NXT Review – 06.24.25

The show opens with promos from the four competitors in the Women’s number one contenders fatal fourway. Lash Legend, Izzi Dame, Jaida Parker, and Jordynne Grace let us all know that they individually will be winning and going on to the NXT Women’s Championship match at Evolution.

We are live on the CW at the Performance Center and your announcers as always are Booker T, Corey Graves and Vic Joseph. Mike Rome handles ring announcments and Sarah Schrieber handles backstage interviews.

TNA Men’s World Championship: Trick Williams (C) vs Josh Briggs

Trick enters first so Booker, who seems more wound up than usual, and the crowd can react appropriately. Briggs is seconded by Yoshiki Inamura (who gifted this opportunity to Briggs after Inamura pinned Trick in a six man last week). The bell sounds and we’re off.

Williams goes behind and Briggs ducks a superkick attempt as Williams shows off, so Briggs just runs him over with a shoulder tackle. Briggs works Williams over in the corner and then clubbers him down with a right. They run the ropes and Briggs lays Williams out with a leaping lariat for a two count. Briggs no-sells two Williams chops and whips Williams into the corner for more clubbering. Williams gets a double throat thrust for his first effective bit of offense and drops Briggs face-first on the top turnbuckle. Graves speculates that the TNA locker room has to be boiling over in that they want Williams to lose the title but not to another NXT person, and I can see his point. Williams goes to the headlock which Briggs finally ends with a suplex. Williams slips a Briggs corner charge and lariats Briggs, which Briggs again no-sells. Williams tries it again with the same result. Briggs charges and elbows Williams and then a rope-running sequence ends with Williams drop-kicking Briggs to the floor. Williams goes to the floor and talks crap to Inamura and of course Briggs recovers and big-boots Williams down. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP, Briggs rolls Williams back in and whips him the length of the ring hard into the corner. Briggs hits a lazy gourdbuster on Williams and drops an elbow for two. Briggs goes to charge again but Williams hits a discus enziguri that staggers Briggs and both guys are down. Williams recovers first and goes to ground and pound before hitting a facebuster for two. Williams goes to a headlock.

Back live with Williams hitting a leg lariat on Briggs but when he tries it again, Briggs catches the leg and drops Williams on his face. Briggs fires up and hits a sidewalk slam and standing splash. Briggs hits some corner offense as Graves mentions “that clown Hannifan” getting a raise due to NXT having the TNA world title and the prestige (?) that brings. Williams recovers and hits a high knee on a charging Briggs for a long two. Briggs stops a Williams flurry with a chokeslam attempt. Williams slips it and goes for a powerslam which gets awkward because Briggs is so tall, so Briggs slips out of it and hits a HUGE chokeslam on Williams for two. A slugfest ends in a big boot from Briggs, but Williams fires up with a pump kick. Briggs recovers with a JBL-like lariat and he ascends for a moonsault attempt that fails. Williams immediately hits the Trick Shot knee for three.

It’s interesting that the only “high flying” move that Briggs attempted literally cost him the match. Stick with what works you big dummy. I don’t know, Williams seemed like he was in second gear tonight and Briggs got a lot of offense in. It was really just a television match for me but maybe I need to watch it a few more times. 2*

Winner – Trick Williams (Trick Shot)

Post match sees Williams with a microphone as I really hope he mentions Joe Hendry. Trick says it’s time to put some respect on his name. In the least shocking development ever, Joe Hendry is here as he will meet Williams for the title in the main event of TNA’s Slammiversary. Hendry slides in the ring behind a waiting Williams. Hendry waffles Trick with clotheslines and the last one sends Williams to the floor, and the champ retreats.

EARLIER TODAY Tavion Heights shows Wren Sinclair a video on his phone of what looks to be his mouth as Charles Dempsey enters. Heights complains that Dempsey intentionally hurt him during practice so Heights would lose to Je’von Evans tonight. Dempsey says he’d be more than happy to take Heights place but Heights produces a weird mask and says he’s cleared. They all awkwardly agree that it’s fantastic, and Heights shakes his head and leaves. We go to commercials (one of which is for AEW Dynamite as I chuckle to myself).

Back live with Myles Borne talking with George Gumbs Jr and Tyreak Sapp who are football players at the University of Florida. In walks Lexis King, who Borne ignores as King calls him “deaf”. Borne says he doesn’t want King’s advice so King shit-talks the Florida guys and walks off.

