Tony D’Angelo Retains NXT Title On WWE NXT, Confronted By Mike Santana

Tony D’Angelo was able to get past Naraku to retain his NXT Championship on tonight’s WWE NXT, only to be confronted by a debuting Mike Santana. Tuesday night’s show saw D’Angelo run it back with Naraku in a Street Fight in the main event, a rematch from NXT Great American Bash.

Naraku had the champion on the ropes several times and picked up several nearfalls, but D’Angelo battled back and survived an early shot of mist to the face. Late in the match he blocked a second mist attempt and rubbed it in Naraku’s face before taking a kendo stick to the challenger. D’Angelo was ultimately able to get the win after a chokeslam through a table followed by a pinfall to retain the title.

As D’Angelo was celebrating his win, Santana’s TNA entrance theme played and he walked through the crowd to a pop. Despite his theme music mentioning his name at the start, the announcers did not name him and only referred to him as the “former TNA World Champion.” Santana stared down D’Angelo to end the show.

Santana finished up with TNA after Slammiversary, where he lost the TNA World Championship to Nic Nemeth. He’s been pegged to go to WWE for a while now in reporting. You can see clips from the match and post-match below.

D’Angelo’s title reign now stands at 109 days, having won the title from Joe Hendry in a Fatal Four-Way at NXT Stand & Deliver.

THE MIST 😱

Naraku has EVIL intentions on his mind! pic.twitter.com/2vRrNhi7B1

— WWE (@WWE) July 22, 2026

THROUGH THE BARRICADE 😨@TonyDangeloWWE pic.twitter.com/eAcgwUoLXm

— WWE (@WWE) July 22, 2026

TONY D WINS 🔥@TonyDangeloWWE survives the street fight against Naraku and RETAINS the NXT Title! pic.twitter.com/6OE1FHyVKV

— WWE (@WWE) July 22, 2026

WOW!! 😱

A new face has stormed into NXT! pic.twitter.com/T0yp6lwHvO

— WWE (@WWE) July 22, 2026