NXT – May 20, 2025

Hey, so I’m Niz and I’m your new NXT recapper. I’m sorry in advance. Huge shoutout to Tommy for his work here and go visit his site often, you owe him at this point. Also, many thanks to Scott for the opportunity. I’m gonna try star ratings, please don’t yell at me because I’m not really inclined to rate artistry like that.

Show Opening – Then, Now, Forever (I can never tell who everyone is in that graphic but I’m pretty sure Pedro Morales is one of them…I think).

Arriving to the PC Parking Lot, here are the No Quarter Catch Crew lead by the challenger for the title at Battleground, Myles Borne, who has a “face off” with champion Oba Femi (next arriving) tonight. Next to arrive is TNA World Champion Joe Hendry (title belt in right hand, guitar case in left). Hendry and his challenger, Hollywood Trick Williams have a “concert vs rap battle” event scheduled and I’m sure it won’t be weird at all. Next to arrive is men’s North American champion Ricky Saints, and he marches directly into the Performance Center to start the live show. Saints joins your commentators, Booker T, Corey Graves, and Vic Joseph. We’re shown highlights of the attack by All-Ego Ethan Page on Saints during last week’s show. It’s time for the opening contest.

Je’von Evans vs Ashant’e Thee Adonis vs Sean Legacy

During entrances, it’s mentioned that there’s “speculation” that the winner of this match will be next in line for a shot at Ricky Saints’ title. With the Evans and Legacy entrances, the announcers talk up the wealth of potential both performers have. With the Adonis entrance, they talk up how unfocused he can be and whether he’s wearing chinchilla, in Florida, in May (it’s 80 degrees at 1 AM eastern in Orlando as I’m writing this). He gets a kiss from a fan.

The bell rings and Adonis whips his potentially-chinchilla coat into Evans face and then attacks Legacy. Evans gets a quick upper hand and whips Adonis over to Legacy who backdrops him out. Evans and Legacy exchange two-counts and the pace is commented on by Joseph as they are working very fast. Saints mentions when he sees Ethan Page, it’s on sight. Dropkick by Legacy sends Evans outside to join Adonis. Legacy is looking for a dive when Adonis clotheslines him and goes to work with fists. Adonis prevents Evans from getting back in the ring and then hits a tornado dive on him (Evans sells it for maybe .5 seconds). Evans takes over and hits Legacy and Adonis with a tope through the ropes onto the floor, Saints is bug-eyed at his athleticism (and lack of selling, presumably), and then Evans dances on the barrier as we go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During commercials, Legacy and Evans both recover and get back in the ring. Everyone takes turns having the upper hand, and again, selling is just very hit and miss here. Back live with Adonis in control having just DDT’d Legacy, he stack pins Evans on top after a spinebuster onto Legacy for two. Saints, on commentary, mentions he’s open to facing the winner of the match should General Manager Ava choose to go in that direction. Adonis tunes up the band like he’s ’97 HBK but Legacy catches the foot and Evans kicks Adonis in the face. Legacy is sent outside but returns with a springboard drop kick on Adonis and all three men are down. Adonis breaks up a two count for Legacy, and Legacy dumps him out. Evans catches Legacy on the top turnbuckle and hits him with a super rana as the announcers are losing it. Evans gets Bouncy on Legacy but Adonis catches him and dumps Evans out. Evans scrambles back to break up the pin attempt at two. The crowd starts telling everyone that THIS IS AWESOME. Hmm. I’m not so sure.

Adonis and Evans face off with fists. Adonis hits a DDT on Evans, followed by a superkick and two count before Legacy breaks it up with a 450 splash onto Adonis. Evans catches Legacy with a cutter, Adonis with a German, then a springboard splash to the outside onto Legacy. Enormous frog splash onto Adonis by Evans is broken up at two by Legacy and all three are down.

