NXT Review – 07.08.25

We are live at the WWE Performance Center for this evening’s festivities. The announce team consists of Booker T, Corey Graves and Vic Joseph on match calls, Mike Rome doing ring announcing, and apparently no backstage interviewer is on site this evening.

Who is walking in to the show? Here’s NXT Tag Team Champions Hank and Tank wearing matching America-themed overalls. Next to arrive are Mike Santana and Joe Hendry ahead of their tag match tonight. Then we get a glimpse of NXT GM Ava, Evolve GM Stevie Turner, and Robert Stone likely discussing Ava’s thoughts on the Evolution Summit segment tonight.

Ricky Saints vs Brad Baylor, Ricky Smokes and Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake

This is a gauntlet match, and if Saints wins, he gets an NXT Men’s North American title match at the Great American Bash this Saturday versus champ Ethan Page (who is seconding the Vanity Project kids) and gets to pick the stipulation for the match. Saints will start with Baylor as the bell rings and we’re off.

Baylor nails Saints with some Euro uppercuts before Saints reverses with some gnarly chops. Saints starts lighting Baylor up with forearms and right hands. Baylor fights back and gets Saints in a corner, but when Baylor charges in he eats a big boot. Saints hits Baylor with a dropkick and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and as Baylor tries to crawl away, Saints drags him back in. Baylor fires up and hits Saints with a twisting neckbreaker off Baylor’s knee for two. Baylor pounds Saints on the chest before Saints gets going on offense again with right hands. Baylor catches a kick attempt and pulls Saints into a double underhook suplex that gets two. Saints ducks out of a Baylor running knee-drop attempt and goes back to punching before nailing Baylor with two clotheslines and a back body drop. Saints hits a big running elbow and declares that this is “his house” before nailing Baylor with a rope-assisted tornado DDT for three.

Smokes will be next in for the Vanity Project team per Page’s command. Smokes starts with kicks and punches and then nails Saints with a running enziguri in the corner. Smokes hoists Saints up on his shoulders but Saints fires off elbows and slips out of it. Smokes yanks Saints up for a twisting neckbreaker suplex that gets two as we go to picture-in-picture commercials. Smokes drives his knee into Saints back and then hits a standing knee drop that gets a one count. Smokes works a headlock before Saints drops to his knee to break out of it, and then Saints hits a snap suplex for a two count. Smokes fires up with rights and irish whips Saints, but Saints grabs the ropes and nails a charging Smokes with a big boot. Smokes ducks a charge and dumps Saints to the apron, but when Smokes wanders over Saints promptly backdrops him from the ring over the top rope to the floor in kind of a frightening spot. Saints dumps Smokes back in the ring and as the ref is checking on Smokes, Drake comes flying in to run Saints into the barrier. Saints crawls back in the ring and a revived Smokes puts the boots to him before driving his boot into Saints neck in the corner. Saints comes firing back with punches, before Smokes nails him in the kidney in response. Smokes runs Saints into the corner chest-first and that gets two. Smokes hits Saints with a neckbreaker off his knee that gets two. Smokes fires elbows into Saints neck, but Saints ducks a clothesline and launches Smokes into a side slam before clotheslining Smokes to the mat. Saints hits a big overhead toss and reverse neckbreaker for two as Page glares at him. Saints wants a draping DDT but Smokes reverses and rolls Saints up for two. Saints hits Smokes with an inverted atomic drop and rolls him up for the three count.

