WWE NXT 9/22/2026

WWE NXT 9/22/2026

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/wwe-nxt-9152026.html

We are in the Performance Center in Orlando, FL. Vic Joseph and Booker T are on commentary.

We get a video on the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Cody Rhodes talks about it and Dusty. He says Dusty understood what tag wrestling would do and says the tournament was a way to honor him. Cody says the Dusty Classic returns and says 14 teams will try to etch their names into history. He says his dad's name lives on in this tournament and he looks forward to presenting the winning team the cup in person.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1 - Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno vs Los Americanos (Rayo and Bravo Americano)

Dar and Rayo go at it. Dar wristlocks him and Rayo headflips out. Dar rolls him by the arm and Rayo dances. Bravo comes in and dances. RM tags in. Bravo trips RM then RM trips him. RM dropkicks him. 

Bravo pop up atomic drops RM then hits punches. Booker says he tried to get a Reality of Wrestling tag team in but they didn't call him back. RM is catapulted into a forearm from Rayo. Rayo slingshot swantons RM. RM kicks Rayo and sweeps him. Dar low chest kicks Rayo.

Dar knees Rao in the gut and sweeps him for 2. Dar hits chest kicks. Rayo chops him and Dar grounded guillotines him. RM then guillotines Bravo at the same time. Rayo enzugiri's RM off the apron. Bravo tope con hilos his opponents through the ropes. Bravo and Rayo then dance in the ring.

We go to PiP break and return. Rayo blocks RM's tag with a double stomp to the back. Dar tags in and hits flying forearms on Bravo. Dar rebound germans Bravo. Dar ankle locks Bravo. Dar hits chest kicks and flying forearms Bravo. Bravo takes a bridging ctutter + top rope double stomp combo for 2.

Bravo airplane spins both opponents at once then samoan drops them. Rayo's team hits stereo top rope diving headbutts for 2 counts. Bravo springboards and is caught with a superkick. Rayo hits a bitter end on Dar for 2. 

Dar is double pounded on. Bravo punches RM. Dar takes a lariat + german combo. Bravo facekicks RM out. Bravo back pele kicks Dar. Rayo 2nd rope moonsaults out. Dar rolls up Bravo for 2 then catches him with an ankle lock. Bravo germans Dar. 

RM spaceman plancha's and is hit with a forearm on the landing. Dar takes a top rope hurricanrana into a top rope splash for 2. Rayo stomps Dar's arm into the mat. Dar spinning back elbows Rayo. RM 2nd rope death valley drivers Bravo. Bravo takes a high/low and is pinned.

Thoughts: I didn't like it. It was our weekly "go wild, kick out of a million things and don't sell" match. The selling was poor and they overdid it a bit as usual. I also didn't like Rayo doing so many of Pete Dunne's moves as it just makes sure people know that he's Pete Dunne.

Grayson Waller does a video. We see clips of him running on the treadmill last week.

Kendal Grey is with a psychologist. She's upset about losing her title. Shes say she's stuck and doesn't know how to deal with it. She says slowing down feels different this time and doesn't know when she will come back. 

Kali Armstrong vs Skylar Raye

Sky does an inset promo. She says she shocked the world when she attacked Kali. She says it's time she makes her own opportunities and says the shooting star is ready to take off.

KA rams her in the corner and hits punches and kicks to the gut. SKy goes up and over and hits armdrags. Sky flying headscissors KA then dropkicks her. KA running lariats her then hits punches. KA reverse slams her.

They try pin attempts on each other and Sky crossbodies her for 2. Sky stomps her foot and hits forearms. Sky step up enzugiri's her. Sky is caught on an up and over and is powerslammed. We go to PiP break and return.

Sky backcrackers her. Sky shoulders her over. Sky flying forearms her. Sky spinning ddt's her.

Sky top rope splashes KA for 2. KA standing blue thunders her and Kali spinebusters her for 2. Sky backrolls KA for 2. Sky comes off the 2nd rope and is powerslammed. Kali tries a flying shoulder but nails the ref instead. Reina Volkan returns and beats up Sky and Kali. She drops Sky near Kali and Sky pins Kali.

Thoughts: Them bringing Reina back was random. I thought she was done. I liked what we go otherwise though. Both girls had a decent showing and worked fine together. This was acceptable.

