WWE Women’s North American Champion Kelani Jordan has had an exciting career thus far in “WWE NXT,” from winning the inaugural championship to working alongside WWE-turned-TNA Wrestling talent and fellow former gymnast Dana Brooke. Brooke, who now goes by Ash by Elegance in TNA, was Jordan’s mentor at the beginning of her time with WWE’s developmental brand. Jordan recently spoke with WINC ahead of “NXT’s” premiere on The CW and addressed how difficult it was for her when the woman she calls “her sister” was released by the company. Jordan said she talked to Brooke following her release, and she was in “high spirits” and very supportive and proud of Jordan ahead of “NXT’s” Breakout Tournament.

Advertisement

“It’s hard from the human perspective, but at the end of the day, she was okay and she encouraged me, so everything was good,” Jordan said. “And she’s killing it at TNA, Ash by Elegance. Sometimes things happen for a reason, and she’s absolutely crushing it. And now we’re crossing over, so who knows? I may meet her again.”

Jordan referred to “NXT” and TNA’s working relationship, which has seen the likes of not just the former Brooke, but Joe Hendry compete for the NXT Championship, and Jordynne Grace defend her Knockouts Championship on the brand. The former Brooke last appeared on “NXT” at Battleground in July, when she grabbed the Knockouts Championship from Tatum Paxley, who grabbed the belt and attempted to run off during Grace’s title defense against Roxanne Perez. Jordan said the last time she saw her mentor was at the premium live event, but she hopes that’s not the last time they meet up.

Advertisement

“I saw her and she’s like my big sis, literally in real life … I hope maybe we can have a matchup one day,” Jordan said.

Former tag team partners Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz are now bitter rivals as the former turned on the latter and Trey Miguel on the August 6 episode of “WWE NXT.” Two months later, Lee and Wentz are scheduled to battle in a Street Fight on tonight’s CW Network debut of “NXT.” During a recent interview with Metro UK, Wentz discussed his preparations for the violent stipulation, which he sees as an opportunity to showcase “another side” of himself that most wrestling fans haven’t seen.

Advertisement

“I feel like a lot of people have only really seen my high flying stuff and my tag team stuff,” Wentz said, “but I can fight with the best of them. I actually enjoy weapon matches. I think the creativity for them is insane.”

With his Street Fight on the horizon, Wentz looked to a pair of TNA colleagues, namely Matt and Jeff Hardy, for advice about tackling the respective stipulation. In addition, Wentz noted that he rewatched some of the legendary TLC (Tables, Ladders, and Chairs) matches that pitted The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian against each other in WWE’s Attitude Era.

“It wasn’t just smash and bash with them. They came up with creative ideas and creative ways how to use their high flying with dangerous objects,” Wentz said. “[The Hardy Boyz] are my guys. So every time I see them, I just thank them. And I try to talk to them as much as possible without trying to — I gotta give them their space. But it’s absolutely wild. And they’re both wonderful human beings too.”

Advertisement

Aside from The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and The Dudley Boyz, Wentz has also recently studied the work of former TNA World Champion Sami Callihan, who has competed in a number of hardcore matches, including Street Fights, throughout his career as well.

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “WWE NXT” on October 1, 2024, coming to you live from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois!

CM Punk will serve as the special guest referee in his hometown when Ethan Page puts his NXT Championship on the line for the first time since retaining it against Joe Hendry at “NXT” No Mercy on September 1 as he defends against Trick Williams. Williams has been looking to win back the NXT Championship since losing it to Page in a Fatal Four-Way Match at “NXT” Heatwave back in July.

Advertisement

Another title will also be on the line tonight, as Roxanne Perez defends the NXT Women’s Championship against Giulia in the latter’s second ever televised match on WWE programming. Perez has had no shortage of challengers for her title as of late, with Giulia making it known she was coming for it since her arrival in “NXT” a handful of weeks ago and Stephanie Vaquer warning the winner of the match of her intentions to be the next in line for a title shot.

Best friends turned bitter rivals Wes Lee and Zach Wentz look to settle their issues once and for all tonight as they go head-to-head in a Chicago Street Fight. The two came face-to-face last week when they spoke over satellite interview, which ultimately ended with Wentz finding Lee in person and blindsiding him with an attack.

Advertisement

Although they’ve had their differences with one another over the past few weeks, Jaida Parker and Lola Vice will have to put them aside tonight as they join forces to square off with Fatal Influence. Despite Vice and Parker’s reluctance to team with one another, “NXT” General Manager Ava made tonight’s match official last week due to the separate issues the two women have both had with Fatal Influence.

Additionally, The Miz will be hosting North American Champion Oba Femi and Tony D’Angelo of The Family on “Miz TV” a week before the former defends his title against the latter.

WWE announced a flurry of new TV deals in 2024, with “WWE Raw” moving to Netflix, “WWE SmackDown” moving to USA Network, and “WWE NXT” making its network TV debut on the CW starting October 1. 

Now, with “NXT” figured to have more eyeballs on it than ever before, WWE’s Performance Center — the company’s incubator for new talent and home to “NXT”‘s tapings — may be getting a makeover for its CW closeup. Booker T hinted at the changes coming to the Orlando, Florida-based facility during an episode of his “Hall of Fame” podcast. 

Advertisement

“We’re going to be out of the PC for a couple of weeks now, actually three weeks before we get back in there,” Booker said. “I heard that they have just totally tore it down. I heard a construction crew came in and totally just took everything out. So when we get back in there, it’s supposed to look totally– boom! Off the chain. Totally different. I’m excited. I want to see exactly what they’re doing.” Booker then joked that if WWE wanted to part ways with any spare LED boards, he would gladly take them off their hands.

WWE opened the Performance Center in 2013 as a way of replacing Florida Championship Wrestling, which had previously served as the company’s developmental system. The Performance Center played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the nationwide shutdown of public gatherings forced WrestleMania 36 to be relocated there, where it could be more closely controlled. WWE opened a second Performance Center in London for its UK trainees in 2019. 

Advertisement

Before “WWE NXT” heads home to Orlando for tapings, however, the Allstate Arena in Chicago will host its live debut on the CW Network.