It's almost spooky season, but September had one last "WWE NXT." The show saw exciting new developments in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, as well as a chaotic open challenge for the WWE NXT Title. All the results can be found over on the WWE NXT 9/29/2026 Results Page.Now, it's time for the Wrestling Inc. Crew to get into the good and the bad of Tuesday's hectic show. Like every Tuesday, there was plenty to love and plenty to hate, thanks to the breakneck pacing of the average episode of NXT. There were highs like the dizzying tag match between Birthright and the team of Mini Vikingo &Starboy, or the dramatic main event. There were also lows, such as Myles Borne's embarrassing heel turn or the general lack of substance to the show as of late. The comments section will be open, as always, should you feel the need to chime in.So without further ado, let's get into all the good and the bad from Tuesday's show, starting with the bad.
I get that WWE is Sports Entertainment, and NXT especially is built around teaching athletes and independent wrestlers how to be more than wrestlers. Sometimes it can lead to some really lame places.Kendall Grey is one of NXT's most talented in-ring technicians. She is a revelation in the ring, but doesn't have much by way of a character, so the NXT braintrust have decided to do a story about how her whole life revolves around wrestling. The whole segment fell flat with me, and while part of it was the quality -I simply do not buy Grey as someone in an existential crisis- my main issue is that this is a story that should ultimately end with Grey realizing she doesn't need wrestling, or that she doesn't need to be Kendall Grey: preternaturally talented rookie.I don't want to see Kendall Grey in therapy. I didn't even want to see Bryan Danielson in therapy, and that's a "best case scenario" for this kind of storyline.I don't want to see weeks of Kendall Grey trying on different hats until she realizes that she was perfectly fine the way she was, and I especially don't want to see Kendall Grey realize there's some darker, gothier version of herself. Wrestling is awash in good wrestlers who think they need to be The Punisher or The Joker or Harley Quinn.You know what wrestling only has one of? Kendall Grey, and I kinda need them to skip to that part of the story so I can keep watching her do what she does best: wrestle.Written by Ross Berman
I don't personally really keep up with AAA at all, so this edition of "NXT" was my first exposure to Mini Vikingo and seeing what he can do between the ropes. I may just have to start watching a little more AAA because that was just how much he impressed me in his Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match pitting himself and Chazz "Starboy" Hall against BirthRight.From the standing Spanish Fly he delivered to Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo to the several flips he did off the top rope throughout the duration of the match, Mini Vikingo executed everything cleanly, smoothly, and with ease. He was easily the highlight of this bout for me, and was just really fun to watch between the ropes. I was also really happy to see him and Starboy be the ones to go over in the match, as I fully expected that BirthRight would end up being the winners of this match heading into it. It was a nice little feel-good moment after a week that has felt particularly heavy in the professional wrestling world, and I'm excited to see more of Mini Vikingo in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as his partnership with Starboy continues to play out.There was something about the combination of the competitors in the match, the pacing of it, and the high-flying style that made the match on the whole feel really special and engaging the longer that it went on. This was easily the best part of an episode of "NXT" that otherwise felt incredibly mediocre and bland.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Shawn Michaels and the creative minds in "NXT" love to try out different characters as both heels and babyfaces, which makes sense in some cases, but in others, like that of Myles Borne's, it just doesn't work. Borne is a natural babyface, with a built-in underdog story, for lack of a better phrase, and his rambling heel promo tonight did him no favors.I already wasn't into it as advertised, as there has been a lot of talking and twists and turns in this story between Borne and Tavion Heights over recent weeks, and I didn't need to see "Borne explain himself." I thought he did a pretty good job of that two weeks ago when he nailed Heights with the Borne Again and Pillmanized his ankle with a chair after starting out the segment by asking for his forgiveness.I believe it was Heights who had to convince and beg Borne months ago to become a team again to take on whoever was giving him problems at that moment, possibly BirthRight, but Borne didn't really mention that he willingly paired up with his friend. Instead, he took a turn toward a "you people!" promo, where he blamed the fans after blaming Heights for him losing the North American Championship. He said the fans didn't think he'd ever become a double champion, and that they only ever supported him because they felt bad for him.That's a heel turn I guess we should have seen coming a mile away, but getting there with all the twists of Borne turning heel on Heights, apologizing, then doubling down, after all the teases that it would be Heights to turn, just made it feel extremely messy. That being said, "NXT" still needs to book these two in another singles match to finish this story, so we likely have another month of this before they presumably square off at Halloween Havoc. WWE has already pulled out all the twists and things they could do with this one, outside of the usual backstage brawls and contract signing, so it's going to be a very long month if the PLE is the end goal for these two.Written by Daisy Ruth
