WWE NXT - 5/5/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Another edition of "WWE NXT" has come and gone, this one rife with chaos and audio issues. A lot of the locker room has their sights set on WWE NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo, and Women's North American Champion Tatum Paxley is in a similar kerfuffle involving Zaria, Nikkita Lyons, and newcomer Lizzy Rain. Enough about what happened though, as that's been covered on the results page.

It's now time for the Wrestling Inc. Staff to discuss what they loved, and what they very much didn't. There was plenty to love, like the fact that there seems to be so much drama around the main event scene, but there was also plenty to hate, like the fact that, as wide as the main event scene is, Tavion Heights isn't worthy of a title match.

Enough of my bloviating though. I can't explain it any better than the staff themselves, so let's let them tell you what they loved and what they hated, and you can respond in the comment section.

While I really love the thought of Zaria vs. Tatum Paxley for the Women's North American Championship, especially after Zaria explained her reasoning for wanting to go after the mid-card title tonight after her victory over Sol Ruca in their Last Woman Standing match two weeks ago, the rest of the segment kind of went off the rails for me. Everything Zaria and Paxley said was excellent, and I thought we were setting up for a match between the two of them.

Then, Lizzy Rain interrupted. I really, really like her, especially after what we saw last week, but I don't know if her involvement was necessary just yet. Zaria's reasoning for going after the title, because it shattered her relationship with Ruca, was strong enough that it didn't need any further involvement. Rain will get her time and will more than likely win that gold at some point, maybe even from Zaria, eventually, but I think she needs another victory or two to further prove herself, against someone more credible than Nikkita Lyons. And, it was Lyons who was last out in the promo parade for the night.

And if anyone was unnecessary in this whole thing, it was Lyons, and this is where things just went south for me. I just don't understand her, as she feels like she has three or four different characters all lumped into one. She sings sometimes. She's got a spiritual, crystal girlie vibe thing kind of going on. She used to be a martial artist, and today, she referred to herself as "Nikkita Multimedia," which was one I haven't heard before. She also didn't seem like she was interested in the Women's North American Championship at all. Rather, she just wanted to tell Rain she wasn't done with her yet. That's when the segment broke down into a brawl, with Lyons throwing the first shot at Rain, and Zaria ending it all with a big F5 to Paxley.

Zaria's reaction to next week's tag match, where she'll be teaming alongside Lyons against Rain and Paxley, was also justified. She said she's done with tagging, and I don't blame her, and that's something "NXT" General Manager Robert Stone should have realized. I'm not exactly looking forward to that, as I really just thought we'd move into a nice, more streamlined story with Zaria and Paxley, and now, it feels like it's going to take a while to get there.

Written by Daisy Ruth

As someone who admittedly didn't know too much about former New Japan Pro-Wrestling star EVIL, tonight's vignette confirming his imminent in-ring debut gave me a good idea of who he is, and more importantly, what I can potentially expect from him.

EVIL touched on his background in Japan, which included him defeating many great competitors and winning many titles, such as the IGWP Heavyweight Championship. Now looking ahead in "WWE NXT," he vowed to strike even more gold, starting with NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo. EVIL reiterated this by noting that his recent t-shirt to D'Angelo was not a gift, but rather a proclamation that they'd one day battle over the brand's top prize, the NXT Championship.

Ironically, EVIL mentioned that his faceoff with D'Angelo was "written in the rising sun," a great contrast to his new ring name, Naraku, which translates to "hell" or "abyss." Combined with the smoke and dark lighting surrounding him, I now imagine Naraku to be a serious, warrior-like force to be reckoned with in the "NXT" ring.

As many younger fans would say, he has that aura. And thanks to his mystical vignette and badass ring name, I'm even more interested to see what he can do next week during his official in-ring debut. What he will actually do has yet to materialize, of course, but coming out of tonight, I at least feel a little more confident about what I will likely see from him.

Written by Ella Jay

I'm not really, and have never been, a fan of seeing a champion wrestle without their title on the line, given the whole 'Beat the man to be the man' element of combat sports and its bastard child in professional wrestling. Noted exceptions to that rule are unsanctioned matches, considering the very essence of those bouts is that they cannot be sanctioned, and the occasional impromptu bout pitting someone several rungs below the level of the champion they are facing.

Simply put, if the champion is wrestling a match that fits the rules of a title defense, then just put the title on the line. Especially if the champion is being booked to go over anyway.

Nowhere else in the world of combat sports does a champion fight a sanctioned match that doesn't have their title on the line, and while I get that is a personal preference, this is a personal opinion I am writing. And I personally think there is everything to be gained and nothing to lose by putting the title on the line. It enhances the stakes; every near-fall, momentary advance, and setback carries an added degree of significance.

That's what is needed to elevate someone and gauge the interest in them being the champion in the future. It's grown into quite a tired trope to have the champion defending the opportunity to defend their title further down the line, and that's industry-wide. But tonight it was on display as D'Angelo faced Tavion Heights in the main event. The bout had been put under jeopardy when Cam Hendrix attacked D'Angelo backstage, prompting Heights to rage as though he had been screwed out of the title itself, only to then become uber-relieved when Robert Stone told him the match was still on.