Page tells Drake to “finish him” and sends him in. They start slugging it out mid-ring and Drake takes the momentum. Drake drives Saints into the corner and puts the boots to him, but Saints fires back with chops. Drake stops that with a kick to the center of Saints’ back that gets a two count. Drake ties up Saints legs and just casually starts kicking him in the head before rolling Saints over into a bow-and-arrow submission hold. Saints breaks it up, and as they get back to their feet Drake comes off the rope with a drop kick to Saints knee before nipping up and blasting Saints in the head with a kick. Drake hoists Saints up and drops him into a double knee gutbuster that gets two. Booker says Drake has a hell of an upside but that he has to earn it in the PC ring. Saints fires up and hits Drake with a dropping facebuster that gets a long two count. Drake slips out of a backdrop attempt and hits Saints with an enziguri. Saints slips a running knee attempt but then Drake slips a Saints charge and hits a huge superkick on Saints. Drake tries a swanton from the apron but Saints gets the knees up and then Saints wastes Drake with a huge clothesline. Saints picks up Drake and hits the Roshambo for three as he glares at Page the entire time.

It’s pretty well established that I’m not a Ricky Saints fan but I will say I thought this was his best outing in NXT thus far. The Swipe Right kids held their own, and the announcers were impressed with Jackson Drake as was I. The finishes were clever in that Saints didn’t use Roshambo each time. I give credit when it’s due and Saints earned it tonight. 3*

Winner – Ricky Saints (Tornado DDT on Baylor, Inverted Atomic Drop on Smokes, Roshambo on Drake)

Post-match sees Saints grab a microphone to announce that Saturday’s title match will be Falls Count Anywhere.

In the ladies locker room here are Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Zaria and NXT Women’s North American champion Sol Ruca. Ruca and Zaria are fired up about being in the WWE Women’s Tag Team title four-way match at Evolution but here’s Lainey Reid to remind Ruca she also has a match at the Bash where she’s defending her title against Izzi Dame. Apparently this bothers Jordan and Vice so they remind Reid of having to deal with Thea Hail. Ruca and Zaria wish good luck to whomever ends up in the battle royal at Evolution, and then Reid and Jordan appear to agree to fight each other tonight. We go to commercials.

EARLIER TODAY Jordynne Grace is working out as she receives a phone call from Blake Monroe. Grace questions where Monroe is as they’re supposed to be training together, but Monroe has sent her driver so they can have a “glamour workout”. Grace gets in the SUV and it arrives at a place that Grace shakes her head at and says “you’ve got to be kidding me” as we get a TO BE CONTINUED graphic. I’m sure this won’t get dumb at all.

Tavion Heights vs Charlie Dempsey

As mentioned last week, if Heights wins this match he’s out of the No Quarter Catch Crew. Wren Sinclair is at ringside and Heights is still wearing his goofy mask.

They lock up to start and then exchange hip-tosses. Dempsey and Heights then exchange arm drags. Dempsey nails Heights with a Euro uppercut that drives Heights to the floor. Dempsey follows out for another uppercut before tossing Heights back in the ring. Heights fires off a dropkick that ends up sending Dempsey to the floor, and Heights heads out to toss Dempsey back in. Booker goes over his record at the Great American Bash and says it was “WCW’s signature event” and I’m like maybe he’s right but I was still thinking Starrcade? I’ll have to think it over. Dempsey works a headlock into a pin attempt that gets one. Heights has had enough and just tosses Dempsey off of him, so Dempsey charges and runs into an elbow lock from Heights. Dempsey breaks that up and hits Heights with another uppercut that staggers Heights. Dempsey rips the mask off and tosses it before slapping Heights full in the face. Heights loses it and drops Dempsey for ground and pound before yanking him up and clobbering Dempsey with a lariat. Dempsey bails to the floor and Heights follows, but they knock each other down with simultaneous rights as we go to commercials.

