NXT Review – 08.19.25

The Blog of Doom’s crack staff has been up to the following: EVOLVE | SmackDown | Emergence | LFG | Raw

NXT is on the air LIVE from The Met Theater in Philadelphia, PA for the go-home show before HEATWAVE. The announce team are the usual suspects – Vic Joseph, Corey Graves and Booker T on match calls, Mike Rome on ring introductions, and Sarah Schreiber on backstage interviews and news updates.

Here’s TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams entering, followed by his opponent tonight Je’von Evans, with the winner of their match becoming the number one contender for the NXT Men’s Title at Heatwave. Here’s Fatal Influence ahead of their six women tag match striding confidently up the sidewalk. Next here’s Chelsea Green, the Secret Hervice, and NXT Men’s North American Champion Ethan Page prior to their “peace summit” attempt.

Backstage Josh Briggs has attacked Yoshiki Inamura prior to their Street Fight starting. They fight their way to the apron and the ref says okay, they’re fighting anyway, ring the bell.

Philadelphia Street Fight: Josh Briggs vs Yoshiki Inamura

Briggs launches himself at Inamura who slips out of the way as Briggs crashes into the ring steps. Inamura dropkicks Briggs off the ramp, I guess, and to the floor. (It’s gonna take me a minute to get these set logistics down.) Inamura flies in to splash Briggs on that part of the floor and the crowd is into it. Inamura lays in chops but Briggs recovers to whip Inamura into the floor where the ring is located. Briggs hits a nasty-looking backdrop suplex on Inamura. Briggs whips Inamura up to the section where the ring is located and then into the ring.

Briggs starts heaving chairs into the ring and two of them connect with Inamura. Briggs mounts one chair in the corner between the second and third ropes and then smashes Inamura with another one. Briggs mounts another chair in the opposite corner as the crowd is already calling for tables. (It’s Philly, what did you think they’d be chanting for?) Inamura fires up and they start slugging it out mid-ring. Inamura tries some martial arts but Briggs kicks him to stop it and then drops Inamura with a strong right. They smash each other with running forearms before Briggs wallops Inamura with a big boot.

Briggs yanks up Inamura and drops him back-first onto the remaining chair. Briggs tries a splash but Inamura slips off as Briggs lands on the chair. Inamura whips Briggs hard to the corner and then to other where his back meets the chairs he’d mounted earlier. (Hoist on your own petard, Briggsy!) Inamura slams Briggs on the chair that’s on the mat and covers for two. Inamura finds a kendo stick and a baseball bat but as he brandishes the bat Briggs wallops Inamura in the knee with a chair shot. Briggs uses the bat against Inamura’s throat during a side Russian leg sweep. Briggs steps on the bat’s Phillies logo to a loud chorus of boos as we go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Inamura fires up and whips Briggs head-first into the mounted chair in the corner. Inamura stomps away on a downed Briggs. Inamura lays in chops and then yanks Briggs over for a backdrop suplex on the chair. Inamura covers for two. Inamura tosses in a garbage can and smashes Briggs with it. Inamura yanks Briggs up but Briggs gains the advantage and drops Inamura into the trash can before a high boot puts Inamura to the mat. Briggs puts more chairs in the ring before grabbing a section of guard-rail that he also tosses in. Briggs makes a quasi-bed frame with the chairs and the guard-rail as Inamura tries to climb back in.

Back to full screen with Briggs hitting a superplex on Inamura through his pile of chairs and guard-rail. (Damn, that was a visually cool spot but the crowd is SO FAR from ringside that I don’t think the impact really hit them.) Briggs whips a kendo stick at a downed Inamura and hits him right in the ribs with it. Briggs finds some gaffers tape and starts taping Inamura’s arms to the top rope. Briggs goes to work with the kendo stick to Inamura’s back as he puts the badmouth on Inamura with every shot. After the fourth shot Inamura breaks out of the tape like a wildman as a dumbfounded Briggs sinks to one knee. Inamura breaks a kendo stick in half as Briggs tries to use it for self-defense.