Sometimes, less is more. In this case, however, I'd argue that the more, the merrier.Next week, a 20-woman battle royal will determine the challenger to Kelani Jordan's NXT Women's Championship. To my pleasant surprise, the match won't just contain names from "WWE NXT," but also those from "Raw," "SmackDown," "Evolve," TNA, and AAA.With Kendal Grey out of action and many stars recently called up to WWE's main roster, this match provides an awesome opportunity for some to cement themselves as a legitimate threat in the NXT Women's Title scene. For others, it's also a chance to introduce themselves to a wider audience. And in the case of Indi Hartwell, it could put her back within the vicinity of a title she technically never lost.Ivy Nile will wrestle on a non-"WWE Main Event" broadcast for the first time in what feels like forever. Layla Diggs will be back in "NXT" action after an untimely injury rendered her unable to cash in on another title shot she had earned. La Catalina will get another chance to shine in front of the WWE Universe. The budding feud between Skylar Raye, Kali Armstrong, and Reina Volcan will also likely spill over in entertaining fashion.My list of exciting battle royal components could go on, but for the sake of space, I'll stop there.Next week is a major opportunity for someone to step up, and in a rare instance, we're okay with any of the competitors seizing it.Written by Ella Jay
It's part and parcel of a developmental brand: the perpetual exodus of talent to the main roster and the wait for others to step into the vacuum. At the same time, "WWE NXT" has felt a little hollow lately, and this show exemplified that.That's not to say the show was without its moments, but what has at times felt like a vibrant ecosystem feels borderline anemic at this stage. Grayson Waller is NXT Champion, having come back down from the main roster, and he had a fairly good match in the main event with EK Prosper. His challenger was originally Mason Rook, but then he couldn't be medically cleared, and thus it was decided that his replacement would be determined by a scramble to get in the ring.That was entertaining, though it was a carbon copy of Thea Hail's North American title defense against Izzi Dame earlier this year. Speaking of Izzi Dame and the North American title, in her attempts to get inside Zaria's head, she plastered pictures of her performing in Wicked on stage as Glinda in the locker room. The Dusty Rhodes Classic continued with two really good tag teams facing two ever-present, nigh-on ever-losing and D.O.A. tag teams for middling-to-alright results.Zaria also defended her title, beating Thea Hail, though it would be a bald-faced lie to say anyone believed that was going the other way. Kelani Jordan cut a promo that repeated the idea that no one ever handed anything to her, so she would not hand out title shots to anyone else. Robert Stone then came out and told her that she would be defending the title against the winner of a battle royal featuring "NXT," main roster, AAA, and TNA stars next week. She was then attacked by Reina Volcan. Kendal Grey had another illogical therapy session designed to tread water.Almost everything felt like it was written in a drop-down menu on a booking template. Said person says some things; another said person attacks. Rinse and repeat. A lot of it felt as though it was just a feature-length trailer for another show. Which, yes, it is a weekly serial. But it would have been nice to finish this episode not feeling as though it could have just been read in a two-minute recap.It'd be nice to feel as though this was appointment viewing. But the show remains rather candid in the fact that it does not really matter. That can be mitigated when the roster is brimming with exciting talent unlike anyone seen anywhere else. But that's missing, and therefore so is any allure to the show itself.Written by Max Everett
EK Prosper and Grayson Waller put on a solid main event match for the NXT Championship, and props to them, especially if they didn't know that Waller's original challenger, Mason Rook, was going to be out of action until today. Either way, this bout, and the scramble of guys attempting to make it out to the ring, were both really fun, and the ending of "NXT" felt a little more lighthearted, and much needed, after all the sad (and in the case of "NXT," bad) in recent days.When Robert Stone revealed that Waller's defense would be an open challenge after Rook was revealed to not be medically cleared, I figured someone would just stroll out. Nope, we got the whole rush of guys out from the locker room, trying to fight their way to the ring like a reverse battle royal. I loved that it was nearly Zilla Fatu and Cruz Montana to get there, and hopefully that means they'll be competing to become number one contender ahead of Halloween Havoc, instead of Fatu feuding with BirthRight, and Montana with Dion Lennox.As Fatu and Montana fought, it was Prosper to pop up behind Waller. Prosper is such a good wrestler, a guy who works like he has everything to prove, but I feel like I often forget about him. He's been tied up in the tag scene, as well as in the now-defunct Speed Championship scene, this year. He was involved in the six-man tag team match to determine the triple threat number one contender's match, however, so maybe I should have known, or hoped, this was coming for him. While I hate that Rook might be on the shelf for a while, I do love that Prosper was given the opportunity to show off.Waller and Prosper got quite a bit of time, especially if this was a last-minute thing, and I liked the match a lot more than I thought I would. The crowd loved the opening sequence with Prosper's near-fall on the champion, and they quieted down for a bit, but the young star worked to get them back and chanting his name.The challenger hit a beautiful springboard moonsault to Waller, who was laid out on the commentary desk, toward the end of the match, which looked absolutely fantastic, and he got another solid near-fall in the ring before Waller got his foot on the rope. Prosper took two rolling stunners and Waller retained, which I assumed was happening anyway, but I thought Prosper looked really good in defeat. Tonight was a great showcase for him, and it got Waller's first successful defense under his belt, and there was truly nothing bad about it.Written by Daisy Ruth