Jaida Parker is vibing to music ahead of the main event.

Je’von Evans vs Tavion Heights

If Heights wins he’s out of the NQCC. Heights immediately dumps Evans down for a one count. Heights goes behind and drops Evans again as he fights with this weird mask he’s wearing. Evans is getting ragdolled around and Heights works a pin attempt for two. Heights cradles Evans for two, and then does it again for another two. Literally that’s all this has been is Heights ragdolling Evans around and trying pins. Heights whips Evans into the corner and then fireman carries him over into an armbar. Heights again covers for two and goes back to the armbar as Graves speculates that Evans has maybe never wrestled anyone with Heights mat-based background. Evans escapes some kind of backdrop attempt and rolls up Heights for two. Evans ducks a running clothesline and hits Heights with a springboard cross-body and a slingshot rana as Heights bails. Evans flies over the top rope and waffles Heights as a stunned Sinclair and Dempsey look on. We go to commercials.

Back live to a mid-ring slugfest which Evans wins with chops. Heights slips a clothesline and goes to the corner, then comes charging out and waffles Evans with a huge lariat for two. Heights goes behind and Evans breaks it up with a back elbow. Heights headbutts Evans on the back of his head and then hits a bridging German suplex for two. Evans counters a waist lock with a really awkward rollup for two. Evans runs the ropes and hits Heights with his rolling leg lariat, then superkicks a charging Heights. Evans hits his top rope torneo for three.

This got much better after commercials. Good showing for Heights here I thought. Evans is starting to sell more and slow things down and both of those were needed in his reps. I ended up enjoying this. 2.5*

Winner – Je’von Evans (top rope torneo splash)

Post match sees Evans get jumped by Jasper Troy. Troy walks past a stunned NQCC to the back as Booker is ecstatic over Troy’s potential.

We look back at last week’s segment in the ongoing D’Angelo Family saga. We look at Luca Crusifino, Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo cutting promos about the Heritage Cup match on social media because that’s what we do now.

Ricky Saints vs Ashante “Thee” Adonis

Adonis whips his pink coat at Saints as the bell rings and they slug it out. They chop and punch each other around the ring before Saints finally hits a big kick and punch. Saints runs Adonis into the corner and then does his rope walk sledge before whipping Adonis over the top rope to the floor. We go to commercials.

Back live with Saints punching his way out of the corner before Adonis drops him with a DDT. Adonis hits the Cashout (a fireman’s carry slam) for two. Adonis whips Saints hard into the corner a couple of times, but Saints finally slips one and wipes out Adonis with a couple of clotheslines. They lock up as Adonis blocks a bunch of suplex attempts, but Saints finally just launches Adonis over his shoulder. Saints hits a rope assisted tornado DDT for two. They run the ropes and eventually Saints hits a huge spear and Roshambo gets three.

Just a television match. A lot of Saints offense looks like it wouldn’t hurt a fly but the dude is over as heck with the crowd, so just because it doesn’t appeal to me doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Adonis got a little shine but Graves seemed to indicate a lot of his cool stuff happened during commercials so who knows. 1.5*

Winner – Ricky Saints (Roshambo)

Post match sees a video pop up of NXT Men’s North American Champion Ethan Page but the video glitches and Page of course attacks Saints from behind. THIS FEUD WILL NEVER END. Page hits Roshambo on Saints (who apparently doesn’t really know how to take it) and then taunts Saints with the title.

The NXT FOCUS PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on….Darkstate. I guess we’re going to keep trying with them. Hooray?

Backstage and here’s NXT Men’s Champion Oba Femi on his way to the ring. We go to commercials.

The champ makes his way to the ring, hits the pose, and grabs a microphone. He’s been the champion since January 7th and defeated all comers from NXT, TNA, Raw and Smackdown along the way. Femi says this is about the time when a lot of people would start to bask in the glory and coast a little, but the Ruler is not just any man. Femi gets restless when there’s no contenders so he calls out for some competition to step up. Out comes Yoshiki Inamura who says he came to NXT to chase gold, but when it didn’t come, he went home to Japan. He missed his best friend Josh Briggs but he also missed NXT because he loves it. He wants to pay the fans back by becoming NXT champion. Femi says they have something in common in being in a strange place. Femi mentions that Inamura came back and did it with a smile on his face but Femi knows that behind the smile is a warrior spirit. But, when Inamura faces the Ruler, he will fall. Inamura: “I. AM. READY.” As Inamura heads to the back he is trucked by a charging Jasper Troy, who glares up at Femi. Femi holds the belt up as he and Troy go nose to nose.

