By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida, at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live May 26, 2026, on The CW Network
[Hour One] Arrival shots of Lola Vice, The Culling, and DarkState were shown…
Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the opening match took place. Kelani Jordan attacked Wren Sinclair before the bell. The referee ran the bell when Wren agreed that she was ready…
1. WWE Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinclair (w/Kendal Grey) vs. Kelani Jordan in a non-title match. Wren rolled up Kelani for a two count. Wren rallied with armdrags and a dropkick. Kelani tried to make a comeback, but got hit by a vertical suplex. Kelani came back with a Northern Lariat and mounted elbows. Wren turned the tables into some ground and pound. Wren managed to drag Kelani into a Fujiwara Armbar.
Wren got up and kicked Kelani’s arm a bit, right back into the Fujiwara. Kelani got to her feet and glazed Wren with a Superkick. Kelani tossed Wren into the bottom buckle. Wren pulled Kelani into the ringpost. Wren hit Kelani with an impressive Wrecking Ball kick along the ringpost. Wren’s injured leg gave out on her, which caused Kelani to go after her. Wren backropped Kelani at ringside heading into break.[c]
Back from break, Kelani was dominating the match, focusing her attack on Wren’s injured knee. Vic pointed out Kelani Jordan being trained by The Submission Magician Shayna Baszler in the past. Kelani dominated for a few minutes after the break, with Wren’s comebacks shut down. Wren managed to land a backdrop on Kelani. Wren worked on Kelani with chops.
Wren hit Kelani with a Butterfly and Gutwrench Suplex. Wren flipped out of the corner, but tweaked her injured knee. Wren dodged a One of a Kind. Wren got a two count on Kelani. Kelani twisted Wren into an STFU (Vic made the John Cena reference). Kelani switched into a modified heel hook-Sharpshooter for the victory.
Kelani Jordan defeated Wren Sinclair via Submission in 11:22.
John’s Thoughts: A nice little feud away from the NXT Women’s Championship. This was a good win to keep Kelani Jordan looking strong, while also elevating Wren Sinclair a bit with the plucky performance. Wren is clearly a tier or two below Kelani in terms of credibility, but the leg injury both built up sympathy for her and served as a good handicap to make her look strong in overcoming the injury. After seeing how far Kelani has come on the mic, she is definitely ready to be a main player on the main roster, but the main roster might not need a main player at the moment. Looking forward to see Kelani Jordan and Kendal Grey lock-up as that looks like a wonderful match on-paper.
Tatum Paxley and Lizzy Rain were chatting backstage. Tatum apologized for putting Lizzy in Zaria’s crosshairs. Lizzy said she’ll get back at Zaria for attacking her and Tatum last week. Shiloh Hill showed up to brag about all the signatures he got for his Mr. NXT petition. Tristan Angels showed up and looked at the list. Angels red off Papa Shango, Timothy Chalamet, and Mike Tyson. Angels said contests aren’t won by names but by talent and lineage. He said he hopes that Shiloh’s honorable opponent destroys him later on…
A replay aired of the end of last week’s NXT where DarkState turned on Saquon Shugars after he lost the tag team match…[c]
DarkState made their light show entrance through the crowd. Their video wall had one of the jaw graphics X’d out to represent Saquon Shugars being excommunicated from the group. Osiris Griffin took the mic first and talked about how everyone’s looking at him crazy. He said Saquon was always the odd man out. Osiris talked about how He, Cutler, and Dion all have NCAA and NFL credibility. Dion Lennox said that Saquon Shugars may have had indie experience and street smarts, but there’s a reason he was the last pick in DarkState.
Dion said that DarkState are elite athletes. Cutler said Saquon made their decision easier last week by being selfish and not looking out for the group. Cutler said that Saquon became a liability. He said Saquon is reckless and never understands the consequences. Cutler said Saquon failed in the match, and failed DarkState. Dion said he was actually shocked to see what Cutler and Osiris did, because that could have been him.
He said he understood why they did it, eliminate the weak link. He said Saquon tried to turn his brothers against him for weeks. He said Saquon kept painting him as the selfish one acting out. He said John Cena picked him in the iron survivor and Robert Stone picked him to go after the North American title. Dion said the machine of DarkState was made for all three of them, not just him. Dion said he built DarkState brick by brick and he’ll be damned if he lets Saquon take it down (alright Franklin Saint!).