Ethan Page is lurking behind Ricky Saints, and well, it is in fact on sight for both guys. A phalanx of PC trainees, er, Security come out as they punch each other in the face repeatedly. Evans is sick of it and flies over the top rope into the group, knocking everyone down. This turns out to be a huge mistake because as he’s outside, Adonis goes for the Kiss Goodnight and misses, followed by Legacy hitting his finisher called Shambles, a twisting suplex, on Adonis for three!

You know, the crowd was very into it and I think Very Online people like me are the ones who point out stuff like lack of selling and too quick of a pace. This was fine for what it was, but if I’m Je’von Evans, I’m getting the message that I am in fact going to have to put in the work. Ashante is a body at this point, it feels like. Legacy doesn’t strike me as special just yet but it’s a work in progress, so give him a shot at Saints and see what he’s got I suppose. 2.75*

Winner – Sean Legacy

Saints and Page are still beating the crap out of each other as Graves reminds everyone to remember Legacy’s name.

Backstage here are Mr. Stone, Stevie Turner, and Ava. Ava tells the underlings to handle Page and Saints and they scurry off. Ava turns to Tyra Mae Steel and Jasper Troy who are the initial winners of WWE LFG. Both of them have NXT contracts and while Tyra is just excited, Troy promises to start making an impact TONIGHT. We’ll see, pal.

Back from commercials, here’s a look at the women’s number one contender, Jordynne Grace. Grace talks about being part of the free agent class that signed with NXT along with Giulia and her opponent and current champion Stephanie Vaquer. She mentions they both have beaten Giulia and that their paths have been very similar. Sunday in Tampa will prove who is best.

Lola Vice, watching a monitor with the champion, tells Stephanie Vaquer that she thinks Stephanie will win, and Vaquer leaves before Vice is confronted by Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne. Henley and Jayne are grumpy with each other and Jayne tells “group leader” Henley to take care of Lola tonight.

Here’s Hollywood Trick Williams for his rap performance. Not a chance I’m recapping this whole thing. The point of the verse is that Hendry is an “Average Joe” and Trick won’t back down to him. Booker, predictably, is very into this, as is the crowd. Hendry is backstage watching, guitar in hand, and he says “All right, the gloves are off.”

Here’s Josh Briggs with Kelly Kincaid. He says tonight is for his friend Inamura, who he hopes is watching from Japan.

The Culling make their entrance and everyone looks menacing except for Brooks Jensen who’s wearing a lavender golf shirt for some reason. We go to picture-in-picture. Briggs makes his entrance during this.

Shawn Spears vs Josh Briggs

The match starts during commercials. Very physical at the start and Briggs drops Spears with a huge right hand in the corner. Lots of clubbering. Announcers talk about the storyline of Briggs maybe not being a guy who needs friends and maybe does work better alone, and Joseph gets Booker to invoke Brian Pillman Sr as someone he knew in WCW who was like that. Back and forth physicality leads to Briggs trying for a big elbow before Spears escapes. Announcers talk about the previous relationship between Jensen and Briggs and how Jensen has always been a follower (Kiana James is mentioned) while Briggs is more of a loner type. It’s all punches between the competitors and the crowd is kind of…quiet. Spears gets a neckbreaker for two. Briggs tries a chokeslam but it’s reversed, followed by Spears clotheslining Briggs to the floor. Briggs catches Spears during an attempted splash and drops him face-first on the announce table. Jensen distracts as Niko Vance attempts to attack from behind, but Briggs sends him into the ring steps. Izzi Dame follows with a kick to Briggs’ face and Spears rolls Briggs up for three. What a wet fart of a match that was, my goodness. Briggs looks shocked and then attacks Spears after the announcement of the winner. Jensen and Vance swarm as the announcers point out that Briggs is alone. Here are Hank and Tank to chase off the Culling. 1*

Winner – Shawn Spears

Here’s Kelani Jordan warming up in the locker room as Zaria and Sol Ruca arrive. Jordan reminds Ruca that when she beats Zaria, she gets a title shot on Sunday. Ruca confirms and Zaria reminds Kelani that she beat her two weeks ago and will prevent her from even getting to Battleground tonight.