Inamura starts firing chops before hitting his sumo pose and smashing Briggs in the corner with strikes. Inamura clubbers Briggs down to the mat. Inamura, who is really welted up from the kendo strikes, puts the trash can over Briggs and hits it with chops and fists. Inamura picks up the bat and smashes the trash can with it. Briggs is busted open and Inamura plants him with a uranage on the trash can. Inamura finds a SLIM JIM table as Briggs secretly wrapped his arm in a chain. Inamura places Briggs on the table and ascends but Briggs was playing possum and attacks with his chain-wrapped arm. Inamura fights Briggs off and after Briggs conveniently lands on the table Inamura flies in with a frog splash. Inamura covers for a LONG two.

Inamura yanks out two SLIM JIM tables to a big pop. They fight over the second one and Briggs crotches Inamura with it. Briggs wraps his arm again and just crushes Inamura with a lariat. Briggs places Inamura on a table and ascends. Briggs hits a fairly poor moonsault but the table breaks anyway and Briggs covers for three.

The replay showed that Inamura took the brunt of Briggs knees on that moonsault, so hopefully he’s okay. You’ll know that I’m not a fan of garbage brawls in general if you read me regularly, but this one at least had a point to it around the whole “fight with honor/without honor” thing that these two have had. It wasn’t a masterpiece but the Philly crowd will always love a plunder match and these two hit some high-level spots and there was a clean finish. 3*

Winner – Josh Briggs (Moonsault through a table)

OVER THE WEEKEND NXT GM Ava and TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella held a chat with Masha Slamovich, and Slamovich asked to be the Special Guest Referee in the six-women tag match. Marella makes Slamovich promise to call it down the middle and she agrees, so Ava gives thumbs up.

Ricky Saints makes his entrance and passes a bloody Briggs along the way. We go to commercials.

Back live here’s Sarah Schreiber with TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams. She congratulates him on retaining at Emergence and asks for comment about tonight’s contenders match. Williams says he loves him some him but he whooped Moose in front of his hometown and now will whip Evans tonight. Williams runs down Evans athletic ability and how he likes to bounce, but Williams will “bounce your ass back to high school because this is a grown man’s game”. After that Williams will see Oba Femi at Heatwave and become a three-time NXT champion.

Good focused promo from Trick here. I’m looking forward to the contenders match.

Ricky Saints vs Jasper Troy

Saints hits a one-legged dropkick to start the match and then follows with rights. Troy fires up and hoists Saints who ends up on Troy’s back while hooking in a front face-lock. Troy rises up and drops Saints back-first into the corner twice but Saints just keeps on locking in the hold. The third time sees Saints finally release but Troy’s charge is slipped and he goes flying into the ring post. Saints hits a long cross-body off the top and covers for two. Saints goes to the apron where a quickly-recovered Troy boots him to the floor. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Troy gets tired of waiting for Saints so he goes to the floor and wallops Saints with a headbutt. Troy stalks a retreating Saints before blasting him with a left to the gut. Saints crawls back in and Troy puts the boots to him in the corner. Troy slams Saints and then hits a standing splash and a running elbow drop before covering for two. Troy stands on Saints back while using the ropes for leverage. Saints fires up with rights but Troy stops it with a knee lift. Troy clubbers Saints in the back and then whips him front-first into the corner. Troy again stands on Saints using the ropes for leverage until the ref counts four. Troy slaps on an abdominal stretch but as he leans forwards Saints pops him with a couple of rights to break it. Troy hits another knee lift and goes back to the abdominal stretch.

Back to full screen with Saints firing up with kicks as the announcers speculate that the winner of this match could be in line for a title shot down the road. (I cannot have NXT Champion Ricky Saints, Shawn. Cannot have it.) Troy trucks Saints but misses a subsequent elbow drop attempt. Saints starts clubbering away but Troy stops that with a right to the ribs. Saints grabs an armbar and leans way back into it. Troy breaks out of it but when he charges Saints hits him with a quick Samoan Drop. Saints ascends but misses his moonsault as Troy fires up and crushes Saints into the corner. Troy repeats the same move in the opposite corner before driving his shoulder into Saints repeatedly.