Back live and Dempsey is trying to lock in a cross-face chicken wing, so Heights hoists Dempsey up to hit a wildly scary looking gut-wrench suplex. Heights beals Dempsey a couple of times before hitting an overhead toss backdrop. Heights and Dempsey tumble out to the floor, and Heights nails Dempsey with a right as Sinclair watches on helplessly. Dempsey fires up as Heights was dragging him up on the ring steps, and as he clips Heights leg it ends up between the ring steps and the post. Dempsey starts stomping on Heights upper thigh area and Heights tumbles out of that to the floor. The crowd is letting Dempsey have it as Heights is suffering. Dempsey tosses Heights back in as Sinclair begs him to stop. Dempsey puts Heights injured leg into a single-leg Boston crab. Heights almost makes the ropes so Dempsey drags him back in and stomps on the injured knee before going back to the single-leg crab. Heights again tries for the ropes so Dempsey drags him back again, and locks on a crossface in addition to the crab. Sinclair has a white towel and she tosses it in the ring, and the ref immediately calls for the bell.

So the finish truly came out of nowhere because it wasn’t teased once that Sinclair might throw in the towel. This was a good catch wrestling affair up until the end, but there were some scary spots. The finish kind of ruined it for me though. 2.5*

Winner – Charlie Dempsey (Ref stoppage when Sinclair threw in the towel)

Backstage here’s Hank and Tank to talk about their match with The Culling tonight, as Lexis King is doing something in the background. Je’von Evans joins the discussion to hype up the tag champs, but Evans gets jumped by Jasper Troy and tossed into a nearby garage door. Hank and Tank try to pull Troy off, but he escapes and nails a prone Evans with a big knee. Officials break it up.

Mike Santana and Joe Hendry vs High Ryze

Santana makes his entrance through the crowd as always, as Booker hypes him up. Hendry’s entrance is super over, as always. High Ryze are of course seconded by Wes Lee. Igwe will start with Hendry as the bell rings and we’re off.

They lock up to start, and Igwe drives his shoulder into Hendry a couple of times. Hendry reverses an armlock and tosses Igwe down while grabbing a headlock. Igwe tries for head scissors and Hendry slips it as we reset. Santana and Dupont tag in. Dupont snatches up Santana and drives him into his team corner and puts the shoulder into him as Igwe tags back in. Dupont tries to launch Igwe into the corner but he meets a big boot from Santana. Santana ducks a Dupont charge and dropkicks Igwe before nipping up to a big pop. Hendry comes in to assist, and he hits a big fall-away slam on Dupont before also nipping up to a big pop. Hendry does his spinning turn and eyes up Santana, who he will of course face in the triple threat TNA World title match at Slammiversary (go read our friend Saherrin’s write up of last week’s TNA show for more INSIDE INFO). We go to commercials.

Back live with Hendry rolling up Dupont for a one count. Hendry rolls up Dupont again for a two count, but Dupont fires up and nails Hendry with a big leaping Euro uppercut for a two count. Dupont tags in Igwe who hits a running flip on Hendry, followed by Dupont splashing Hendry. Dupont bothers Santana as Igwe hits a standing flip splash on Hendry for two. Igwe grabs a headlock as we get a shot of Natalya and Maxine Dupri arriving to the building. Igwe turns the headlock into a standing choke as Hendry tumbles over. Hendry powers up and finally snaps Igwe over in a backdrop suplex. Hendry tags in Santana as Igwe tags in Dupont at the same time. Santana waffles Dupont with a lariat and hits a charging elbow in Igwe, before nailing Dupont again with another lariat. Dupont pushes Santana into Igwe, who kicks Santana out of the corner where he rolls into wiping Dupont out with a neckbreaker. Igwe charges in and Santana hits him with a sit-out facebuster. Santana runs the ropes and hits Dupont with an interesting looking tope con hilo. Santana tosses Dupont back in and covers for two as Igwe breaks it up. Hendry comes in to tangle with Igwe and as Igwe charges him, Hendry pulls the top rope down and Igwe tumbles to the floor. Hendry flies over the top rope and hits a butt-drop on Igwe. Santana tries for Spin the Block but Dupont blocks it, so Santana arm-drags Dupont to the corner and then puts some mustard on a side suplex. As Santana ascends, Wes Lee jumps up to the apron to distract. TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams arrives to run Hendry into the ring steps. Santana knocks Lee off the apron and slips a Dupont charge. Santana hits the Spin the Block discus clothesline on Dupont and gets three.

