NXT has one of the best men’s tag team divisions in all of wrestling. There are the current champs, DarkState, who have been a force ever since their arrival nearly a year ago. Hank and Tank are former NXT Tag Team Champions. OTM has been making waves since returning a few weeks back.
Niko Vance and Shawn Spears of the Culling have been impressive recently. DarkState has retained the titles twice against Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater and Hank & Tank.
For their third defense, they would have to fight Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, better known as OTM. With tensions high backstage between all the other tag teams, would this match even have a finish? If it did, would DarkState retain their titles or would OTM be champs for the first time?
Giant Brawl Interrupts Intense Battle Between DarkState and OTM
DarkState is one of those factions that needs to be kept under close watch at all times. Cutler James, Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin, and Saquon Shugars have been known to pull their best Joe Hendry impression. Unfortunately, there’s no singing along and clapping. Instead, there are fists flying and action both in and out of the ring.
They bring those same characteristics to their tag team matches. When Lennox started a solo run, he handed his title off to Shugars to tag with Griffin. The two had to face OTM on the January 27, 2026, episode of NXT to keep their titles. The majority of the match was fun and entertaining.
All four men are of equal size and stature, so there was no disadvantage. It was just pure, hardcore wrestling with many takedowns and collisions. But as the big man match started getting really good, interruptions ruined their flow. The Vanity Project rushed the ring as Nima dragged Shugars by his hair. That allowed Shugars to pin Nima for the DarkState retention quickly.
But the win was quickly forgotten about as more teams entered the brawl. Hank and Tank started brawling with the Vanity Project and OTM. Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors, still reeling from the past two weeks’ misfortune, joined the party. No security was present, so the brawl just continued without any signs of stopping. As DarkState watched the madness from the ring,
Spears and Vance attacked them. They beat them down, leaving the two male members of the Culling as the only men standing. There’s still major bad blood between the tag team division. NXT General Manager Ava just got a bunch of problems handed to her. The only question now is what the future holds for the NXT men’s tag team division.
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