that Grey belonged. Vice says she looks like a champion and is a woman who knows her worth, while Grey sees someone who’s shy, insecure and vulnerable. Grey says she’s honest with everyone and she doesn’t think there’s anyone in the locker room OR in the ring who can beat her. Vice says she was better than her for three seconds and can’t beat Vice in a fight, and Grey says she thinks this is a perfect idea. Vice cautions Grey against this and says she’ll be exposed, because on August 4th it’s on in The Underground. Vice promises to knock her out and Grey says after she knocks Vice out on her ass, she’ll have to go back to shaking it. We go nose to nose as Joseph reminds everyone that Vice has never lost in the Underground.

Here’s a look at NXT Men’s Champion Tony D’Angelo and his ongoing saga with NARAKU.

Here’s Keanu Carver making an entrance as we take a break.

Hank Walker vs Keanu Carver

This is leftover aggro from the Great American Bash pre-show where Hank and Tank Leisure, who’s out with Hank, got into it with Carver. Hank starts firing rights at the bell and then bashes Carver around in a corner. Carver reverses an irish whip and mashes Hank with an elbow. Hank follows with a running knee and then drapes Carver over the second rope. Carver rises and eventually eats a big boot from Hank. They slug it out and Carver blasts Hank to the floor with a kick. Tank fires up Hank and sends him back in where he catches Carver in a huge Bossman Slam. Hank covers and gets two. Hank gets driven into a corner and Carver yanks him up for a backbreaker over his knee. Carver hits some elbow drops before blasting Hank in the back of the head with a forearm. Hank gets bullied along the ropes and Carver wades in. Hank has a short flurry cut off by a fall-away slam from Carver. Carver’s cover gets a LONG two. Tank keeps trying to fire up Hank so Carver sneaks up behind him and rams Tank into the ring steps. Hank is not happy about this so he crushes Carver with a tope suicida. Carver gets run into a ring post and then run back in. Hank hits a lariat and ascends. Carver ducks a move and hits THE POUNCE on Hank. Carver hits an Alabama Slam and that ends things.

I’m good with this in terms of what it accomplished. Carver is still very much a work in progress but I thought he handled this one pretty well overall despite some awkwardness on the floor. Hank’s a solid opponent for stuff like this and there was nothing wrong with his effort here. Neither guy really sold too much but no one sells anymore so it’s whatever at this point. 2.75*

Winner – Keanu Carver (Alabama Slam)

Post-match sees Tank fly in to prevent further assaults but Carver catches him on the floor and dumps Tank right on the announce table. Carver yanks up some ring steps and here’s EK Prosper out of the crowd to hit a flying double stomp on Carver. Carver gets run back in by Tank and he and Hank combine on HONK HONK. Prosper hits a huge moonsault to leave Carver laying.

Here’s Nattie Neidhart with Karmen Petrovic and Evolve Women’s Champion Nikkita Lyons running into Thea Hail backstage. Nattie offers her help to Hail to train her up because whatever Hail is doing isn’t working. Nattie calls Jaida Parker a “soft bitch” and Hail says she likes Parker, while not liking Nattie. Petrovic and Lyons chirp at Hail before stealing her towel and leaving, while Hail mutters about Parker beating Nattie’s ass under her breath. We take a break.

Joseph throws to a video of Shiloh Hill meeting Danhausen in his lab. They shake hands and Hill mentions Tristan Angels mashing his dental bridge. Since Danhausen has many teeth, he offers Hill a replacement and Hill can’t pay for it with human monies so he offers some bitcoin in exchange.

Jaida Parker vs Nattie Neidhart

Karmen Petrovic and Nikkita Lyons are out with Nattie. Parker dumps Nattie at the bell and goes to ground and pound. Lyons and Petrovic immediately interfere and Lyons gets dropped before Nattie charges in to roll up Parker for two. Nattie snaps Parker over in a side headlock and we reset. There’s some slaps and more grappling. Parker trucks Nattie down and barks at her along the ropes. Nattie goes behind and Parker twists out of it to work a wristlock. Nattie kicks out of it and a slap fight breaks out. Parker fires off an elbow and a lariat as Nattie collapses into a corner. Parker wades in and drops Nattie with a slap before hitting the butt drop/high step move. Lyons and Petrovic drag Nattie to the floor to prevent a Hipnotic. Parker mashes Petrovic with a baseball slide and Nattie clips Parker’s knee from behind in response. Everyone stands over Parker as we go to a break.

