Venue: WWE Performance Center in Winter Park, Florida
Commentary: Vic Joseph and Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
WWE NXT opened with General Manager Robert Stone informing NXT Champion Grayson Waller that Mason Rook would be sidelined for the foreseeable future. Despite losing his scheduled challenger, Waller would still defend his title in an open challenge later in the evening.
WWE NXT Women’s North American Championship Match
Zaria (c) vs. Thea Hail
Thea Hail immediately targeted Zaria’s injured shoulder, attempting the Kimura Lock as soon as the bell rang. Zaria escaped by driving Hail into the turnbuckles and used her strength advantage to take control with shoulder blocks and a pair of vertical tosses.
Hail continued attacking the champion’s arm, catching her in a Fujiwara armbar before scoring with a Codebreaker. When Zaria tried to shut down a suicide dive, Hail recovered and dropped her with a tornado DDT on the floor.
Back inside, Hail built momentum with two Polish Hammers, an exploder suplex, the World’s Littlest Slam and a rolling senton. Zaria countered a springboard senton with a German suplex, but Hail trapped her in the Kimura Lock when she attempted a spear.
Zaria powered free and attempted the F5, only for Hail to counter into a close rollup. The champion responded by sending Hail throat-first into the middle rope, hitting a spear and finishing her with the F5.
Winner and still WWE NXT Women’s North American Champion: Zaria
Afterward, Izzi Dame continued playing mind games with Zaria. Dame decorated the champion’s locker with photographs and the dress Zaria wore during her high-school musical-theater days, leaving the rest of the locker room staring at her.
The Dusty Cup Field Talks Title Aspirations
Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno spoke with AAA World Tag Team Champions El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno del Mal about the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Fraxiom interrupted, with Nathan Frazer reminding Dar that he had encouraged the partnership with Moreno.
Axiom said he hoped to meet the Wagner brothers in the final, but The Vanity Project claimed that honor for themselves. Jackson Drake predicted that the NXT Tag Team Champions would face the AAA champions in the tournament final. The Wagner brothers dismissed Vanity Project as “pendejos” after they departed.
Myles Borne Reveals His True Motivation
Myles Borne addressed his betrayal of Tavion Heights, insisting that his apology two weeks earlier had initially been sincere. During that conversation, however, Borne realized that he had once again allowed himself to become merely one-half of a team.
Borne credited Ethan Page with teaching him that only one person could become the face of a brand. He said stomping on the steel chair wrapped around Heights’ ankle did not create a new version of him—it revealed the real Myles Borne.
He then accused the audience of supporting him only because they pitied “the deaf kid.” Borne rejected his former underdog status, declaring that he had shifted the odds in his favor and was now the favorite. He concluded by telling anyone who could not understand him to turn on the closed captions before telling the crowd to go to hell.
First-Round Match in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Birthright vs. Mini Vikingo and Chaz Hall
Mini Vikingo and Chaz Hall used their speed and athleticism to frustrate Uriah Connors and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo during the opening stages. Birthright eventually grounded the newcomers, sending Hall into the steel steps and driving Vikingo into the ring post.
Hall survived the extended punishment and created an opening with a double Pele kick. Vikingo entered with a burst of offense, landing a satellite DDT and standing Spanish Fly for a near fall.
The match descended into a rapid exchange of strikes and aerial offense. Birthright nearly secured the victory with a springboard Stunner and flying elbow combination, but Vikingo broke up the cover.
In the closing sequence, Hall converted a moonsault into a spinning DDT. Vikingo followed with a 630 senton to secure the victory and advance his team in the tournament.
Winners: Mini Vikingo and Chaz Hall
Birthright attacked the winners after the bell until Zilla Fatu arrived. Fatu fought through the group, dropped Stacks with a pop-up Samoan drop and planted him with the Triple Z.
Fatu declared that he was finished allowing Birthright to use its numbers against him. After taking out Charlie Dempsey and Stacks, Fatu announced his intention to accept Grayson Waller’s NXT Championship open challenge.
Cruz Montana Opens Up About His Past
Cruz Montana responded to Dion Lennox by recounting the hardships that shaped him. Montana spoke about growing up around gang territory, helping his teenage mother raise four younger siblings and watching his parents confront extraordinary struggles.
Montana proudly defended his mother, explaining that she did what was necessary to keep a roof over the family’s heads. He also remembered his visually impaired father, saying his presence was the greatest gift he ever received.
Montana then discussed his own battles with addiction and alcoholism. After entering rehabilitation, he rebuilt his life and became an example for his daughter of how someone could use rock bottom as the foundation for a climb to the top.
He warned Lennox that his past was not a weakness—it was his superpower and the source of the fire driving him forward.