Here’s Andre Chase in his new Chase U merch before being joined by Uriah Connors and Kale Dixon before their match with OTM tonight.

Back from commercials, Tatum Paxley sits forlornly as Thea Hail confronts her over the attack during last week’s show. Paxley tells Hail she doesn’t understand what it’s like to lose everyone. Hail: “Agree to disagree on that one.” Jaida Parker jumps Hail and calls Paxley stupid. Well that’s pretty rude.

Chase U (Uriah Connors and Kale Dixon) vs OTM (Bronco Nima and Lucien Price)

Graves on Andre Chase: “I would never take advice from a guy who gets his hair cut at Costco.” DUDE. So there’s a noticeable size difference here and the much faster Chase U duo are getting physically dominated at the outset. Price flattens both with a double clothesline and Dixon and Connors are outside the ring. Graves points out that the tag division is pretty open right now and he’s right. Dixon finally gets a sequence on Price, but Connors can’t keep the momentum and Nima tags in. Dixon is sent outside and Nima and Price hit their snap spinebuster (which had a LOT of velocity on it) on Connors for the three. A complete and utter squash, basically. Andre Chase looks a bit stunned at how it went.

OTM needs longer reps than this. Yes, it’s good they looked dominant but given how NXT does tag stuff, they’re going to need more in-ring time and soon. The Chase U thing is clearly a work in progress, and we’ll see how that goes. No one embarrassed themselves here and it was what I would have expected from a booking perspective. 1.5*

Winners – OTM

Here’s Myles Borne on his way to the ring. Here’s Oba Femi on his way to the ring.

Back from commercials, Joseph mentions the change of venue for next week’s show as it will emanate from the PC now. Borne is out first and he is by himself. Femi enters second.

Femi cannot quite tell if Borne coming out alone makes him stupid or brave. It may be both, but Femi understands that it is part of why Borne has made it this far. Femi understands that for Borne, the match is bigger than just the title as Borne is trying to inspire and uplift folks who are like him. Femi finds that admirable, but misleading. Femi thinks Borne is a good person, but that this isn’t a Disney movie and that Borne’s dream coming true was when he he won the Battle Royal to become the number one contender and then beating Ethan Page the following week. Femi promises that Borne will get the Ruler, the Destroyer, the Bringer of War and that he will be merciless and relentless in trying to retain.

Borne says he may be out there alone but he’s not, as the NQCC have been helping him train night and day. They aren’t the only ones who have his back, he’s carrying an entire community. Borne says it’s more than just winning the title, it’s making a statement. Borne tells him to write him off, underestimate him, because Femi wouldn’t be the first to do it. He proved all his doubters wrong so far (crowd noticeably perking up here). He’s been surviving battles ever since he was born and he knows it’s not a Disney movie, but points out that every ruler falls (ahem). When he shocks the world at Battleground, he may be hard of hearing but he knows that everyone will hear one, two, three. These were both very effective promos. I’m thinking Femi retains but this could really be a star making performance for Borne.

Borne exits as Femi is jumped by Jasper Troy (the LFG guy). Borne chases him off and then offers to help Femi to his feet. Femi slaps his hand away and Borne picks up the title and admires it before handing it back to Femi.

Here’s Ricky Saints, Ethan Page, half a Waffle House of Security, and Ava in her office. Ava orders the bickering goobers to SIT DOWN which doesn’t happen. Saints wants to fight and puts up the title as an incentive. Ava points out that Sean Legacy has a claim (so I guess that was a de facto number one contender match) but she wants them to fight so it’s HER decision that it’s next week and the title is on the line. Ava kicks them out.

Lola Vice makes her entrance.