Nattie hits a back elbow and an Anvil clothesline before covering Parker and getting two as the show returns. Nattie gets dumped to the apron off a charge and then yanks Parker’s leg out for a Dragon Screw. Nattie smashes Parker’s leg on the mat and then runs into a Parker Samoan Drop. Parker’s knee gives out and she can’t capitalize with a cover. They square off and slug it out and Parker yanks Nattie up for a Falcon Arrow that gets two. Parker misses a second butt drop attempt and Nattie yanks her up for a Michinoku Driver that gets two. Nattie kicks Parker in the head and then pulls her over into the Sharpshooter. Parker makes the ropes and tumbles to the floor. Parker jams Nattie into the ring steps and hurts her knee. Nattie makes it back in as Parker clips her knee. Parker puts the Sharpshooter on Nattie and Lyons thinks about throwing in the towel. The towel gets thrown in offscreen and the ref calls for the bell. It turns out that Thea Hail grabbed the towel and tossed it in.

So Parker finally has an ally here to fend off Nattie’s horde and it paid off for her. Now, this match was kind of clunky the whole way through because these two just have weird chemistry for whatever reason. The finish was clever as hell and if this is going to continue, maybe we get a tag out of it next. I guess we’ll see. 2.25*

Winner – Jaida Parker (towel thrown in by Thea Hail with Nattie in the Sharpshooter)

Hail and Parker fist-bump in the aisle as the heels bark at them from the ring.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Tony D’Angelo and NARAKU. NARAKU used the RED MIST and a fire-laden contract to damage D’Angelo in the run-up to the Bash, and D’Angelo has been on the rampage ever since.

Niko Vance and Izzi Dame make their entrance as we take a break.

Here’s Robert Stone trying to have a phone call and being berated by Kelani Jordan. Jordan shows Stone a replay of her getting a pin in the recent number one contender’s match. Stone reminds Jordan that the referee’s decision is final and Jordan wanders away while chattering about being screwed again. Here’s Bronco Nima and Lucien Price in for a chat about fighting Birthright next week. Stone mentions Nima having responsibilities in both NXT and AAA now and needing to figure out which show he’ll be doing on Heatwave weekend. Price seems a bit put out by that and tells Nima to tell him later what the result is.

Niko Vance vs Shawn Spears

Spears manages to sneak into the ring behind Vance and start lighting him up with rights as the bell sounds. Spears drops Vance to the floor with a lariat and then he goes out to ram Vance head-first into the apron. Vance reverses and smashes Spears with a right. Spears gets run over the ring steps where he has a staredown with Dame. Spears smashes a charging Vance with a chop and runs him back in. Vance trucks Spears and then blasts him with a right. Vance smashes Spears into a corner but Spears fires up with some chops. They slug it out and Spears hits a Thesz Press and some lefts. Spears runs Vance into a corner and Vance fires up with a lariat. Vance smashes Spears into a corner and then puts the boots to him.. Spears rises up with a clothesline and Vance bails. Spears ascends and Dame pulls Vance to safety. Spears flies out to elbow Vance and then drop him with an overhead suplex. Spears eyes up Dame before eyeing up the announce table. Vance reverses after some Dame interference and slams Spears on the mat. We take a break.

Vance slugs Spears in the gut when the show returns. Spears boots a charging Vance and then starts throwing chops. Vance gets dumped to the floor while Spears deals with his hurt back. Spears yanks Vance off a turnbuckle and mashes him around in the center of the ring. Spears hits a flying forearm and drops Vance with a short-arm clothesline. Dame interferes again and Vance fires off a superkick and a Flatline DDT that gets a long two. Vance barks at the referee before smashing Spears with a right. Spears gets smashed to the floor where he calls Vance a bitch. Vance charges out and they start fighting on the floor. Spears runs Vance back in and goes to the aisle for a chair. Dame climbs on the apron and here’s Lizzy Rain out to start fighting with her. Spears pretends that Vance clocked him with the chair before tossing it to Vance, and the ref buys it and calls for the bell.

Okay, it went to a place at the end and I’m okay with it. I think this is a pretty meaningless feud overall so if you’re gonna do these matches, at least make it clever. Spears by no means needs any kind of singles wins but now Vance can wreck him later for the blow-off. 2.5*

Winner – Shawn Spears (perceived chair shot – Vance DQ’d)

A wildly frustrated Vance smashes up the chair as he’s held off by a bunch of referees.

Here’s Kam Hendrix telling Robert Stone that he’s currently at 67.2% after a setback. Here’s NXT Men’s North American Champion Myles Borne and Tavion Heights in as Borne calls Hendrix a coward. Borne offers Hendrix a title shot for next week if Stone will promise a tag team title shot for Borne and Heights, who is ECSTATIC about this idea. Shockingly, Hendrix gets a text from Medical clearing him at 107.6% of health! Stone says it’s on for next week, and if Borne wins they get a tag title shot against Vanity Project the following week.

Here’s a pre-tape promo from Reina Volcan that I’m pretty sure ran last week. We take a break.

