WWE NXT - 9/22/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 We Loved

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic returned to WWE NXT on Tuesday. The show saw Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno upset Los Americanos in the tournament, along with all kinds of other happenings, which you can read about over on the WWE NXT – 9/22/2026 Results Page.

As for now, the Wrestling Inc. Staff have plenty of thoughts, and you're going to hear all of them. They will bemoan things like Mason Rook and Grayson Waller's awkward exchange, or the Creed Brothers' lack of progression in their WWE careers. There was also plenty to praise, like the blistering opening contest, or NXT's handling of La Catalina and Reina Volcan. As always, should you have anything to add, the comments section will be open.

Without further ado, here's everything we loved, and everything we very much didn't from Tuesday's show, starting with what we hated.

Cruz Montana doesn't think "people like" Dion Lennox are lazy and act entitled, while Dion Lennox thinks that the criminal history of Cruz Montana's mother makes him ineligible for greatness. It's a rare case where, after just one promo, I hate both guys in a feud and don't want either of them to win. It's like NXT got its wires crossed and accidentally booked a feud between two conservative heels, both sounding like Triple H telling Booker T that "people like him" will never be world champion.

I'm going to need one of them to do something noble, quickly, or else I'm going to just check out of the feud. I am all for a feud where both guys don't like each other, but I need a more compelling reason than "You're entitled" vs. "You're a criminal." The crowd also wasn't sure how to react, getting loud for some of the more personal swipes, but ultimately staying awkwardly quiet for most of the duration.

It's weird. Montana seemed to fit in pretty well when he was the visiting TNA Champion, but now that he's actually in NXT, I'm not sure where he fits. Between the awkward name change and the even more awkward booking, it feels like Tuesday's promo was another step in the wrong direction for the former Santana.

It also doesn't help that, while he was a major prospect when WWE recruited him, Lennox has been tied to Darkstate for too long for it to be something they can rely on for stories. He can be the leader of the dangerous stable, or the star athlete, but doing both feels like a hat on a hat at best, and stepping on Kam Hendrix's toes at worst.

Written by Ross Berman

I may not have been the most interested in the 2026 First Round Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic match pitting Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno against Los Americanos in its early stages when the bell rang, but I was absolutely fully behind it by the time that the final bell rang.

This was the perfect match to kick off the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and set the tone and the standard for match quality to create some great excitement as to what the fans should expect to see from the tournament moving forward on Tuesday nights. There's something about the combination of these four men that created some magic in the ring to make for a contest that was fun, had fast pacing, was given quite a lengthy amount of television time to create some drama, and was filled with a variety of unique moves to make for something that was for everyone.

I especially enjoyed the Death Valley Driver that Moreno landed on Bravo Americano off the middle rope in the latter stages of the match and the double Airplane Spin that Bravo landed on Dar and Moreno, as they were both different from anything I had seen before and looked pretty killer. There genuinely wasn't really anything at all I would change about this one, and it was easily my favorite match to come out of this edition of "NXT".

Written by Olivia Quinlan.

Having returned to where it all began, the Creeds are looking to become the first team to win two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournaments, with four years, a failed main roster stint, and a spell under Americano masks between the appearances.

There is a good reason for the lineage of one-time winners, given that this is a tournament on the developmental brand; the winners of which often go on to challenge for the Tag titles and continue to climb the proverbial ladder. And that comes off as a bit of a preliminary stain on the Creeds, given that they are back where they started.

Worse still, where the Creeds of yore were exciting prospects with an explosiveness to make up for their technical shortcomings, these Creeds are, for lack of a better term, mind-numbingly dull.

This week's bout against the most WWE-named tag team, Harley Riggins and Jax Presley, sat somewhere between a squash match and just being an overtly terrible contest. Their opponents got a lot more offense in than you would have expected from a match that was always going to be squashy; Presley and Riggins didn't even get an entrance, after all. But it was when the Creeds came back that things looked even rougher for them.

As said before, the Creeds used to be explosive and promising. That promise has long ago washed away, and the explosiveness, well, let's just say that they were as mobile as the Authors of Pain here. And at least AOP had the size to make up for that on occasion.

What's more annoying about this all is that the Creeds seem to be the frontrunners to win this tournament. That might not be the case. But one can't shake the feeling that this tournament has been revived purely to try and revive them, and if this is one match, then that doesn't exactly fill one with optimism.

In any case, a tournament is no place for squash matches. It really undermines any form of legitimacy behind it and highlights that there isn't really the depth to be holding one. A tournament at its best should be a collection of the best competing with the best, but when there isn't a best batch, it just comes off as a collection of enhancement matches. And there are always "AEW Dark" episodes to watch for that.

Written by Max Everett

It's been a good nine days for La Catalina.

