By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida, at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live September 22, 2026, on The CW Network
[Hour One] Cody Rhodes narrated a intro video to hype up tag teams and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic…
Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the opening match took place…
1. Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno vs. “Los Americanos” Rayo and Bravo in a first round match of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Romeo and Bravo hit each other with atomic drops. Bravo rallied with right hands and put Romeo in a Wheelbarrow to allow Rayo to tag in and hit him with a Slingshot Swanton. Noam tagged in and slowed down the pace. Dar worked on Rayo with some CQC and Muay Thai strikes. Noam ended Rayo’s rally with a Guillotine Choke. Romeo tried to put Bravo win a Guillotine, but Bravo body slammed Romeo on Noam to break Noam’s submission.
Bravo hit both opponents with a flip dive with Rayo acting like he was a matador.[c]
Back from break, Romeo used a slingshot to avoid Los Americanos to bring in Noam for the hot tag. Noam caught Bravo out of the air and put him in an Ankle Lock. Romeo tagged in. Noam hit Bravo with a Tower of London while Romeo followed up with a leg drop for a nearfall. Bravo recovered and hit Noam and Romeo with a double Helicopter Spin. Los Americanos hit both opponents with Stereo Headbutts to give Bravo a nearfall.
Romeo caught Bravo out of the air with a beautiful Superkick. Rayo hit Bravo with a Bitter End. Romeo broke up Rayo’s pin with a tackle. Bravo hit Romeo with Bop and Bang. Dar hit boto opponents with Judas Effects. Everyone alternated strikes. Rayo hit Romeo with a Triangle Moonsault. Dar caught Bravo out of the air with a grapevined Ankle Lock. Bravo escaped and deadlifted Bravo with a German Suplex.
Rayo swatted Romeo out of the air at ringside with a right hook. Bavo hit Noam with a Frankensteiner. Rayo hit Noam with a Splash for a nearfall. Rayo hit both opponents with Joint Manipulation. Rayo stompped on Noam’s elbow. Noam hit Rayo with a Judas Effect. Romeo jumped off Noam’s back and hit Bravo with a Super Attitude Adjustment. Romeo and Noam hit Bravo with a modified Total Elimination to give Noam the win.
Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno defeated Los Americanos via pinfall in 14:31 to advance to the next round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
An updated bracket of the tournament was shown…
Highlights of last week’s triple threat main event were shown…
Kali Armstrong made her entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A strong first match of the Dusty Classic and a good sign of things to come if they allow all the teams here to have this much time to shine. Only disappointing part of this match is I would have liked to have seen both teams here get a good run. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate are always fun to watch when they aren’t playing their Rayo and Bravo characters for laughs. A fun note that they didn’t play with is that Rayo is a former Dusty Rhodes classic winner alongside Matt Riddle as the Broserweights.
Vic Joseph hyped up WWE Survivor Series…
The show cut to Kendal Grey meeting with a Sports Psychiatrist. Kendal talked about having vertigo and having a mental block due to losing the women’s championship. The doctor asked Kendal if she dealt with something like this before. Kendal talked about being sidelined in college with a injury. She said she could see her injury at that time and this time she can’t see it.
Kendal said she could see the future before, but now her return timetable is unknown. Kendal said she was at the highest point of her career as champion and she doesn’t know if she can get back to that level. The doctor told Kendal to find herself not as an athlete, but as a person…
Singer Jimmie Allen was shown in the crowd…
Skyler Raye made her entrance and got a inset promo…
2. Kali Armstrong vs. Skylar Raye. Kali dominated early on. Raye rallied with armdrags. Raye hit Kali with a huracanrana . Kali came back with a Clothesline. Kali rallied with slow punches. Kali hit Raye with a Tilt a Whirl Body Slam. Raye got a nearfall off a Sunset Flip. Both women traded rapid pin attempts. Raye hit Kali with a High Crossbody for a nearfall. Kali Armstrong hit Raye with a Running Power Slam heading into break.[c]
Kali dominated throughout the commercial break. Raye quickly turned things around back from break with a backstabber. Raye rallied with axe handle strikes. Raye hit Kali with a Satellite DDT. Raye hit Kali with a Frog Splash for a good nearfall. Kali hit Raye with a Power Bomb and Spinebuster for a nearfall. Kali caught Raye out of the air with a Power Slam. Kali went for a Kali Connection, but accidentally hit the ref after Raye’s sidestep. REF BUMP!!!