Shiloh Hill and Saquon Shugars talk to Robert Stone. Hill talks about talking to raccoons. Hill offers Shugars red mist for dealing with Tristan Angels. Shugars offers him a scratch off lottery ticket. Stone says he will see about them getting them matches with Tristan and Naraku next week.

Wren Sinclair is kicked out of the Performance Center parking lot before the show.

Thea Hail and La Catalina vs Zaria and Kelani Jordan

Thea jumps on Zar and goes for the kimura. Thea backrolls KJ and shoulders her over. KJ dropkicks her. Cat hip attacks KJ on the ropes and Thea meteora's her there. Cat topes both opponents outside then Thea springboard backsplashes both opponents outside.

We go to PiP break and return. Thea gets Zar's back with a sleeper. Thea takes a back body drop. KJ asai moonsaults Thea for 2. KJ abdominal stretches Thea. Thea is sent into the buckles. Thea takes a slingshot wheelbarrow german then Zar spears her for 2. 

Thea sends Zar into the post. Zar misses a corner cannonball. Cat tags in and top rope dropkicks Zar. Cat flying headscissors Zar. Cat suplexes KJ. Cat corner hip attacks both opponents. 

Zar F-5's Cat into KJ. Thea sunset flips Zar off an F-5 and pins her.

Thoughts: It was fine. Cat got a lot of shine here and they made some very different styles work here. It could have been bad but it worked out.

Zilla Fatu and Sean Legacy talk in the back. Sean says Van Dux has a punctured lung and he's not cleared. Sean says he has another partner. Dux says he can go and Sean says he's not cleared. Sean says he needs him for The Dusty Cup. Zilla asks if they have 2 or 3 tonight. EK Prosper comes in and says he will be their third partner. Dux wants to fight but Sean tells him he needs to be cleared.

Cruz Montana comes out to talk. Cruz says he wants the NXT Title but he hasn't been winning or losing. He says he doesn't take losses but learns lessons. He says it just makes him want things more. He says he wants the winner of Waller/Rook. The lights go out and Darkstate is in the stands. 

Dion Lennox says no one cares about what Cruz will do. He tells Cruz to worry about what's in front of him and it's nothing. Cruz says Dion talks tough when his crew is out there. Cruz challenges Dion to face him 1v1 without his crew. 

Dion comes in the ring. He says Cruz thinks he's better than him. Dion says there's a reason people like take over. He says Cruz shakes at the idea of discipline while he is discipline. Dion says he can't relate to Cruz saying EK Prosper is the future.

Cruz accuses him of having hurt feelings. Cruz says he's the only person that cleaned up his mistakes. Cruz says he busted his @ss every step of the way. He says he earned everything and says he will run circles around him. 

Cruz says he earned his way in. He says Dion walked in and expected everything to be handed to him. Dion brings up Cruz's mom being a drug dealer. Dion says his mom wasn't nd he did everything right. He says he did things so right that WWE begged him to get here. He says the crowd hates him and asks if it's because he wasn't a drug addict like him

Dion says Cruz got it  together and acts like a hero when all he did is become the man he's been since Day 1. He says Cruz had to lose everything to become someone. He says he's been someone his whole life. Cruz punches Dion and knocks him out of the ring. They fight outside. 

Thoughts: I liked it. We got to see a different side of Dion and it was better than what we usually see.

Robert Stone tells Mason Rook he's giving him an open mic tonight to respond to Waller. Hank and Tank come in. Hank tells Rook to trust his gut tonight and speak from it. Hank and Tank thank Stone for putting them in The Dusty Classic. Tank says they are done being everyone's friends and says they might help themselves to the tag division.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1 - The Creed Brothers (Julius and Brutus Creed) vs Harley Riggins and Jax Presley

JC nails his opponents in the corner before the bell. HR takes a back body drop. HR is sent into the post shoulder first. JC overhead suplexes Jax. Jax lariats JC down. Jax back body drops BC. Jax flying lariats BC then back body drops JC. Jax flying lariats BC over the top and goes with him. 

BC sweeps Jax on the steps. BC hits hammerfist shots on Jax. Jax takes a double gutbuster. We see Galeno del Mal and Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. watching in the back. JC hits corner spears on Jax and Jax gets a knee up.

HR tags in. He lariats and flying forearms JC. He double dropkicks The Creed's. HR double jump twisting swantons JC for 2. BC brutusball's JC when HR moves. JC germans Jax. Jax takes a double south of heaven and is pinned.