The ref backs Troy off and they chirp at each other which of course gives Saints some time to lift a boot when Troy finally charges back in. Troy misses another charge and goes shoulder-first into the ring post. Saints hits a shotgun dropkick between the first and second ropes as we see Je’von Evans warming up for tonight’s main event in a second window. Saints leaps off the apron but Troy catches him and runs him into the ring steps. (This match is weirdly heatless for a so-called grudge match. The crowd is just not into it.) Troy mounts Saints on the ring-steps and tries for a running senton, but Saints slips away and Troy eats it back-first on the steps. (Joseph points out that Troy hit that move in Houston and put Saints through the ring ramp, but missed it here. Good continuity work, that.)

Saints hits a tornado DDT using the ring apron for leverage. Saints tosses Troy in and then hits another tornado DDT using the top rope as leverage. Saints covers for three as Booker is apoplectic.

The crowd finally got into it at the end but it was a nothing-burger up until the ring steps spot. Ricky Saints just doesn’t do it for me, but I know others like him. Troy feels very green still and his offense can be awkward. I would assume this is the blow-off for this and I don’t know what you do with Troy next because he hasn’t won one feud. Maybe point him at Ethan Page? Saints is probably going to be in the main title picture after Heatwave, I’m guessing. 2.5*

Winner – Ricky Saints (Tornado DDT x 2)

Backstage Ava is with NXT Tag Team Champions Hank and Tank. They want to know who they’re facing from Darkstate at Heatwave but Ava says she doesn’t know yet. The Personal Concierge interrupts and he’s flanked by The Elegance Brand. Hank and Tank depart as the Concierge begs Ava to not allow Masha Slamovich to be the guest referee. Ava says it’s official as Masha Slamovich enters wearing a sleeveless ref shirt. Slamovich shakes Ava’s hand and gives Ash By Elegance a look. The Concierge goes nuclear claiming a “look of bias” and they leave to call their lawyers.

Jordynne Grace is coming to the ring for her face-to-face as we go to commercials.

After Grace makes her entrance, she tells the crowd that she’s been all over the world in hundreds of different locker rooms building her reputation. She expected to win championships but clearly that hasn’t happened. Grace says she knows she has weaknesses and that they might set her back at some point but she didn’t expect a friendship to set her back. Grace says she watches wrestling just like the crowd and she’s been a wrestler for fifteen years so she knows how “wrestling friendships” normally pan out. Grace mentions that there’s an exception to every rule and she thought she might be that exception. That was stupid and Grace knows it but the adjustment for her to WWE has been really hard. She was angry but Grace now has one goal and one objective and that’s to make Blake Monroe see exactly who she is.

Here’s Blake Monroe flanked but a bunch of Security goofs to interrupt. Monroe: “That’s enough of that, my muscle muffin.” Monroe enters and says Grace isn’t getting her redemption tonight, and that there’s no redemption for the truth. Monroe has a contract that says if Grace lays a finger on her the match at Heatwave is off. Grace says Monroe has been right about a lot of things but this is where she’s wrong. Grace says Monroe was at ringside at Evolution while Grace was in the ring wrestling. Grace says she thinks Monroe is jealous of her and the crowd picks up the chance. (Monroe is doing a good job here of pretending Grace is wrong about this while knowing she’s right.) Grace calls Monroe a disgusting snake before Monroe fires back saying this is the Grace we all know. Monroe says Grace doesn’t have a calm bone in her body and can’t handle the pressure. Monroe says Grace is a “reject playing a superstar”.

Monroe hides behind the Security guys as Grace says she doesn’t have to touch Monroe for her to see what’s going to happen at Heatwave. Grace starts wrecking the Security dudes and the last one literally sprints to the back to avoid her. Grace grabs the mic and holds Monroe close. Grace tells Monroe at Heatwave she’s going to show her what ugly really looks like.

An effective enough segment that they wisely gave to Grace in terms of more words. I’m not sure how this match is going to go but at least the build has gotten away from body-shaming horsecrap and back to “I’m going to beat your ass because I don’t like you” meat and potatoes stuff.

