Former Champion Makes In-Ring Return, Wrestles First WWE Match In Six Years

WWE

A former WWE star made his in-ring return during this week’s NXT taping, having not wrestled in almost three years.

Ahead of the August 4 NXT episode, several dark matches took place, one of which featured a notable return.

Westin Blake, aka Wesley Blake, was in action making his WWE in-ring return ahead of the live broadcast.

The former NXT Tag Team Champion lost to Kale Dixon, per Cagematch.net.

WWE ring announcer Mike Rome shared footage from his match to his Instagram story, which you can view below this news story.

Blake previously wrestled for WWE from 2013 to 2021, with the star being part of the original class which reported to the Performance Center when it first opened in July 2013.

He is notably a former NXT Tag Team Champion, holding the gold alongside Buddy Murphy (now Buddy Matthews in AEW) for 205 recognised days in 2015.

His other notable alliance was with Jaxon Ryker and Steve Cutler (Steve Maclin) as the Forgotten Sons. This group was called up to SmackDown in April 2020, where Blake remained up until his release in 2021.

After guest coaching at the PC in September 2022, Wesley Blake officially returned to the company in April 2024 as a producer for NXT, and a Performance Center coach.

Prior to Tuesday’s taping, Blake’s last match for WWE took place at Money in the Bank 2020, with Blake and Cutler being part of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship four-way which saw the New Day retain their gold.

His last match anywhere prior to the Kale Dixon bout took place in November 2020, with Blake and Cutler (now Maclin) losing to BEEF and Calvin Tankman at West Coast Pro Whiplash.

With Blake’s plain pants, it has been theorized that the former NXT Tag Team Champion was filling in for a talent who couldn’t make the match at the last minute, however this is just speculation and hasn’t been confirmed as of writing.

It will be interesting to see if Blake makes a return to TV, especially with rumors swirling about Steve Cutler/Maclin potentially returning to WWE following his recent TNA Wrestling departure. 

Westin Blake (Wesley Blake) wrestled a dark match during last night's WWE NXT taping 👇

(📸 Mike Rome on IG)pic.twitter.com/0fxVANy34x

— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) August 5, 2026

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• wwe
• Return
• Wesley Blake
• Westin Blake

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