August is here, and "WWE NXT" is on the road to Heatwave. Tonight's episode was loaded with title matches, rivalries, and ear blood. You can read all about it, especially the ear blood, over on the WWE NXT 8/4/2026 Results Page.As for now, the Wrestling Inc. Staff have some feelings about the way the show went down, and this is the space for them to vent said feelings. There was plenty to love, like the bright spotlight on the Women's Division, or the brutal main event, but there was also plenty to hate, like the ugly, messy booking of the men's world title scene, or whatever the hell has been going on with Tavion Heights and Myles Borne I mean is this storyline ever going to turn or is this just literally them regressing to the NQCC days? They'll break down all of this and more.As always, if you want to keep the conversation going, the comments section will be open to any and all who can behave themselves. Without further ado, here's what we loved from this week's "WWE NXT" and here's what we very much did not.
Last week, the NXT Championship scene, involving champion Tony D'Angelo, "NXT's" newest signee Cruz Montana, and the incensed, recently returned Grayson Waller, felt interesting. From Waller's "pipe bomb" inspired opening promo to Montana getting on the microphone himself to address the fans in the Performance Center, things felt fresh. This week, however, the trio's promo segment fell flat, and it didn't even sound like the usually rowdy crowd in the Performance Center was into it.I don't know if it's because no one involved really had any issues with each other prior to last week, but it just doesn't feel hot enough yet. Waller and Cruz should be the only ones feuding right now, for the opportunity to take on D'Angelo for the gold, and there's something about the former "Don of 'NXT'" being involved already that just doesn't feel right, despite him not exactly having much else to do right now. He mentioned himself and Waller previously being partners in the 2021 WarGames match, but even that fact, a connection between them, felt out of place.It feels as though this could have easily been avoided with some booking tweaks. Waller could have still cut his promo last week, bringing out Montana with his remarks about TNA being the minor leagues, and then "NXT" would be off to the races to determine a new number one contender. Knowing "NXT," however, we're headed toward a triple threat match at Heatwave, despite D'Angelo telling the pair to go to General Manager Robert Stone to get a number one contender's match made official. It was later announced that the bout will take place next week, and shenanigans to get to that presumed triple threat are likely. Despite it feeling flat and weird, and triple threat title matches being all too common in "NXT," I'm not sure there's a way to keep Montana or Waller out of the match at this point, without hurting either of them.Tonight's promo segment felt slow and kind of clunky. Maybe bringing Waller back in with a fire lit underneath him, in storyline, on top of trying to establish a rebranded Mike Santana, all while bringing the champion into the mix early on, was too much, but I'm hoping things even out in the title scene soon. There's an interesting story there with Waller, and I'm a big fan of Montana, but things are just not meshing well for me right now.Written by Daisy Ruth
As Grayson Waller stated last week, the women of "WWE NXT" are running laps around the men. That certainly was the case on tonight's "NXT."Tonight, we saw four different matches involving WWE's female competitors. Firstly, Thea Hail and Jaida Parker defeated Nikkita Lyons and Karmen Petrovic, with WWE veteran Nattie (aka Natalya) accompanying the latter team. WWE Women's Speed Champion Wren Sinclair retained her title by surviving five minutes in the ring with Zaria; an announcement of Zaria defending her NXT Women's North American Championship against Sinclair followed.Later in the show, Myka Lockwood emerged on the sidelines to support Vanity Project in their NXT Tag Team Championship defense. Attempted interference ultimately got her ejected from ringside, though it did lead to an intriguing backstage encounter between her and Keanu Carver. Head wrapped in a bandage, Kendal Grey then successfully defended the NXT Women's Championship against Lola Vice in a brutal main event Underground match.Elsewhere, Kelani Jordan continued airing her grievances, this time with Grayson Waller listening in. Jordan made sure to point out that, unlike Waller, she'd win her first world title on her first try. A backstage segment between Izzi Dame and Lizzy Rain came shortly after, setting up a mixed tag team match for next week.Needless to say, women's wrestling fans, including myself, were well fed tonight. And given that wrestling remains a male-dominated sport, the magnitude in which "NXT" spotlighted its women is quite refreshing to see. Let's just hope the "WWE SmackDown" brand took notes on that now.Written by Ella Jay
"NXT" gave Myles Borne and Tavion Heights a shot at Vanity Project's NXT Tag Team Championship by having Borne make a successful defense of his North American Championship against Kam Hendrix. Doing this kind of title defense for a title shot once was already more than enough for me, and it was far too soon to do it again tonight by having Wren Sinclair retain her Women's Speed Championship against Zaria to receive a shot at the Women's North American Championship.Whether it was with a clean win or a draw caused by time limit expiration, Sinclair was bound to retain her Women's Speed Championship. There was just no way that "NXT" wouldn't honor the stipulation of the match and not grant her a shot at Zaria's Women's North American Championship, as it would render this entire thing as being pointless and a waste of time on the show. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, though, seeing that it made it incredibly predictable that Sinclair would retain her title to make the Women's North American Championship match happen and therefore took away a little from the excitement of this title defense.I also didn't feel that the time limit that comes with Speed matches gave Sinclair or Zaria enough time to build up the right amount of tension. In order for this title defense for title shot stipulation to work even a little bit in this context, there needed to be far more time allotted for this in order to plant even the slightest bit of doubt in the minds of fans that Zaria would dethrone Sinclair as Women's Speed Champion.Written by Olivia Quinlan