At TripleMania 34, the Chilean native dethroned Flammer as the AAA Reina de Reinas Champion. Two days later, she made a surprise appearance on "NXT" to confront NXT Women's Champion Kelani Jordan, with Thea Hail and NXT Women's North American Champion Zaria also getting involved in the segment. This week, La Catalina then got another taste of WWE's main roster (seven years after her first match on the brand) when she competed in a triple threat Money in the Bank qualifier against The Judgment Day's Roxanne Perez and former WWE Women's World Champion IYO SKY. Perez ultimately won the match, but Catalina was notably spared from taking the pin.

On Tuesday night, the new AAA Reina de Reinas Champion returned to "NXT" once more, this time for a tag match pitting her and Hail against Jordan and Zaria. She and Hail picked up the victory thanks to the latter's successful roll-up.

Looking ahead, Catalina now pivots her attention to this weekend's WWE x AAA Worlds Collide event, where she will defend her title against Perez. Regardless if she retains there or not, Catalina's heavy presence recently seems to indicate that AAA, and moreover WWE, view her as a promising star in either women's division.

Honestly, it's well deserved.

Catalina initially departed WWE at the young age of 21. Over the past five years, however, she's worked hard to reinvent herself in Mexico, even earning opportunities for major CMLL and NJPW gold. Now, it appears to finally be paying off in WWE and AAA.

Written by Ella Jay

I should have known NXT Champion Grayson Waller's promo with number one contender Mason Rook was going to be a mess filled with fat-shaming, but I didn't expect it to be so unentertaining. On a night where you could have put one of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic matches (specifically, Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno's victory against Los Americanos) as the main event, this was a lame way to end the show.

I haven't been a fan of Waller's weird "merchandise" he's been wearing over the last few weeks, which looks like someone used a Cricut machine to cut out letters to iron on a hoodie. Tonight's was a play on Rook's "he's big, he's bad, he'll bodyslam your dad" phrase, only ending with "I think he ate my dad." When I saw Waller walk out in that, I knew that's where this promo was going, as Waller doesn't have any real ammunition against the newer "NXT" talent.

Waller got in the ring and refused to let a crew member hand a microphone to Rook, so Rook just stood there, looking silly, taking the fat-shaming abuse for a good few minutes. The champion said when he came back to "NXT," he wondered if anyone was hungrier than him, until he saw Rook. He would then go on to say the championship means too much to him to take Rook lightly, which is exactly what he had just spent the last few minutes doing.

When he finally "allowed" Rook to have a microphone, he told him not to eat it, which was stupid, and also told Rook to "find his balls," which was odd, since he was the one not letting him talk. Rook got a few good lines off, basically saying Waller wasn't good enough to join The Vision alongside Austin Theory, then mentioned the champion was upset that John Cena already knew who Rook was before he got into WWE. I have to say, the Cena backing of Rook is cool and all, but I'm already tired of hearing about it, especially when he's not the greatest promo, though he tried hard to hold his own tonight, and he's not taking "NXT" by storm quite as quickly as I would have thought.

This was a flat way to end "NXT," on what wasn't a very exciting show outside of the Dusty Cup matches. I also don't even think we have a date for Rook vs. Waller, as I highly doubt WWE is to push this the entire way to Halloween Havoc. Maybe we'll get a brawl next week before the match is made for the week after, but I'm already ready for this feud to be over.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Reina Volcan came to "WWE NXT." She conquered her debut TV match. Then she abruptly left.

We still don't know why the former Nikki Blackheart disappeared from "NXT" programming, but I am happy to see her back. I was especially happy to see her go right back to destroying everyone, too.

Tonight, she reappeared by dropping Kali Armstrong with a powerslam and delivering a Torture Rack slam to Skylar Raye (one much cleaner than that given to Tatum Paxley in her initial introduction, too) in the midst of their match. Pleased with herself, Volcan then watched on as the referee returned to the ring and Raye threw her arm over Armstrong for the win.

Volcan's resurgence didn't start a new chapter, but rather continued one that last made a mark on July 21. On that date, she defeated Raye in her official "NXT" in-ring debut, making her tap out to a Torture Rack. Now, it appears that Raye might be a target for Volcan's first official feud in WWE. If not, tonight's events at least provide a nice transition to a potential one with Kali Armstrong as well.

With Tatum Paxley and Lola Vice recently getting called up to WWE's main roster and former NXT Women's Champion Kendal Grey still sidelined due to injury, the "NXT" brand has some empty spaces. Volcan's alluring look and undeniable power make her a valuable candidate to fill one. And if given a chance, Raye could be positioned as a babyface underdog to stand opposite her. The groundwork is there. It's just now on WWE's creative team to build it up.

Written by Ella Jay