FRIENDLY REMINDER: NXT ISN’T AIRING TONIGHT. DUE TO ELECTION COVERAGE, NXT IS AIRING TOMORROW NIGHT, NOVEMBER 4TH!
On Wednesday night, November 4th, the superstars of the World Wrestling Federation’s NXT Generation are LIVE at the WWF Performance Center in Orlando, Florida for a Wednesday night edition of NXT! We’re only days removed from a great Halloween Havoc PLE that saw both Grayson Waller and Kelani Jordan retain their respective championships. And while that was good for them, will they survive the night as champions?
Yes, it’s going to be is a very big episode of The NXT Generation. Due to The CW covering tonight’s election results, NXT goes head-to-head with AEW’s special Blood and Guts edition of Dynamite. Usually when these two face off, it’s because Dynamite has been moved to a Tuesday night. This time, NXT’s doing battle on AEW’s night.
Do we care about the ratings? No, of course not. Both shows should be great, and that’s what matters.
So let’s see what NXT is bringing to the table this week with our complete preview of the show that features two championship bouts, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament finals, a six-man tag match involving main roster talent, and what’s probably going to be Cruz Montana’s last night in NXT given how Monday’s RAW ended.
And the question on everyone’s mind, or maybe just mine, will the lovely and talented Chantel Monroe make an appearance? She isn’t advertised, for some reason, but hopefully she will.
NXT 11/4/26 PREVIEW AT A GLANCE
For the benefit of those who just want to know what’s happening on the show without reading my thoughts about it, I’m going to start adding these back and mix the old-style previews I did with the newer, beefier versions. So here’s what’s announced for this week’s NXT:
- John Cena appears
- Grayson Waller defends the NXT Championship against CM Punk
- Kelani Jordan defends the NXT Women’s Championship against a mystery opponent
- Romeo Moreno & Noam Dar battle Hank & Tank in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Cup Final
- Chad Gable, Rey Fenix and Dragon Lee Collide with The Vanity Project in a Six-Man Tag Team Match
- Cruz Montana Faces Dion Lennox in an Unsanctioned Match with UFC’s Michael Chandler as Special Guest Enforcer
NXT will air Wednesday, November 4th, at 7pm CT LIVE on The CW.
John Cena Appears
The Unseen Seventeen is being seen a lot this week. John Cena appeared on RAW Monday to finally reveal some information about the John Cena Classic and reveal its championship belt. He also announced Cody Rhodes as the first participant in the Cena Classic.
I would expect that Cena will announce the first NXT superstar who will be competing in the classic. And as is tradition, I’m sure his promo with whoever that turns out to be will be interrupted by someone.
Grayson Waller Defends the NXT Championship Against CM Punk
Grayson’s reward for successfully defending his NXT Championship against Tony D’Angelo at Halloween Havoc is to instantly turn around and defend it against SmackDown superstar CM Punk.
Of course, Grayson Waller has no one to blame but himself for this considering the amount of trash the man has talked since returning to NXT a few months ago.
This will mark the first time in over 16 years since CM Punk has competed in an NXT ring.
WWF is hyping this as the biggest match in NXT history. Is it? I don’t believe so, but I can certainly understand why they’re treating it as such. After all, it’s not every week a superstar the caliber of CM Punk comes on the show to wrestle at all, let alone for the biggest prize on the brand.
Do I think there’s any chance that CM Punk actually wins the NXT Championship? No, it’s absolutely zero. What we can expect though is a good match that will end in disqualification that sees Grayson Waller keep his title and CM Punk continuing his feud with Kevin Owens. No, Kevin Owens isn’t advertised, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t get involved.
Kelani Jordan Defends the NXT Women’s Championship Against A Mystery Opponent
Much like Grayson Waller, Kelani Jordan successfully defended her championship against Wren Sinclair at Halloween Havoc, albeit not cleanly, and her reward is to instantly defend the title.
Unfortunately for Kelani, she doesn’t get to know who her opponent will be.
We can assume given how stacked the night is that it’ll be someone from either RAW or SmackDown. I’m not the biggest fan of mystery opponents when you’re trying to promote something. If it’s a big star, let the people know ahead of time. If it’s not a big star, well you’re setting folks up for disappointment.
Whoever it ends up being, I’m sure the match will deliver but I don’t believe we’ll see a title change.
Romeo Moreno & Noam Dar Take On Hank & Tank in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Cup Final
After several weeks of tournament action, the finals of the Dusty Cup have finally arrived.
It’s been an entertaining tournament but I definitely didn’t foresee it coming down to these two teams. I’m not complaining about it, just didn’t think this would be the finals.
Moreno and Dar have become an entertaining duo, and they’ve had a good run throughout the tournament. Just look at who they beat to get here; Los Americanos, Fraxiom, and the reigning NXT Tag Team Champions, The Vanity Project. Two established and highly respected teams from the main roster, and the current NXT champs.