While it was only two weeks ago that Keanu Carver was feuding with babyfaces Hank & Tank after roughing up Tank on the Great American Bash pre-show, it feels like "NXT" is on the verge of trying to do something different with him. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a babyface turn just yet, but tonight, there were hints that he may be leaning that way, and it's rather interesting.Tonight, he faced off once again against EK Prosper, after Prosper defeated him twice over the course of the summer. After his roll-up victory, Carver showed him some respect, which seemed pretty unlike his recent character. During the match, at one point when the men took the bout to the outside, Carver bumped into Booker T and apologized. Carver had a notable feud with the WWE Hall of Famer, which played out on "NXT" as recently as the "Booker T Appreciation Night" episode in Houston, Texas in March. Even Booker T was surprised that Carver apologized, and it felt pretty noteworthy.We didn't get any follow-up on this after his match with Prosper, but earlier in the night, as Carver was walking to the ring, as well as last week, he was stared down by The Vanity Project's Myka Lockwood. Not in a threatening way, but in a rather sensual, sizing him up kind of way. Carver didn't seem too mad about it either, which is interesting. Lockwood hasn't been sizing up any other big man on the roster, and doing it two weeks in a row also felt significant. Feuding with all three members of Vanity Project would certainly turn Carver babyface quickly.There's a lot going on in "NXT" right now, so maybe this gets overlooked, but if I hadn't noticed Lockwood staring at Carver (which I think is pretty darn cute), I might not have noticed him apologizing to Booker T or thought anything of him showing some respect to Prosper. I'm not sure where this is all going, if anywhere, but after complaining about Carver not having a direction in "NXT" for so long, even the slight tease of a change to his character is interesting to me.Written by Daisy Ruth
"WWE NXT" surprised us tonight, but not in a good way.For weeks, we at Wrestling Inc. have anticipated a heel turn from Tavion Heights. After all, it was Heights himself that declared Myles Borne "forgot" about their friendship while on his ascendance to singles championship gold in "NXT." Heights also looked visibly upset after Borne successfully defended the NXT North American Championship, the very title Heights has long eyed, against him at the Great American Bash.That's why we were shocked to learn that Heights and Borne would challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championships just one month later. Even more shocking was the fact that Borne and Heights actually won, with the tag team gold now securely sitting around their waists.Don't get us wrong, we understand the value of forgiveness in friendship. Heights seemed to arrive at it rather quickly, however, which led us to believe that "NXT" officials had an on-screen swerve planned.Instead, Heights is reverting back to a tag team dynamic he previously left in order to pursue singles opportunities. Maybe WWE pivoted his creative direction, and Heights and Borne are on track for a lengthy tag team title run. The road the company took to get there remains highly confusing, though.Written by Ella Jay
Kendal Grey ended Lola Vice's Underground undefeated streak at four with a bout that made the most of its setting, bringing blood, drama, and physical action all in one fun little package.The bout built off of the cross-over angle between former amateur wrestler Grey and former MMA fighter Vice, the former the grappler and the latter making the most of the stand-up game though she was also good at the grappling too.As such, everything got started with a grappling exchange before the fight was taken to the outside of the ropes-less ring. Grey brought the steel steps into the mix as a means to get out of a submission, only to find her head bouncing off of them for a worked injury angle. The champion was shown to be bleeding from her ear and sold the impact befitting someone who just got their s*** rocked. Doctors surrounded her and looked primed to call the match but for her heroic protest. It was just classic pro wrestling melodrama in the best way.The doctors wiped the bleeding, but it just leaked again, adding a little "Well damn, maybe this is real" to the mix. But then she valiantly told them all where to go and finished wrapping her head herself, rolling back into the ring for the comeback. What came after that was brilliant, as rather than immediately being the better competitor, she flailed around the ring hopelessly trying to find equilibrium.Vice was hesitant but still pressed her advantage, and it was a slog for Grey before she did eventually win. Even then, it was merely because she refused to lose. She had the snot kicked and backfisted out of her before finally catching Vice overplaying her hands (literally). Vice was raining down hammerfists, and Grey caught one of them into an armbar, pulling tight and getting a submission to cement her as the victor.A great match with the drama that one tunes into pro wrestling for, once again placing the NXT Women's Championship and the division it crowns as the best thing the brand has to offer.Written by Max Everett