Reina Volcan showed up outta nowhere and hit Kali with a Power Slam. Volcan put Raye in a Torture Rack and slammed her on top of Kali. The referee slightly recovered and counted the slow pin for Raye.
Skylar Raye defeated Kali Armstrong via pinfall in 9:40.
John’s Thoughts: I’m surprised they have Kali eat so many losses this early in her career, let alone as a powerhouse wrestler. At least they protected her here and used her for character development to get Reina Volcan back into the picture of the women’s division. Before the ref bump stuff though, solid match by two of WWE’s developmental projects. Probably Kali’s best showing on NXT so far. Definitely Raye’s best. I like that Raye changed up the generic look a bit. There’s always room in pro wrestling for that scrappy babyface type and Raye seems like she can be good in that role.
Shiloh Hill and Saquon Shugars were meeting with Robert Stone. Shugars pulled out some dollar bills to buy some red mist from Hill to blind Tristan Angels. Stone told them to stop talking about blinding people in front of him. Stone said they can run things back and he’ll maybe get Hill and Shugars matches against Naraku and Tristan Angels. Shugars then started to get intrigued about that hallucinogenic mist Shiloh made last week…
Wren Sinclair being kicked out of a NXT Merch stand before the show was shown. Vic reminded viewers that Robert Stone suspended Wren for attacking a referee last week…
AAA Reina de Reina’s champion La Catalina and Thea Hail made their entrance. NXT Women’s North American Champion Zaria made her entrance to new production and music (no longer using Karrion Kross’s TNA theme). NXT Women’s Champion Kelani Jordan made her entrance…
3. Kelani Jordan and Zaria vs. La Catalina and Thea Hail. Hail and Jordan showed off some agility early on. Catalina tagged in. They dumped the heels to ringside. Hail held open the ropes to allow Catalina to hit both opponents with a Suicide Dive. Hail hit both opponents with a springboard Trust Fall to ringside. Hail and Catalina did Hail’s goofy dance heading into break.[c]
[Hour Two] The heel team cut the ring in half on Hail back from break. Hail managed to trade abdominal stretches with Kelani. Hail fended off both opponents. Kelani cut off Hail at the pass. Zaria tagged in and hit Hail with a Spear for a nearfall. Hail managed to dump both opponents to ringside. Hail hit Jordan with a reverse Enzuigiri. Hail sidestepped Zaria to bring in Catalina for the hot tag. Catalina cleaned house.
Catalina rolled up Zaria for a nearfall. Catalina hit both opponents with hip attacks. Zaria gave Catalina an F5, which took out Kelani Jordan at the same time. Hail blind tagged in. Zaria went for an F5 on Hail, but Hail reversed it into a Jackknife Pin for the surprise win.
Thea Hail and La Catalina defeated Zaria and Kelani Jordan via pinfall in 9:28.
Sean Legacy and Zilla Fatu were chatting backstage about their upcoming match. Legacy noted that Dorian Van Dux has a punctured lung and is not medically cleared for their upcoming match. Dorian Van Dux showed up and said he’s all good. Legacy said that Dux has a hole in his Lung. Dux said it’s just a tiny hole and it’s nothing. EK Prosper showed up and said he’s filling in for Dux in their upcoming six person tag. Legacy told Dux to heal up so they can compete in the Dusty Classic…
Cruz Montana made his entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A good tag team match, but I find it odd that NXT creative doesn’t protect Zaria as a monster heel as much as they should. Plucking out wins fits the Thea Hail character, but those wins should mean much more if they protected Zaria more. Aside from that, good match. I really like seeing La Catalina’s latest run in WWE as she totally reinvented herself and changed up her look away from the generic luchadora look she had before.
Cruz Montana talked about having championship goals in WWE since joining NXT. Cruz talked about how he hasn’t quite gotten to where he wanted, but he hasn’t been losing too. Cruz was interrupted by DarkState making their entrance through the crowd. Dion Lennox talked some trash. Cruz told Dion to shut his ass up. Cruz said Dion is all tough with his buddies around. Cruz said they need to worry about the Dusty Classic while Dion should confront him in the ring like a man.
Dion entered the ring himself and talked about Cruz winning titles in promotions like TNA. Dion wondered if Cruz wrestling in dusty rings makes him think he’s better than Dion. Dion talked about being disciplined. Dion wondered why Cruz thought EK Propser was the future of the brand? Because he ate dirt like Cruz? Cruz joked that he hurt Dion’s feelings. Cruz said the only person who cleaned up Cruz’s mistakes is the man in the mirror.