Backstage with Fatal Influence warming up as NXT Women’s Champion/TNA Knockouts World Champion Jacy Jayne complains about the Elegance Brand claiming to be the most dominant female faction. Fallon Henley says the EB are nowhere near Fatal’s level. Here’s Lainey Reid to amble in and wish them luck. Zaria and NXT Women’s North American Champion/WWE Women’s Speed Champion Sol Ruca come in as Jayne mocks their Tik-Tok antics while calling Zaria “Ruca’s shadow”. Ruca tells Jayne that she’s going to lose on Sunday and Fatal leave. Reid pops back in to say that at least Jayne defends her titles as Ruca looks fake-aghast. We go to commercials.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Je’von Evans as Sarah Schreiber asks him about the main event. Evans is not surprised that Trick abandoned the eight man tag match last week because he’s selfish and goofy. Evans says he knows if he wants to get to Oba Femi, he’s got to get through Trick. Trick is trying to be the face of two brands, a rapper and “an ugly-ass actor” and Evans is trying to be NXT champion.

The Elegance Brand vs Fatal Influence

The Brand is seconded by the Personal Concierge. Masha Slamovich is your SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE, who Graves calls a “street urchin”. It will be M and Henley to start.

They slug it out and Henley gets a quick roll-up for two. Henley boots M in the gut and whips her into the Fatal corner. Nyx tags in as Henley lays in a hip. Nyx and Henley hit knees on M and then Nyx comes off the ropes with a springboard roundhouse to M’s midsection. Nyx covers for two as we see Trick Williams warming up for the main in a second window. Nyx hits a dropkick on M and nips over and up. M stops the momentum with a back boot before walloping Nyx with a knee lift. Heather tags in and M hoists her on her shoulders so she can drop her on a prone Nyx. Heather covers for two.

Ash tags in and tries for a front facebuster but Nyx rolls through and gets two. They tussle and Nyx slips away to tag in Jayne who the crowd immediately start singing for. They slug it out and Ash gets a roll-up for one. Jayne comes off the ropes and tries for a cover but Ash rolls it into a crucifix pin and gets two. Jayne lifts a knee and then whips Ash to the Fatal corner before charging and hitting a tackle. Henley tags in and wipes out Ash with a running clothesline. Henley covers for two.

Henley runs Ash to a neutral corner and chops her hard in the chest. Ash slips away and as they run the ropes the Concierge grabs Henley’s boot in full view of Slamovich. Ash immediately charges in and wipes out Henley as she’s barking at the PC. Slamovich boots the PC from ringside. Graves: “That guy reminds me of the guy in high school that said he had three girlfriends but they all live out of state.” (Fuckin’ Graves has been killing it lately. I’m happy he got his shit together and is back on point, even if not everyone loves the guy.) We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Ash rolls out to toss Henley back in before covering for two. Ash pounds away at the back of Henley’s head. Ash runs Henley into the Elegance corner and M tags in. M boots Henley and then runs her face-first into the top turnbuckle. M runs the length of the ring and wallops Henley with a high boot. M covers for two. M whips Henley into a seated position and rams a knee into her back. Henley rises and breaks free with a big right. Henley gets a roll-up for one before M follows with a big lariat. Heather tags in as M runs Henley back to the Elegance corner. Heather trips Henley down and bullies her. Henley gets pissed and fires a right hand but Heather comes back and stomps on Henley’s hands. Heather hits a sit-down DDT and covers for two. Heather drapes Henley throat-first over the second rope and drives a knee into her. As Slamovich chastises Heather Ash boots Henley right in the chest. Ash tags in and frames Henley up Nash-style before whaling her with an elbow. M tags in and puts the boots to Henley before Ash tags back in. Ash grabs a rear chinlock that Henley fights her way out of with double fists. Ash runs Henley over with a clothesline as Heather tags in.

Back to full screen with Ash whipping Henley into the Elegance corner and then trying to have a word with Slamovich. This gives Heather and M the opportunity to lay in kicks to Henley. Heather covers Henley for two. Heather ascends but Henley ducks out of the way of her springboard moonsault attempt. Henley crawls over and tags in Jayne as Heather tags in M. Jayne runs M over with clotheslines and then drops a charging Ash with a reverse neckbreaker. Jayne boots M in the chest and then crushes her with an enziguri. Jayne whips a charging Heather into M and then superkicks a staggering Heather out of the ring. Jayne hits a rolling cannonball on a prone M. Jayne ascends and crushes M with a senton before covering and getting two.

