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Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars started as friends in DarkState. For months, they beat up everyone in NXT alongside Cutler James and Osiris Griffin. But when Lennox began a singles run late last year, one member of the faction wasn’t as excited as he was. Shugars accused him of putting himself before the faction. He saw it as helping out, as he had a strong performance in the Iron Survivor Challenge and against Myles Borne for the NXT North American Championship at Vengeance Day. But after failing to win the NXT Tag Team titles against the Vanity Project’s Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes with him, Shugars was kicked out of the faction. That led to weeks of animosity and a win over Lennox at the Great American Bash. On the July 21, 2026 episode of NXT, DarkState won in a six-man tag match against Noam Dar, Romeo Moreno, and Shugars. Now three weeks later, he’s looking for another statement victory over Lennox. Saquon Shugars Gets Beat Down by Dion Lennox and the Rest of DarkState on NXT Shugars getting kicked out of DarkState might’ve been the best thing that could have happened to him. When he left the faction, his entire personality changed. He reverted to what he was as Lucky Ali on the North Carolina independent circuit. Carrying around a baseball bat and dressing in bright colors, he began to chase after Griffin and James until Lennox was the only one left. Just days before the Great American Bash, the two delivered in a passionate promo battle. Even though he won, DarkState still beat him down. Not only that, he failed to win the six-man tag match against his former faction members. Would he be able to be victorious, or would the numbers advantage be too much? The match began with Shugars kicking Lennox down to the ground. He went for the quick pinfall, but was unsuccessful. Then he tackled him and started punching him. Griffin and James were on the outside yelling at him as he got kicked into the turnbuckle. He started hitting Lennox, but that stopped as the latter put his hands on the ropes. After a brief moment of struggling, he got him off the ropes and into two consecutive near falls. Lennox then grabbed his leg, but got kicked in the face for doing so. After getting a pep talk from Griffin and James, he got kicked in the face again through the ropes. Once again, Shugars had the upper hand until he kicked Lennox for a third time. Griffin and James pulled on his leg, allowing for Lennox to throw him into the ropes and clothesline him in the neck. He had enough strength to kick out of the pinfall, but was immediately put in a headlock. After getting out of it, he got punched several times, with Lennox delivering a Northern Lights suplex for the failed pin attempt. He was put in a headlock for a second time, only getting out of it because he was kicked in the back of the leg. Afterward, he got thrown into the corner but jumped and hit Lennox in the shoulder. He then hit him with a clothesline and an elbow to knock him down. A springboard was delivered to send Lennox to the ground outside the ring. Griffin and James then confronted Shugars, but he grabbed his baseball bat to chase them away. Lennox took the bat, allowing them to grab him. They rolled him back in the ring as Lennox hit a side slam for the pinfall victory. After the match, all the members of DarkState beat him down. Lennox and Shugars have one win against each other, seemingly indicating that a rubber match will be held sooner rather than later.