The Vanity Project started their WWE careers by debuting on Evolve a year ago. Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes formed the tag team Swipe Right, while Bryce Donovan, Jackson Drake, and Zayda Steel made up the rest of the group. Drake became the first Evolve Champion, holding the belt for 301 days before dropping it to Aaron Rourke. While Donovan and Steel left WWE, the three remaining members kept impressing everyone.
They earned a full-time NXT call-up at the start of the year, and things have been going smoothly since then. Baylor and Smokes won the NXT Tag Team Championships on the February 24, 2026, episode of NXT, and successfully defended them at Stand & Deliver against Los Americanos. On the May 5 NXT, Myka Lockwood made her presence known by bodyslamming Jasper Troy to get Drake the victory, joining the group in the process. The past couple of months have definitely shown that they shouldn’t be overlooked and should be taken extremely seriously.
The Vanity Project Has Been Very Successful
Since debuting last year on Evolve, the Vanity Project has made headlines for various reasons. One of those reasons is that they have all been champions. Drake held the Evolve Championship for nearly a year, with lots of defenses being made.
He not only defended the title on Evolve programming, but also had some matches on the independent circuit for it. That showed that he was willing to put the title on the line against wrestlers outside the WWE ID program, showing a great deal of bravery in the process.
Baylor and Smokes have also been impressive, so much so that they captured the NXT Tag Team Championships within weeks of their official NXT debuts. In addition, Lockwood has shown a ton of potential on LFG, competing under her real name, Bayley Humphrey. She’s used her power and strength many times to pick up key victories. The four of them are all strong and have backed up their claims with key championship wins.
They are Very Relatable to the Gen Z Demographic
The one thing that stands out to fans about the Vanity Project is that they all look young, which is because they are. With each of them in their early 20’s, they’re some of the youngest people in the locker room. They could’ve had a variety of gimmicks placed upon them, like generic strong people or the newest members of Chase University. But the group got over with the crowd by being themselves. Gen Z is made up of the technology-obsessed, party people who want to have a good time.
The Vanity Project was portrayed as those party people in Evolve, and Drake met Lockwood last week after a dating prank involving Shiloh Hill. With Gen Z’s oldest being born in 1998, most of them are around their age, making the group relatable to them. The Vanity Project is all about chasing after victories and women. With Lockwood in the group, Baylor, Drake, and Smokes have found both of those things in a short amount of time.
Fans Shouldn’t Dismiss the Group So Quickly
Some fans enjoy the Vanity Project, as they see the members’ youthfulness and success as signs of future stardom. But others see them as typical annoying kids. They think they’re just in NXT for a good time instead of wanting to make it to the main roster. That might be what is seen on the surface, but deep down, all of them are very talented wrestlers. Baylor, Drake, and Smokes have all taken their championship runs extremely seriously, defending their belts multiple times.
They’re only in their early 20’s, but they all have a huge amount of talent that has been showcased over the past year. Lockwood was picked up in a dating prank, but has quickly shown that she is powerful and will do whatever it takes to defend the men of the Vanity Project. Her bodyslam to Troy shows that she is very valuable to them. The Vanity Project has shown that they are a strong group that shouldn’t be dismissed easily by anybody.