Backstage here’s Tatum Paxley as Izzi Dame walks up with a present for Paxley. It’s what appears to be a Barbie doll. Dame asks Paxley if she would be willing to be in Dame’s corner for the four-way but before she can give her answer, here comes NXT Women’s North American Champion Sol Ruca and Zaria. They can’t believe Dame’s audacity but Dame talks crap back and tells Paxley she’d love to have her in her corner. Paxley follows behind and runs into Shawn Spears and Niko Vance as Dame introduces them to her. Paxley confirms she’ll be in Dame’s corner for the main event.

Tony D’Angelo makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Back from commercials, Trick Williams is in the locker room and here’s Wes Lee and High Ryze for a chat with the TNA Champion. Lee says he went to Ava’s office and told her he wants Joe Hendry next week on NXT as they all look around for Hendry to appear (since they said his name) in a funny bit. Williams says if they all handle Hendry next week he’ll owe them one as they dap it up.

NXT Heritage Cup: Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo vs Tony D’Angelo

Stacks has a bunch of nameless goons with him. The title contest will be in the “Rounds Match” format.

Round One starts with a slugfest as D’Angelo whips Stacks hard into the corner and then follows with a clothesline. He works Stacks over in the corner, but Stacks eventually reverses and gets in some punches. We go back to a slugfest as Stacks is on the apron before D’Angelo beals him over the top rope. Stacks blocks a belly to belly and goes clubbering but as they run the ropes D’Angelo catches Stacks with a big back body drop. Stacks gets control and kicks D’Angelo in the ribs. D’Angelo recovers and hits a belly to belly overhead suplex but as he goes to a DDT attempt Stacks recovers and runs him into the corner. Stacks charges but D’Angelo hits a short low dropkick and both guys are down. Another slugfest ensues after both guys recover and the round ends with Stacks slapping D’Angelo well after the bell.

Round Two starts with D’Angelo hitting a running elbow and a big spear that knocks Stacks off the apron and onto the announcer desk. D’Angelo rolls Stacks back in and hits another huge spear for three putting him up one fall to zero. We go to commercials.

Back live with Round Three nearing the end of it’s time limit. D’Angelo kicks out of a pin attempt at two as the round ends with Graves discussing Stacks working over D’Angelo’s knee during commercials.

Round Four starts with a slugfest and as D’Angelo goes for an atomic drop, his knee gives and Stacks cradles him for three. It’s now one fall apiece. Here’s Luca Crusifino to finally come to D’Angelo’s corner.

Round Five starts with Stacks immediately putting D’Angelo into what looks like an Indian Death Lock as the replay shows that it was Stacks goons who clipped D’Angelo’s knee. D’Angelo punches his way out of the hold and then starts clubbering. D’Angelo hits a belly to belly and then a big spinebuster but his knee hurting prevents a cover attempt. D’Angelo beals Stacks over the top rope onto the goons and then follows him out. As one goon distracts the referee, another goes to attack D’Angelo with the spit bucket. Crusifino fights it off but of course he “accidently” nails D’Angelo in the back with it. Stacks suplexes D’Angelo and hits him with a Kinshasha running knee for three. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo is the new Heritage Cup champion.

This story is kind of starting to wear me out. Let’s just get to the fireworks factory already with whatever we’re going to do with Luca Crusifino. The match itself was fine, these guys have great chemistry. The big injury spot happening during commercials was kind of low-rent but I guess it is what it is. 2.5*

Winner and NEW Heritage Cup Champion – Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo (running knee strike)

Post match sees D’Angelo hit Crusifino with a right hand before telling him and Stacks that he doesn’t need either one of them.

Backstage and here’s Sarah Schreiber with NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx. Schreiber asks Henley about ruining Blake Monroe’s contract signing last week and Jayne mentions the important news is that Fatal Influence has the run of the division and the title. Schreiber asks about the four way and Jayne says she’s excited to be on Evolution with whomever wins tonight but she’ll be the one getting her hand raised after the title match.