Kelani Jordan’s Halloween Havoc Challenger to Be Decided in Battle Royal
NXT Women’s Champion Kelani Jordan boasted that she was no longer an afterthought and had already cleared out nearly every potential challenger. She dismissed Zaria, the injured Kendal Grey, the suspended Wren Sinclair and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion La Catalina.
Jordan declared that she would not conduct open challenges or hand out opportunities because nobody had ever handed her anything. She said she was “The Standout, not the handout” and would defend her championship only when a worthy challenger emerged.
Robert Stone interrupted and announced that Jordan would not select her next opponent. Instead, a 20-woman battle royal would take place the following week, with the winner challenging Jordan at Halloween Havoc. The field would include competitors from NXT, Raw, SmackDown, AAA, EVOLVE and TNA Wrestling.
Reina Volcan then attacked Jordan from behind, dropping the champion with an inside-out lariat and an elbow drop. Volcan declared herself a force of nature and confirmed that she would enter the battle royal.
Later, Stone informed Izzi Dame that both she and Zaria would participate in the match.
NARAKU and Saquon Shugars Target Waller’s Championship
NARAKU told Robert Stone that he intended to accept Grayson Waller’s open challenge and capture the NXT Championship. Saquon Shugars interrupted and declared that the title was coming home with him instead.
Stone informed Shugars that his match against Tristan Angels had been postponed for two weeks due to the crowded schedule. He also announced that NARAKU would face Shiloh Hill the following week.
Shugars mocked NARAKU as someone who was evil and “spitting rainbows” into people’s faces. NARAKU laughed and warned that they would see whether Hill was prepared.
First-Round Match in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Fraxiom vs. DarkState
Axiom and Nathan Frazer used quick tags and targeted Osiris Griffin’s legs during the opening minutes. Griffin eventually flattened Frazer with a shoulder tackle before Cutler James entered and used his power to slow the pace.
DarkState isolated Axiom following a swinging uranage backbreaker from James. Axiom eventually escaped and made the tag, allowing Frazer to run through both opponents with forearms, a springboard axe handle and a somersault plancha.
Fraxiom nearly won with a double missile dropkick, but DarkState responded with a spinning neckbreaker for another close count. DarkState attempted its assisted pop-up powerbomb, only for Frazer to interrupt with a springboard missile dropkick.
Axiom then delivered an avalanche Spanish Fly to James while Frazer climbed to the top rope. After Axiom wiped out Griffin with a suicide dive, Frazer landed the Phoenix Splash to earn the victory.
Winners: Fraxiom
Kendal Grey Continues Therapy
During her second therapy session, Kendal Grey admitted that she had struggled to find an identity outside wrestling. Attempts at playing guitar, painting and learning Spanish had quickly frustrated her.
Grey explained that she had always sacrificed a normal life to pursue abnormal goals. Her response to every setback had been to train harder, even when injured.
The therapist questioned whether Grey’s relentless work ethic was both the quality that made her successful and the force breaking her down. Grey acknowledged that she did not know how to stop pushing herself, prompting the therapist to ask what would happen when working harder was no longer enough.
Grey had no immediate answer.
Announced for Next Week
A 20-woman battle royal featuring competitors from NXT, Raw, SmackDown, AAA, EVOLVE and TNA will determine Kelani Jordan’s challenger at Halloween Havoc.
NARAKU will face Shiloh Hill.
The final first-round matches in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will take place.
NXT Championship Open Challenge
Grayson Waller (c) vs. EK Prosper
Before the main event, Mike Santana joined Zilla Fatu, NARAKU and Saquon Shugars in declaring his intention to answer Grayson Waller’s open challenge.
As Waller entered the ring, several members of the NXT roster raced toward the entrance. Fatu and Santana took one another out while attempting to reach the ring first, allowing EK Prosper to slide inside and officially accept the challenge.
Prosper immediately caught the champion off guard, wiping him out with a moonsault on the floor before connecting with a frog splash. Waller slowed the challenger with a shotgun dropkick to the back and began methodically wearing him down.
The champion sent Prosper into an exposed turnbuckle and continued controlling the match through the commercial break. Waller attempted to attack from the top rope, but Prosper escaped and left him perched on the turnbuckle. Waller recovered and sent Prosper crashing groin-first across the top rope before delivering a Death Valley Driver.
Prosper mounted a comeback with two clotheslines, a thrust kick, tornado DDT and Michinoku Driver. Waller regained control on the floor, cleared the announce table and rocked his challenger with a right hand.
Prosper answered spectacularly, launching himself into an Asai moonsault that sent Waller crashing through the announce table. He returned to the ring looking to complete the upset, but Waller struck with a rolling Stunner from outside the ropes and followed with the rolling cutter to retain his championship.
Winner and still WWE NXT Champion: Grayson Waller
A final video showed Zilla Fatu putting Birthright on notice as NXT went off the air.
