Former Friends Turned Enemies That Will Culminate at the 2026 Great American Bash
On the May 19th episode of NXT, The Vanity Project defeated Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars of DarkState to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship, with Shugars taking the pin. After the match, Lennox, Osiris Griffin, and Cutler James attacked ‘The Shugar man’, calling him the weak link and officially kicking him out of the group. Since being kicked out of the faction, Shugars attacked Griffin and James with a baseball bat, calling out Lennox to a face-to-face confrontation. This has now led to a match at the Great American Bash between the former friends turned enemies. Who comes out victorious here and does this premium live event match end the feud between the two?
When both men confronted one another on the June 23rd episode of NXT, all the real feelings each man had about the other were revealed. Shugars initially felt that he was the problem and that’s why DarkState kicked him out of the group, but he turned the blame back to Lennox and told him he was the issue. ‘The Shugar Man’ expressed to Lennox that he was the one who was moving differently from the rest, and that he took on a leadership role within the faction, even though DarkState was supposed to be a group founded on the four men from the stable beating everyone up and rising through the ranks of NXT and Lennox kept receiving opportunities that were meant for Shugars. Lennox rebutted that he was put in those high-leverage opportunities for a reason because he was supposed to be there. Shugars expressed his love for being in DarkState, but he was the glue holding the group together. Lennox responded by saying the persona ‘The Shugar Man’ puts on is a façade and that he’s insecure and has problems just like everyone else.
‘The Shugar Man’ will have his work cut out for him during this match. Not only is Lennox an extremely talented athlete, but he’ll also have to watch his back for Griffin and James. Shugars will have to prove to his former friend turned enemy, his former faction, and to the rest of the WWE Universe that he can pick up wins even if he’s all alone. If he can do so, the singles championship opportunities could start knocking.
By far the biggest factor in this match will be whether the rest of DarkState, in Griffin and James, come back and interfere in the match. Whether that causes Shugars to lose, or even if they come back and cause a disqualification, just to give them a reason to attack him. Both Griffin and James could come back to help Lennox win, but unintentionally cause him to lose. ‘The Shugar Man’ will have to keep his ground and be ready for anything that stands in his way.
Lennox is already a proven commodity in NXT. Giving Shugars the win here would be huge for the rest of his NXT career moving forward. ‘The Shugar Man’ career within NXT has been full of tag team matches, and Shugars finally being able to flourish as a singles star could help him tremendously moving forward. If Lennox wins, presumably this feud continues throughout the summer.
