Skip to content 
Boom Goes the Dynamite
Outside of the announcement that the CW would be the new home for NXT PLE’s going forward, the biggest news surrounding tonight’s episode of NXT was the influx of post-Mania main roster callups that has decimated the Tuesday night brand’s roster this past week.
We didn’t have to wait long to see if NXT would address the elephant in the room.
The show kicked off with Shawn Michaels, Robert Stone, and Matt Bloom sitting in a conference room as the NXT GM lamented about how he had his work cut out for him. As Stone started to think out loud about how he would proceed, ol HB-Shizzle recommended that instead of a more methodical approach incorporating index cards and a bulletin board, Stone should light a stick of dynamite in the NXT locker room and see who comes running out.
These words would set the tone for the whole night. Let’s get to it!
More Darkness for DarkState
Myles Borne kicking off NXT with a North American Title defense against DarkState is starting to become a Tuesday night routine. Last week, it was a successful retention over Dion Lennox after Myles thwarted Saquon Shugars’ attempt to get involved. This week, the DarkState boys tried to run a play to take advantage of the numbers game again, but this time, the roles were reversed. With Shugars starting to pick up some momentum, Osiris Griffin and Cutler James hopped on the ring apron and distracted the ref and Lennox wound up to nail Borne with a steel chair. Shugars slid out to try and call an audible, but the momentary lapse was long enough for Myles to take control back by sending Dion into the steel steps. Borne would then hit a slick looking slingshot Borne Again to pick up another successful title defense. Myles is putting together a pretty impressive title reign and continues to develop into a legitimate white-meat babyface on the NXT roster.
As for DarkState, it was another week and another squandered opportunity. It appears this group could be inching closer to their expiration date with Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars not even reading the same book at this point, much less being on the same page. After competing in so many tag team matches since arriving on the scene, Shugars got more chance to shine in the ring than usual and had a pretty good showing. The last two weeks could be somewhat of an audition to see if Lennox and Shugars can cut it as singles stars. In this writer’s humble opinion, both men have potential if the territory decides to go through with disbanding their faction.
Myles Borne takes his lumps…
After DarkState left the ringside area, two new additions to NXT announced their presence in two very different ways. Englishman Tristan Angels sauntered in through the Performance Center crowd as Myles Borne celebrated his win, warning the North American Champ that we’d all be seeing a lot more of him. As Angels was finishing up his introduction, Kam Hendrix (formerly Anthony Luke from LFG) slid into the ring and laid Borne out with a jumping Rock Bottom-like move. Unfortunately, this won’t help Hendrix beat those Temu Dwayne Johnson allegations he was hit with in LFG.
…. and so does Tony D’Angelo!
Tony D’Angelo was in the ring cutting a generic champion promo, talking about how “people from LFG and Evolve, Europeans, and Keanu Carver” are walking around the NXT locker room looking for opportunities. The NXT Champ then turned his attention to the mysterious box that was delivered last week, not to his home address, but to the Performance Center. Almost instantly, an eerie guitar riff played and the lights went out. A hooded figure headed down to the ring and stood hood to face with Tony D, before dropping his hood and revealing himself as former IWGP champion, EVIL. EVIL gave D’Angelo what appeared to be a cloth or shirt of some sort with the same insignia that adorned the box last week. As EVIL left the ring, Vic Joseph hyped it up as a declaration of war.
As Tony stared EVIL down and processed what this second gift meant, a new-look Tavion Heights slid in from behind and leveled the champ. Intensity was always a staple of Tavion’s presentation, but he seemed to amp it up to 11 tonight. As he yelled into the camera telling us that it’s his time, in the background, we then saw a larger fella nail a top-rope moonsault on D’Angelo. While Vic opined that it could be a fan that snuck in and the PC crowd chanted “Who are you?”, it was British wrestler Will Kroos, who was also making his NXT debut.
Lola Vice Gets Backup
A week after Izzi Dame asserted herself as Lola Vice’s next challenger, the NXT Women’s Champion walked into the Performance Center with the intent to confront Dame and The Culling. As Lola called Izzi out, Shawn Spears came on the screen and it seemed as though Vice had fallen into a trap as Izzi and Niko Vance appeared in the ring behind her. Just when it looked like The Culling would once again get one up on the new champ, Lola’s fellow AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion, Mr. Iguana arrived on the scene and came to her aid. A few superkicks and some La Yesca shenanigans later and The Culling was retreating. Izzi seems to be positioned to be next in line to challenge Lola, but she’ll team with Niko Vance to take on Vice and Iguana in mixed tag team action next week.
