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Happy Vengeance Day, wrestling fans!
When we think of WWE’s new generation, we must consider NXT. Today’s top performers in NXT are tomorrow’s top WWE stars.
NXT is like nothing else. Young, gifted performers exploring fresh gimmicks, highly motivated to put on a great show. Some succeed beyond expectations, others fail miserably.
These performers generally lack the experience or seasoning of main roster stars, giving NXT shows an air of uncertainty: you never know if something is going to go terribly wrong.
This combination typically translates to a fun, exciting show, and Vengeance Day was no exception. The booking tells us who creative believes in, and the wrestling and promos allow us to judge for ourselves.
Either way, NXT gives us a glimpse into WWE’s future. Vengeance Day put those qualities on full display.
Rising Star of the Week: Izzy Dame
Dame had a lot riding on her North American Women’s Title match with Tatum Paxley at Vengeance Day. For two years she had been little more than enhancement talent on NXT programming. Her matches were typically unremarkable, and occasionally embarrassing due to memorable botches.
In the past year, Dame has transitioned to being an important player in NXT, and her feud with Paxley has been her first major storyline.
Dame and Paxley have great chemistry, and their rivalry has picked up steam steadily since Dame betrayed Paxley and cost her the NXT Women’s Championship in November.
Dame has grown leaps and bounds as a performer in the ring and in promos, culminating in a show-stealing North American Women’s Title match on Saturday.
The audience was hot for this match in a way that belied its position on the card. Part of their investment was their disdain for Dame’s calculating and condescending villain persona.
The two delivered a well-wrestled, exciting match from start to finish.
Dame may have lost the title, but she won big in terms of establishing herself as a major talent. If she continues this growth and momentum, Izzy Dame is destined for stardom.
First Runner-Up: Tony D’Angelo
D’Angelo debuted in NXT at the same time as Bron Breakker in the fall of 2021. Both were gifted athletes with rare charisma and featured acts in the promotion’s rebranding as “NXT 2.0.” D’Angelo adopted a “Don of NXT” Italian-American mafioso gimmick and formed a stable, “The D’Angelo Family,” a few months later.
Although D’Angelo performed well in the ring and on the mic, the Don character never worked. A crime family moonlighting as professional wrestlers seemed too fantastic. Fans simply couldn’t buy it.
While Breakker would go on to capture the NXT title and move on to stardom on the main roster, D’Angelo failed to progress.
In late 2025, D’Angelo finally ditched the mafia gimmick when he returned from hiatus in December to seek retribution against DarkState for dismantling the D’Angelo Family. Fans were finally able to take him seriously, and he has excelled in the role of an agent of vengeance.
It’s only natural that his feud with DarkState would culminate at the Vengeance Day PLE, where D’Angelo would take on DarkState’s leader, Dion Lennox.
Their vicious brawl spilled from the parking lot to backstage before ending in the ring.
D’Angelo looked unstoppable, plowing through Lennox and fending off attacks from Osiris Griffin and Saquon Shugars.
Taking Lennox to “Suplex City” via repeated German suplexes would have made Brock Lesnar proud, and his follow-up Spear looked devastating. D’Angelo finished Lennox with a one-handed Spinebuster for a clean win.
Now that D’Angelo has cast off the dead weight of a lame gimmick, he’s free to show NXT fans what he’s capable of. This brutal win was a hell of a start.
Second Runner-Up: Tatum Paxley
Like her rival Dame, Paxley has come a long way in a short time. Her character work has been remarkable, coming off as something of a cheerful Goth outcast who plays with dolls to make up for her inability to make friends.
Paxley’s isolation made her desperate to make friends and an easy target to be manipulated by Dame and her faction, the Culling.
However, when she refused to become the merciless cheater that Dame demanded, the Culling dropped Paxley.
Seeing a scorned Paxley stand up for herself against Dame and avenge her betrayal has been a joy. A lovable loser for so long, Paxley has been easy to root for, and her charismatic performances make it nearly impossible not to.
Paxley invited the NXT audience to join her in her mission to show up Dame. And join her we did.
We were rewarded with an exciting title match on Saturday and a satisfying end to a great story.
In winning, Paxley earned the distinction of being the first woman ever to hold both NXT Women’s singles championships.
Like Dame, Paxley’s been given the ball for the first time, and she’s running with it.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of “PWT Talks NXT” with Kelly Wells and Nate Lindberg, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Fading Star of the Week: Joe Hendry
The bloom is off the rose.
Joe Hendry debuted in NXT in the summer of 2024 with enormous buzz and excitement. Fans loved singing and waving their hands to his music and chanting “we believe.”
In the 18 months that followed, Hendry punished fans for believing in him. He lost match after match and failed to capture the NXT Title.
His failures culminated in an embarrassing defeat by Randy Orton in just three minutes at last year’s WrestleMania. Loss after loss undermined Hendry, and fan investment diminished.
In February, his fortunes reversed when he won a six-man ladder match to become NXT Champion.
However, this felt like a case of “too little, too late” for fans. Hendry has struggled to recapture the magic of his debut, and fan enthusiasm has been muted at best.
In Vengeance Day’s main event, Hendry showed his serious side, replacing his typical magnetic smile.
Challenger Ricky Saints proved a good foil, providing the movement and athleticism needed to make Hendry look strong. It wasn’t enough.
Hendry’s title reign is missing something, just like Saints’ run as a face champion was last year. Much of the excitement around his act has faded.
Joe Hendry is going to need to show us something more to turn things around.
First Runner-Up: Jaida Parker
Parker seemingly has it all – a unique look, fun “GTA” persona, good ring work, and great mic skills. Most of all, the audience is on her side. Her entrance never fails to inspire loud “Ms. Parker” chants and enthusiastic applause. The only thing she doesn’t have is a winning record.
Reminiscent of Jordynne Grace, Parker seems to lose all her important matches. Winning isn’t everything, but when a wrestler loses too often, it becomes increasingly difficult to take them seriously.
After an exciting return to TV and a long-awaited face turn, Parker seemed poised to find the success her skills warrant. At Vengeance Day, Parker faced mean-girl model Blake Monroe in a street fight – a match type far more suited to Parker’s persona than Monroe’s.
Surprisingly, Monroe beat Parker cleanly via pinfall after her Glamour Shot finisher following a hard-hitting slugfest. Parker appropriately sold horror at her loss.
It’s not clear why a talent as over as Parker has been booked to lose for so long. Fans can only hope that her loss to Monroe is part of a larger journey.
Second Runner-Up: Dion Lennox
Dion Lennox possesses a rare intensity that makes him the standout talent in the anarchist group DarkState. He has remarkable ring work and is in top physical condition.
In December, Lennox relinquished his half of the NXT Tag Team Championship to his DarkState stablemate Saquon Shugars to focus on pursuing singles gold. Since then, he has followed in Parker’s footsteps, suffering loss after loss in important matchups.
At Vengeance Day, Lennox had a showdown with DarkState’s greatest nemesis, Tony D’Angelo. Even with considerable help from his DarkState teammates, Lennox was bulldozed by D’Angelo and pinned minutes after the two hit the ring.
Lennox put D’Angelo over strongly, making him look like an unstoppable juggernaut in the vein of Brock Lesnar. However, yet another loss further defines DarkState and its leader as ineffectual. NXT has something with Lennox — something worth investing in.
To signal that worth to fans, he is due for some solid wins.
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