WWE NXT Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from September 28

Tuesday was a night when NXT 2.0 focused on its female wrestlers, with both women's titles on the line and plenty of new talent looking to make a name for themselves.

Raquel Gonzalez defended the NXT Women's Championship against Franky Monet. La Wera Loca has not wrestled much on the brand but has carried herself with an entitlement befitting the top title in NXT 2.0. However, she was running into one of the most dominant women in brand history.

Zoey Stark and Io Shirai have struggled to get on the same page since winning the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships, and it was about to come back to bite them. Mandy Rose has a newfound confidence and focused it on Toxic Attraction teammates Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, who would challenge the champions.

B-Fab and Elektra Lopez have been at each other's throats since Legado del Fantasma recruited its first female member. Finally, they would meet in a No Disqualification match.

Roderick Strong won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in less-than-impressive fashion last week, helped by members of Diamond Mine. This week, Grayson Waller challenged The Messiah of the Backbreaker for the title.

This show had potential to showcase the depth of the women's division, but did it succeed?

Hit Row hyped the night for NXT 2.0 before B-Fab took over to talk about herself ahead of her clash with Elektra Lopez.

Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza brawled with Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Top Dolla and Ashante Adonis to clear out the ring area.

The women pulled out a table and creatively used it as a weapon. Lopez grabbed steel chairs and kendo sticks to inflict more damage. Lopez speared Fab into the steel chair and then sent her face first into it. She ended the match with a powerbomb.

Result

Lopez def. B-Fab by pinfall.

Grade

B-

Analysis

These kind of matches can be expected of NXT 2.0. The brand is built on the idea of building stars from the ground up. Lopez and B-Fab are charismatic talents but also noticeably green in the ring.

However, this match was messy and only really took off once the competitors grabbed the weapons. It allowed them to focus on telling a story rather than technically wrestling. The finish was especially well done and ensured this match left a solid mark.

Lopez has potential to compete more regularly than B-Fab, who is still learning the ropes. It made sense for her to take the win so she can build toward a fresh challenger.

Joe Gacy talked about the impact he made last week with his gimmick. He explained that he wanted to make the ring a safe space and would not be cancelled for that.

Xyon Quinn started slow, but he hit his next level after taking a slap from Oney Lorcan. He ran over the former NXT tag team champion and planted him with a Samoan drop. He hit a running forearm for a big victory.

Result

Quinn def. Lorcan by pinfall.

Grade

D

Analysis

Gacy is wasted in this weird gimmick. His mocking liberal heel just does not ring true. There's not enough nuance to anything WWE is doing here to make a weird political comment. Instead, he was given the first gimmick some NXT writer found funny.

Quinn's win over Lorcan was not nearly as impressive as Vic Joseph sold it to be, because he has already defeated him on 205 Live. It was a foregone conclusion as Lorcan will continue to be overlooked in NXT 2.0.

Grayson Waller got a vignette before his title match, displaying the thrill-seeking lifestyle that will serve him well in the ring.

Samantha Irvin interviewed MSK about the future of the tag team division. They challenged anyone to step up to them. The Grizzled Young Veterans reminded Nash Carter and Wes Lee that they still wanted the gold.

Carmelo Hayes arrived with Trick Williams to remind them of the constant threat of the NXT Breakout Tournament contract. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen wanted their own shot and got into a brawl with Carmelo and Trick. MSK knocked Zack Gibson and James Drake down as well.

Grade

C-

Analysis

NXT 2.0 continues to fall into the same segments each week. In order to sell the next few matches in the tag team division, a bunch of tandems come up and brawl.

MSK vs. GYV has been done to death. While these are great teams, it feels like the wrong time to go back to an old rivalry. Carmelo and Trick could be an interesting pairing, but it feels like a waste of the contract he won on his own to go after tag team gold.

Briggs and Jensen are a flat team with little that makes them stand out. They feel like a less charismatic Heavy Machinery, and that isn't a great role to take in NXT 2.0 with so much talent waiting in the wings.

Raquel Gonzalez talked herself up with interviewer Sarah Schreiber before her match with Franky Monet. Toxic Attraction walked past the frame, and Mandy Rose warned the NXT women's champion that she would gladly take the title.

Gigi Dolin played distraction for Jacy Jayne whenever Zoey Stark began to turn around the momentum of the match. However, the team left too much space for Stark to tag in Io Shirai. The Genius of the Sky ran over both the challengers with fast-paced offense.

Stark helped wipe out Dolin outside, leaving Jayne to take a palm strike and Over the Moonsault for the loss.

Result

Shirai and Stark def. Dolin and Jayne by pinfall to retain the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.

Grade

B

Analysis

This was a solid showing from both teams. Shirai and Stark are rock-solid performers in the ring, and they helped elevate Dolin and Jayne. However, it never quite felt like Toxic Attraction had the win in hand despite a build that sold the idea of an upset before the match.

While NXT has gone big with wins away from the gold, the titleholders have remained strong. Every champ has held the gold right through the NXT 2.0 reboot. It will be interesting to see who is set up to dethrone any of the veteran champions.

