"WWE NXT" is heading into a packed episode next week, but first there was some table-setting to do. This was the focus of Tuesday night's show, as well as to reintroduce Grayson Waller to the WWE Performance Center crowd. You can read about everything that happened on the "WWE NXT" July 28, 2026 results page.Now, it's time for the weekly warriors to once again tell you how this week's edition of WWE's developmental show made them feel. The staff was divided on just how much Grayson Waller was featured on the show. There was also plenty to love from the women's division, while the general booking left people flat. The comments section will be available for anyone with more to say at the end.For now, here's the best and the worst of the last "WWE NXT" of July.
I've complained a lot about women's wrestling in WWE, or, in certain recent cases, lack thereof, a lot lately, so I probably shouldn't be complaining about wanting a championship taken away. But, I don't think there's ever been a title so useless or silly as the Speed Championships. That goes for both the men's and women's belts, but tonight, the focus was on the Women's Speed title.In a backstage segment tonight, Women's North American Champion Zaria finally complained to General Manager Robert Stone, in just a snide comment, really, about having to defend her gold against three other women, instead of just one challenger, a few weeks ago. She was in Stone's office to inquire about who her next singular challenger may be, when they were interrupted by Wren Sinclair, who was wondering the same for her own Women's Speed Championship.Zaria straight up buried Sinclair's title and at one point, said she was too good a champion to be in a Speed tournament. It was somehow determined that Sinclair will defend the Speed Championship against Zaria next week, and if she wins, she gets a shot at the Women's North American Championship. I'm thinking that the match will probably end in a time limit draw, because as much as I like Sinclair, I don't know if I can see her beating Zaria, and this likely ends with her getting that NA Championship shot.Sinclair is also too good of a wrestler to be holding the Speed title and wrestling five-minute time limit matches against an opponent determined through a tournament with just three-minute bouts. I think that can be said for all the women on "NXT's" roster at this point. Short matches like that are okay sometimes, but setting the time limit so blatantly just stinks.I can't believe that WWE has kept those Speed titles around this long. They're useless, and both Sinclair and the men's champion, Lexis King, have only defended them once each, on television. They have more defenses on house shows, but I don't even think the title makes much sense on those shows, either, as they're unlikely to change hands.Zaria and Sinclair will have a fantastic bout once they're able to just go, likely during Zaria's defense of her own title, with no time limit or gimmick. If WWE is allowing its stars to bury the title on its program, it's probably time to do so anyway with both of them.Written by Daisy Ruth
I'm not usually a fan of the disgruntled wrestler trope, but "WWE NXT" star Kelani Jordan sure has every right to be as such.Tonight, the former gymnast laid out her case as to why "NXT" has been an unfair work environment to her. Jordan claimed that despite being the "best" in the women's division, major opportunities, specifically involving the NXT Women's Championship, had evaded her. In fact, in her four years working under the WWE banner, Jordan has not once vied for the NXT Women's Title in a televised setting.Jordan further asserted she should be the number one contender right now, especially considering she was poised to beat Kali Armstrong "fair and square" two weeks ago. Instead, Lola Vice kicked Jordan out of the ring and capitalized on her 450 Splash that left Armstrong lying just moments before.I'd be lying if I said I didn't agree 100% with Jordan. Amongst the current "NXT" women's roster, she remains one of the most tenured; moreover, she's insanely athletic in the ring and has already proven herself to be a credible champion (the NXT Women's North American and TNA Knockouts Titles say hello). For those reasons, I'd argue that Jordan's lack of proximity to the NXT Women's Championship is a borderline criminal booking decision.Her calling it all out on air makes sense. More importantly, though, it could naturally lead her to the very thing that she's long and very well deserved, after the upcoming title match between Vice and Kendal Grey, of course.Written by Ella Jay
Heading into this edition of "NXT", one of the matches that I thought had potential to be really enjoyable was the North American Championship match between Myles Borne and Kam Hendrix. Coming out of the other side of that match, it turned out not exactly to be the case and ended up being kind of a flop.I will give Hendrix props in this match for bumping around the ring really well for Borne throughout the duration of the match and thought he did a good job when it came to selling a lot of the offense that Borne was giving to him. However, when it came to Hendrix's own offense, I found that it really, really slowed down the pacing of this match and made it drag on a bit. Hendrix spent a lot of time doing nothing more than firing off right hands on Borne, making it feel incredibly boring to watch as a viewer and quickly losing my interest in what was going on between the ropes. I just didn't find this one that fun to watch, which is not a great thing for something that was supposed to be a big title match.Written by Olivia Quinlan