Jordynne Grace warms up for the main event as we go to commercials.

Back live with Thea Hail talking to what appears to be the newest LFG folks. She complains about last week’s match and here’s Lainey Reid to interrupt. They trash talk each other and just as it’s about to maybe go down here’s Lash Legend to interrupt. She tells them to work it out later as she’s got a four way to win.

Ethan Page is walking backstage as NXT GM Ava asks him what the hell that was with the Ricky Saints attack earlier. Page says he’s trying to be on his best behavior and Ava is aghast at that suggestion. She’s having an in-office meeting with them next week because they’re BOTH the problem. As Page texts his lawyer, there’s a loud crash and Ava runs in to see a downed NXT Tag Team Champions Hank & Tank.

Sarah Schreiber is backstage with Joe Hendry. Hendry thinks a lot about Battleground but now he’s fully focused on Slammiversary and the rematch with Trick Williams. Hendry says Trick shows up in TNA whenever he wants, but now Hendry is going to show up in NXT whenever he wants. Hendry says he’s going to remind Wes Lee next week where Lee came from.

Jaida Parker and Izzi Dame make their entrances as we go to commercials.

We come back to a pre-tape from Chase University. Andre Chase reminds the class of his comments from last week and says that Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors need to toughen up. Dixon tells Chase that his attitude may be what built the University but it also destroyed it, and he and Connors once again leave.

Vic Joseph tells us that next week Ava has made a #1 Contender match between Jasper Troy and Yoshiki Inamura with the winner facing Oba Femi for the NXT Men’s Championship at The Great American Bash. Also on next week’s card will be Myles Borne facing Lexis King, and Joe Hendry will hook it up with Wes Lee.

NXT Women’s Championship Number One Contender match: Jordynne Grace vs Izzi Dame vs Lash Legend vs Jaida Parker

Dame is indeed seconded by Tatum Paxley. The bell rings and we’re off as Dame dumps Grace to the floor, but Grace yanks her out as Parker and Legend are slugging it out. Legend clobbers Parker with a right hand as Fallen Influence are watching the proceedings from the NXT Roost. Grace crawls in to deal with Legend, but Legend catches her with a spinning backbreaker to the knee which sends Grace to the floor. Parker charges Legend and eats a back suplex as Legend nips up to a pop from the crowd. Dame finally re-enters to square up to Legend but before it can kick off Grace and Parker re-enter and all four go at it. Legend whips Grace into the corner and Grace ends up on the floor while Parker is disposed of by Dame. Legend and Dame exchange move attempts before chopping the crud out of each other in the middle of the ring. Legend hits a running clothesline and dumps Dame to the floor as Grace re-enters. Grace goes behind but Legend hits a massive back elbow that puts Grace on Dream Street. Legend shoulders Grace in the corner and charges, but Grace slips it and Legend goes shoulder-first into the post. Parker re-enters and her and Grace slug it out. Grace hits a fisherman’s suplex on Parker for two as Dame breaks it up.

Dame yanks up Grace and runs her back-first into the corner before whaling her with chops. Dame hits an overhead back body drop and sitout face driver on Grace but Legend breaks up her cover attempt. Parker ascends and hits Legend with a top rope crossbody before ducking a Dame clothesline and running her over with a shoulder. Parker hits a gourdbuster on Grace but as she runs the ropes Legend yanks her down and out of the ring. Legend rams Parker face-first into the announcer table and as she turns to the ring Grace comes flying through the ropes to splash her. Dame chokeslams a celebrating Grace onto the apron before Parker runs Dame over with a shoulder tackle. Parker whips Dame back into the ring and as Parker runs the ropes, Tatum Paxley grabs Parker’s leg in front of the ref, and that draws Dame’s ire because of the potential DQ. Here are Sol Ruca and Zaria to again question what Paxley is doing but Zaria says the heck with that and just yanks Paxley up to carry her over her shoulder to backstage. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Legend waffles Dame from behind with a forearm as Parker crawls back in. Legend grabs Parker’s arm and shoulders Parker down twice without releasing the arm. Parker reverses the third attempt at the shoulder and rolls Legend up for two before Legend shoulders her down again. Legend slams Parker’s head into the canvas a few times and then hits Parker with a running elbow drop for two. In a clever spot, Legend hoists Parker and rams her head up and down between the ropes a few times. Grace finally re-enters and Legend immediately hoists her up as Dame charges in. Grace is on Legend’s back while Dame is being held in the front and in a tremendous show of strength, Legend puts them both through the head whacking the top and middle rope routine she just did to Parker. Lash Legend is awesome, group. Parker comes out of the corner and climbs on Legend’s back for a sleeper as Dame attacks Grace in a corner. Grace reverses and gets Dame in a Camel Clutch while Parker is putting Legend to sleep. Parker and Grace start slapping each other while having the other opponents in holds in a wild spot. Dame and Legend finally recover and both hit simultaneous backdrops into the corner on Grace and Parker respectively. Parker ducks a Dame charge and chops Dame in the corner so she can set up her second rope springboard butt drop thing.