Osiris said everyone better keep their head on a swivel. Dion said everyone better watch out because DarkState is back. The DarkState theme played with Saquon Shugars X’d out again on the graphics…
John’s Thoughts: A decent enough promo to restart DarkState as a trio. I like Saquon Shugars not showing up to get his lick back as DarkState needs to marinate a bit and rebuild their credibility. They’ve been wishy washy in terms of wins and losses to the point where they need to string together some dubs. The promos were fine. Dion has good presence, but he needs to make it look less like he’s reading from a script (He’s good, but he should have interacted with the crowd a bit). Osiris Griffin was pretty good on his end. To give Dion a bit of more props, I like it when people throw in lines from Snowfall too, a great series that deserves as much attention as Breaking Bad got and Dion quoted Franklin Saint’s classic “Brick by Brick… I’d be damned” line.
Kendal Grey and Lola Vice were checking on Wren Sinclair in the medical room. Kali Armstrong showed up to trash talk Wren and say that she’ll look closely at
Men’s Speed Tournament matches were hyped for after the break. The graphic noted how all four men in the tournament are from different countries…[c]
Entrances for the Speed match took place…
2. Sean Legacy vs. Dorian Van Dux in a 3 minute WWE Speed Tournament Match. Dorian slipped up early on, which allowed Legacy to hit him with a stomp and dropkick. Legacy overshot a Suicide Dive. DVD saved Legacy and then lawn darted him into the ringpost. Legacy caught Dux with a huracanrana and Gamengiri. Legacy hit Dux with a Sliced Bread for a two count heading into the minute mark.
Dux turned Legacy inside out with a clothesline. Dux hit Legacy with a Uranage for a two count. Legacy hit Dux with a DDT reversal and 619. Dux and Legacy went to the top rope. Legacy hit Dux with a Frankensteiner with one minute left. Dux used legs to block a Slingshot 450. Legacy hit Dux with a dropkick to block a Slingshot. Both men traded strikes with 20 seconds left. Dux caught Legacy with a Gamengiri. Legacy hit Dux with a Superplex to run out the clock.
Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux have been eliminated from the WWE Men’s Speed Tournament via a 3 minute time limit draw.
Vic Joseph note that both Romeo Moreno and Nathan Frazer automatically advance to the finals and whoever wins that match will face Lexis King for the title…
Nattie Neidhart thanked Layla Diggs backstage for standing up for a legend like her. Nattie agreed to be in her corner against Jaida Parker…
Jaida Parker made her entrance.[c]
John’s Thoughts: I’m not a huge fan of having a handful of the Evolve callups be stuck in the WWE’s “Speed division”, along with feuding with the ice cold Birth Right. NXT has been doing a good job building up a lot of the incoming heels, but having these exciting babyfaces fight over a title nobody cares about is not really doing them any good. It’s barely a step above being in Evolve (though that is a fun show to watch, it’s just not credible in the NXT canon). Dorian Van Dux is someone who I would like to see out of the Speed division as he has a good look and athleticism, being a powerhouse that can go with the smaller cruiserweights.
Vic Joseph plugged Summerslam ticket sales…
Layla Diggs made her entrance followed by Nattie Neidhart…
3. Jaida Parker vs. Layla Diggs (w/Nattie Neidhart). Jaida put Layla in a Full Nelson early on. Layla tripped Jaida and danced in front of her. Jaida came back with a shortarm shoulder tackle. Layla did an enziguri into a rollup for a one count. Jaida escaped an Overdrive and hit Layla with a clothesline. Jaida set up Layla, but missed the draping Banzai Drop. Layla hit Jaida with a side kick. Layla hot a few elbow drops and got a two count.
Jaida made a comeback with a Gourd Buster. Jaida hit Layla with her signature draping Banzai Drop. Layla came back with a Pele Kick for a nearfall. Layla missed a Moonsault. Jaida hit Layla with Hip-notic. Jaida hit Layla with a Baldo Bomb for the victory.
Jaida Parker defeated Layla Diggs via pinfall in 3:59.
