WWE NXT Notes: Mustafa Ali, Blair Davenport, & Baron Corbin Make Surprise NXT Returns

Tuesday’s NXT show featured Mustafa Ali, Blair Davenport, and Baron Corbin all making their surprise returns in NXT.

During a tag team match between Wes Lee & Tyler Bate and The Dyad, Mustafa Ali made his surprise return to WWE’s NXT brand. Ali walked down the aisle and went to the NXT commentary booth. When asked for the reason for his visit, Ali stated that he was a free agent following the WWE Draft earlier this month and was seeking title opportunities anywhere in the company. Following the match, Ali rushed into the ring to attack Joe Gacy after Gacy had sneak attacked Lee and Bate.

Later in the show, Dani Palmer was in the ring and called out the mystery attacker who had been attacking several of the women in NXT’s Women’s division over the past few months. A video aired recapping all of the attacks done by this mysterious person while Palmer looked on in shock. At the end of the video, the mystery person turned around and was about to reveal their face before the video cut. This mystery person then showed up in the ring and attacked Palmer and revealed herself to be Blair Davenport.

This was Davenport’s first appearance in NXT since this past September’s Worlds Collide 2022 event.

Following Carmelo Hayes successfully retaining his NXT Championship against Noam Dar in the main event, Baron Corbin made a surprise appearance and attacked Hayes. Corbin then raised the NXT title over his head and posed with it to close out the show.

Following WWE’s 2023 Draft earlier this month, Corbin was one of a few WWE Superstars who were not drafted and were declared to be free agents allowing them the ability to show up on RAW, SmackDown, and NXT.