Just a match to set up the post-match Slammiversary angle. I like what I’m seeing out of the High Ryze tag team but as I always say, they need reps and plenty of them. Hendry and Santana are good solid pros and I was glad TNA got a win here. 2.75*

Winners – Mike Santana and Joe Hendry (Santana Spin the Block discus clothesline on Dupont)

Post-match sees Williams hit the Trick Shot on Santana as Hendry charges in. Hendry hits Williams with rights before Wes Lee superkicks Hendry down. The High Ryze crew starts working Hendry and Santana over, and Williams hits another Trick Shot on Hendry as he’s being held by Dupont and Igwe. Lee pushes Santana over to Hendry and the High Ryze crew and Williams stand over the two title challengers. I wonder if AJ Francis rubbed someone the wrong way since High Ryze seems to have taken First Class’s place as Trick’s heaters.

Highlights are shown of last week’s Jasper Troy-Yoshiki Inamura number one contenders match, and we get comments in Japanese from NOAH boss THE GREAT MUTA telling Inamura he can take the belt. We then see a good luck message and comments from four-time NOAH champion Naomichi Marufuji, and then similar comments from NOAH wrestler Ulka Sasaki. Next up to wish Inamura luck is WWE Women’s World Champion IYO Sky. Finally here’s NOAH wrestler Kaito Kiyomiya to say when Inamura wins he wants a title shot! We go back to Muta who supplies the final bit of hype. This was super cool.

Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura are on their way to the ring as we go to commercials.

Back from commercials, we get a pre-tape promo from Darkstate. They talk about their attack on Matt Cardona on last week’s TNA show and promise more trouble in TNA. They want to keep an eye on the tag title match tonight and imply they were the ones that attacked Hank and Tank two weeks ago.

Here’s Inamura and Briggs for a chat. Then NXT Men’s Champion Oba Femi makes his entrance for the face-to-face. Inamura tells Femi he beat Jasper Troy and Trick Williams, but Femi will be his greatest challenge. Inamura says he’s ready and he’s got support from the fans, from Briggs, and from his family, and he must make them proud. At the Bash, he will fight with honor and will become the new NXT champion. Femi says it’s good that Inamura has the support from the fans, Briggs, and his family because they will be the ones to pick up the pieces when he beats Inamura. Femi says Inamura talks about fighting with honor, but can Inamura lose with honor. Femi says Inamura is not worthy enough to take the title and Briggs grabs the microphone away from Inamura. Briggs asks Femi if he was watching Inamura beat Jasper Troy last week. Briggs says Inamura beat Troy easier than Femi did and he’s going to do the same exact thing to The Ruler (Briggs does the Scott Hall “ooh what a big man” finger waggle here). Briggs says that what Inamura is too honorable to say is that he’s going to “beat your ass” at the Bash. Inamura is a man of honor, but Briggs is not. Briggs says he’s a man of mayhem and he’s going to do whatever it takes to help Inamura win because this is their only shot. Femi tells Briggs it isn’t his fight and tells Inamura to get him out of his face.

Femi and Briggs start throwing hands and then Femi pops Inamura for good measure. Femi clotheslines Briggs to the floor but then he walks into an Inamura right hand followed by a powerslam. Inamura seems to feel remorse for this after saying he wanted to fight with honor. Femi holds up his belt.

I don’t usually make too many follow-up comments to promos but this one was too good not to. The idea of Briggs being a manic agent of chaos during this title match leads to a ton of storyline possibilities and while I think Briggs is mostly a goober, this is a good way to use him. It feels like his “man without honor” comment is telling and I wonder if the end is near for Yoshi and Josh’s partnership. Lots of ways to go with it.

