The Vanity Project’s Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes retained the Tag Team Championship over Hank and Tank at WWE NXT.
2026, runner-up in the Dusty Rhodes Classic that ended last week It was Hank Walker and Tank Ledger, trailing Noam Darr and Romeo Moreno. But after Moreno and Darr were attacked by the Vanity Project, they were unable to challenge for the titles this week and GM Robert Stone said he would find a replacement team.
That replacement team became the runner-up itself, starting the game before the bell rang and injecting that energy into the contest when it did. Baylor and Smokes were left scrambling to survive and find an inch of space throughout, gaining advantages in spots and distracting North American Champion Jackson Drake at ringside.
Even so, they looked like they were on the way to losing the titles at one stage, with Hank and Tank pushing to the finish until Drake tried to get involved once again. Moreno and Darr ran to ringside to stop the interference, but their presence in turn caused a scene that stopped the competitors and distracted the referee so Micah Lockwood could get involved, thus sending Baylor and Smokes over.
With their victory, Baylor and Smokes completed their first defense of the titles they won at the Heatwave in August over Tavion Heights and Myles Borne.
