NXT Review: 22/09
NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (Round 1): Los Americanos VS Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno
After Cody Rhodes narrated a video on the history and prestige of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, the opening match of the 2026 tournament saw Los Americanos return to NXT to take on Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno! I’ll be honest, I do think the Los Americanos act has run its course; they’re not even that interesting alongside El Grande Americano in AAA, so I don’t really need to see them dance all the time on NXT! Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno actually feel like an outside bet to win this entire thing; they’ve been a team for a while now, and I think the significance of FRAXIOM being the ones who told them to stay together can’t be understated! Eventually, Dar and Moreno were able to get the victory following a high-low combination, with them set to face either FRAXIOM or DarkState in the Quarter-Finals!
Grade: C+
Kali Armstrong VS Skylar Raye, Kelani Jordan and Zaria VS La Catalina and Thea Hail, Cruz Montana Gets Interrupted
Kendal Grey seemed gutted to be at therapy, but my biggest question was what happened to patient confidentiality?! Anyway, Skylar Raye was back wrestling on NXT next as she went one-on-one with Kali Armstrong! Vic Joseph told us that this was one of two big matches in one week for Skylar, with her set to challenge Nikkita Lyons for the Evolve Women’s Championship tonight! As far as this match went, Raye seemed to fight with more intensity than she did the last time we saw her compete on Tuesday nights, but in theory, she was still inferior to Armstrong! However, Skylar was able to jump out of the way of the Kali Connection, with Kali wiping out the referee instead! This is when Reina Volcan finally made her return to NXT television, destroying both women as Skylar fell perfectly into the cover to earn a big upset win! It’s about time when it comes to Volcan!
Grade: C+
Shiloh Hill and Saquon Shugars very much seemed excited over the idea of blinding Tristan Angels, but the funniest part was that they literally said this whilst standing right in front of Mr. Stone! Speaking of Stone, he kicked Wren Sinclair out of the outside merch stand (as she’s technically still suspended, despite appearing on the show last week), before we had Champions galore for the next match as Kelani Jordan and Zaria teamed up to take on the duo of La Catalina and Thea Hail! It’s pretty clear to me that WWE is very high on La Catalina; the timeline of her becoming NXT Women’s Champion feels even closer to me now after the last couple of weeks, but it’s also crazy to think that Thea Hail was in that same boat a few years ago! Now, Hail feels anything but special, with her really struggling to stand out since the days of Chase University (remember she worked with Jacy Jayne for a while)! Also, Zaria continues to not exactly be booked like the dominant Champion that she should be, with her again taking the fall here after a smart pin by Hail! This makes sense in terms of setting up an NXT Women’s North American Championship match down the line, but even still, the Aussie is so much better than this!
Grade: C
Sean Legacy was sad about Dorian Van Dux suffering a punctured lung last week, but he made it up to Zilla Fatu by recruiting EK Prosper in as a replacement instead! Van Dux was adamant that he could compete anyway, but Legacy made it clear that he needs him to be 100% in order for them to win the Dusty Cup! Cruz Montana then got a great reaction from the crowd (as always) as we entered hour 2 with the former 2-time TNA World Champion! Cruz said that whilst he’s not won a ton of matches in his quest to become NXT Champion, he’s not exactly lost many either, and this is when DarkState interrupted as they clearly have their sights set on a new threat! However, after Montana questioned whether Dion Lennox could do anything on his own, Cutler James and Osiris Griffin both departed as Lennox started taking shots at Montana’s family! By the sounds of it, Dion is jealous that the crowd doesn’t like him despite being perfect, whilst they love Montana despite all of his faults! Cruz would eventually have enough of this, starting a brawl which was clearly done in order to give Montana something to do before he eventually goes back after the NXT Championship (which is exactly the same thing I said regarding Zilla Fatu a couple of weeks ago)!
Grade: C+
NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (Round 1): The Creed Brothers VS Harley Riggins and Jax Presley, BirthRight VS Zilla Fatu, Sean Legacy, and EK Prosper
Mr. Stone made it clear that Mason Rook would be allowed to say whatever he wants to Grayson Waller before the end of the show, whilst Hank and Tank are finally ready to get back to winning, which starts with the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic! Speaking of the Dusty Cup, The Creed Brothers started their attempt to make history as the first-ever 2-time winners as they took on the team of Harley Riggins and Jax Presley! These two guys were from Evolve, and boy, could you tell! The Creeds destroyed these two, with Riggins and Presley barely getting in any meaningful offense before Julius and Brutus just got the win! Looking at the bracket, it almost feels like The Creed Brothers have a pretty straightforward run to the Final!
Grade: C
After we got a recap of Myles Borne fully turning Heel on Tavion Heights from last week’s show, the Main Event match this week was a 6-Man Tag as Zilla Fatu, Sean Legacy, and EK Prosper joined forces to try and take down BirthRight! If the injury to Dorian Van Dux is real, expect him and Legacy to not have their match in the Dusty Cup until the final week of First Round matches! As far as this match goes; it was totally solid, but nothing that you would necessarily need to go out of your way to see! I do enjoy watching BirthRight; I find them to be a lot better in the ring than many people perceive them to be, whilst Fatu, Legacy, and Prosper are all pretty talented! Interestingly, interference from Arianna Grace distracted the referee from seeing EK make the tag, with Sean instead tagging himself in, only to get caught by Uriah Connors for a surprise 3-count! Thankfully, BirthRight are starting to win again!
Grade: C+
Grayson Waller and Mason Rook Come Face-to-Face
After Izzi Dame continues to try and get into the head of Zaria by sharing a video of when Zaria stared in “Wicked” as a child, the closing angle on this week’s edition of NXT saw Grayson Waller and Mason Rook come face-to-face ahead of next week’s NXT Championship match! Grayson started off by saying that Mason doesn’t even know how to use a microphone, whilst The Arrogant Aussie would then take shots at Rook’s size and weight! Whilst this will get very old very quickly, Waller always delivers his lines on point! However, for me, this segment was more about finally establishing Mason Rook as a key member of NXT, as he cut a great promo which brought up both The Vision and Austin Theory! Mason then said that next week, he’s going to prove to everyone that he is the best big man in the business (take notes, AJ Francis), and whilst Rook almost certainly won’t win the big one next week, he can certainly make a case for another opportunity down the line! By far the best segment on this week’s show!
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