Back with more of the Grace/Monroe Glamour Workout footage. Grace wants no part of the nail salon, but Monroe tells her “muscle muffin” to hold on and begs Grace to give it a go. Grace dons a robe, but immediately rips the sleeves off to show off her guns. They get nail treatments and massages, and then sit in chairs for a glamour cosmetics session. Grace says this isn’t her vibe as they sit together with their feet in small tubs. Monroe says this is part of self-esteem, and that everything must be in sync because “we’ve got to get that title off of Jacy Jayne”. They agree to win the tag match at the Bash, and then Grace will win the title from Jayne at Evolution. She thanks Monroe for the day of glamour as Monroe smiles happily. I didn’t hate this anywhere near as much as I thought I might.

Kelani Jordan makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

Lainey Reid vs Kelani Jordan

Reid charges as the bell sounds, but Jordan ducks it and we do some acrobatics as Reid ends up on her feet bowing to the crowd. Jordan pulls Reid into a fireman’s carry takeover and slaps on an armbar, but Reid slips it and we do more acrobatics with Jordan landing on her feet to bow to the crowd. Reid runs the ropes and Jordan ends up monkey flipping her over, and then dropkicking Reid to the floor. Jordan flips on to the apron but misses a kick, and Reid hits a dragon screw leg whip on Jordan who tumbles to the apron. Reid smacks Jordan’s knee into the ring apron three times, and then comes back in the ring. Reid hooks Jordan’s bad leg in the ropes and pulls on her as Jordan writhes in pain. Reid pulls out an old school spinning toe hold as Jordan finally kicks her off. Reid tries to put it back on but Jordan cradles her for two. Jordan hits a charging Reid with a couple of rights to the gut, and then punches her in the face. Reid ducks another punch and hits Jordan with a sky high spinebuster for two. Reid puts Jordan in a single-leg crab as we see Zelina Vega making her entrance to the building in picture-in-picture style.

Jordan tries to kick her way out of the single leg, but Reid ducks it and grabs both legs for a full Boston crab. Jordan manages to roll through to get out of it while driving Reid’s head into the bottom turnbuckle in a clever spot. Reid recovers and charges, but she’s met with rights from Jordan. Jordan whips Reid into the ropes and hits her with a flying double thrust and a lariat before dropkicking Reid to the mat. Jordan, still favoring the leg, hits a cartwheel back elbow on Reid and both are down. Jordan nips up but grabs the leg. Reid gets to her feet and Jordan hoists her on her shoulders and fights off the leg to slam Reid hard in the corner. Jordan goes for a springboard move but Reid stops it as Jordan kicks her off. Jordan positions herself on the top turnbuckle but Reid charges in with a high enziguri. Reid ascends and looks for a superplex, but Jordan tries to fight her way out as Reid drops elbows on her head. Jordan manages to slug Reid down. Jordan hits a split-legged moonsault on Reid and gets three.

Another finish out of nowhere. Reid looked good again, albeit a bit awkward at times. She needs a lot of reps. Jordan finally gets a singles win on television ahead of the Evolution battle royal, so we’ll see what that leads to. This was a fine television match up until the very abrupt finish. 2.25*

Winner – Kelani Jordan (Split Legged Moonsault)

Post-match sees Thea Hail jump Reid from out of nowhere as Jordan is posing on the ropes. Hail and Reid fight to the back as Jordan grins at them.

