It’s been just over two weeks since the top of the NXT card underwent a huge makeover. At Heatwave 16 days ago, five championships changed hands, drastically altering the developmental brand’s outlook as we head into the fall.
Among those new champions was former WWE Tag Team Champion Grayson Waller. Shortly after returning to NXT, Grayson essentially talked himself into the NXT Title picture. After ruffling the right feathers and earning himself a spot in the Heatwave main event, Waller won the first
singles title of his WWE career in Edinburg, Texas, three Sundays ago. As we all started feeling the Grayson Waller Effect, the time has come for the new champ to have his first #1 contender.
Last week, Saquon Shugars, Tony D’Angelo, and Mason Rook won a 6-man tag team main event, qualifying the trio for a triple threat match to determine who gets the first crack at Grayson Waller. That would be the main event on tonight’s show, which also featured a Myles Borne faux-pology, a big announcement in the world of tag team wrestling… and Shiloh Hill talking to raccoons.
Without further ado, let’s talk about what went down tonight.
Grayson Waller runs a marathon, gets a #1 contender
One of the throughlines on tonight’s show was NXT Champion Grayson Waller running on a treadmill. We checked in on him a handful of times throughout the broadcast, and the Aussie Icon miraculously ran for almost two hours straight, barely breaking a sweat. The champ took a particular interest in the main event of the evening, which featured the three men who won last week’s 6-man tag team main event, competing in a triple threat to become Waller’s new #1 contender.
Throughout the evening, we saw pre-recorded promos for Mason Rook and former champ Tony D’Angelo, but Saquon Shugars gave his pre-match thoughts in a backstage interview. Tristan Angels quickly interrupted that interview, ran the Shuga Man and his two opponents down, and declared himself championship material. In response, Shugars hit Angels with his catchphrase (which I actually think is pretty dope) before confidently heading off, leaving Angels visibly irritated.
During the main event, most of which we saw during a picture-in-picture commercial break, Mason Rook came up with the biggest win of his NXT career, pinning the man who held the NXT Championship for most of the spring and almost all of the summer. Right before that, with Saquon attempting a pinfall after a sweet reverse frog splash, Tristan Angels appeared and pulled the referee out of the ring. Shugars and Angels then brawled outside the ring, effectively taking Saquon out of the match.
Back in the ring, Tony D foolishly tried to lift Mason Rook, but his back gave out. No dads were bodyslammed, but Rook hit a Blue Thunder Bomb and a big splash of his own to finish D’Angelo off.
Just before the show abruptly went off the air, Grayson Waller, who had been running all night, jogged into the Performance Center and held his title up for Mason Rook to see.
Reaction: While I’m pleasantly surprised they didn’t go right back to Tony D fighting for the title, Saquon Shugars is much more intriguing to me right now than Mason Rook. The Shuga Man has quickly become one of my favorite dudes to watch on Tuesday nights, and I was pulling for a collision between him and Waller. That said, a Waller/Rook match just doesn’t feel like a big-time matchup to me right now. Maybe Rook can get there at some point, but I feel like he has ways to go before he belongs in that top tier, even on the developmental brand.
Fool me once… Tavion gets fooled again
Myles Borne got time in the ring to apologize to Tavion Heights. While I watched it live (or slightly tape-delayed), I typed a play-by-play of their conversation, but when it ended, I held the ‘backspace’ button for a minute, realizing none of it mattered.
After what seemed like a feel-good moment between two friends who were more like brothers, Myles immediately hit a Borne Again and launched a brutal attack on his former tag team partner. Because they hadn’t done it in a few weeks, Borne sent Tavion crashing through the LED barricade. Myles then brought Heights back into the ring, wrapped a chair around his ankle and stomped on it.
Reaction: Man. I didn’t have a great feeling about where this angle was going leading up to tonight’s “apology,” and as it turns out, I had reason to. To Myles’ credit, he channeled his inner Viper and showed a ruthless side that he hasn’t let out much in the past. For a few seconds, a few of the PC faithful even started an “RKO” chant. But there was a way to do this turn without making Tavion look like a complete joke. He loses at Heatwave, basically admits that he was wrong for betraying Myles earlier this summer, then agrees to take Myles back after a half-assed apology, only to get laid out by him a minute later.
The return of a Classic
One of the running stories on tonight’s show was the news that NXT GM Robert Stone had a major announcement about the NXT men’s tag team division. With the recently increased focus on tag team wrestling on Tuesday nights, they basically telegraphed the return of a fan favorite tournament that they haven’t run in over two and a half years.
One tag match was promoted for the show, with Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux scheduled to face Osiris Griffin and Cutler James of DarkState. As Legacy and Van Dux hyped themselves up for their match and, hopefully, to be part of whatever Stone was cooking up, Birth Right strolled up and said the NXT Tag Team Titles are now their top priority.
When the match rolled around, DarkState came out on top thanks to Dion Lennox’s blindside attack. Legacy and Van Dux were fresh off a flurry of aerial attacks, including Sean Legacy hitting no fewer than 5 suicide dives in quick succession. Lennox’s emergence and attack on Van Dux afforded Griffin and James the opportunity to dump Legacy from the ring and pin Dorian for the win. Unsurprisingly, Birth Right appeared after the bell and jumped Legacy and Van Dux until Zilla Fatu came out for the save.