Bron Breakker made clear in a vignette how clearly he had set his sights on the NXT Championship.

In the ring, meanwhile, Andre Chase did not believe in any of what Tian Sha was buying, but when he spent too much time mocking Mei Ying at ringside, he got a face full of mist to set up a reverse DDT from Boa for a quick win.

LA Knight was backstage talking down about Odyssey Jones. Chase walked through the frame, which distracted Jones, allowing Knight to attack him.

Result

Boa def. Chase by pinfall.

Grade

D

Analysis

There was nothing to this match. Despite putting two relatively established characters in the ring opposite one another, this was a squash that did nothing for either man.

Boa won but only with help despite Chase basically doing nothing the whole bout. The Chinese Superstar remains a lesser factor in the rise of Mei Ying, who is the only interesting member of Tian Sha while Xia Li recovers.

Grayson Waller attacked Roderick Strong before the bell, and it took through the commercial break for things to get settled. Strong only gained back control after launching the challenger to the outside off the top rope.

The two went back and forth as Waller tried to sneak a win, but the NXT cruiserweight champion continued to kick out. After a devastating rolling cutter, Waller was close, but Strong rebounded with a running knee for the win.

Result

Strong def. Waller by pinfall to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.

Grade

B+

Analysis

This was one of Strong's better matches in recent weeks. The give-and-take made Waller look strong without ever making The Messiah of the Backbreaker look vulnerable. Instead, the challenger just seemingly motivated the champion to keep stepping up.

Ultimately, both men came out looking solid in a short contest that used its minutes well. If this is the future of the cruiserweight division—Strong making young guys look like a solid foundational players—it will be fun to watch for a while yet.

Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell's honeymoon began on the beach, and they became more amorous in the water. Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae watched from a distance, and the former donned a shark fin to get the two out of the sea.

Johnny Wrestling wanted to make sure the married couple were using protection and sneaked into their room, where he was caught by Lumis, who showed him they were.

Back inside the arena, Cora Jade was interviewed with Trey Baxter and announced she would make her NXT 2.0 debut next week.

Lash Legend then dished some dirt on "Lashing Out," including talking up Ikemen Jiro as a real man and making fun of Andre Chase.

Grade

B

Analysis

The honeymoon segments continue to make InDex the funniest work WWE has done in a while. It also has allowed the creative team to lean more into humor that is much raunchier than in the past.

Legend has a talent on the mic, but her show did not make much of an impact this time around. Her dirt sheet-style delivery did not land because there was no real point to it. She just insulted a few wrestlers without really landing on a point.

Kyle O'Reilly and Ridge Holland could not be separated as they fought on the entrance ramp. Once the match started, KOR was outmatched by the power of the former rugby league star.

O'Reilly would not be stopped, though. He connected with a series of knees and went after the leg of the bigger man. Holland responded with a powerbomb for a near-fall. When KOR went to the top rope, Pete Dunne arrived. O'Reilly knocked Holland into The Bruiserweight and then rolled up the big man for three.

Afterward, as Dunne and Holland tried to beat down O'Reilly, Von Wagner arrived to even the odds and send the heels running.

Result

O'Reilly def. Holland by pinfall.

Grade

B

Analysis

This was perfectly decent, but it did not have time to do much more. O'Reilly gave a lot to Holland and then got the win with a fluke roll-up. As always, it feels like Holland is on the precipice of a breakout run, but it is not immediately on the horizon.

Wagner and KOR are an odd combination. While this team will match well with Dunne and Holland, it is harder to say where it will go from there.

In the old NXT, KOR would be a future title contender; in NXT 2.0, that may be Wagner instead.

Franky Monet came in with a plan against Raquel Gonzalez, using her speed advantage as well as her comparable power to lay out the champion.

Jessi Kamea and Robert Stone mocked the NXT women's champion as the two women battled to the outside, where the champion was knocked into the announce table. But Monet took too much time stomping on Gonzalez rather than going for the win.

This allowed the titleholder to find her second wind. She blasted back at La Wera Loca, but her injuries at the hands of Monet left her unable to hit the Chingona Bomb. Monet took advantage but ran right into the champion's arms, allowing Gonzalez to use the momentum to hit the Chingona Bomb for the win.

Afterward, Toxic Attraction attacked the Robert Stone Brand and then laid out Gonzalez to stand tall over the champion.

Result

Gonzalez def. Monet by pinfall to retain the NXT Women's Championship.

Grade

C+

Analysis

This title match was a disappointment. The two women did not connect well in the ring throughout. Monet mostly had to spend the match stomping on Gonzalez rather than throwing out a variety of moves in her arsenal.

These two have much better in them for the future, but it seems the time has passed for Monet after Mandy Rose stepped up as the next challenger.

God's Greatest Creation is a solid wrestler but far from the one who should be next in line for the gold. In such a stacked division, it would made more sense for NXT to rebuild Rose first. Perhaps it is just to delay Gonzalez vs. Kay Lee Ray for a bigger stage like the next TakeOver.