Aaron Rourke Retains EVOLVE Title In Opening Match On WWE NXT

Aaron Rourke was victorious in his WWE NXT debut, retaining his EVOLVE Championship in the opening match of this week’s show. Tuesday night’s episode kicked off with Rourke putting his EVOLVE Title reign on the line against Tristan Angels.

The match went about nine minutes and saw Angels get distracted midway through when the lights went out and the ring was bathed in red light, followed by cackling. Angels battled back before Rourke grabbed the challenger’s Mr. NXT sash and was sent to the floor for doing so. Angels followed and got pulled under the ring. He came back out looking panicked and slipped into the ring, where Rourke hit a big kick and the Molly Go Round off the top for the pinfall victory. You can see clips from the WWE NXT match below.

Rourke’s title reign now stands at 124 days. He won the title from Jackson Drake on the March 18th episode of WWE EVOLVE (taped on February 20th).

The WWE Evolve Men's Champion @PerfectAaron1 is HERE! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/cESVpov7N0

— WWE (@WWE) June 24, 2026

THE CHAMP RETAINS!! @PerfectAaron1 is STILL WWE Evolve Men's Champion! pic.twitter.com/rSUUjPeY6T

— WWE (@WWE) June 24, 2026