It was a match with no stakes, but I was really looking forward to Izzi Dame and Lizzy Rain's matchup tonight, one of the few things advertised for this edition of "NXT." I was hoping they'd have a singles match soon after they were both involved in the number one contender's four-way, then the actual bout that ended up being a four-way due to injury, for the Women's North American Championship.I think these women have great chemistry together, which you may not believe initially when you hear Dame's name. I personally think Dame has gotten so much better over the course of 2026, and despite seeming like she went to the Shawn Michaels' School of Overselling sometimes, I like her work and really enjoy when she's up against an exciting opponent, and Rain is certainly one of those.The crowd was super hyped up throughout this match, and that could be in part due to Grayson Waller's opening promo putting over the "NXT" women's division. While we could have had another women's match tonight, this one was really solid, and we are getting matches for both the Women's Speed Championship, as well as the Underground match for the NXT Women's title, next week, so I guess I can't complain too much.Dame had some incredible counters in this match, catching Rain's springboard elbow into a Blue Thunder Bomb and hitting a truly beautiful Crucifix Bomb to Rain. "The Maiden of Metal" is no slouch, and had Dame with one of the most impressive backslides, of all things, that I've seen in recent memory, and the Thunderstruck is a top move of the year, for me. Both of these women hit hard, and it was really fun to see.While I didn't love the finish, I expected shenanigans, so my expectations were somewhat tempered. Niko Vance was out ringside with Dame, and he got involved at one point, jumping up onto the apron to confront Rain. Shawn Spears was, of course, in a black hoodie, armed with a chair behind him when he turned around. That distracted Dame long enough for Rain to get the win. I'm wondering just when and how The Culling storyline finally comes to an end, but tonight, at least, I'm happy with the banger of a women's match we got. With that ending, I could also see Dame demanding another shot at Rain, and I would not be mad about seeing them run it back.Written by Daisy Ruth
Grayson Waller opened the show with his own take on shooting from the hip, hyping up the fact that he finally had a live microphone in hand before calling Austin Theory the Marty Jannetty of A-Town Down Under and saying he was still allergic to the microphone no matter the bells and whistles put on him.He then addressed his time with the New Day dressed for a months-long funeral, hyped up the "WWE NXT" women's division in his attempt to run down the men's division, and laid out his plan to come back and be an NXT Champion for the first time before the microphone was cut off, and he had to finish what he had to say to the camera.Waller can talk for the entirety of Australia if it was an Olympic sport, and he isn't too bad in the ring. But there has always been something missing, and it's hard to see his re-emergence in the developmental brand after three years as anything but a demotion. He's not a veteran coming back to the brand to give the next generation a leg up. He's someone who ran out of runway on the main roster and has come back to enter the one title picture he is somewhat believable in.He was taking shots at Theory and calling him the Jannetty when Theory is the one still on Monday nights as a reigning Tag Team Champion. In fact, Waller won his only title alongside Theory. He is the Jannetty if anything.Beyond Waller himself, this segment seemed to try and walk the path beaten by CM Punk's "Pipebomb" and Seth Rollins' NXT Takeover: San Antonio promo in 2017 in a wrestling world that has constantly been trying to emulate those promos ad nauseam.That's without even considering how counter-productive it seems to have a failed main roster call-up come and proverbially defecate on the prospects. It's a developmental brand. Now, if he doesn't win the NXT Championship, he looks like a jackass. If he does win the NXT Championship, it reinforces his point and undermines the roster.As an added bonus, he rocked up at the end of the show to get involved in the Cruz Montana (Mike Santana) and Tony D'Angelo confrontation to insert himself into the title picture. There's nothing inherently bad with that since he had outlined that as his intent, but it is a shame they couldn't have just run with the Montana-D'Angelo program without him.Written by Max Everett
Despite being a widely hated heel, I've always considered myself a fan of Grayson Waller's work. He's proven that he can go word-for-word with even the most legendary wrestlers on the microphone (Adam "Edge" Copeland and John Cena, for example). He certainly doesn't lack charisma either. What he has lacked, however, is opportunities.Some of that can be attributed to the fact that his two major alliances came to an abrupt end. An injury to his former co-SmackDown Tag Team Champion Austin Theory first caused Waller to suddenly pivot to one with The New Day. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods' exits from WWE this year then left Waller all alone with no creative direction, until tonight, that is.Waller opened up "NXT" with a promo acknowledging the downward trajectory of his WWE career. Rather than dwelling on it, though, Waller made it clear that he was going to do something about it, namely by rattling the cages of the "NXT" brand.Yes, Waller's promo spanned about eight whole minutes, but I felt truth in most of what he was saying. Furthermore, it gave me hope that, unlike many of the main roster talent returns to "NXT" before him, his might actually benefit him. If WWE has nothing for him on "Raw" or "SmackDown" right now, maybe "NXT" is the best place to keep him occupied with something of substance in the meantime. Who knows, it might even inspire major plans for him amongst WWE's main roster creative team.Sometimes, you just have to go back to your roots in order to foster future growth.Written by Ella Jay