He said he overcame his demons and busted his ass, learning from the greatest in the game. Cruz said he paid his dues every step of the way, homeboy. He said he’s been blessed inside and outside of the ring. Cruz said Dion ain’t got nothing on him, homeboy. Cruz said he can run circles around Dion in the ring, on the mic, and in this business every single day. Cruz said Dion couldn’t cut it in the NFL and they didn’t want his ass. Cruz said he didn’t get no WWE tryout messages and he earned everything to get here.
Cruz said he carries his family, his city, and his culture on his back, while people like Dion think everything should be handed to him. Cruz said to get the hell out of his face because people like Dion think that they can step on the floor, all that effort people put in. Dion said hold up, hold up! Dion brought up Cruz’s mom being a drug dealer, which fired up Cruz. Cruz held up the 1 finger pose to say one strike. Dion said his mommas wasn’t no drug dealer.
Dion said he did everything right. D1 athlete, education, Rams. Dion said WWE begged him to get here due to his talent. Dion talked about the people hating him while loving Cruz. Why? Because Dion Lennox was straight laced and not a drug addict like “him”, Cruz Montana? Dion pointed out people patting Cruz on the back after being a drug addict. Just because he got things all together now (Cruz pointed out the two fingers hand sign to point out Dion got two strikes now) Dion said that Cruz had to lose everything to become somebody, while Dion was somebody his whole life. Cruz deuced the three and punched Dion in the face. Cruz and Dion brawled to the back with referees separating both men…
John’s Thoughts: I thought the promo was starting to drag a little bit and was given a lot of time, but both men managed to make the content of the promo interesting by getting personal on both ends. Cruz Montana always thrives the more mic time he gets as he’s really good at coming off as real. I still think DarkState as a concept needs to die, as their credibility baggage is holding all three men back. Dion should be presented similar to Kam Hendrix with a bit more credibility. A confident and talented athlete. His end of the promo was a bit of low hanging fruit by him going after Cruz’s past addiction demons, but low hanging fruit is effective in pissing people off. What’s crazy is my dad raised me like Dion Lennox talked about. Clean cut, but a badass with an intellectual mind. A successful light skinned brother. And he threw that in the face of Mike Santana to make this a GREAT personal battle. Hell. I’m hyped I love what Mike Santana did for his career, but I’m also hyped to see what he does in NXT.
NXT GM Robert Stone told Mason Rook in his office that he has as much time as he needs to face NXT Champion Grayson Waller. Hank and Tank showed up to talk to Stone about the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Stone said he liked their energy…[c]
Vic Joseph hyped John Cena surpassing The Rock with the highest selling trading card at $329,000…
The Creed Brothers made their entrance to some generic low note EDM sounding music. Their opponents were “already in the ring”. The Creeds jumped their opponents before the bell…
4. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. Jax Presley and Harley Riggens in a first round match of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The opponents managed to turn things around until Brutus tossed Jax into the steel steps. Brutus hit Jax with his gorilla strikes. The Wagner Brothers were shown watching the match backstage. The Creeds cut the ring in half on Jax. Riggens tagged in and took down both Creeds with kicks and a dropkick. Riggins hit Julius with a Whisper of the Wind.
The Creeds escaped a Doomsday Device Attempt. The Creeds hit Jax with a double team Side Slam Power Bomb for the victory.
Julius Creed and Brutus Creed defeated Jax Presley and Harley Riggens via pinfall in 3:35 to advance to the next round of the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic.
Vic Joseph hyped the main event…[c]
A sponsored video package aired, recapping last week’s Tavion Heights and Myles Borne segment where Borne betrayed Heights and pilmanized his leg….
Entrances for the next match took place…
5. EK Prosper, Sean Legacy, and Zilla Fatu vs. “Birth Right” Uriah Connors, Lexis King, and Channing Lorenzo (w/Ariana Grace). Legacy hit Stacks with a Body Slam, PK, and Standing Moonsault for a nearfall. EK and Uriah tagged in and showed off their agility. EK hit Uriah with a Shotgun Dropkick. King tagged in and ate a dropkick from EK for a nearfall. Zilla tagged in and body slammed King a few times. Zilla took out Stacks and Connors with a flying clothesline. EK tagged in and was tossed by Zilla into Connors.
