NXT Review: 29/09
NXT Women’s North American Championship: Zaria VS Thea Hail
After Mr. Stone told Grayson Waller on arrival that Mason Rook is no longer able to compete in tonight’s Main Event, meaning an Open Challenge will be held instead, this week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Zaria putting her NXT Women’s North American Championship on the line against Thea Hail! I don’t think I mentioned this last week, but I’m not exactly a fan of Zaria’s new music; I’m not sure why she needed it during her Title reign, but there you go! I thought the match itself was pretty decent; there were some great transitions where Thea would reverse offense into a submission, trying her best to tap the Champion out! However, Zaria was eventually able to get out of the Kimura, delivering a Z5 to successfully retain her North American Title! I have no idea where Thea Hail goes from here, especially now that her “bestie” Jaida Parker is on the Main Roster (as a Heel, no less)!
Grade: B-
Myles Borne Explains His Actions, BirthRight VS Chazz “Starboy” Hall and Mini Vikingo: NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (Round 1)
The NXT Tag Team Division is getting hyped over the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, with FRAXIOM, Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno, The Wagner Brothers, and The Vanity Project all believing that they’re going to go the distance! Myles Borne would then make his way down to the ring in an all-black suit as he was supposed to explain his actions in regards to turning Heel on Tavion Heights! Myles said that whilst he never planned to hurt Tavion, he realised in the moment (as in during their last segment) that he’s never going to get to the top alongside anyone else; he simply has to do it alone! Myles said that Ethan Page taught him that (which was a nice callback), whilst Borne says he’s now done with doing anything for others! It’s about time Myles Borne remembered why he left the No Quarter Catch Crew to begin with; he’s way more successful as a singles star!
Grade: C+
Lizzy Rain told Mr. Stone that she wants an opportunity against Kelani Jordan (what have you done to earn that?), whilst Mr. Stone wished Chazz “Starboy” Hall and Mini Vikingo all the best in their first Tag Team match together! After Grayson Waller said it was time for someone in the NXT locker room to step up, BirthRight entered the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic against the random duo of Chazz “Starboy” Hall and Mini Vikingo! The reason that these two were thrown together was because Mr. Stone and Rey Mysterio wanted to highlight the most exciting talent from AAA and Evolve! Mini Vikingo is excellent; he steals the show almost every single time he appears in AAA, whilst Chazz Hall had a really strong showing earlier in the summer when he challenged Mustafa Ali for the TNA International Championship (on an episode of TNA Impact!) As fun as they may have been as a duo, this felt like a pretty straightforward match for BirthRight to win, unless Zilla Fatu showed up! I can tell you that Zilla Fatu didn’t show up during the match, and yet, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and Uriah Connors still lost! Yes, that’s right, Starboy and Vikingo were able to pull off the upset, before BirthRight delivered a post-match assault, only for Zilla Fatu to show up and make the save! Starboy and Mini Vikingo will now move on to face The Vanity Project in the Quarter-Finals; surely, they won’t be able to pull off another upset?!
Grade: B-
Kelani Jordan Speaks, FRAXIOM VS DarkState: NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (Round 1)
Cruz Montana had an emotional NXT Chronicle talking about his family and past struggles, saying he knows how to handle people like Dion Lennox, before Izzi Dame once again got into the head of Zaria by re-decorating her locker into a Glinda theme! Kelani Jordan was then out next as she cut a promo talking about how great she is! Due to her greatness, Kelani has no intention of just handing out Title opportunities in Open Challenges (take notes, Carmelo Hayes), meaning she’ll only defend her NXT Women’s Championship against people who actually merit a shot at Lani! This is when Mr. Stone arrived to confirm that they’ll be a 20-Woman Battle Royal next week, featuring talent from Raw, SmackDown, NXT, AAA, Evolve, and even TNA, with the winner moving on to face Jordan at NXT Halloween Havoc! The field for this match is stacked; it features the current World Champions of TNA, AAA, and Evolve, whilst former NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell will also appear! NXT loves doing a 20-Woman Battle Royal, but next week’s one in particular looks fascinating! Also, this segment ended with Reina Volcan destroying Kelani Jordan, so that's something to keep an eye on!
Grade: C+
Naraku told Mr. Stone that he intends to answer the NXT Championship Open Challenge, whilst Saquon Shugars said the same! It was then time for another Round 1 matchup in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as FRAXIOM took on DarkState! FRAXIOM are right up there in contention for being the Greatest NXT Tag Team of All Time, but one thing they never won during their time in NXT was the Dusty Cup! In fact, they lost in the 2024 Semi-Finals to the eventual winners, Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker! DarkState’s fall-off needs to be studied; they weren’t interesting when they were feuding with The Hardy’s, let alone now! Unlike earlier in the night, there wasn’t any upsets here, with Axiom and Nathan Frazer picking up the win after Frazer nailed the Pheonix Splash! FRAXIOM will face Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno in the next round; that could go either way!
Grade: B-
NXT Championship Open Challenge: Grayson Waller VS ?
After another Kendal Grey therapy session got filmed, and Izzi Dame got brought into Mr. Stone’s office (what in the high school is this?), the Main Event of this week’s edition of NXT saw Grayson Waller put his NXT Championship on the line in an Open Challenge! As always in NXT, all of the wrestlers battled their way down to ringside in an attempt to enter the ring first, with Cruz Montana and Zilla Fatu getting the closest to challenging Waller! However, after stopping one another, BirthRight and DarkState would deal with the two stars respectively, before the challenge was finally answered by EK Prosper, who learned from the past by coming from the other arena entrance! To say that this match had to change would be an understatement; Mason Rook and EK Prosper are complete polar opposites in terms of speed and size, but I have to give a ton of credit to Prosper because he stepped up here! A ton of credit also needs to be handed out to Grayson Waller; he is killing it right now, and this match was a lot of fun! After a couple of crazy bumps, EK pulled off the move of the night with a wonderful Moonsault onto Waller through the announce table, only for The Arrogant Aussie to still escape with the win following a pair of Stunners! A massive NXT callback! The show would then go off the air with Zilla Fatu saying that he’s going to destroy Lexis King next week!
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