Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s review of "WWE NXT," the show that gave new champ Grayson Waller a preponderance of challengers following his title victory at Heatwave! The WINC staff has some thoughts about that, as well as thoughts about the Creed Brothers returning to "NXT," both WWE Speed titles being retired, and much more!If you missed the show, as always, you can catch up by checking out our "WWE NXT" 9/1/26 results page, which contains all the objective information you could possibly need without interference from the WINC crew's subjective opinions. If the WINC crew's subjective opinions are why you're here specifically on the matches and segments we feel most strongly about, either in a positive or negative sense this is the place for you! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/1/26 episode of "WWE NXT!"
I've been a fan of both Zilla Fatu and Tristan Angels since their respective debuts on "NXT," but that doesn't mean I think it was the right move to randomly pair them up against one another in the main event match on this show.Zilla and Angels have not crossed paths with one another on television at all, nor have they had any interaction with one another on screen. I know this was all meant to be a way to set up the match between the both of them in the main event, but it still didn't really make any sense for Angels' character to have an issue with Zilla or the NXT Championship at this point in time in the opening segment from this edition of "NXT." I also couldn't help but come out of this feeling like they have no idea what to do with Angels now that he's wrapped up his storyline with Shiloh Hill and they're both moving on to other things. It just didn't quite click the way that "NXT" had intended for it to, and came off feeling more random and confusing than anything else.Written by Olivia Quinlan
I went into Naraku's match against Shiloh Hill thinking there would be no good loser, as both of these guys could really use a win, but I actually ended up really liking the finish. It initially felt a little odd that Naraku's first feud after losing his shot at the NXT Championship was against Hill, but Hill's work on social media after getting hit with Naraku's red mist a few weeks ago is bringing this all together.After taking the mist, Hill has been researching all about it and its history in both Japan and the states. He's been posting videos to social media where he's testing different combinations of chemicals and such in attempts to recreate it and learn more about it. "NXT" showed a few brief clips of it all on screen tonight, and after Hill took the green mist, albeit not directly to the face, at the end of the match, I think "NXT" should lean more into his social media research and play the full videos on air.Instead of Naraku spitting the mist directly in Hill's face, he pulled the move where he spit the mist into his hands to then target his opponent's eyes to avoid getting caught by the referee. While it initially looked silly, I realized it was likely to show that the mist was a different color this week, which is likely going to send Hill down another rabbit hole to keep this feud going. Probably until he can concoct his own version to use on Naraku to get a victory.Hill has been borderline unhinged in the best, most unique way since getting to "NXT," and the mist and its mysteries being what really sends him off the deep end could be really interesting. Maybe I'm somewhat biased, because I grew up with Tajiri and his mist on "WWE SmackDown," back when you couldn't tell me wrestling was fake, but the potential for a mid-card feud not centered around a title, but rather, this wrestling tradition, is really unique and fun to me. It's the perfect "NXT" storyline, and I'm here for it.Written byDaisyRuth
Ever since it was announced that Wren Sinclair would be putting her Women's Speed Championship up along with Zaria's Women's North American title for unification, there had been a question over what would happen to the Men's title.Zaria won the unification match on Sunday and would thus make the decision as to which title she would be consigning to the halls of history on Tuesday's show. She inevitably chose to retire the Speed title and keep the far more prestigious belt, spelling an end to the women's Speed division and once again, albeit very briefly, bringing up the question as to what would happen to the men's.Could Lexis King be challenging Jackson Drake in a like-for-like unification match? Could there be something else in store entirely?No. Robert Stone literally turned around and told King that, based on the decision Zaria had made, he could no longer be champion and it was defunct. That is hilarious. It really is. But it is also so creatively bankrupt and a very unfortunate statistic to place on King.King held the title for 133 days and because Wren Sinclair chose to challenge Zaria to a unification match, lost, and Zaria chose to retire the title, he will no longer. He's basically been demoted, and they could have done something to mitigate that for him.It also begs the question as to whether, in kayfabe, had Zaria chosen to remain Speed Champion (as remote as that chance was), Jackson Drake would have lost his North American title. It would have been a little awkward for that to be the case considering Birthright were the ones magically on proximity.The point is that this was perhaps the laziest and most disrespectful way of retiring the title. It surely had to be done, but this was not the way to do it. Even if King was to drop the title in a trashcan or someone was to steal it and destroy it, that would have at least used the belt's destruction as a device to further a character and/or story. This was just hilarious at the expense of the product and the talent, King. It's never great to cut a talent off at the knees for a cheap joke.Written by Max Everett