Legacy hit Stacks with a kick. EK and Legacy hit their opponents with dives at ringside. All three babyfaces hit Birth Right with stereo flip dives.[c]
EK hit Stacks with a Frankensteiner. Fatu caught King with a Suicide Dive. Connors hit EK with an assisted Power Bomb for a nearfall. Connors hit EK with a spin kick and Cody Cutter for a nearfall. EK avoided all three opponents and brought in Zilla for the hot tag. Cilla hit King with a Bubba Bomb. Zilla then gave Stacks a Banzai Drop. Fatu no sold King’s right hand and did Umaga’s yell and pose. Zilla set up and hit Connors with a hip attack.
EK tried to tag in, but the referee didn’t see him tag in due to Ariana Grace’s distraction. The distraction allowed connors to recover. Connors got the knees up to block a Slingshot Swanton from Legacy. Connors rolled up Legacy for the win.
Birth Right defeated Sean Legacy, Zilla Fatu, and EK Prosper via pinfall in 11:03.
Lexis King confronted Zilla Fatu after the match. Zilla jabbed King in the throat. The rest of Birth Right dragged King away to help him avoid a Samoan Spike…
John’s Thoughts: The match was fine but the finish was bad and didn’t really do much for Birth Right. I like them trying to make Birth Right seem credible, but they haven’t really given them any character development. At least they’re giving Charlie Dempsey mic time.
Emily Agard interviewed Zaria and told her that Robert Stone booked her against Thea Hail with the title on the line. Zaria said she won’t let Hail get the better of her again. Behind them, footage of Zaria younger and in what looked like a stage play (?). Izzi Dame showed up to point out that was Zaria acting in high school. Zaria walked off embarrassed…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Very odd segment? On top of Izzi Dame needing to reinvent her persona, I don’t get why they’re pushing what looks like a heel vs. heel feud with no steam behind it.
The following segments were advertised for next week: Zaria vs. Thea Hail for the Women’s North American Champion, Fraxiom vs. DarkState, BirthRight vs. Mini Vikingo and Chazz Hall, and Myles Borne addressing his attack on Tavion Heights…
NXT Champion Grayson Waller made his entrance. He had a sweater that said “He’s big, he’s bad, I think he ate my dad”. Number one contender Mason Rook made his entrance. Vic and Booker pointed out that Rook has the endorsement from John Cena. Waller asked the stage hand to not hand Rook a mic because he doesn’t know how to use it. Waller said he came to NXT to win the title and elevate the title against the best.
Waller said the best is Rook now. Waller said no one is hungrier than Rook. Waller talked about how they both traveled across the world to chase their dream. Waller said that’s where the similarities end. Waller said Rook hasn’t seen sacrifice only being in NXT for six months. Waller said he runs marathons while Rook runs to the door for his DoorDash. Waller said the title means too much to him for him to take Rook lightly.
Waller gave Rook praise for being a great athlete for his size. Waller said Rook is John Cena’s favorite wrestler and Cena better not bet on the wrong horse. Waller said Rook is big bad, but he looks sad. Waller said Rook is lazy, complacent, and happy to be here. Waller said he sees the quit in Rook’s eyes and he’ll make Rook see defeat. Waller acted condescending and told Rook to take the mic, find his balls, and prove Waller wrong.
Waller told Rook to not eat the mic like a chicken drumstick. Rook said that Waller is out there trying to be witty and verbally execute Rook. Rook said there’s a “theory” to why Waller is back in NXT. Rook said Waller couldn’t quite fit “the vision” on the main roster. Rook said Waller is probably jealous that Mason Rook got praise from John Cena before he was even in WWE. Rook said when there is no mic and the bell rings, Rook will drown Waller.
Rook said he earned the right to be a WWE Superstar and will be the best big man in the game. Rook said as good as Waller is at running his mouth, Waller will find out he in way over his head and being good on the stick isn’t going to save his sorry ass this time. Rook shoved the mic into Waller’s chest and jawed with Waller to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: First of all, Grayson Waller’s diss merch game is always on point and he came out with another fun diss sweater. Mixed thoughts on Waller’s approach here, but he’s very good on the mic so I understand why he’s allowed to run his mouth here. They let Waller do the heavy lifting here of having him run down and lift up Rook at the same time. Rook wasn’t the best on the mic, but he also didn’t look outclassed so he has that going for him. While this promo was decent, I think the Cruz Montana and Dion Lennox promo earlier had a similar format and was better because Dion got to get his licks in on his strong promo opponent.
A good episode of NXT this week. I think the first hour was a lot stronger than the first. It’s interesting to see them make a concerted effort to push the tag team division. They are lampshading that WWE’s tag division isn’t great so they are going to try to turn things around. It’ll be interesting to see the next few weeks of shows being built around what looked like a very hefty tournament.
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