Jayne gripes at Slamovich as Henley tags in, and she tags Nyx immediately. They hit M with a double-team facebuster and double rolling clotheslines on M before Jayne waffles M with a knee to the jaw. Nyx covers for two as Ash breaks it up. Ash whips Jayne to the floor and then crushes Henley with a knee. M breaks out of a fisherman’s suplex attempt and superkicks Nyx. Heather tags in and ascends as Ash tags in. M rolls Nyx into a bow and arrow as Heather comes off the top rope with a double stomp. Ash hits a Meteora and covers for two as Jayne charges in to break it up.

Jayne wipes out Heather with a pump kick but eats one in response from M. Henley wallops M with a right and sends her to the floor. M yanks Henley out in response so she rams M back-first into the announce desk before mounting and dropping rights. Back in the ring Ash hits a swanton on a prone Nyx but Slamovich is trying to deal with Henley and M on the floor. Slamovich finally sees the cover and counts two. Ash bellows at Slamovich as Nyx tags Jayne in. Jayne hits Ash with the Rolling Encore and covers for three.

This was actually really good once it got going. I enjoyed it thoroughly even with the chaos. Everyone worked hard and while I’m surprised Ash ate the pin it does set up a fair amount of conflict for the Heatwave three-way – maybe Ash pins Slamovich to win the title? Could be fun regardless. Everyone worked tightly, there were no major awkward parts, and the finish was relatively clean. For heel-vs-heel team dynamics, this totally did it for me. 3.75*

Winners – Fatal Influence (Jayne Rolling Encore to Ash)

Post-match sees a bleeding Ash barking at Slamovich along with M and Heather.

Backstage sees Kendal Grey chatting with Charles Dempsey. Dempsey gives her props for her match last week with Alba Fyre but he wants to give her the advice to lock in on the armbar to make the opponent feel helpless. Grey says she has an amateur background but Dempsey says when a true pro is trying to give you advice you listen. Here’s Wren Sinclair to ask Dempsey how he can be giving advice to someone who went 61-0 in college (She did?! That’s incredible.) The Culling slide into the scene as Grey leaves. Izzi Dame talks smack to Sinclair so Dempsey says Sinclair could kick both Dame and Tatum Paxley‘s heads in if she wanted to. I think maybe that turns into a match? It’s hard to tell as Sinclair and Dempsey bicker.

Chelsea Green and Ethan Page are making their way to the ring. (I’m gonna need a drink for this, I think.) We go to commercials. Tavion Heights and Tyra Mae Steele are also getting ready to chat.

You can watch this entire segment, if you have some sort of pain fetish, here. Green, Page and the Hervice make their entrance first. Page says he’s well aware of how the Philadelphia freaks like to get down so he has the Hervice remove the table from the ring to presumably prevent himself from going through it. (To amuse myself I’m trying to imagine Green and Page’s heads suddenly morphing into how South Park draws Canadians and I’m kind of cracking myself up, not gonna lie.)

Page says he and Green are here for a peaceful diplomatic discussion. Page admits Heights has been doing a great job and doing everything he says he’s going to do. Page watched Heights break out of NQCC and become what he said he would become, a weapon in human form. Page says his issue with Heights is how Heights looks at him. Heights doesn’t see a 19 year veteran, a world class athlete and literally the greatest North American to ever hold the NA championship. Page says all Heights sees is an opportunity but he’s biting off more than he can chew in the wrestling world. Page again props up Heights and Steele for being in the Olympics and winning medals but they don’t celebrate losers in pro wrestling, there are no silver medals. There’s only gold and Page is holding it.

Heights says other veterans talked to him like that until he sent them flying. Heights says no matter where’s he’s at he’s the “bad draw in the bracket, dawg.” Heights says if Page thinks he’s foolish for eyeing up the title Heights thinks Page is foolish for underestimating him. Heights says he was blessed by the Gods on Mt Olympus and made in their image (Um, okay. That seemed kind of heelish.)