Back live with Parker hitting the same move on Grace in the opposite corner. Legend re-enters and tries for a big boot on Parker, but Parker slips it and hoists up Legend for a Samoan Drop. Parker hoists up Grace but Dame charges in with a big boot and both Parker and Grace go down. Dame hoists up Grace for a sidewalk slam but Legend breaks up the pin at two. Legend knocks Dame down and yanks up Parker to hit her with repeated knee strikes to the ribs. Legend uses Parker as a weapon against Dame to send her to the apron, and then tosses a limp Parker into the corner. Legend covers Parker for two. Legend stalks Grace in the corner but Grace chops her and ascends only to eat a Legend forearm. Parker hits a backstabber on Legend and then slugs Grace. Parker ascends to further attack Grace but Legend ambles over and puts Parker on her shoulders. In a clever spot, Grace cross-bodies Parker and rolls off. Legend gets the rollup pin attempt for two on Parker as Dame was flying in to break it up. All four are down.

Dame and Parker are first to their feet and they slug it out. Parker gets leveled by a right hand but as Dame charges in, Parker hits her with a back elbow and ascends. We then get the inevitable spot in any four way, the TOWER OF DOOM as Grace is on the bottom pushing Dame, Legend and Parker to the canvas. The Fatal crew cannot believe what they just witnessed. Grace covers Legend for two, gets a two count on Dame, and then gets two on Parker. Grace hits a standing splash on Parker and ascends, but she misses a backwards splash attempt. Parker hits Grace with a hip attack that sends Grace to the floor and as she turns, Dame comes off the second rope for a Codebreaker on Parker. Parker eats a big pump kick from Legend, and Legend dumps a charging Dame to the apron. Legend and Dame slug it out and Legend drops Dame with a huge right hand. Legend hits the Lash Extension on Parker for two as Grace breaks it up with a double stomp to Legend’s back. Grace charges Legend and sends her to the floor with a big boot. Grace hits a Torture Rack Bomb on Parker for three. Jordynne Grace is now the number one contender for the NXT Women’s Championship and will face Jacy Jayne at Evolution on July 13th in Atlanta.

Damn, I loved this. Since Evolution is in Atlanta I thought they might give Legend the win tonight as it’s her hometown but Jordynne getting another shot at the big belt after the war she had with Stephanie Vaquer at Battleground is fine with me. The match itself was very hoss-tastic and physical and I just dug the heck out of it. 4*

Winner – Jordynne Grace (Torture Rack Bomb to Parker)

Post match Grace points at the champ, as Jacy Jayne holds up her belt. Graves runs down the card for next week’s show as Grace is still pointing at Jayne, and we’re out.

The show was all about the opener and the main event and they both delivered in different ways. Trick was never losing to Briggs but it got to the Hendry angle we’ve all been expecting and in that regard, it worked. The main event just kicked all kinds of ass as THE BEST WOMEN’S DIVISION IN THE GAME keeps on delivering. The Heritage Cup match and the Evans-Heights match were solid story-telling events and while I never expect a lot from Ricky Saints, it sounded like it was pretty good through commercials before the somewhat rushed ending.

Thumbs up from me this week.

One quick personal note for you all. I really appreciate how much everyone has taken to the new reviewers since the change from Tommy to all of us happened. Tommy is still doing great work at his site so go visit there! I appreciate you all reading and commenting on the stuff I write and I’m sure the other new recappers feel the same. Y’all be cool, stay hydrated, and if you’re in this heat dome, check on your pets and parents!