Thoughts: Harley's team was working face here which was something different. They did fine at it. It was fast paced and had a lot of action. It wasn't bad.

Zilla Fatu, Sean Legacy and EK Prosper vs Birthright (Lexis King, Stacks and Uriah Connors)

Sean armdrags and slams Stacks early. Sean PK's him then standing moonsaults him for 2. Sean armdrags Stacks. Sean side headlocks UC. EK blind tags in. He flips over UC then dropkicks him. 

UC chops EK in the corner. King lariats EK and kicks him in the back. EK single leg dropkicks King for 2. Fatu slams King twice. Fatu flying double lariats Stacks and UC. King pop-up dropkicks Fatu. 

Fatu throws King out. Stcks slaps Fatu from below. Fatu overhead belly to belly suplexes Stacks. EK is launched into a dropkick on UC. Sean enzugiri's Stacks in the corner. EK and Sean do topes out. The faces then do triple stereo dives out. We go to break and return.

EK stunners Stacks. Stacks sits on top and EK hurricanrana's him down. EK leg lariats him. Fatu topes King outside. EK takes a suplex + sitout powerbomb combo. UC sleepers EK and EK fights out. UC bottom rope springboard stunners him for 2. 

Fatu and King tag in. Fatu hits lariats on the heels. Fatu uranage's UC and bubba bomb's Kin. Fatu then butt drops Stacks. King superkicks Fatu but Fatu fires up. Fatu pop-up samoan drops King. Fatu corner hip attacks UC. 

Arianan Grace gets on the apron and the ref doesn't see a tag. UC then gets his feet up on Sean's springboard 450 and UC pins Sean.

Thoughts: It was alright. It was very fast paced with lots of action. Zilla needs to drop the overhead belly to belly suplex. Stacks barely got over and UC had to turn because he wasn't even close. Someone will get hurt.

Zilla uppercuts King in the throat after when King goes up to him. The heels pull King out to safety. 

Zaria is interviewed. Zar says beating her in a tag is different than a singles and it won't happen again. Izzi Dame walks in and shows some old clip of Zaria doing some high school theater. Izzi then wants to talk about the Women's N-A Title match next week and says no good deed goes unpunished.

Mason Rook and Grayson Waller come out to talk. GW asks if he feels the pressure yet. He says he wanted to win the NXT Title and defend against the best. He says Rook is the best. He says he wanted to know if anyone was hungrier than him and says no one is hungrier than Rook. GW says both of them left everything to travel across the world. He says they aren't the same. GW says he runs marathons and Rook runs to the front door to get his Doordash order. 

He says the title means to much to take him lightly. He says Rook is strong and powerful and no one moves like he does at his size. He says there's a reason he's Cena's favorite wrestler and he tells Cena not to bet on the wrong horse. 

GW says he has 75% potential and won't do the hard work to become the face of the brand. He say he's soft and happy to be here. He says he will drown him next week. He says everything will tell Rook to quit next week and he will.

Waller says he wants to have some fun. He tells him what a mic is and tells him to find his balls and tell him he's wrong. He tells him not to eat it as it's not a drumstick.

Rook says one thing he isn't is an idiot. He says GW wants him to go insult for insult and he says GW wants to do a verbal execution of him. Rook says maybe there's a theory as to why he's in NXT and maybe he didn't quite fit the vision on the main roster. He says maybe he's upset that Cena knew who he was before he stepped in the WWE ring. 

Rook says GW can't play his game. He asks him what will happen when the bell rings. He says Waller will drown in his deep waters. He says he earned the right to be a WWE star and says he's the best big man in the game. He says when his hands are around his neck and he's crushing his lungs, he will realize he's in over his head. He says being great on the stick won't save him this time.

Overall thoughts: I didn't like the opener. Kali/Raye was okay but had a random run-in by Volkan at the end. I like Zaria's tag match. Harley Riggins made his first appearance here and it was a shorter but decent out. The trios match was also fine. Dion Lennox had a good segment vs Cruz Montana and the final segment to close the show was alright. There was a million things going on as usual here and The Dusty Cup leads to a lot of matches that aren't always super relevant storyline wise. There was more good than bad here so I'd give this a 6 out of 10. It had some good wrestling and a couple of the talking segments worked out. The show was okay overall.