NXT will emanate from the Performance Center in Orlando tonight, with less than 3 weeks until NXT’s summer PLE, Heatwave. The #1 contender to the NXT Championship will be decided. Plus, the Women’s North American Championship will be up for grabs and former stablemates will settle scores in two separate grudge matches. Be sure to tune into the action on the CW starting at 8 PM ET, and follow along with all the action right here on Cageside!
Montana & Waller collide for #1 Contendership
After playing second fiddle to their female counterparts
for most of 2026, the NXT men’s division got a jolt in recent weeks with the addition of Cruz Montana and the return of Grayson Waller. Both men, who had previously worked on Tuesdays in different capacities, immediately set their sights on Tony D’Angelo, leading to confrontations between them and the NXT Champion in back-to-back weeks.
Just weeks after beating Naraku in a brutal Street Fight, last week, Tony D essentially told Cruz and Grayson to put their money where their mouths are and suggested they compete in a #1 contenders match, which GM Robert Stone wasted no time making official. That match will take place tonight, with the winner likely heading for a title shot at Heatwave, coming up in less than 3 weeks.
While your mileage may vary on Grayson Waller’s main roster run, another singles run on NXT could be what the brash Aussie needs to reestablish himself as a singles star. With the rosters of both Raw and SmackDown becoming relatively crowded in recent months and NXT’s men’s division struggling, utilizing Waller on Tuesday nights is a decent way to kill two birds with one stone after runs with A-Town Down Under and as the New Day’s sidekick left him without much creative direction.
As for Montana, who competed on NXT for about a half dozen matches in 2025 as a TNA star, Mike Santana, his official WWE debut had been rumored for weeks after he lost the TNA World Title to Nic Nemeth back in June. As someone who follows both NXT and TNA closely, seeing Montana show up at the Performance Center a few weeks ago was a cool moment and instantly added a former World Champion to the top of the NXT card.
It’ll be interesting to see who gets the nod to challenge Tony D’Angelo next. Can Grayson Waller get one step closer to competing for the NXT Championship, a belt that he never held during his first run on Tuesday nights? Or will Cruz Montana win his first match on the WWE payroll and set up a big showdown with Tony D at the end of the month?
Two-Belts Wren?
Just a week after fellow former NQCC member Myles Borne became a double champion when he and Tavion Heights reunited and defeated Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes of the Vanity Project, Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinclair gets a shot at Zaria’s North American Championship. This is a role reversal from last week, when Wren defended her title against Zaria. Wren retained in that match, surviving the 5-minute Speed Title match time limit to hold onto her gold.
Unfortunately for Wren, Zaria is sure to be in a foul mood and won’t be an easy mountain for Sinclair to climb. The reigning North American Champ made an emphatic statement after falling short of becoming a double champion herself last week by laying Wren out with an F-5 after the match.
Will Zaria continue forging her war path through the NXT women’s locker room and keep her title reign going into its fifth month? Or will Wren Sinclair shock the world just a week after surviving last week’s Speed match?
Fragmented factions go to battle
Filling out the card for tonight’s show are two grudge matches featuring former stablemates on opposite sides of the ring.
A little over two years ago, a few months after returning to the WWE, Shawn Spears created a cult-like group called The Culling. With former members Brooks Jensen and Tatum Paxley long gone, only Spears, Niko Vance, and Izzi Dame remained. After the group’s success began to dwindle under the former Perfect 10’s leadership, Dame and Vance made the decision to forcibly remove him from the group a few months ago. Spears, seeking revenge, would make his return a few weeks later, leveling Niko with a steel chair after Vance’s match with Shiloh Hill.
Then, recently, Spears got involved in Izzi Dame’s business, costing his former protege her match with Lizzy Rain. Now, Spears will team with Rain to take on the remnants of The Culling in a mixed tag team match. Will Spears be able to take down the group that he created? Or will Dame and Vance prove that they’re better off without their former mentor?
Back at Great American Bash, Saquon Shugars picked up a big victory over his former DarkState teammate Dion Lennox, but fell victim to a 3-on-1 attack afterward. Through the month of July, Shugars tried his best to put his former buddies in the rearview permanently, even enlisting the help of Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno along the way. DarkState would win the 6-man tag team match, but the match devolved into a standard tag match after Lennox and Shugars took their brawl to the outside and eventually crashing through the Performance Center perch.
Now, they’ll get a chance to settle their differences in a standard singles match that has all the makings of a double countout or double disqualification. With Heatwave looming, a blowoff match with a stipulation seems the likely course for this. The question is, will there be a decisive winner tonight before things predictably go off the rails?
Quick Hits
- Kendal Grey survived her NXT Underground match with Lola Vice and retained her NXT Women’s Championship. With Lola Vice seeming to say her goodbyes to the PC faithful after the match last week, who from the loaded NXT women’s division is going to step up next? Personally, I’d love to see Kendal square off with Kelani Jordan again, but there are several other intriguing contenders lurking in the locker room that could be next to step up. Kali Armstrong? Reina Volcan? Somebody else? Maybe we’ll find out tonight!
- Odd couple Thea Hail and Jaida Parker teamed up to beat Nattie’s henchwomen on last week’s show. Will they find somebody else to team with so they can beat Nattie, Nikkita, and Karmen in a trios match next?
- What’s next for Myles Borne and Tavion Heights after defeating Swipe Right last week to become the NXT Tag Team Champions? Will Myles be able to handle the pressures of holding two championships? Now that he got the moment he’s been wanting, will Tavion get greedy and look for a second title of his own?
- Powerhouse Keanu Carver beat EK Prosper last week by hitting a devastating… (checks notes)… a schoolboy roll-up. Not only did Carver win the match unconventionally, but he also tapped Prosper’s shoulder in a show of respect afterward. What can we attribute Carver’s recent personality shift to? Will this pattern continue tonight, or will something set him off and turn him back into the unhinged beast he’s been for most of his NXT career?
All this and more on the CW tonight as NXT heads towards their next PLE, Heatwave at the end of the month. Let us know what you’re most excited for on tonight’s show in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with the live coverage here on Cageside tonight, starting at 8 PM Eastern!