John’s Thoughts: A bit of a rough first outing on NXT for Layla, though I thought she cleaned things up a bit by the end of the match. That was a good looking missed moonsault that got a lot of air. I would like to see more of Layla Diggs on the main NXT show as she has a good look along with her and her tag team partner (who’s name escapes me at the moment) have looked good on Evolve. On the other end, NXT continues to do a good job having a handful of feuds that don’t necessarily revolve around the title belts as McGuffins. Even Tony D’Angelo is in a solid feud that’s more about being swarmed left and right, and not about the McGuffin. Them pairing Jaida with Nattie should mean then have some confidence in her. She’s already a superstar in terms of being able to excite a crowd. Nattie should help elevate her in terms of in-ring (but I hope Nattie wins this feud, as the main roster is still missing out by not using this fun “Nattie” character that she’s been cultivating on the indie scene).
Blake Howard interviewed Lexis King who had the rest of Birth Right with him. King talked about being the King of Speed and how everyone’s coming after him. King said he’s the fastest man alive. Nathan Frazer and Axiom showed up to mock King, calling him more of a cow than a cheetah. Axiom and Frazer walked off bickering over who they want to win the soccer World Cup…
NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo was hyped for after the break…[c]
[Hour Two] NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo made his entrance. He has a new merch T-shirt that says he’s the “Master of Fate”. Tony D talked about the influx of new hungry faces in NXT recently. He said it freshens things up a bit and makes things exciting for the WWE Universe. He said next week he gets to go against the hot shot Kam Hendrix. Tony D mocked Kam’s arm pose.
He said he’s not here to tell you if he’ll be the next big NXT superstar, that’s for the fans; but he’ll prove that Kam is not ready for the NXT Championship right now. Tony D said he’s also here to address someone who keeps getting in his path. Tony D called out Naraku. Naraku (the former Evil) made his entrance. Tony said Naraku likes to talk in riddles and hidden messages, but he’s more direct. Tony D told Naraku to just come out and say he wants a shot at the championship.
Naraku called Tony D ‘Tony San” and said he’s here to keep Tony and his title safe. Tony said he’s not buying Naraku’s bullcrap and he knows what Naraku is doing. He said he’ll take care of Kam and then take care of Naraku. Naraku said he wants to keep Tony champion, so that they can go at war together. Kam Hendrix made his entrance. Kam gloated a bit and said that next week will be “Lights, Kam, Action”.
Kam said next week Tony will run into a buzzsaw he can’t stop. Kam said he’s the fastest rising star in NXT history. He said he beat two champions last week and next week he’ll destroy a pillar of NXT. Tony D said that’s quite bold of Kam. He said Kam is confident. Tony said Kam isn’t the first guy to make that statement. Tony said Kam sees the title as a status symbol to waive around at VIP events and red carpets.
Tony said he sacrifice everything to get the championship. Tony said that it took him five years, going through failure and doubt. He said he now has to stand in front of someone who was handed a title match and didn’t earn a damn thing in NXT. Tony D said if Kam wants the title, he’ll have to reach in Tony’s chest and rip his heart out. Tony said we all know that won’t happen. Kam tried to clock Tony with a right hand, but Naraku caught the punch and dumped Kam to ringside to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: A productive segment in laying out the program around the NXT Championship. Kam Hendrix still comes off as green and all, with Tony even mocking Kam’s cheesy arm pose, but he’s starting to fit in well as an overly-cocky heel who’s in over his head. Naraku is coming off well as well. As I said, he’s never really broke past the mid card in New Japan. Like I said, he always looked like a background player, and the “evil” name didn’t do him any favors. So far, I’m liking “Naraku” and hyped to see what he does with this fresh slate in NXT.
Myles Borne and Tavion Heights were backstage. Heights apologized and said he was just trying to have Borne’s back. Borne said Heights needs to slow down a bit. All of a sudden, they were jumped by DarkState. Dion Lennox tossed Borne into a wall, which broke…[c]
The Vanity Project were hanging out backstage and gloating about their win last week. They ran into Tate Wilder and mocked him for losing to Keanu Carver and getting stiches. Jackson Drake called Tate a “boy” and said he has more to learn. Tate pointed out he’s older than Drake. Tate challenged Drake to a match next week…
Entrances for the next speed match took place. The graphics focused on this being England vs. Spain…
4. Nathan Frazer (w/Axiom) vs. Romeo Moreno (w/Noam Dar) in a 3 minute WWE Speed Tournament Match. Frazer hit Moreno with a dropkick and hit Moreno with a flip dive at ringside. Moreno came back with a Missile Dropkick. Frazer reversed a Lionsault into a nice looking LionSault Spanish Fly for a nearfall. Moreno rolled up Frazer for a two count. Frazer reversed a Flying Nothing into a Superkick for a two count. Moreno hit Frazer with a Super German Suplex.
