{"id":164416,"date":"2026-07-16T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=164416"},"modified":"2026-07-15T22:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:24:30","slug":"why-the-next-match-between-naraku-and-tony-dangelo-is-a-street-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/07\/16\/why-the-next-match-between-naraku-and-tony-dangelo-is-a-street-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Naraku and Tony D’Angelo in a Street Fight on NXT is Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naraku arrived after a decade in New Japan Pro Wrestling to confront the current NXT Champion Tony D\u2019Angelo\u00a0on the April 28,\u00a02026\u00a0episode of NXT. The following weeks led\u00a0to him\u00a0protecting\u00a0his title reign, which was\u00a0a cover to get himself an NXT Championship match. <\/span><\/p>\n

After beating\u00a0Mason Rook\u00a0in a number one contender\u2019s match,\u00a0he faced D\u2019Angelo at the Great American Bash in a losing effort.\u00a0The following Tuesday, he attacked\u00a0D\u2019Angelo, leading to a huge brawl between them. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the July 14 NXT, he was victorious against Tate Wilder. Afterward, D\u2019Angelo attacked him<\/a>, inciting a brawl for the second week in a row, leading to NXT General Manager Robert Stone booking a rematch the following week. The ending of the show saw the two fighting in the parking lot.\u00a0Stone, who was clearly frustrated, declared next week\u2019s match to be a street fight. This is a great idea, as this feud has clearly been taken to the next level.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Naraku Has Hurt Tony D\u2019Angelo Too Many Times<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Graphic
An NXT graphic featuring Naraku and Tony D’Angelo. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Naraku showed up to NXT looking like a friend to D\u2019Angelo. He gave him a shirt as a gift, bowed to\u00a0him\u00a0and addressed him respectfully,\u00a0and protected him several times\u00a0from others. However, once they had their meeting<\/a> where D\u2019Angelo figured out his games, a totally different side of him came out. <\/span><\/p>\n

He burned him<\/a> when he tried to sign their\u00a0contract, leading to a hospital visit and an enormous bandage\u00a0on\u00a0his right eye. Then he attacked\u00a0him\u00a0on\u00a0the following Tuesday\u00a0to continue their feud. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, D\u2019Angelo got him back, but he\u00a0used the mist on him. Unfortunately, it hit a security guard instead, but the target was obvious. He tried to play\u00a0nice\u00a0in order for D\u2019Angelo to let his guard down.\u00a0But D\u2019Angelo researched him and prepared for their battle. Ever since then,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0done everything he can to get the title. A street fight is exactly what he needs to take the NXT Championship for himself.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

D\u2019Angelo is Done Feeling Disrespected<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"WWE
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whenever a feud gets this heated,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a big reason behind it. But Naraku has only been in NXT for a couple of months. A fireball\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0make D\u2019Angelo rage that much, which could seem like an overreaction to many people. But\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0being disrespected, something that happened last summer as well. Stacks betrayed him at last year\u2019s Stand & Deliver, leading to a whole summer of infighting\u00a0that concluded with\u00a0the D\u2019Angelo Family Battle<\/a> last July.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He ended up winning the triple threat with Luca Crusifino and Stacks, but the memories are still there. That was the last time he was disrespected prior to Naraku showing up. He took care of them, then\u00a0DarkState, and\u00a0now Naraku is next\u00a0on\u00a0his list. <\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping the NXT Championship is the only thing that he cares about at this moment, and\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0do anything\u00a0in order to\u00a0keep it. D\u2019Angelo\u2019s desperation to not relive past trauma could be the key to him\u00a0retaining\u00a0his title.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Will Happen\u00a0in\u00a0Next Week\u2019s Street Fight?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"WWE
A NXT graphic featuring Naraku and Tony D’Angelo. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The street fight next week will be between two men who definitely can\u2019t stand each other. Naraku has transformed from a mild-mannered guy with respect for D\u2019Angelo, but now wants to do anything he can in order to get the NXT Championship. The past few weeks have shown that he isn\u2019t the same man that walked into NXT two and a half months ago. With the constant attacks on him, D\u2019Angelo has had to step up his game in order to retain his title. <\/span><\/p>\n

He did that at the Great American Bash,\u00a0but now\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0have to throw everything at him to get the retention in the street fight.\u00a0The\u00a0last time that\u00a0match type was held was at this year\u2019s Vengeance Day with Blake Monroe beating Jaida Parker. It\u2019s definitely a rarity in NXT, only reserved for the most\u00a0heated of\u00a0feuds.\u00a0No matter what happens next Tuesday, Naraku and D\u2019Angelo will give everything they have in their battle for the NXT Championship.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naraku arrived after a decade in New Japan Pro Wrestling to confront the current NXT Champion Tony D\u2019Angelo\u00a0on the April 28,\u00a02026\u00a0episode of NXT. The following weeks led\u00a0to him\u00a0protecting\u00a0his title reign, which was\u00a0a cover to get himself an NXT Championship match. After beating\u00a0Mason Rook\u00a0in a number one contender\u2019s match,\u00a0he faced D\u2019Angelo at the Great American Bash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":162149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2192,4,3],"tags":[9735,8048],"class_list":["post-164416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nxt","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-naraku","tag-tony-dangelo"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164455,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164416\/revisions\/164455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}