Je’von Evans is being tended to in the medical room (with Kale Dixon in the background) before Jasper Troy jumps him again. Troy is pulled off by Security who clearly must follow him around everywhere since all he seems to do is jump people. Are they pulling this match from the Bash? We go to commercials.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE has Tony D’Angelo arriving for a sit-down with Luca Crusifino and NXT Heritage Cup Champion Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. Lorenzo is carrying the Cup with him if you’re wondering. Here’s a finally returning Adriana Rizzo who orders all three to sit down. Crusifino asks what this is about and Rizzo says she wasn’t going to stay in hiding forever. She called this “final sit-down” and knew if she told them what it was about none of them would have showed up, and D’Angelo tells her she isn’t wrong. She tells them they all lost focus on the Family’s legacy that Tony and Stacks created. They destroyed the whole thing and D’Angelo tells Rizzo to take it easy. Rizzo tells D’Angelo that she wanted him to sit down with Stacks in Vegas to resolve everything but he wouldn’t do it. Crusifino asks Rizzo if she thought this sit-down would bring the Family back together and she admits she did think that, but she knows it’s over and there’s one last piece of Family business. Stacks didn’t like the implications of being the Underboss, Crusifino never knew if D’Angelo had his best interests at heart, and D’Angelo would always wonder if someone was going to stab him in the back. The trust was broken and doubt crept in. Rizzo went to Ava and got a triple threat made for next week. She says this is the final battle. Stacks says he thinks that he’s being set up and D’Angelo says it’s hysterical that “the rat” thinks he’s being set up. Crusifino agrees with D’Angelo and says Stacks is the one who broke the family up. D’Angelo mocks Crusifino for wanting to “do his own thing”. Stacks says he grew bigger than the Family and the other two couldn’t take it. D’Angelo and Stacks admit their hatred for each other. Stacks tells D’Angelo to not let him catch him alone. Crusifino ends it by lamenting trying to do things on his own.

This was tremendous. I’m glad we’re ending this next week because it’s been a LONG time since Stand and Deliver when Stacks turned on D’Angelo. It was never clarified if this is a Cup match and I’m guessing it isn’t for that particular bit of hardware. At least with a triple threat (in WWE) the No DQ rule should be in effect so there might be all kinds of shenanigans around this.

Jasper Troy is in the ring with a microphone to interrupt the announcers talking about the ending of the Family. He tells the crowd he’s done with Je’von Evans and he wants Ava to make the NXT title match at the Bash a triple threat with himself included. Evans comes tearing out from the locker room with a ton of Security chasing him. Evans has his ribs taped so naturally Troy lifts a knee to put the kibosh on the attack almost immediately. Evans recovers and nails Troy with a superkick sending Troy to the floor. Evans pushes a couple Security goofs away and then flies over the top rope to land on Troy and the other Security goofs as the camera person follows along behind in the ring to capture the dive in an incredible bit of work. Evans yells at Troy as he struggles to his feet.

Meanwhile, here’s The Culling in a pre-tape being joined by Tatum Paxley. Paxley says she feels right at home and Dame says their home is now Paxley’s home. Vance says it’s going to happen because he put Hank and Tank down once and he plans to do it again. They were blamed for the more recent attack but it wasn’t them (lending further credence to it actually being Darkstate). Spears says the truth will come to light but for now they’ll reap the benefits of the “assumptions” about who attacked the champs. Dame says Spears is right and they’ll win the tag titles tonight and she’ll win the North American title at the Bash. Paxley says that all her friends will have gold belts to match the color of their hearts. Back live, the Culling make their entrance as we go to commercials.

NXT Tag Team Championship: Hank Walker and Tank Ledger (C) vs Shawn Spears and Niko Vance

Rome doesn’t get to finish ring intros before Hank and Tank attack prior to the bell. The bell rings with Hank and Spears starting in earnest. Spears works Hank over in the corner but Hank reverses an irish whip and sends Spears into the corner. Hank charges and splashes Spears and then short-arm lariats Spears to the mat. Vance and Tank have been fighting on the floor this entire time, so Hank hits a rolling tackle on Vance’s back to send him down on the floor. As Hank makes his way back in Spears recovers to dropkick Hank in the knee. Spears whips Hank to the mat and stomps on his head as both Tank and Vance are now in their respective corners. Vance tags in and goes to work on Hank by running his head into the top turnbuckle in two corners. Vance hits a Euro uppercut but Hank blocks another head to the turnbuckle spot with a back elbow. Hank runs Vance’s head into the turnbuckle and then tags in Tank. Tank bowls over Vance and then runs onto Hank’s back as they drop their full combined weight on Vance’s chest in a clever spot. Tank covers for two. Vance and Tank lock up but Vance wallops Tank with a headbutt before tagging in Spears.

