Vanity Project's Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes retained the Tag Team Championship over Hank and Tank during "WWE NXT."The runners-up to the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Classic culminating last week were Hank Walker and Tank Ledger, falling short to Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno. But after Moreno and Dar were attacked by Vanity Project, they were unable to challenge for the titles this week and General Manager Robert Stone said he would find a replacement team.That replacement team wound up being the runners-up themselves, getting the match started before the bell had even rung and taking that energy into the contest when it did ring. Baylor and Smokes were left trying to survive and find an inch of space throughout, gaining the upper hand in spots through underhanded means and with the distractions of North American Champion Jackson Drake at ringside.Even still, they looked to be on their way to losing the titles at one stage, Hank and Tank pushing for the finish until Drake sought to get involved once more. Moreno and Dar ran down to ringside to put a stop to the interference, but their presence in turn caused a scene that stalled the challengers and distracted the referee so that Myka Lockwood could get involved, thus handing the retention to Baylor and Smokes.With their win, Baylor and Smokes completed their first defense of the titles they won back from Tavion Heights and Myles Borne at Heatwave in August.