Green interjects to tell Heights that there’s no need to be disrespectful to Page. Green says Americans are rude (Welp, can’t argue with that one currently.) and that Canada has better air and athletes. Steele says she’s tired of Green’s “bloviating” and then explains what that means to Green who looks stunned at the cheek. Steele tells Green she needs to shut up before Green calls Steele a “so-called gold medalist”. Steele gets pissed and reminds Green that she did actually win a gold medal in Tokyo. Heights hypes up Philly and Page says he just wants to go straight to violence as Ava comes out to break it up. She makes a mixed tag for Heatwave which I thought we already had booked, and then the fisticuffs start. Heights and Steele get the advantage only to see the Hervice yank both Green and Page out of the ring.

This was dumb, pointless, and too long. We were always getting the mixed tag, they could have just announced it and let them cut promos on each other.

Backstage Ricky Saints is chatting with Myles Borne and Saints mentions he has to find out what’s going on with Josh Briggs and the look he gave as they passed during Saints entrance. Saints says he has to keep an eye on Briggs as Lexis King sidles up to chat with Borne. King apologizes to Borne and says he knows how hard it must be for Borne to be both deaf and blind. Borne explains that he is deaf but not blind, and King MACES HIM IN THE EYES and says “YOU ARE NOW!” (WOW. That was out of the blue.) We go to commercials.

Backstage with Kelani Jordan chatting with Lola Vice. Jordan says they made a great team but since she got the pin she’s going forward. Vice asks her what she did this weekend and Jordan starts by naming pilates, and Vice mentions she wrestled in front of nineteen thousand people at TripleMania. In walks Lash Legend to remind Vice that she lost at TripleMania and brag about going toe-to-toe with Nia Jax. Jordan says it was more like “ass to ribs” and Legend tells Jordan to check herself because Legend is the biggest threat to the NXT title, not Vice or Jordan and “damn sure not no Jaida Parker”.

Ava unfortunately runs into Darkstate backstage. They are confident about beating Hank and Tank at Heatwave and mention that no one was talking about anyone from last week including Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Trick Williams, Joe Hendry….and Joe Hendry pops out of the locker behind Ava. (YOU SAID HIS NAME, SHUGARS. WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN DUDE?) Hendry wants to know which two of the group are fighting Hank and Tank and he’s told he’ll find out when everyone else does at Heatwave. Dion Lennox warns Hendry that they’ll get him if he gets in their way and Cutler James mentions that Hendry doesn’t want Darkstate behind him. He’s pulled away and yelled at for saying it like that.

Graves, Joseph and Booker run down the Heatwave card. (I’m suddenly realizing that Lola Vice might be the favorite in the women’s triple threat number one contender’s match and maybe challenge at World’s Collide in Vegas). It’s time for the main event as Je’von Evans makes his entrance. We go to commercials.

NXT Men’s Championship Number One Contenders Match: TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams vs Je’von Evans

Trick wears the TNA belt upside down because as Joseph explains it, Trick claims to have turned TNA upside down. NXT Men’s Champion Oba Femi watches from an opera box.

Trick wallops Evans with a high boot just after the bell sounds and covers for two. Trick hits a leg lariat and covers for two. Trick slams Evans a couple of times as Evans looks to have been busted open by the initial kick (They show it on replay because it happened so quickly after the bell and Trick really laid it in.) Evans shakes it off, gets bouncy, and rolls up Trick for two. Evans hits his own high boot and barks at Trick. They miss kicks and Trick does a one-handed breakdancing pose for some reason, so a pissed Evans just kicks him right in the face. Evans hits a springboard rana off the top rope. Evans nails Trick with a dropkick and covers for two.

Evans lays in a chop (As Phred likes to say, Evans works very snugly. One might say stiffly, even.) and then another, but when he tries for a third Trick hits him with a double thrust to the throat. Trick piles Evans into the corner and then throws his own vicious chop that buckles Evans. Trick yanks up Evans for another chop as we’re suddenly moving at a snail’s pace. Evans slips a third attempt and yanks Trick back in for chops. Evans hits an Ali shuffle and pops Trick with a right. They run the ropes and Trick manages to hit Evans with a flying forearm before going to ground and pound. Trick yanks Evans over in a back suplex and covers for two.