Spears drops Tank with a standing neckbreaker and then hits him with a swank snap legdrop for a one count. We see Ivy Nile making her entrance in picture-in-picture. Tank tries to fight back but Spears stops him dead with a knee lift before tagging in Vance. Spears holds Tank so Vance can boot him in the head, and then Vance yanks Tank up to wallop him with a right. Vance shoulders Tank in the corner and then gives him a hard right to the kidney. Tank’s had enough and hits Vance with some back elbows and a big right, but Vance again stops it with a right hand. Vance irish whips Tank, but Tank catches himself on the ropes and hits a charging Vance with a big boot. Hank tags in as Tank runs Vance into the corner, and Hank follows with a running lariat and bulldog. As Hank ascends, Spears wants in but Tank cuts him off and splashes Spears back into his corner. Tank hits a running senton on Vance but Hank misses his move from the top rope and rolls out of the ring. Dame and Paxley stop Hank from charging with some venom and as he’s listening to them chirp, Vance pounces from out of nowhere to launch Hank onto the announcer table. Hank tumbles all the way onto Booker who’s down and Graves is concerned for his broadcast partner as we go to commercials.

Back live with Hank perched on the top turnbuckle trying to fight his way out of a presumable Vance superplex. Hank fights out of it and hits a charging Vance with a top rope lariat as both guys are down. Booker appears to have resumed his spot at the table, thank goodness. I hope his candy is intact as well. Vance tags Spears as Hank makes the hot tag to a fired up Tank. Tank runs over Spears and then hits him with an atomic leg drop. Tank ascends for a springboard shoulder tackle that Spears almost comically over-sells (think HBK-Hogan for a reference) before Tank wipes out Vance with a tope suicida that again threatens the poor announce team. Tank slips a Spears superkick by cartwheeling out of the way, but when he turns Spears hits the superkick on Tank to stagger him. Spears hits a second one as Vance tags himself in. Vance ascends and hits a flying headbutt (I NEVER WANT TO SEE THAT SPOT AGAIN FOR REASONS EVERYONE CAN FIGURE OUT) on Tank for two as Hank flies in to break it up. Vance whips Hank out of the ring as Dame and Paxley berate him, and Spears tags in. Tank immediately hoists Spears on his shoulders but Paxley leaps up on the apron to distract with her doll. Spears whips Tank into the ropes where Dame comes flying in with a big boot. Tank turns and walks into a Spears Impaler DDT but Tank kicks out after a two count and Spears can’t believe it. Dame and Paxley can’t believe it either as Graves calls it a play that the Culling clearly drew up beforehand.

Sol Ruca comes flying in to attack Dame while Zaria once again hoists Paxley over her shoulders. As the women head to the back Spears and Vance are shocked to see them being taken out as Hank and Tank fire up in the background. A four way hockey fight ensues. Hank dumps Spears and then sends Vance into a gigantic lariat from Tank. Spears flies in and pushes Vance out of the way as Hank and Tank hit the HONK HONK finisher. Hank and Tank clothesline Vance to the floor before hoisting Spears up for a running headbutt to the back from Tank and that gets three. Tank was busted open around his eye during all this but I’m not sure when it happened.

I enjoyed this thoroughly, I’m not going to lie. I also never thought I’d say that about any match Shawn Spears was in but this told the classic tag story of the heels having a numbers advantage, it not working the way they intended, and the babyface champs triumphing in the end. There was a heat sequence with hot tag, and everything was crisp and not at the breakneck pace a lot of NXT tag matches used to be. It’s been noticeable that they’ve slowed things down and I appreciate it very much. Match of the night for me. 3.5*

Winners and STILL NXT Tag Team Champions – Hank Walker and Tank Ledger (Double team running headbutt to Spears)

Joseph runs down the Bash card as we find out that Troy and Evans is still happening. Ava is on her way to the ring for the show ending Evolution summit segment and we go to commercials.