Skylar Raye vs Reina Volcan

This is Volcan’s debut match and she’s got some apocalyptic entrance music. Volcan is in red and black indicating a possible alliance with NWO Wolfpac! Hey, this isn’t going to be long, might as well have some fun, right. Raye won Season 2 of LFG and debuted on Evolve last week. Raye grabs a side headlock that Volcan breaks out of easily to truck Raye over. Volcan fires off a snap powerslam and gets two. Raye fires off some rights and a big back elbow before running into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Volcan drops a couple of elbows and gets two. Volcan torques on Raye’s arms so Raye rolls through and hits a double boot to Volcan’s face. Volcan misses an elbow drop and they slug it out a bit. Raye trucks Volcan down and then hits a helicopter arm drop for two. Volcan yanks Raye off the second rope and then hoists her up for the Torture Rack. This ends things quickly.

Joseph called the finisher “The Natural Disaster” so I guess we’ll call it that from now on. Volcan was good here and obviously Raye got a bit of shine. I hope they point Volcan at Zaria but there’s a lot of bodies in THIS DIVISION and she’ll have to wade through a few, I’m assuming. 2.25*

Winner – Reina Volcan (Natural Disaster torture rack)

Here’s Robert Stone eating some popcorn chicken from KFC but here’s Shiloh Hill out of nowhere to turn down an offer of chicken from Stone. Hill says the bad energy is part of him and he’s upset by Tristan Angels embarassing him. Stone says they can fight next week and Hill snaps back into happy-go-lucky before takeing Stone’s entire carton of chicken.

A black SUV pulls up in the NXT Parking Lot and we go to a break.

Joseph runs down next week’s card as it stands when the show returns.

NXT Men’s Championship – Street Fight: Tony D’Angelo vs NARAKU

NARAKU blasts D’Angelo with RED MIST immediately. NARAKU sends D’Angelo to the floor and then rams him through the barricade. NARAKU runs D’Angelo into the ring steps and then tosses him back in. NARAKU pulls the ring steps apart and rams D’Angelo with him before covering and getting two. NARAKU pulls out a garbage can and some chairs and kendo sticks. NARAKU wallops D’Angelo with a chair and then pulls the garbage can up to mount it between turnbuckles. NARAKU slams D’Angelo and then puts up some chairs in a seated position. NARAKU hits a rear suplex on the chairs and covers D’Angelo for two. NARAKU mounts D’Angelo’s head on a chair and tries to kick it but D’Angelo slips off. NARAKU gets backdropped onto some chairs and he bails. D’Angelo goes out as well and grabs a water bottle to clean out his eyes. D’Angelo catches a charging NARAKU and drives him through the barricade as we go to a break.

NARAKU is pushing a ladder into the ring when the show returns. D’Angelo hits a baseball slide and yanks the ladder up to toss it off NARAKU’s head. D’Angelo finds a table under the ring and pulls NARAKU up and into the ring. D’Angelo sets up the table near the ring steps and he and NARAKU battle it out. D’Angelo launches NARAKU face-first into the mounted garbage can and covers him for two. D’Angelo eats a double thrust to the throat and gets crotched over the top rope. NARAKU blasts D’Angelo with a clothesline that sends him to the floor and NARAKU turns into a ladder shot from D’Angelo. D’Angelo gets hit with Enter the Abyss on the floor before being driven through the announce table. NARAKU tosses D’Angelo back in and covers him for two. NARAKU fires off more RED MIST but it’s blocked by D’Angelo’s hands. D’Angelo rubs the mist remnants into NARAKU’s eyes and then starts whaling him with a kendo stick including a nut shot. D’Angelo grabs NARAKU and pulls him onto the ring steps before driving NARAKU through the table with Dead To Rights. The cover is academic.

Good win for D’Angelo in a plunder brawl, and I thought NARAKU did a good job here. I kind of thought maybe we’d get a title change to be quite honest but I guess there are different plans for NARAKU now that he’s lost to D’Angelo decisively twice. I guess we’ll see how that plays out. This was your match of the night, group. 3.25*

Winner AND STILL NXT Men’s Champion – Tony D’Angelo (Dead to Rights through a table)

Post-match sees Mike Santana emerge into the NXT UNIVERSE as D’Angelo looks on. Santana gives D’Angelo a look as he holds his belt aloft. I think that’s your next title program. The credits roll and we’re out.

Nothing in-ring was super great tonight but the show itself was fine for moving things along. From a storyline perspective, everything was pretty crisp and made sense as we move towards Heatwave, and I think that card will start fleshing itself out here soon – that being said I think Santana-D’Angelo is probably one of the main events right now without it being announced. If you haven’t watched TNA or seen Santana other than his occasional appearances in NXT, you’re in for a treat because he’s awesome. At any rate, this was a show, things happened, and we’ll all move on to next week.

Have a great Wednesday. Thanks for reading and commenting. Y’all be cool.