Hank & Tank have also had to take down some stiff competition to reach the finals. They defeated Shido Ash and Viktor Zanov, and more impressively The Creed Brothers (former winners of the Dusty Cup) and the AAA World Tag Team Champions El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno.
For once, I have no clue. I could see this match going either way. Hank & Tank have been established for a while, so they deserve it, I suppose, but Moreno and Dar have been impressive for a team that’s only been together for a few months. I’m going to go with Hank & Tank, and we’ll just see what happens.
Whoever wins, they will be presented with the Dusty Cup trophy by Cody Rhodes in the aftermath celebration.
Chad Gable, Rey Fenix and Dragon Lee Collide with The Vanity Project
The Vanity Project holds most of the gold in NXT, and that supposedly makes them some of the best the brand has to offer. They will be put to the test on Wednesday’s NXT when they face off against main roster superstars.
Chad Gable just lost his WWF Intercontinental Championship on RAW Monday, and now he’s going to take some frustration out on the NXT Generation’s North American Champion Jackson Drake and Tag Team Champions Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes.
Joining Gable in this six-man tag team showdown is the reigning AAA Cruiserweight Champion and SmackDown star Rey Fenix, and another main-roster luchador in Dragon Lee.
This will be the toughest test the young Vanity Project has had to face yet. Of course The Vanity Project does have Myka Lockwood joining them at ringside, and it’s a fairly safe bet that she will make an impact to some degree.
Cruz Montana Faces Dion Lennox in an Unsanctioned Match with UFC’s Michael Chandler as Special Guest Enforcer
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I guess this match is still happening. It was announced, but WWE isn’t promoting it in their preview which is rather strange considering it’s an Unsanctioned Match involving a UFC fighter as a referee and a guy who just beat down Roman Reigns to end Monday’s RAW.
Normally when a guy is moving on to the main roster, I’d predict him to lose his final match. This time I don’t think that will be the case. Montana made a big impact as the fifth member of The 946. He laid out laid out Roman Reigns with a steel chair, and then continued to give him a beat down. It was a strong introduction to the main roster.
This one has been a rather personal feud, and an Unsanctioned Match is a great way to close out this feud. Dion has Dark State, and now Montana has the 946, although there’s no reason to assume that the group will appear or get involved.
It should be a violent blow off with Michael Chandler being able to hopefully deter outside interference to some degree anyway. Then again, if WWF wants to go all out against AEW there’s no reason we couldn’t see some members of the Bloodline make an appearance to get some retribution and cost Montana his last NXT match. That would make the most sense as it builds towards the eventual WarGames match at Survivor Series between 946 and Bloodline while also letting the guy who’s staying in NXT get a big match victory.
I know, I just said I didn’t expect Cruz to lose his last match because of the way he was introduced on RAW, and then gave an example of how Dion might get a big win. If the Bloodline shows up, Cruz loses. If they don’t, Cruz wins.
Stinger’s View: A Stacked Wednesday Night Edition
NXT might not have asked for this round of a “war” with AEW, but they are definitely going all out with it. CM Punk, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Chad Gable, Rey Fenix, Dragon Lee, quite possibly Kevin Owens and maybe 946 and some members of the Bloodline (I wouldn’t expect Roman of course). Then there’s the mystery woman to face Kelani, which again, I’m not a huge fan of the whole mystery thing.
More importantly, will Chantel Monroe make an appearance? I’m going to guess so, and the reason for that is simply because I see no reason she couldn’t appear backstage. I realize that I’m possibly the only person that cares, but I write the previews and I’m going to hype her up. She’s one half the Monroe twins, and they’re a big deal around here.
Regardless, as someone who tries to cover both shows, I hate nights like this. NXT is one of my favorite shows, but I love the WarGames/Blood and Guts match, and since I can only watch one live (maybe flipping for a minute or two) I am going to watch Dynamite live. NXT will be watched a bit after Dynamite goes off.
What does that mean for coverage? It means I’ll have NXT Quick Results up (spoilers have never bothered me) a little after the event ends, but the complete NXT Results with match/segment thoughts will probably wait until Thursday morning. It’s not ideal, between watching and writing, it takes a while and I don’t intend on staying up half the night.
It should be a great night of wrestling across the board, so whichever one you choose to watch live should be a good one.
NXT airs LIVE Wednesday, November 4th, at 7pm CT on The CW.
Will you be watching NXT live, or will you be watching AEW Dynamite live? Or will you casually watch both and just flip back and forth? Sound off in the comments and let us know.
Until next time, this has been Stinger reporting from the rafters of Titanquisitor Hall where John Cena is starting to be way more visible for someone who’s supposedly unseen, the wrestling world is preparing for war across the board, and I’m still waiting for someone to explain why Chantel Monroe isn’t being advertised.
Remember, while it may be shit at times, wrestling matters.
