NXT Stand and Deliver 2026 Review
- Linus O'Howell
- 22 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Countdown Show: Wren Sinclair, Hank and Tank, Shiloh Hill, and EK Prosper VS Birth Right
The Countdown to Stand and Deliver featured a 10-person Mixed Tag Team Match as Wren Sinclair, Hank and Tank, Shiloh Hill, and EK Prosper (formally known as Eli Knight) all teamed together to take on Birthright! This felt like a pretty simple way to get a bunch of people on the card whilst also getting the crowd going ahead of the main show, and in fairness, it worked! This match didn’t even go 7 minutes, but that was a good thing as this served its purpose! It was crazy (in a way) to see Hank and Tank in this position given that they literally beat FRAXIOM for the NXT Tag Team Titles at this event last year, but they had to get on the show somehow, whilst Wren Sinclair had very much earned her time under the bright lights! Eventually, it was the good guys who managed to get the win via Shiloh Hill, and whilst it is a questionable decision that Birth Right keep losing, this was simply for the fans!
Grade: C+
NXT Women’s Championship: Jacy Jayne VS Lola Vice VS Kendal Grey
After a massive video package to get everybody hyped, NXT Stand and Deliver 2026 kicked off with Jacy Jayne defending her NXT Women’s Championship against both Lola Vice and Kendal Grey in a Triple Threat Match! Jacy got a very cool special entrance for this match, highlighting her journey from being “the most beatable Champion” to arguably one of NXT’s best! I also thought that this match itself was the best one on this show; I thought it was superb! All three women had their moments to shine, but it felt a little bit like “The Jacy Jayne Show”; she was everywhere! Multiple pin breakups were needed to stop others from getting the win, including Lola Vice putting Kendal Grey’s foot on the bottom rope, whilst the Moonsault that Grey delivered to the outside was perfectly executed! I could go on about this match for a while; I was thoroughly impressed! In the closing stages, Lola and Kendal went back and forth, with neither women able to gain a clear advantage before Jacy nailed Grey with a Rolling Encore! However, this then led perfectly into Vice wrecking Jayne with a wicked backfist as Lola pinned The Rockstar to become the brand-new NXT Women’s Champion! This moment felt like a long time coming for Lola Vice, who has drastically improved since her days of being NXT’s latest Breakout Star! Also, speaking of improving drastically, what a run that Jacy Jayne has had as the NXT Women’s Champion; she’s done incredibly well, and I really hope that she’ll get to shine on the Main Roster!
Grade: A-
NXT Tag Team Championships: The Vanity Project VS Los Americanos
The NXT Tag Team Championships were the next Titles to be on the line as Los Americanos looked to dethrone The Vanity Project! I still firmly believe that storyline-wise, this match wasn’t big enough to be on NXT’s biggest show of the year! However, there’s no doubt that the talent is there, with The Vanity Project consistently putting in good work whilst Los Americanos are pretty popular with the crowd! This match was also pretty good, with a good amount of back and forth that included a great near-fall where it looked like Rayo and Bravo were about to win Tag Team Gold! There was also an insane sell from Jackson Drake on the outside – he’ll be in a big time match on this show this time next year, whilst El Grande Americano kept trying to give his stablemates their trademark metal plate! However, this turned out to be the downfall for the Americanos, with Jackson Drake stealing it off Americano to nail Bravo with it, opening the door for Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes to retain their NXT Tag Team Titles! This was good!