The Creed Brothers are too talented not to be on WWE television, so if that means they had to return to "WWE NXT" to get the time, I'm okay with that. In fact, I think it might be the best thing for their pro wrestling careers right now.Casual viewers may view their "NXT" return as random, but upon closer inspection, WWE actually planted the seeds for it weeks ago. Tonight, Julius and Brutus blindsided the teams of Dorian Van Dux-Sean Legacy and Romeo Moreno-Noam Dar in the aftermath of their tag bout. Five weeks earlier, The Creed Brothers defeated the former team on "WWE Main Event"; 14 days later, they then scored a tag team win over Moreno and Dar on the same show.The Creed's "NXT" resurgence firstly allows them to continue this budding new story with two up-and-coming duos on a bigger platform. Moreover, it carves a path for them to finally get back into the mix somewhere.On WWE's main roster, fans last saw Brutus and Julius performing under lucha masks as Los Americanos Hermanos. Now that their partner The Original El Grande Americano has revealed himself as Chad Gable, though, there really is no obligation to keep them wrestling behind the masks. With the "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" rosters ever growing, there are very limited TV spots anyway, too.Grayson Waller experienced a similar dilemma when hefound himself floundering on WWE's main roster after New Day's exit. Now, he's the top dog in "NXT," with the NXT Championship strapped around his waist. Perhaps the Creed Brothers can parallel that in the "NXT" tag team division.Written byElla Jay
I can't say I expected the top men's title scene in "NXT" to be any less chaotic following Grayson Waller's victory over Tony D'Angelo, Zilla Fatu, and Cruz Montana at Heatwave, but I didn't expect it to get even more messy. While it looks as though we're headed toward a single number one contender for Waller, with just how many guys were involved in tonight's main event segment, I can't say that for sure.I figured after Heatwave, we'd see D'Angelo get a singles rematch, then Fatu get a shot, then hopefully Montana would take the gold off Waller. While we still very well could get the latter in the end, tonight's parade of promos certainly didn't help settle down the title picture from the last few weeks, when we got the whirlwind of Waller's return to "NXT" and Montana and Fatu's debuts.After Waller cut what I found to be a pretty basic heel championship celebration promo, quite a few stars, not just Montana, D'Angelo, and Fatu (who actually wasn't part of this at all) came out. Earlier in the night, Saquon Shugars, EK Prosper, and Keanu Carver were talking to Robert Stone about title shots backstage, but I didn't really expect them to be part of this, as they're not exactly close to the top title picture.It was Shugars to come out and confront Waller first, and while I do love him, I figured he wasn't the only guy coming to shoot his shot. Cruz then came through the crowd, Prosper showed up, and then Mason Rook came out to throw himself in there, despite not really feeling like as big of a deal as he did upon his debut a few months ago. D'Angelo stormed out and I thought that was the end of things, until Carver showed up from out of nowhere.Carver's nice, but terrifying, good guy gimmick toward Stone, especially is interesting, but I really wish I knew more about what he was doing, outside of getting himself in the title picture, I guess. He bullied Stone into making a six-man tag match for next week, where the winners will then face off in a triple threat to determine the new number one contender.I can't say I hate that much, as it's an interesting way to determine the next challenger. I just don't have any faith "NXT" will keep it a singles match. As mentioned, Fatu wasn't out during the segment, so it's likely he crashes the triple threat to cause further chaos. This is definitely something I'll have to see play out, and it's great there are so many guys trying to prove themselves, but it's not what I was expecting.Written by DaisyRuth
If you've been following this column in recent months, then what I'm about to state should come as no surprise: it's about time that Kelani Jordan vied for the NXT Women's Championship, not to mention won it. But the former gymnast finally did just that when she defeated the defending champion Kendal Grey at "WWE NXT" Heatwave.Following her well-earned win, Jordan is now tasked with defending the championship herself, in her case against Jaida Parker on next week's "NXT." Parker is fresh off a submission victory over WWE veteran Nattie at Heatwave, and based on the crowd's reactions, it's clear that she's poised to be a top babyface on the "NXT" brand. Jordan, on the other hand, is positioned as a heel, yet still lauded for her impressive in-ring work.Jordan's upcoming title defense against Parker gives her a chance to really lean into her villainous side for heat, and in turn, boost Parker's likeability level even more. I don't foresee Parker dethroning Jordan this soon, but considering that she hasn't challenged for the title on "NXT" programming since April 2025, Parker should consider the opportunity a good sign for her "NXT" career. I call it a win-win situation for both competitors.Written by Ella Jay
