{"id":218224,"date":"2026-06-21T20:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=218224"},"modified":"2026-06-21T20:13:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:13:00","slug":"nxt-hits-misses-6-16-nattie-vs-jaida-parker-tavion-heights-vs-jackson-drake-saquon-shugars-promo-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/06\/21\/nxt-hits-misses-6-16-nattie-vs-jaida-parker-tavion-heights-vs-jackson-drake-saquon-shugars-promo-more\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES (6\/16): Nattie vs. Jaida Parker, Tavion Heights vs. Jackson Drake, Saquon Shugars promo, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-4169013509\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>So, before I write any specific Hits &amp; Misses, let me just say this. Without any doubt at all, the NXT Women&#8217;s Division is by far and away the best female wrestling in America. They have been consistently great for a long period now, and the standard is fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, the ability to work through matches at the Performance Center over the week is great preparation, but that takes nothing away from the ability all the young wrestlers have shown in the ring. Of course, it takes much more than just in-ring skills to make it in wrestling, but it\u2019s time some of the great work going on in NXT is acknowledged because the male wrestlers also, in general, are performing to a high level in matches.<\/p>\n<p>NXT, at times recently, has been looked down on, but as far as doing what it was set up to do &#8211; develop wrestlers &#8211; they are doing a good job with at least five female wrestlers ready to move up whenever they let them.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>TAVION HEIGHTS vs. JACKSON DRAKE &#8211; #1 Contender\u2019s match for the NXT North American Championship &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Really good opener with a textbook contrast of styles. I compared Jackson Drake to Dolph Ziggler in terms of the way he sells previously, and he was the perfect foil here for the power offense of Tavion Heights. A lot of people high on his Height\u2019s potential have had to be patient, but it finally seems that plans are afoot for him.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m unsure if the looming heel turn in the Myles Borne match will suit him. His move set is uber fan-friendly, but at this point, it&#8217;s just good to see he is getting some spotlight. Drake will be fine in defeat. He is taking a few losses at the moment, but he has the personality. As the leader of his group, it\u2019s clear he will be focused on going forward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THEA HAIL vs. IZZI DAME \u2013 Speed Tournament match &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At 2 minutes and change, there is not a lot to say here. I guess that is the Speed Match concept, but I have seen it done far better in NXT matches before. It is also a shame that Thea Hail seems to be languishing in no-woman&#8217;s land.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3070093658\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>In hindsight, the worst thing to happen to her was the accidental win of the North American Championship over Blake Monroe because, since then&#8230; man oh, man.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TONY D\u2019ANGELO\/ NARAKU SEGMENT &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Slight miss. The only reason is that it bordered a little too close to &#8220;assumed knowledge&#8221; with Tony talking about Naraku\u2019s past. Having said that, Tony D\u2019Angelo anchored the segment well.<\/p>\n<p>It was strongly hinted that Naraku will turn to the outright heel side, and I am for that. It could help establish Tony D as a face because, in honesty, he hasn\u2019t really done anything week to week to do that himself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JAIDA PARKER vs. NATTIE &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jaida, losing aside, this was excellent. Seeing how Nattie is portrayed here makes you wonder why they haven&#8217;t done this with her on the main roster at all. At over 15 minutes, this was long not only for an NXT match, but for any WWE TV match. That said, they kept it flowing, and it was a different style from the matches you normally see, as it was heavily ground-based; you can tell Nattie loves that Bloodsport style.<\/p>\n<p>The only real negative was Nattie kicking out of Jaida&#8217;s finish; the way this match was laid out, I didn&#8217;t think that was needed. Some may be upset that Nattie takes the win, but they are putting work into Jaida Parker&#8217;s character, so I can see her getting the win back after going through Nattie&#8217;s newly formed group of Nikkita Lyons and Karmen Petrovic.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2621282652\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;PWT Talks NXT&#8221; with Kelly Wells and Nate Lindberg, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/pwt-talks-nxt-wells-lindberg-discuss-nattie-vs-jaida-parker-vice-grey-vs-zaria-jordan-naraku-inviting-tony-d-angelo-to-a-meeting--72566853\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PWT Talks NXT - Wells &amp; Lindberg discuss Nattie vs. Jaida Parker, Vice &amp; Grey vs. Zaria &amp; Jordan, Naraku inviting Tony D\u2019Angelo to a meeting\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=72566853&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>LAYLA DIGGS vs. ARIANNA GRACE \u2013 Speed Tournament match &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All-out action from the bell, as standard. Sometimes Speed matches sway too much into choreography, and this one did that for me. Look, they had under three minutes, so they showed off their athleticism well, with a stronger focus on Diggs throughout. Grace stealing the win with an inside cradle fits her character. Nothing offensive, just kind of there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAQUON SHUGARS PROMO &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Loved this! Shugars has had a decent start as a standalone wrestler since the DarkState breakup, but needed a segment like this to truly get him recognized as a babyface wrestler you want to root for. He\u2019s unlike a lot of other wrestlers (not just in NXT) in that he sounds more authentic (and different) when he&#8217;s talking, and you can really get on board with him.<\/p>\n<p>The two standouts of DarkState, in my eyes, were Shugars and Dion Lennox, and I look forward to that program getting going.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LOLA VICE &amp; KENDAL GREY vs. ZARIA &amp; KELANI JORDAN &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was set up at the start of the show. These are four standout wrestlers, male and female, in NXT, and they put together a good match. I would say good, not great, because there were some spots of confusion, but since they have never tagged with or against each other, it\u2019s probably to be expected.<\/p>\n<p>With Tatum Paxley interfering, allowing Vice to pick up the win over Zaria, that does keep their program going into the Great American Bash. The question remains over the Women&#8217;s Championship: Do they stick with the one-on-one Kendal Grey vs. Lola Vice match, or do they want that heel element and bring in Kelani Jordan for a triple threat? They have one more show to decide..<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Overall, as I shouted at the start of this article, the wrestling side of NXT, particularly the women&#8217;s division, is excellent right now, and they are making good progress on the Men&#8217;s Division rebuild after the recent exodus.<\/p>\n<p>The one to watch in the Men&#8217;s Division right now is Saquon Shugars. If they nail that first big program with DarkState, they could have themselves a new babyface to build this new version of NXT around.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PWT Talks NXT - PWTorch NXT Post Show (6\/16) w\/Wells &amp; Lindberg\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LiEkE3IaSeI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-631463177\"><div id=\"pwtor-3342379705\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>So, before I write any specific Hits &amp; Misses, let me just say this. Without any doubt at all, the NXT Women&#8217;s Division is by far and away the best female wrestling in America. They <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/06\/21\/nxt-hits-misses-6-16-nattie-vs-jaida-parker-tavion-heights-vs-jackson-drake-saquon-shugars-promo-more\/\" title=\"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES (6\/16): Nattie vs. Jaida Parker, Tavion Heights vs. Jackson Drake, Saquon Shugars promo, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-21-at-8.11.48-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218226,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218224\/revisions\/218226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}