Progressive Highlights presents the ongoing saga of Tony D’Angelo and Stacks Lorenzo. Tony is just livid with Stacks as he was certain they were cut from the same cloth. He brought Stacks into NXT and it was great, him as the Don and Stacks as the Underboss, but that wasn’t good enough. As the Don, you feel the full weight of the Family on your shoulders and Stacks only was worried about himself, and that’s why he’ll never sit in the Big Chair. Stacks is all guts, no brains and on Sunday it’s just the Don breaking Stacks face. Yep, bring this all on, I think it’s gonna be a potential show-stealer.

Fallon Henley (with Jacy Jayne) makes her entrance.

Lola Vice vs Fallon Henley

Leverage game to start gives Henley the advantage. Vice takes over with rib kicks but Henley trips her up. Vice puts on an ankle lock as Jayne taunts Henley about being a leader. Well that’s not very good teamwork, Jacy. Vice hits a shoulderblock and shakes her money maker before attempting an armbar but Henley rolls her way to the ropes for a break. Punches from Henley, but Lola escapes and hits a rana followed by a spinning thrust kick to the stomach, and Henley bails. Henley recovers and drapes Vice before hitting some sort of spinning kick while holding the ring post. Jayne is finally impressed.

Back from commercials, Joseph says Henley has taken control. Vice gets a sneaky roll-up for two. Vice takes over as Joseph points out she won the Breakout tournament last year and questions Booker on what it’s going to take for Vice to get to the next level (because beating former champion Shayna Baszler in an Underground match has proven to not be that). Henley gets a running forearm for two and does the “shocked kickout face”. Simultaneous clotheslines and both competitors are down. Forearms are fired back and forth and Vice then hits her spinning midbody kicks, followed by the shotgun kicks to the outer thighs. Running butt to the face followed by an axe kick for two, and Vice is the frustrated one now. This feels too long at this point. More kicks from Vice but Henley slingblades her by the hair, and a jumping corner neckbreaker gets two. Another armbar attempt, but Jayne is up on the apron arguing with Vice. Vice whips Henley into Jayne, who’s knocked to the floor, and then hits the spinning backfist for the three count. Vice dances while Henley and Jayne bicker on the floor.

I’m really not sure about Fallon at this point. I think there’s some upside there but we’re now in her fourth year on the brand and something has to happen soon. I’m assuming this might mean a title opportunity for Lola at some point down the line given her convivial relationship with the champ, assuming Vaquer retains. The match being built around a disintegrating team and with no stakes didn’t help the heat, but the crowd popped for the finish which is good for Lola. 2*

Winner – Lola Vice

I’m realizing there’s still the Joe Hendry sequence to go here and the Jordan-Zaria main and well, now we have to have the response video package for Stephanie Vaquer to the Grace piece from earlier. Neat.

Kelly Kincaid is with the champ, who runs down her prep for the match and for being champion in general. She talks about her journey of trying out for WWE and being rejected, going to Japan and Mexico to hone her craft. It wasn’t a sad time in her life, it was necessary for her to get to where she is now. She talks about how much Rey Mysterio inspired her to be a WWE Superstar. The late nights in Japan, the early mornings in Mexico, it was all worth it. Jordynne was on the top of TNA and now she wants to be on top in NXT, but Vaquer went through hell and made it her home, and when Jordynne gets close to her at Battleground she will burn in flames. This was solid and well-produced and a good recovery from that promo disaster from last week.

Kelani Jordan makes her entrance.

Back from commercials and here’s Darkstate in a pre-tape. Oh goody. We re-introduce all the fellas and we talk a bunch about how we have nothing to lose (well duh, you’ve had like two matches) and they want us to know that when they strike, ain’t nobody safe. Attack Hollywood Trick then, you goobers. Prove he isn’t your Palpatine.

A quick recap of the Tyrese Halliburton – Jalen Brunson confrontation from Raw in 2024 and Halliburton’s appearance on last night’s Raw.

Zaria (with Sol Ruca) makes her entrance.

