One of the most commonly debated wrestling topics on this wonderful site and others like it is WWE’s perceived counterprogramming of rival promotion AEW. Your individual mileage may vary on that discourse, but with election coverage taking up all of the CW’s airwaves yesterday, NXT was bumped back to Wednesday night for the first time in over 5 years.
To no one’s surprise, they took the opportunity to load the show up with main roster stars, the Never Seen Seventeen, and the Dusty Cup finals. Vic
Joseph called it the ‘Biggest NXT in history’ multiple times, hoping to will that distinction into existence.
When the dust settled, I’m not sure it lived up to all of that hype, but it was still a pretty fun show. If you opted to watch AEW Dynamite, or simply missed the show, scroll down to check out what happened, and in the words of a gorgeous wrestling legend:
“Drink it in, maaaaaaaan!”
Kevin Owens costs CM Punk the NXT Title
Just a few months ago, CM Punk was competing at an NXT live event when he had a run-in with the reigning NXT Champion, Grayson Waller. One of the most shocking moments at Halloween Havoc was the Best in the World showing up on the video board at the close of the show and staking his claim as the NXT Title’s #1 contender. With rumors swirling that Punk could be in line to take over NXT when his in-ring career winds down, Punk was set to compete for the NXT Championship for the first time ever tonight. Early on in the episode, he met up with Shiloh Hill. The two exchanged pleasantries and agreed to meet for the NXT Title once Punk beats Waller for it, so long as Shiloh promised not to use the mist. Before long, Grayson Waller interrupted, dismissed Hill, welcomed CM to NXT, and reminded him to wipe his feet.
When it was main event time, Waller and Punk wrestled a perfectly cromulent match. The Pepsi Man, who had the crowd firmly in his corner, made the Aussie Icon look like a million bucks early in the match. Punk almost picked up the win after hitting a suicide dive to the outside and quickly following it up with a top-rope crossbody back inside. Punk hit a Macho Man-style elbow a few moments later and got another near fall. After hitting Waller with a huge superplex, Punk signaled that it was time for his opponent to go to sleep.
At that moment, Kevin Owens snuck into the Performance Center and hopped onto the ring apron. As Punk went to swing at his opponent on SmackDown this Friday night, Owens dropped down and backed away. Waller saw an opening and rolled Punk up to pick up the win and retain the NXT Championship!
Reaction: The idea of CM Punk winning the NXT Championship at this stage in his career never seemed feasible. When a video posted earlier today showed Kevin Owens being asked to leave the Performance Center, it was clear he would be back and would find a way to cost Punk the title. That was the obvious outcome, but I’m still surprised by how clean Waller’s win was. Obviously, the KO distraction cost Punk, but I thought Owens would get more physically involved. Either way, I’m not sure who can possibly be up next for Waller. With Montana taking his talents to the 946 and Raw, few babyfaces seem ready for that spot. Does Tony D get another opportunity? Zilla? Somebody else? I guess time will tell.
Kelani proves that NXT is her house
Kelani Jordan has been on a roll since becoming NXT Women’s Champion at Heatwave in August. After recent appearances on Raw and SmackDown made it seem like a promotion to the main roster was imminent, ‘Lani survived a tough challenge from Wren Sinclair this past weekend at Halloween Havoc. Despite using the ropes for leverage, Jordan had no qualms about finding her boss backstage, hoping the NXT GM would pat her on the back and tell her how amazing she is. Instead, Stone booked his champ’s next title defense, setting up an NXT Women’s Title match on tonight’s loaded broadcast. When Kelani asked who her opponent would be, the GM wouldn’t tell her; the only clue was that it would be somebody from Raw or SmackDown.
We reported earlier today on who her opponent could be, and those reports proved true. SmackDown star Paige made her way out for her first match on NXT in over a decade. After winning the deciding match in her feud with Nikki Bella before being passed over by her for a WWE Women’s Title shot, the first-ever NXT Women’s Champion returned home hoping to win the title again.
Paige put up a valiant effort and had the Performance Center faithful in her corner. The former Divas Champ came within a split second of the upset, hitting Kelani with a RamPaige, but the champ wouldn’t be denied. It looked like Paige was on the doorstep again later, after she got her knees up as Jordan went for a split-legged moonsault. Paige went for a second RamPaige, but Kelani reversed it and rolled her to salvage her title reign.