Frazer reversed Moreno into a Final Cut heading into the one minute warning. Romeo and Nathan traded fatigued strikes. Moreno used a legscissors to dump Frazer to ringside. Moreno hit Frazer with a dive to ringside. Frazer hit Romeo with a Superplex, but Romeo rolled up Frazer with a Small Package for the upset win.
Romeo Moreno defeated Nathan Frazer via pinfall in 2:58 to win the WWE Men’s Speed Tournament.
Romeo and Nathan shook hands with Nathan holding up Romeo’s hand in victory…
Izzi Dame and Niko Vance were warming up backstage. Both of them wondered where Shawn Spears was?…[c]
John’s Thoughts: As much as I would have liked to see all four men in that Speed Tournament match segment in better things, I will give it to them that it was fun to see Romeo Moreno get the upset win. I’m not took keen on the Noam Dar fanboy bit they have Romeo doing, but in his two matches on NXT’s main show, he’s looked really good and they gave him the boost here by going over the main roster guy. Meanwhile, I do feel bad for Frazer and Axiom. They were the best tag team in a year when tag team wrestling wasn’t great in all companies (they stood out in a big way at that). Now, they’re stuck in a main roster tag team division that doesn’t get any love. That’s a shame too, because Frazer and Axiom are also two strong singles wrestlers as well and are being wasted both ways.
Vic Joseph hyped WWE Clash in Italy…
GM Robert Stone met up with Mason Rook backstage and thanked him for what he did to Kam Hendrix in that segment late in last week’s show. Stone said Kam picking up the win put him in title contention. Stone said we’ll see how things end up after next week. Rook said he’ll see what he can do with Tony D and Kam’s match next week. Naraku pulled up and told Rook he better not get involved in Tony D’s match next week…
OTM made their entrance, but were jumped by Shawn Spears, doing his hold “Chairman” thing by hitting both of them with steel chair shots to lay them out…
Sarah Schreiber, with a smile, said that we probably won’t be seeing the OTM vs. Culling match. Sarah caught with with Kali Armstrong and asked her what title she’s setting her sights on. Armstrong said she has to pick her spots and maybe she might go after both the North American and Women’s title. Thea Hail showed up and said that going after both titles is tough. Kali talked down to Hail to end the segment…
Shiloh Hill tried to get Zaria to sign his petition. Zaria didn’t want to and said that she’s more focused on going after Shiloh’s friend’s title. After Hill left, Lizzy Rain attacked Zaria. Robert Stone and security pulled apart both women…
Birth Right were already in the ring. Shiloh Hill made his entrance…
5. Shiloh Hill vs. Charlie Dempsey (w/Lexis King, Channing Lorenzo, Ariana Grace, Uriah Connors). Hill body slammed his way out of Dempsey’s arm wrench. Hill took down Dempsey with a shoulder tackle. Hill rolled out of an armbar and hit Dempsey with a hip toss. Hill backdropped Dempsey. Hill took some mini binoculars for some reason, and then dropped them. Hill hit Dempsey with a clothesline heading into break.[c]
Back from break, Dempsey had Hill in a Triangle. Hill deadlifted Dempsey out and hit him with a Power Bomb to break the hold. Hill rallied with clotheslines. Hill planted Dempsey with a Side Power Slam and inverted flip senton. Hill hit Dempsey with a clothesline. Dempsey countered Hill with a German Suplex. Dempsey caught Hill with a knee lift.
Hill caught Dempsey with a pop up punch. Hill no sold a slap. Dempsey reversed a suplex and punched Hill in the back on the neck. Hill suplexed Dempsey and kept Dempsey’s shoulder’s on the mat for the win.
Shiloh Hill defeated Charlie Dempsey via pinfall in 8:44.
