Stand & Deliver 2026 recap & reactions: Tony, Toni, Tone

There’s a pattern for this year’s Stand & Deliver in that it delivered a lot of solid matches but nothing that felt worthy of this show and its legacy. For a regular Tuesday night in March? Sure, but not for Stand & Deliver. NXT just isn’t captivating at the moment. As Geno noted in our offices, it’s lacking star power. That’s part of it for me but it’s just lacking excitement. Maybe that’s the star aspect. Maybe it’s them making their PLEs feel like regular Tuesdays. Or maybe it’s just not having compelling stories. Or all of the above.

I think it’s safe to say the Joe Hendry as champ thing didn’t work, at least this time around. Joe was the least interesting person in this Fatal 4 Way, which is never a great look for the champ. Perhaps they go back to him down the line but it felt right taking the title off of him and putting it on Tony D’Angelo. Ethan Page and Ricky Saints will see each other based on their friendship seemingly erupting here. Or at the least, a slight volcanic reaction. That said, we know what things look like with them as champ. NXT needs a shakeup; who better to do that than the guy who called himself The Don? There’s a long story with Tony in NXT chasing the ultimate prize. I like the idea that he couldn’t get it done when he had a crew but finally did as a solo act. Was he too focused on family and not enough on business? Did he need the chip on his shoulder that came from not having a support group?

I’m probably looking deeper into it than anyone in creative will but that’s what I do here. Anyway, Tony wanted it more than anyone else. Plus, when someone says they have two objectives and they check the first of those off their list, it makes them look bad if they don’t accomplish item number two. Tony somewhat got his payback on DarkState so the championship was the only logical place for him to go.

I hope his reign is a lot different than Joe’s because NXT needs a spark.

Stand & Deliver did a lot of standing and not much delivering. This was fine for a Tuesday night but not this brand’s WrestleMania. I hoped that this show might break NXT’s stale streak but nope, it kept it going with flying colors.

What say you, Cagesiders? Did they make the right call by putting the title on Tony D’Angelo?