Grade: B
Sol Ruca VS Zaria
A storyline with over a year of a build finally came to ahead as Zaria looked to finally come out of Sol Ruca’s shadow! Zaria even got a special “St. Louis” version of her pre-entrance video, but just like Jacy Jayne earlier in the night, that didn’t help her! I felt like this was the weakest match of the night, with not a lot happening for the large majority of it! The whole ZaRuca story has been told well to the point where it deserved a big stipulation match to end the feud, but for some reason, that isn’t happening here! See, whilst the near-falls following both a Sol Snatcher and a Z5 were good, it didn’t make a lot of sense, with Ruca’s kickout in particular being a bit dumb! Then there’s the ending, where Sol just won with her third Sol Snatcher of the night! The story was easily there for Zaria to win this match and send Sol Ruca packing to the Main Roster, where I’m sure she’ll do great! However, it looks like instead of that, this feud will continue, meaning their big Stand and Deliver match was just another chapter in this feud, not the ending like it really should’ve been!
Grade: C
NXT North American Championship: Myles Borne VS Johnny Gargano
Johnny Wrestling was officially back in NXT as Johnny Gargano looked to become a 4-time NXT North American Champion at the expense of the current Champ, Myles Borne! The crowd were fully behind Johnny here, with Gargano easily getting the biggest reactions of the night! That also meant that Myles Borne was booed a little bit, and whilst I don’t expect that to continue against anyone else, it was quite ironic given his similarities to Randy Orton! The actual wrestling in this match was pretty good; it was maybe missing a few more Prime Gargano kickouts, but his one following a Borne Again was quite good! However, in the end, another two Borne Again’s were enough for Myles to successfully retain his North American Title, and whilst it would’ve been awesome to see Johnny Gargano win Championship Gold again, Borne shouldn’t be losing any time soon! Also, after the match was over, Dion Lennox floored Myles Borne with a steel chair, clearly setting up both men's next feud!
Grade: B
NXT Women’s North American Championship: Tatum Paxley VS Blake Monroe
In the penultimate match of the night, Tatum Paxley and Blake Monroe went one-on-one with the NXT Women’s North American Championship on the line! The funniest thing about all of this was Blake Monroe did her entrance holding Tatum’s North American Title, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen on a stage as big as this! This was also another good match, with it being easy to tell that Blake is really putting in the work to improve her in-ring game! Tatum Paxley has also had quite the run over the past 12 or so months, with her firmly earning her way onto NXT’s biggest show of the year! There were multiple moments in this match where I expected Monroe to win, particularly when The Glamour nailed Paxley with a DDT following an incident with an exposed bottom turnbuckle! However, in the end, it was Tatum who somehow managed to retain her North American Title with a Cemetery Driver, and yeah, fair play to both women!
Grade: B-
NXT Championship: Joe Hendry VS Ethan Page VS Ricky Saints VS Tony D’Angelo
And in the Main Event of NXT Stand and Deliver 2026, Joe Hendry, Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, and Tony D’Angelo all clashed in a Fatal 4-Way for the NXT Championship! All four men got some kind of unique special entrance, with Tony getting a video in front of the famous bridge, Ricky having a bunch of photographers following him, Ethan being surrounded by Canadian Flags, whilst Joe’s entrance doesn’t need anything extra to make his one of the best in the business! This match was firmly focused around the relationship between Ricky Saints and Ethan Page, with the two men working well together to begin with, only for Page to deliver a firmly entertaining Splash onto Saints! Ricky then got revenge for this with a wicked Spear, before they went back to working together! Eventually, Joe Hendry would start having his way, hitting a bunch of strong manoeuvres, whilst Tony D’Angelo did nothing but take bumps! Ricky Saints and Ethan Page would then brawl on the outside, fighting on top of the steel steps as D’Angelo wiped both men out of proceedings with a wicked Spear through the announce table! Things then came down to Hendry VS D’Angelo, with both men giving it their all, before finally, a pair of Spears followed by a Chokeslam was enough for Tony D’Angelo to finally win the NXT Championship! Firstly, Joe Hendry losing here is fine; he didn’t need a long reign! Secondly, I feel like this was the perfect ending to both Ethan Page and Ricky Saints’ time in NXT; they were the best part of this match, and I can’t see what else they’ve got left to do on this brand! And finally, Tony D’Angelo finally did it; it only took him four and a half years!
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