His sheer reaction to it all had lent to the idea that the title would be on the line, because otherwise, why would he care so much? Turns out, he really just wanted to have a non-title match. Really, really wanted a non-title match to the extent he was ready to fight with his friend in Myles Borne over it not happening. It just took the wind out of the sails of the match to come, told the fans that Heights isn't deemed ready, and that particular idea was only exacerbated when he lost to the man that had been smashed through drywall earlier in the show.

Please, can we just abolish non-title matches for champions already?

Side question: How did Hendrix, not only get back in the building, but make his way out to ringside to cost Heights without anyone noticing? "WWE NXT" just continues to be the headache that keeps giving.

Written by Max Everett

Myca Lockwood would not have been the first person I would expect to become the newest member of Vanity Project, but I think that unexpectedness is exactly what made it a great reveal and an incredibly interesting turn of events.

It felt pretty apparent that Jackson Drake wouldn't be able to defeat Jasper Troy on his own just based on the in-ring psychology at play with their major difference in size. Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes becoming involved in matters was pretty easy to predict, but what wasn't easy was Lockwood being the one who would neutralize Troy with one simple bodyslam.

"NXT" has seen its fair share of newcomers across the last couple of weeks making their various debuts, but this one still did something different from all the others by making an instant statement with her showing off her pure strength. It made her feel like a credible threat to every single person on the "NXT" roster without having to do too much or do anything super over the top rope. I'm quite curious as to where they'll go next with Lockwood, but I think the journey will be fun to see play out.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Let me preface this by saying that Natalya is forever the "B.O.A.T" within the WWE women's division. She remains one of WWE's most technical and reliable in-ring performers overall as well. Her booking, on the other hand, has mostly been puzzling as of late.

At the start of 2026, we saw a promising storyline for Natalya that involved her finally showcasing her "Nattie" persona on WWE television and feuding with her Dungeon 2.0 student Maxxine Dupri. Natalya first cost Dupri the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship, and in the process, put it back in the hands of Becky Lynch. From there, Dupri and Natalya collided in a trio of matches against each other, two of which resulted in wins for the WWE veteran. The other produced a double countout, after which AJ Lee tended to a battered Dupri while Lynch then launched her into the ring post.

Due to this series of events, many viewers, including myself, expected a two-on-two tag match pitting Natalya and Lynch against Lee and Dupri to materialize on "WWE Raw." Instead, Lee has seemingly taken a hiatus from WWE TV. Dupri is back to serving as manager for Alpha Academy. Lynch has pivoted her focus to new championship challengers. And Natalya disappeared from programming...until tonight.

As Nattie, she teased a mentorship with Jaida Parker in a backstage segment on "NXT." Inherently, Parker could benefit from learning under Nattie, given her wealth of knowledge not only for WWE but for pro wrestling in general. Considering Nattie's strange booking in 2026, though, I can't say that I trust that the outcome of this potential partnership will meet a better fate.

WWE fans finally got a taste of the ruthless, shoot-style Natalya, but just like that, it was taken away, or at best, derailed and now rerouted to "NXT." Only time will tell.

Written by Ella Jay

There was a rush of new talent on last week's edition of "NXT," and this week, that chaos was followed up on, especially when it came to Tony D'Angelo's NXT Championship. D'Angelo immediately started it off the top of the show, spearing Tavion Heights, who stepped up to him last week, through a table in the back.

D'Angelo then went to find Robert Stone to tell him he wanted Heights in a match tonight. That ended up being a non-title bout, which I actually didn't mind at all, since I expected the shenanigans we got throughout the rest of the night. Kam Hendrix took D'Angelo out backstage before the match, getting it moved to the main event slot of the night, and then appeared during the bout to interfere, despite being "kicked out" of the Performance Center for the night by Stone.

I really liked that it was Myles Borne to come out to help even the odds for his former stablemate, Heights, taking out Hendrix, as they've had tension backstage over the last two weeks or so. But, of course, it wasn't actually helpful, and D'Angelo hit his challenger with a Dead to Rights off the distraction for the win. But, we weren't quite done with the chaos, as Will Kroos (now known as Mason Rook in "NXT") came out to do some pretty amazing big man stuff after the match. While I've seen plenty of big guys hit impressive moonsaults before, like we saw Rook do last week, I can't recall the last time one has put another man on his back and hit another guy in the corner with a cannonball like Rook did tonight. Pretty neat, albeit kind of hard to describe.

I can't say I expected a bunch of new guys, plus Heights, who hadn't been doing much, to go after the NXT Championship after all of the post-WrestleMania call-ups. Though, to be fair, I'm not sure who would have stepped up from the roster to be D'Angelo's next challenger. There's always the DarkState guys and BirthRight, I guess, but thankfully, we're getting some new, fresh talent in the mix. D'Angelo will probably run through them all to retain, but this is the best way to get these new guys introduced to the Performance Center crowd. Tonight was once again chaotic, but not in too much of an all-over-the-place kind of way. A controlled chaos in "NXT" is the best kind of "NXT," and the main title picture is going to be something to look forward to in the coming months.

Written by Daisy Ruth