Kelani Jordan vs Zaria

Zaria with a pair of immediate release Germans, and then rams Jordan in the corner. Jordan recovers and splashes Zaria on the floor, then fires her into the ring steps and trash-talks Sol. High cross-body by Jordan for two, and we’re really working a snappy pace here. Rana from Jordan followed by a running splash, but Zaria impressively yanks her off the mat and goes for the F5, but Jordan swings around and grabs a sleeper. Zaria escapes to the apron and Jordan boots her to the floor. Jordan tries another rana but gets caught and Zaria casually whales her into the ringside barrier while Sol looks shocked at her strength.

Back from commercials, and the pace has slowed. Jordan tries a sunset flip from the outside which doesn’t work, so she dropkicks Zaria in the knee (?), then hits a short-arm DDT, and both women are suffering. The crowd hasn’t been super into this so far, but a clap starts up as they rise throwing bombs at each other. Jordan breaks away and hits a couple of slingblades and a big elbow, and she’s feeling it. Nip up, and she tries for a tornado DDT, but Zaria shakes it off, only to run Jordan to the ropes where she does end up hitting a huge implant DDT for two. Yikes on that landing. This has gotten better as it’s gone along. Jordan gets a sunset flip for two. Announcers, especially Booker, talk up Roxanne Perez signing for Raw and qualifying for Money in the Bank. Jordan tries a dragon sleeper but Zaria cannonballs both of them into the corner. Zaria hits a pump kick, but Jordan dumps her to the floor where she’s caught by Sol. Jordan kicks Sol in the back and both her and Zaria end up down. Jordan whips Zaria back in the ring and gives Sol an earful. Sol jumps up on the apron to continue the dialogue just as Zaria attempts to spear Jordan, and you can guess what happens. Zaria spears Sol by mistake, and Jordan grabs her and rolls her up for three. Jordan has achieved her goal of getting the NA title match at Battleground. WWE loves that finish, man.

The match started at a pace, and then slowed down, which allowed both to work at a more comfortable level. Jordan is still just not quite there as a polished final worker but she’s athletic and has a look they like, and Zaria just needs a bunch of reps. The storyline, as Graves pointed out, with Zaria as Sol’s “gatekeeper”, is working so far and now you wonder if they are going full heel on Sunday with Zaria doing whatever she can to help Sol retain since she put her in the match with the loss. It’s the expected outcome here. 2.5*

Winner – Kelani Jordan

Announcers run down the entire card for Battleground. Here’s Joe Hendry with guitar and belt, and it’s time for his concert.

Back from commercials, and Joseph announces that it’s official between Ricky Saints and Ethan Page for the men’s NA title for next Tuesday night’s show.

SAY HIS NAME AND HE APPEARS. Hendry is already in the ring on a red carpet. The crowd is swaying to his entrance theme. I love this dude, I don’t care man. Again, not going to recap the whole thing. Hendry says it was Trick’s first attempt at a rap verse, and he’s dedicating his first song to Trick. He runs down Trick’s title reigns, which is fair, and calls him a “crappy sidekick to Carmelo Hayes”. He shows a graphic from an old Halloween Havoc with Trick running in fear from a giant superimposed Hendry head. Gonna miss you at Halloween, Shotzi.

Trick has had enough. He tells Hendry nobody is living in the past. He calls him Average Joe and then slugs him. He goes for the Trick Shot and Hendry bashes him in the leg with a gimmicked guitar, and then chokeslams him. At the end of the day, Joe Hendry is the champ of TNA. He raises the belt while Trick is on the mat, and we’re out.

Results:

Sean Legacy defeats Je’von Evans and Ashante Thee Adonis
Shawn Spears defeats Josh Briggs
OTM defeats Chase U (Dixon/Connors)
Lola Vice defeats Fallon Henley
Kelani Jordan defeats Zaria

Thumbs slightly up for this one tonight, even with the Spears-Briggs mess tossed in there. Nothing major to run to youtube to check out if you didn’t see the in-ring stuff, most of the really solid stuff happened in the promos and vids.

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you early Monday morning with the Battleground recap.