Elsewhere this evening, Cruz Montana was chatting with the GM when EK Prosper joined them. After EK apologized for losing the 6-man tag last week, Cruz graciously accepted and went on to praise EK as a future face of NXT. The Vanity Project strolled in to get some answers from Stone about his big announcement. With Stone barely able to get a word in edgewise, Montana stood up for his boss. After saying he’d slap fire out of the entire VP and that the toughest one in their crew is Myka, Montana reminded everyone that he’s got a ton of tag team wrestling under his belt and challenged the tag champs to a match with him and EK.
That match was ‘Set in Stone’ and took place later in the night. Cruz and EK showed decent chemistry and had the Swipe Right boys on the ropes for much of their match. Jackson Drake and Myka Lockwood got caught with their hands in the cookie jar and got ejected from ringside, making it seem like Montana and Prosper could pull out a win. Mere seconds later, though, Smokes locked EK in a backslide, and Baylor held onto his legs, preventing a kickout. Vanity Project picked up the win, but the way they did it left the door open for another round between the two teams.
Just before the main event, GM Stone broke the news that the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is back! The bracket will be announced on social media later this week, with teams from NXT, Evolve, AAA, Raw, and SmackDown all set to compete. First-round matches start next week! To cap off the segment, the Brothers Creed entered the boss’s office, gave their stamp of approval, and declared that they will become the first-ever two-time Dusty Cup winners.
Reaction: The tag action on tonight’s show was perfectly cromulent, but the big news is obviously the return of the Dusty Cup. Who doesn’t love a good tournament, right? Some intriguing teams from all of WWE’s brands could be included, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the bracket later this week.
Quick Hits
- After weeks of interrupting each other’s backstage interview segments, Lizzy Rain and Kali Armstrong met in the squared circle, both looking to pick up a win and inch their way up the pecking order in the women’s division. It was a clash of styles, with Kali bringing the power game and Lizzy scrappily fighting from underneath. In the end, it was the Kali Connection, Armstrong’s running shoulder tackle, that led to a victory. The post-match replays were interrupted when LFG Season 2 winner Skylar Raye hit the ring, looking to get her hands on Kali. Several NXT referees almost comically held Skylar back, allowing Armstrong to escape and celebrate her victory.
- After begrudgingly undergoing a medical examination, which was strangely scheduled for about 8 p.m. on a Tuesday, North American Champion Zaria was approached by Izzi Dame. After wondering aloud how the supposed most dominant woman on the roster got injured by a ‘pipsqueak’ like Thea Hail, Izzi asked Zaria a cryptic, rhetorical question about how one becomes wicked. This seemed to strike a nerve in the champ, who stormed off the doctor’s table.
- We saw a video of Kendal Grey’s visit to the doctor’s office, where the doc was updating her on her status as she deals with trauma to her vestibular system. Looking for a timeline to return, the doctor informed Kendal that she is not medically cleared and is being referred to a sports psychologist to address any mental health concerns. Wren was there for moral support, and after the doctor’s update, Sinclair lamented that her suspension and Kendal’s injury are a direct result of dealing with Kelani Jordan.
- Speaking of Kelani, she got some mic time to bask in her successful title defense last week but her time was quickly interrupted. NXT did that thing they do where a parade of women comes out, eventually leading to a brawl, and more than likely a match the following week. The first contestant to come on down was quite a surprise (unless you’ve read our recent Rumor Roundups), as the new AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, La Catalina, entered the Performance Center. Before long, North American Champion Zaria and Thea Hail joined the fray. In the end, Catalina and Thea got the better of the exchange, sending NXT’s two top women’s champs retreating. Sure enough, a tag team match involving the four ladies was made official for next week’s show.
- Shiloh Hill posted another social media influencer-style video from what looked like his garage. In his never-ending quest to learn about all the different colors of poison mist, Shiloh sprayed himself in the face with some orange. This somehow caused his phone to hallucinate talking raccoons. I want to let you know, dear reader, that I proofread this bullet point three times, and you are, in fact, reading it correctly. See for yourself.
Match Results
- Kali Armstrong def. Lizzy Rain
- DarkState def. Sean Legacy & Dorian Van Dux
- Swipe Right def. Cruz Montana & EK Prosper
- Mason Rook def. Saquon Shugars and Tony D’Angelo
Final Thoughts
This one was rough for me, folks. Not everything NXT does clicks for me every week, but I can usually focus on the positives and still enjoy myself for two hours. I did not enjoy this show. Nothing in the ring set the world on fire, and nothing outside of it really seemed to matter. I typically enjoy Shiloh Hill’s antics, but he lost me with his schtick tonight. Zaria having her encounter with Izzi, then heading out for an NXT-style contenders parade a few minutes later, felt like some needlessly disjointed and jumbled storytelling. Cruz Montana, who I loved in TNA and had high hopes for in NXT, was relegated to losing in a tag team match. Between all those things, Tavion Heights looking like a fool, the WrenQCC being on my TV for all of 90 seconds, and the NXT Champion running on a treadmill for 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 48 seconds before running out to hold his title up for the last 12 seconds of the show… woof.
Now it’s your turn, Cagesiders! Did you (hopefully) enjoy tonight’s show more than I did? Which teams from all of WWE’s brands do you think have the best shot at winning the Dusty Classic? Let us know in the comments below!