EARLIER TODAY we find out that the reason for Kale Dixon being in the locker room (with Uriah Connors). Andre Chase asks why Dixon has a blood pressure sleeve on and Dixon tells Chase he can’t go because his blood pressure is through the roof. Chase seems grumpy about this but Dixon says he can’t feel his arm and Chase deduces that Connors is wildly over-pumping the sleeve. Chase says it’s okay, they’ll figure it out together as Dixon thanks him.

Ava is in the ring at a podium. She talks about the first women’s Evolution in 2018. Ava was in high school at the time and thought it was a monumental achievement (let’s not talk about the seven intervening years between that show and the one on Sunday, I suppose). She talks about the achievements of IYO Sky, Charlotte Flair and Nikki Bella, and since she’s the first female GM in WWE history (YOUR DAD IS THE FINAL BOSS, KID) she’s very proud that NXT is going to be all over Evolution. Ava mentions Zaria and Sol Ruca having a shot at the WWE women’s tag titles and the NXT women’s title match between Jacy Jayne and Jordynne Grace. Ava mentions that six women from NXT will be in the battle royal and here’s the list – Jaida Parker, Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, Lash Legend, Izzi Dame and Tatum Paxley.

Here’s Fatal Influence to interrupt. Jacy Jayne asks Ava if she remembers her, the NXT women’s champion. Jayne says her match with Grace will steal the show at Evolution and when Ava is talking about the women’s division, she’s really just talking about Jacy Jayne (Fallon Henley’s face during that part was fantastic). Here’s Jordynne Grace to interrupt. Grace says we should all act surprised that Jayne is running her mouth again. Grace says Evolution is not about Jayne, it’s about the women who paved the way for them. Here’s Lash Legend to interrupt. Legend says she’s happy that Grace and Jayne are bickering as that’s a gift to her. Legend is going to be the talk of Evolution when she wins the battle royal and goes on to Clash in Paris to win a title. Here’s Stephanie Vaquer to a monster pop and she says it’s amazing to be back. Vaquer says she respects that Jayne is the champion but on Sunday Grace will beat Jayne, and Vaquer will win the battle royal. Here’s Nattie and Maxine Dupri to interrupt with Dupri admonishing everyone for not mentioning Nattie as a one of the legends. Dupri says Paris is the home of fashion but it will also be where one of them is crowned the new WWE Women’s Champion. Nattie says they’ll be the last two women in the battle royal. Here’s Jaida Parker as a WHOLE bunch of competitors have come out all at once (I see Giulia, Ivy Nile, Zelina Vega, Candace LeRae and Lola Vice). Parker says everyone else wants an opportunity, but so does she and the entire women’s division is stacked. Parker climbs over the barrier. Parker says in Atlanta, best believe it’s her time.

A giant brawl breaks out as the referees pour out to try to stop things. Izzi Dame and Tatum Paxley are in the aisle watching it all unfold. The credits roll as Joseph says they’re taking over Atlanta this weekend.

The first match gauntlet and the main event tag title matches were solid and everything else ring-wise was good making this an easy thumbs up from me for a go-home show (with two shows to pump up, they had to squeeze in a LOT of storyline stuff and pulled it off, I thought). There were two excellent promos/segments from The Family and the Femi/Inamura/Briggs angle. Good show tonight, everything moved along and I feel good about the Bash card and the NXT stuff at Evolution. I’ll be covering the Bash but it won’t be up until Sunday morning. Damn good go home show tonight.

I’ll be back for Collision on Thursday night, Smackdown on Friday, and the Bash on Saturday. SK will handle All In and SNME, and KAT! will be covering Evolution.. Enjoy your Wednesday and stay safe out there. Thanks for reading and commenting.