Reaction: A title change was never likely here, but this win only adds to Kelani’s resume as she inches closer to a call-up to Raw or SmackDown. She’s become so fluid in the ring and has kept growing into her heel persona with every passing week. Both main roster women’s divisions have a lot going on right now, so as someone who covers NXT week to week, I’m selfishly hoping Kelani stays on the brand for a while. As for Paige, her history of neck injuries became a focal point in yet another match, and that may just be the norm for her now. With Nikki Bella seemingly behind her, Paige seemed to be starting something with Blake Monroe last week, which could indicate what’s next for her.
Dar and Moreno win Dusty Cup, become #1 Contenders
Coming off a commercial break, the last two teams standing in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic were already in the ring for the finals. Dar, Moreno, Hank, and Tank got jobber entrances so that Cody Rhodes could make his way into the Performance Center and join Vic and Booker on commentary.
The paths the two teams took to reach the finals couldn’t have been more different. Dar and Moreno beat three smaller, faster teams in Los Americanos, Fraxiom, and Vanity Project. On the flip side, Hank & Tank advanced by knocking off three bruising teams in Ash and Zanov from Evolve, the Creed Brothers, and most recently, the Wagner Brothers on last week’s show. The contrast in styles was on full display tonight. Noam and Romeo focused on utilizing their speed advantage to avoid the ground-and-pound strategy of the former NXT Tag Champs, while the Belly Boys kept trying to slow things down.
Hank and Tank looked on the verge of a win after weathering a flurry of offense from Romeo. Dar came close to making Hank submit to an ankle lock, but Tank slid in and caught his partner’s hand, preventing him from tapping. Moments later, Hank and Tank seemed to be lining up for the win again, but Hank’s knee gave out, allowing Dar and Moreno to turn the tide and hit their high-low attack on Tank for the win.
After the match, Cody congratulated the winners and told them they had not only won the Dusty Cup but also earned an NXT Tag Team Title shot against Vanity Project next week!
Reaction: The string of matches Dar and Moreno navigated through to win the Dusty Classic is just downright impressive. I was a bit surprised Hank & Tank advanced as far as they did, but giving Noam and Romeo a pair of former tag team champs to beat for the Cup wasn’t a bad call. Now the question becomes, can they keep this winning streak going and win the NXT Tag Team Championships next week? I think they should, but only time will tell if they actually do.
The Main One says “Helloooo!” to John Cena
The Never Seen Seventeen made a rare NXT appearance wearing not jorts, but cargo shorts. After getting serenaded by the crowd in the Performance Center, Cena got right down to business to announce the next invitee to the John Cena Classic next month. Who was it?
Zilla Fatu!
The Main One, still sporting a brace on his injured right wrist, made his way down to presumably throw his hat in the ring to be the first to hold the John Cena Classic Championship. After running down the list of Samoans he had tangled with in the past, Cena reached Zilla Vanilla’s dad, Umaga, and let him know how much he loved him.
An emotional Zilla graciously accepted the invitation and now joins Cody Rhodes as one of the first two participants in the John Cena Classic on December 14th.
Reaction: In my NXT preview this morning, I guessed that Cena would invite Kendal Grey or Kelani Jordan to compete in the Cena Classic, but adding Zilla to the field makes some sense given Cena’s history with the family. Even though I don’t think his booking has done him justice since debuting, it has seemed like the NXT writers are pretty high on him. This could be a breakout spot for El Hijo de Umaga if he puts on a good showing next month.
946 > DarkState
I wasn’t initially planning on writing much about the unsanctioned match between Dion Lennox and Cruz Montana. I thought their feud had become one of the top two or three on NXT in recent weeks, and up until Monday, it felt like the winner tonight could potentially be in line for the NXT Championship. Then Cruz made his Raw debut by joining the 946 on Monday, and I wasn’t even sure the blowoff match would happen.