Ricky’s Bitter NXT Swan Song
After weeks of tormenting Shiloh Hill and Tatum Paxley, Ricky Saints’ comeuppance has been slowly creeping up on him. After hog-tying Ricky and dragging him around Orlando last week, the Season 2 LFG winner got a chance to face Saints in what would be The Absolute’s final night on NXT before heading up to Smackdown. Shiloh, who is quickly developing one of the most distinct characters on Tuesday nights, was shown earlier in the night helping Tatum dig a grave to bury Blake Monroe’s NXT career. Whatever this partnership is turning into has become one of the more interesting story arcs during this transitional period for the developmental brand.
In the main event, Shiloh harnessed some toothless aggression to walk away with a huge win over Ricky and ended up among the Performance Center crowd for his post-match celebration. Hill’s shenanigan-de-jour was stocking a life-size dummy under the ring. Hill would climb underneath and when Ricky went to pull him out, he pulled out the dummy instead. Shiloh would emerge on the other side and then level Saints with a jumping cannonball off the ring steps. With Ricky headed to Friday nights in just a few days, this was a big win and a huge vote of confidence for Shiloh. He figures to be one of the featured acts on NXT in the coming weeks.
Quick Hits
- Kelani Jordan continued her bitter crusade through the NXT women’s locker room and confronted the WrenQCC. The two part Chronicle we saw on Kendal Grey last week didn’t sit well with Jordan and neither did Kendal receiving multiple NXT Women’s Title shots when Kelani hasn’t gotten one herself. After Kendal and Wren fired back, Kelani challenged Wren to a match later in the episode to embarrass Sinclair in front of her friend. The solid back and forth match swung in favor of the Standout when Wren’s left knee and ankle gave out on her. I’m not sure if Wren is really hurt, but if not, she did a hell of a job selling it after the match as Kendal and the referee helped her to her feet.
- As Birth Right prepared for tag team action, TNA Knockouts Champion Arianna Grace queued up a video of her nepo-baby friends brutally attacking Dorian Van Dux backstage, leaving the Belgian unable to compete. Their other opponent, EK Prosper ran out to avenge the attack and quickly fell victim to the numbers game until Sean Legacy made his NXT return! Legacy would take Van Dux’s place in the tag team match and he and Prosper would pick up a big victory in a match that got some “This is awesome!” chants from the PC faithful. During Birth Right’s post match attack, Tate Wilder from Evolve arrived on the scene to make his NXT debut and helped Legacy and Prosper fight off a further attack. Not sure if it was nerves or inexperience but Wilder botched (apologies to Cody Rhodes) a shooting star lariat to the floor on Birth Right. Not a great way to cap off what was a fun sprint of a tag match.
- As Thea Hail and Jaida Parker sat in the locker room discussing how NXT is anybody’s for the taking, a confident Kali Armstrong entered and accused Miss Parker of being scared of a little competition. Kali declared that she was going to be a difference maker and then said she was going to start by checking Jaida. Armstrong and Parker are scheduled to collide next week. Sign me up!
- As Vanity Project discussed how Smokes and Baylor have the NXT tag team division on lock, Jackson Drake rambled about how much better his life is now that he’s got Myka Lockwood in it. LFG Season 1 winner and former Men’s Speed Champ Jasper Troy overheard their conversation and wanted to shut them up. He challenged Drake to a match, which was made official for next week.
- Lizzy Rain made her highly anticipated debut and defeated Nikkita Lyons. The newcomer nailed some unique and innovative offense on the Lioness and the energy that the Maiden of Metal brought to the show was palpable. A solid first night on the NXT roster for Rain.
- They aired a Zaria vignette, symbolically putting her rivalry with Sol Ruca behind her and looking forward to what’s next. Zaria’s monologue interested me but I was put off by the blatant use of AI.
Final Thoughts
I went into this night extremely curious about how NXT would handle the recent roster turnover. I loved how they set the tone for the evening in the very first segment with HBK, Stone, and Bloom. The whole episode revolved around the central theme of NXT being up for grabs to anyone that wanted an opportunity. The locker room seems volatile, the champions are all watching their backs, and a ton of new talent was introduced to the NXT audience tonight. With all the talent that was promoted last week, this show tonight was always going to feel like a soft reset and I think Chef Shawn and his team did a great job of making the product feel fresh. We’re not yet to the point where we can really get too invested in any of the new additions to the roster, but I thought they did an admirable job of introducing us to them while putting together a fun two hours of television.
Match Results
- Myles Borne def. Saquon Shugars to retain the NXT Men’s North American Championship
- Sean Legacy & EK Prosper def. Birth Right (Uriah Connors & Stacks)
- Lizzy Rain def. Nikkita Lyons
- Kelani Jordan def. Wren Sinclair
- Shiloh Hill def. Ricky Saints
So what do you think Cagesiders? Do you like how NXT onboarded all their new roster additions tonight? Sound off in the comments below!
