Wild NXT Brawl Leads to DarkState Retaining Tag Team Gold

Following the abrupt start to WWE NXT tonight, the General Manager, Ava, was forced to change the plans for the night as the opening match of the show had to begin hurriedly.

The night was supposed to start with the NXT Championship qualifying match between Joe Hendry and Jackson Drake, but Hendry was taken out backstage before he could get to the ring.

With that match now out of the question, the show kicked off with DarkState defending their NXT Tag Team Championships against OTM, after they helped Hendry defeat Dion Lennox a few weeks back.

DarkState seak their way to hold onto the NXT Tag Team Championships

Both teams wrestled a hard-hitting match that saw a lot of back and forth between the two teams. OTM seemed in control of the match for the large parts as DarkState desperately tried to hold onto the belts.

The challengers got the better of the champions on a few occasions but DarkState managed to retain the belts, following outside intereference.

OTM is rocking and rolling against the champs! 😮‍💨@Lucien_wwe @BRONCO_WWE pic.twitter.com/DrtwRnWYy0

— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2026

Hank and Tank chased the Variety Project to the ring and distracted OTM, which allowed DarkState to steal a quick roll up for the win. A huge brawl broke out between teams of the brand’s tag team division. DarkState seemed to be safe inside the ring, but were taken out by Shawn Spears and Niko Vance of The Culling as they stood tall in the ring.

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