But sure enough, despite the match being removed from the WWE website’s NXT preview, Cruz still appeared for what will likely be his last NXT match. He got the action going early by attacking Dion before he could even make it into the ring. Most of the action went down outside the ring, and they checked the boxes for all the high-spots matches of this nature tend to check at the Performance Center: the padding on the arena floor got pulled back; Lennox crashed through the wall of the NXT perch; Montana crashed through the LED board.
The action never really reached the level of violence you would expect from an unsanctioned match, but I thought Montana and Lennox both brought it. UFC fighter Michael Chandler was there too. As someone who doesn’t follow UFC, his presence did nothing for me, but the dude asserted himself well. He was in a good position for several spots and seemed to have a pretty solid understanding of his role.
The finish came when Cruz was about to powerbomb Dion off the steel steps and onto the exposed concrete floor. Osiris Griffin and Cutler James ran down to save their crony, and just as they were about to drive Cruz through the announce table with a DarkState bomb, all of the lights in the PC went out.
When they came back on, 946 had appeared. The DarkState trio was no match for the faction that had run roughshod over the Bloodline just 48 hours earlier. Cruz powerbombed Dion through a table, then rolled him back into the ring to Spin the Block for the win.
Reaction: With so many factors changing since the match was made official last week, this is exactly how I expected it to go. Royce Keys’ crew was getting some definite babyface love here, which is a little bit because of ‘main roster’ energy, but also speaks a bit to how much those Orlandoans just don’t like DarkState. While I personally think Montana could be a good fit with the 946 as long as they start giving us some backstory, the timing just kinda sucks for Dion Lennox. I thought he had done some of his best work with Cruz these last few weeks, and now that story has just kind of fizzled in front of him.
Quick Hits
- When the Vanity Project’s complaining to Robert Stone last week got them signed for a 6-man tag this week, the goal seemed pretty clear: load up NXT with three main roster stars and give NXT’s top heel faction a rub in the process. I’d say mission accomplished. Chad Gable, Rey Fenix, and Dragon Lee made the trip to Orlando and kicked off tonight’s show with an exciting win, but Vanity Project proved that they can hang with three of the best workers under the WWE umbrella. The action was pretty chaotic and ended with Lee hitting Operation Dragon on Brad Baylor. All in all, it was a fun way to start off the show.
- As the WrenQCC milled about in the locker room, Sol Ruca dropped in. After giving Wren some props for her efforts in recent weeks, Sol mentioned that Zaria had asked her to come to the PC tonight. Before we got a follow-up or an explanation, Izzi Dame walked in and told Sol she was the one who asked Ruca to show up. Izzi accused Sol of being a chronic loser-defender. First Zaria, now Wren. Sinclair then stepped up and challenged Dame to a fight.
- The Progressive spotlight this week featured about 15 seconds of a pensive Tony D’Angelo standing atop a bridge. No words. Just Tony D, lost in his thoughts.
- Before John Cena could leave the Performance Center and enter the most dangerous place in the world, he ran into ‘Showtime’ Kam Hendrix backstage. Lights, Kam, Action stated his case to Cena for a spot in the Classic, but instead, Cena hit him with a pretty dope line: “If you’re good, you’ll tell everybody. And if you’re great, they’ll tell you.” Cena then told Kam he should shift his focus from the John Cena Classic… to his opponent next week, EK Prosper!
Match Results
- Chad Gable, Dragon Lee & Rey Fenix def. The Vanity Project
- Kelani Jordan def. Paige to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
- Noam Dar & Romeo Moreno def. Hank & Tank to win the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
- Cruz Montana def. Dion Lennox
- Grayson Waller def. CM Punk to retain the NXT Men’s Championship
Final Thoughts
As a television viewer, this had the makings of a pretty predictable show. Kelani or Grayson losing their titles to main roster stars never seemed likely, and Cruz’s promotion to Raw took some of the juice out of his match with Waller. But for those Performance Center faithful, it had to be pretty cool to see so many big-name stars show up. On top of that, the action was solid all night from top to bottom, as I thought all five matches delivered. NXT will move back to Tuesday next week, and I’m really hoping they can parlay some of this momentum into interesting, exciting shows as 2026 winds down. There are some intriguing pieces there, and the show has bright spots every week, but we’ll see if they can keep the energy up without all of the main roster involvement next week.
Now it’s your turn, Cagesiders! Let us know in the comments below!