Trick hits a spinning neckbreaker and rolls Evans over for a two count. Graves reminds everyone that the prize for winning this match is standing toe-to-toe with The Ruler at Heatwave. Trick whips Evans into the corner but he slips out and then over to the opposite apron where Evans is able to pop a charging Trick with a right. Evans hits a huge springboard clothesline on Trick before dumping him out with a clothesline. Evans hits his signature over-the-top rope dive on Trick.(Booker: DID YOU SEE THAT HANGTIME?!) Evans whips Trick back in but by the time he gets to the ropes for another springboard move Trick recovers and pushes Evans all the way onto and through the announce table which is destroyed. Booker looks utterly stunned as the crowd is going bonkers. We go to picture-in-picture commercials with no commentary.

During PIP the ref checks extensively on Evans as Trick jaws with the crowd. There’s no counting going on, the ref is just checking on Evans as Trick paces the ring. The ref finally jumps in and starts a count and you can guess what number Evans makes it back in on. Trick yanks Evans up and pops him with a couple rights before slapping on a guillotine.

Back to full screen and the replay of Evans crashing through the table makes it look worse because the brunt of the fall basically happened on the floor as Booker says the referee is using DISCRETION. Trick deals a right hand to Evans and mounts him on the top turnbuckle but Evans recovers to wallop Trick with a right. Evans kicks a charging Trick away but Trick charges in and hits a Flair-style slam off the top turnbuckle. (It’s always interesting to see how Flair took that bump almost exclusively on his side because of his back injury from the plane crash.) Trick points at Femi who barks back at him. Trick wades in and starts dropping forearms. Trick hits a fall-away facebuster on Evans and bullies him as Joseph says it’s getting tough to watch.

Trick laughs off Evans feeble punches and backhands Evans in the mouth. Evans takes that one very personally and fires up. Evans crushes Trick with a right after a skirmish and starts whaling away in the corner. Trick charges out and eats a big right that sends him tumbling to the floor. Evans hits a tope suicida on Trick before whipping him back in. Evans ducks a clothesline attempt and yanks Trick into a big release German. Evans ascends and hits a massive frog splash that Joseph calls “RVD-esque” before covering for two.

Evans hits the Red Dot spinning kick and covers for two. Evans hits a massive springboard cutter but Trick utterly no-sells it and stands defiantly. Trick hoists a charging Evans and wallops him with a right. Trick lowers his kneepad but wanders into an Evans superkick. Evans charges and Trick recovers to hit Evans with a uranage. Trick tries a knee but Evans slips it and rolls him up for two. They run the ropes and Evans gets utterly destroyed by a roundhouse kick but Trick doesn’t cover. Trick yanks up Evans on to his shoulders before dumping him down and covering for two.

Trick wants the Trick Shot but suddenly Mike Santana has appeared in the opera box where Oba Femi was. Trick wanders into an Evans cutter. Evans hits the double springboard cutter and covers Trick for three. Evans is announced as the winner and we are OUT immediately.

A hell of a main event, truly. Evans took an unbelievable amount of punishment and that push off the top rope through the table was lucky it didn’t get way worse. Trick needs to sell a little bit more but he’s the fully complete article at this point and could easily be on the main roster. I hope Evans didn’t sustain too much damage as wrestling Femi is never easy. That should be a good main event. 4*

Winner – Je’von Evans (Double springboard cutter)

Not a bad go-home show at all, other than the utterly pointless Peace Summit segment. The matches were decent although that Saints-Troy match was oddly heatless right up until the end. Lexis King macing Myles Borne was a whole thing that happened, too. Thumbs up from me tonight, but this was an easy one to knock out of the park. I do have to say, that venue maybe seemed better in their planning than how it came off on television. Your mileage may vary on that.

Thanks for reading and commenting, and make sure to give all of the recappers some love this week. Also, if you miss anything, our boy Fitzgerald has you covered on the weekend with the Weekly Compendium. Be cool, my babies.