{"id":195723,"date":"2026-08-26T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=195723"},"modified":"2026-08-25T23:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:25:19","slug":"powells-nxt-hit-list-thoughts-on-the-final-push-for-heatwave-the-weaponized-steel-cage-match-the-odd-presentation-of-vanity-project-and-rey-fenix-following-up-one-hot-match-with-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/08\/26\/powells-nxt-hit-list-thoughts-on-the-final-push-for-heatwave-the-weaponized-steel-cage-match-the-odd-presentation-of-vanity-project-and-rey-fenix-following-up-one-hot-match-with-another\/","title":{"rendered":"Powell&#8217;s NXT Hit List: Thoughts on the final push for Heatwave, the weaponized steel cage match, the odd presentation of Vanity Project, and Rey Fenix following up one hot match with another"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-2942543730\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>NXT Hits<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tony D&#8217;Angelo, Zilla Fatu, Cruz Santana, and Grayson Waller:<\/b> The pre-taped promos featuring D&#8217;Angelo and Fatu were strong. D&#8217;Angelo took a bit of a backseat while his challengers established themselves during the build to the four-way title match at Heatwave, but he played the part of the confident champion nicely. Grayson Waller walking out during the NXT Heatwave Summit and telling the women that they were great to look at and hard to listen to was hilarious. I also got a kick out of his &#8220;Nepo Uce&#8221; T-shirt. Fatu has a ton of charisma and has already established that he&#8217;s his own man, not just a guy emulating any of his famous family members.<\/p>\n<p><b>Saquon Shugars vs. Dion Lennox in a Weaponized Steel Cage match:<\/b> They saved their best for the blowoff match. I&#8217;m not a fan of weapons in cage matches, so I loved how much they ran each other into the cage. And despite all the weapons that were used, Shugars&#8217; great crossbody block off the top of the cage led to him pinning Lennox. These two worked hard and produced a violent match, especially by WWE standards. There were a couple of late hiccups with the table, but it actually added to the grittiness of the match, and they recovered quickly. I&#8217;m anxious to see what comes next for both wrestlers.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rey Fenix vs. EK Prosper for the AAA Cruiserweight Championship:<\/b> Fenix tore the house down with Dragon Lee on Monday, and then came right back and had another hot match with Prosper. I can&#8217;t say that I care about the AAA Cruiserweight Title, but at least it&#8217;s led to WWE officials finally turning Fenix loose. This was a high-profile opportunity for Prosper, and he made the most of it.<\/p>\n<p><b>Keanu Carver vs. Kam Hendrix:<\/b> Carver&#8217;s in-ring evolution is fun to watch. His power moves are great, and he&#8217;s adding more moves to his repertoire. Hendrix was equally impressive. For a guy his size, Hendrix did a great job of taking the power moves and bumping for Carver. Mason Rook costing Hendrix the match wasn&#8217;t ideal, but I&#8217;m not surprised that they didn&#8217;t have Carver or Hendrix take a clean loss.<\/p>\n<p><b>Jaida Parker and Nattie:<\/b> Nattie did a good job of setting things up by talking about Parker wasting her potential. Parker came out and delivered a great rebuttal promo that established she has her mojo back.<\/p>\n<p><b>NXT Women&#8217;s North American Champion Zaria vs. Kali Armstrong in a non-title match:<\/b> A soft Hit for a solid match. I&#8217;m not really sure why they felt the need to add Armstrong to the North American Championship and WWE Women&#8217;s Speed Championship unification match. I&#8217;m also surprised they didn&#8217;t protect Zaria by having Armstrong beat Wren Sinclair to get in the match. On a positive note, I was thrilled to hear Robert Stone state in an online video that the winner of the unification match at Heavwave will choose which title to carry moving forward. If the winner chooses to keep the Speed Championship alive, then everyone involved in the NXT creative process should be committed to an institution and never heard from again.<\/p>\n<p><b>&#8220;BirthRight&#8221; Lexis King, Charlie Dempsey, Uriah Connors, Channing Lorenzo vs. Sean Legacy, Dorian Van Dux, Romeo Moreno, and Noam Dar in an eight-man tag:<\/b> A soft Hit. Most eight-man tag matches feel trivial, but the babyface team&#8217;s flashy offense was fun, and the live crowd ate it up. Dempsey getting a clean win over Dar was a pleasant surprise. BirthRight has about as much chemistry as Deshaun Watson has with Cleveland Browns fans. There are some talented people in the faction, but most would be better off flying solo. The lack of mic time for Arianna Grace is astonishing considering how good she was in TNA.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>NXT Misses<\/strong><\/span><\/p><div id=\"prowr-2133104663\" class=\"prowr-content-4 prowr-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_2 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_2\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><b>NXT Heatwave Summit:<\/b> A minor Miss for a mixed bag. The verbal portion felt too choreographed, as these types of segments typically do. It was also silly that the two security guards stood next to the barricade and watched wrestler after wrestler come out, yet for some reason they were concerned when Cruz Montana entered through the crowd rather than the stage? It got better once the brief brawl broke out and Zilla Fatu performed the big top rope crossbody block onto several wrestlers on the floor. Once all was said and done, the segment failed to make me any more excited about the various Heatwave matches than I was going in.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Vanity Project at the bowling alley:<\/b> Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor, Ricky Smokes, and Myka Lockwood have so much upside potential, but I&#8217;m not a fan of the way they are being presented. The guys scream rich, entitled d-bags who flaunt their wealth and act like they are better than everyone else. And the thing that should really annoy fans is that they can actually back up their elitist attitudes because they are so good in the ring. Rather, we&#8217;ve seen them swing and miss with women in the past, and now they&#8217;re hanging out at a bowling alley in some weird attempt to show how close they are. These guys should be repulsed at the mere thought of taking part in a sport fancied by commoners. I see the Vanity Project as being like a young Four Horsemen faction, but they&#8217;re coming off more like three low-IQ goofballs. I&#8217;ll let you decide which presentation is more likely to draw money.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast--3275525\">Pro Wrestling Boom<\/a>, and also appears regularly on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/category\/podcaasts\/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-podcast\/\">Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast<\/a>. Reach him via email at <a href=\"mailto:dotnetjason@gmail.com\">dotnetjason@gmail.com<\/a> and on social media via <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/prowrestlingnet.bsky.social\">@prowrestlingnet.bsky.social<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/prowrestlingnet\">x.com\/prowrestlingnet<\/a>. For his full bio and information on this website, click <a href=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/about-us\/\">here<\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-3513992474\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":158880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[75,50,27],"tags":[399,5456,5917,5082,5829,4043,5455,5083,5327,5841,5756,37,1535,5457,5161,4187,5320,5272],"class_list":["post-195723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jasonpowell","category-mustreadarticles","category-viewpoints","tag-aaa","tag-brad-baylor","tag-cruz-montana","tag-dion-lennox","tag-ek-prosper","tag-grayson-waller","tag-jackson-drake","tag-jaida-parker","tag-kali-armstrong","tag-myka-lockwood","tag-nattie","tag-nxt","tag-rey-fenix","tag-ricky-smokes","tag-saquon-shugars","tag-tony-dangelo","tag-zaria","tag-zilla-fatu"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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