“Mr. England” Tristan Angels made his entrance. Angels said he’s at his wits end at this charade of Hill calling himself Mr. NXT. Angels said Hill can’t hack it in his domain. Hill said Robert Stone has granted him a “Mr. NXT Pageant” in two weeks. He said he’ll prove to everyone that Hill is not worthy of being Mr. NXT. Hill said he’s looking forward to embarrass Angels. Hill ended the segment with his goofy laugh…
Izzi Dame yelled as Spears for costing himself a chance to go after the tag titles. Spears said he was just trying to do what’s right. Dame said she’s actually okay with what Spears did. Niko said he and Izzi will take care of it…
The Culling made their entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Ugh. So the match between Hill and Dempsey was actually a good one from a technical standpoint. The “ugh” comes from the writing around both Birth Right and Shiloh Hill. Birth Right are not really clicking, and the constant losses don’t help. Hill continues to be grating as a character. Again, what makes it worse is the guy is extremely gifted on the mic and athletically. He looked ready-made with his real-life darkweb character looking very impressive. Then they continue to roll him out with this campy ass undercard BS. I’m rooting for Mr. England as a fan! That guy looks like he has it all together and has come off very well in delivering an on-air persona. I don’t blame Hill either, it’s the booking team!
The following matches were announced for next week’s NXT: Tony D’Angelo vs. Kam Hendrix for the NXT Championship, Lizzy Rain vs. Zaria, and Myles Borne and Tavion Heights vs. DarkState…
NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice made her entrance. Mike Rome handled the formal in-ring championship match introductions…
6. Lola Vice vs. Izzi Dame (w/Shawn Spears, Niko Vance) for the NXT Women’s Championship. Dame tackled Lola into the corner to start the match. Izzi followed up with stomps. Lola went for a Sleeper, but Izzi slammed Lola into the ringpost to break the hold. Lola worked on Izzi with Shortarm Roundhouse kicks. Izzi rolled up Lola for a two count. Lola went for a Crossface, but Izzi rolled out. Lola hit Izzi with a Springboard armdrag.
Lola hit Izzi with a Nice Reverse Tae Kwon Do Tornado Kick. Spears distracted Lola, which allowed Izzi to hit Lola with a Backstabber. Bronco Nima and Lucien Price ran out and beat down Vance and Spears. OTM brawled with Spears and Vance to the back, to leave Izzi alone heading into break.[c]
Back from break, Lola hit Izzi with the “I’m a Latina” hip attack. Izzi recovered and hit Lola with a Yakuza Kick and Sitout Power Bomb for a nearfall. Lola hit Izzi with elbows and dragged Izzi into an armbar. Izzi blocked a Juji Gatame by going into a Liontamer. Lola twisted around and hit Izzi with boots. Lola reversed a Flying Nothing with a Superkick. Lola dodged Izzi and Izzi accidentally hit the referee with a Knee Plus. REF BUMP!!!
Izzi and Lola traded Boo Yay strikes. Lola ducked and weaved into some nice Tae Kwon Do CQC kicks. Lola hit Izzi with the Spinning Backfist. The referee took a long time to recover and counted to two once he was able to count the pin. Izzi went to grab the title belt when Lola went to check on the referee. Izzi tossed the title into Lola who caught it. Izzi gave the title a big boot into Lola’s face. Lola kicked out at two for a great nearfall.
Lola reversed Izzi into a Guillotine Choke. Izzi rolled up Lola for a two count. Lola surprised Izzi with the Spinning Backfist for the victory.
Lola Vice defated Izzi Dame via pinfall in 10:46 to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
Vic hyped up Lola also wrestling at AAA on Saturday. Highlights of the title match aired…
The show cut to the parking lot where DarkState were cutting a promo in the camera, gloating and saying they were coming after all the gold. After they left, you could see Saquon Shugars in the distance sitting down on top of a storage container. NXT closed…
John’s Thoughts: A awesome main event with some great nearfalls in the end. I always love it when the match feels like a foregone conclusion in favor of the champion, yet the opponent eventually makes you suspend your disbelief in the end by thinking it can go the other way. Over the long run, Izzi’s matches have been hit and miss. To give her credit, her last handful of matches have been pretty good against different opponents. Credit to Lola Vice to for doing well as the champion with her MMA offense.
Saquon Shugars looks to be replacing Tony D’Angelo in the role of “DarkState Hunter”. Here’s hoping that there is a bit of a struggle, and that Shugars doesn’t just steamroll DarkState like Tony D did. At least if they want to make anything out of DarkState. While I wish we get more pre-tapes and vignettes, that’s just nitpicking as I’m liking the fresh new arc NXT is going through with the new talent being cycled in seamlessly. Only gripe I really have is them feeling the need to promote the Speed titles for some reason? I feel like that’s holding back a lot of the babyfaces coming up from Evolve. Otherwise, I do like that NXT has a good amount of quality feuds going on, and all of them are more than just simply going after a title belt as a mcguffin.
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