NXT Review – 09.23.25

The week in WWE so far has included: Impact | Smackdown | LFG | Wrestle (SK) Palooza (Kat) | Raw

NXT comes to us on the CW from the beautiful Performance Center in Orlando, FL. The presenters of tonight’s show are the usual suspects – Vic Joseph and Booker T on match calls, Mike Rome on ring introductions, and Kelly Kincaid on backstage interviews and news updates.

Then, Now, Forever…TOGETHER

Last week was Homecoming and there’s a lovely highlights package to start the show. Ahead of their big title-for-title matchup later here’s TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams and NXT Men’s Champion Oba Femi striding into the PC. We’re going to sub-title this episode “TNA Takes A Field Trip”.

Lights Out: Lexis King vs Myles Borne

Borne attacks King in the entrance but King rises and clobbers Borne with a couple of cane shots. Borne smashes King with a right and dumps him into the ring. Borne tosses some plunder in and the ref decides it’s time and rings the bell.

Borne goes to ground and pound and then hammers King with a chair. Borne hits a dropkick (In a lights out match? Okay. Sure.) and then kicks away at a prone Borne. Borne hits an overhead suplex as King lands on the chair in the ring. Borne’s cover gets two. King fires up and smashes Borne with an elbow. King covers and gets two. (Joseph points out that Booker was in the first ever lights out match in WWE against some fellow named Dwayne. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.)

King lifts a knee and then grabs the chair. King hammers on Borne with the chair and then twists it into Borne’s guts. King hits a suplex where Borne’s back lands on the chair and King’s cover gets two. King ties up Borne’s arms and drives a knee into his back. (King’s “gear” tonight makes him look like he’s hitting up the second set of the local Poison cover band later. You know, just in time for the fourth rendition of “Nothing But A Good Time”.) King dumps Borne on the chair and then piles him into a corner so he can repeatedly kick Borne in the head. King picks up a trashcan and smashes Borne with it several times. King decides to charge but Borne fires up and hits a snap powerslam that sends King right into the destroyed trashcan. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP they start slugging it out on the floor with Borne gaining the advantage. Borne dumps King back-first onto the apron and King rolls away in agony. Borne follows him back in where a revived King promptly dumps Borne back to the floor. King hits a tope shotgun dropkick between the second and third ropes that sends Borne into the announce desk. (It is legit dark as hell in the arena.) King hops up on the announce desk and pulls Borne up with him. King hits his Coronation swinging neckbreaker on Borne as I’m realizing King never cleared the desk of well…anything. (Poor Booker and his candy. Every week with this.) King tosses Borne back in and covers for two. King pulls off his belt and starts whaling away at Borne’s back. King runs Borne into a ring post and Borne tumbles to the floor.

Back to full screen with King pushing a SLIM JIM table into the ring. Borne has recovered and finds King’s discarded belt. After a few belt shots King manages to grab the belt while tumbling to the floor. Borne charges and King smashes him in the head with a belt shot. King sets up a chair between the bottom two ropes but Borne fires up to stop any bad intentions there. Borne sends King head-first into the chair but King recovers and manages to whip Borne into the ring steps. King clobbers Borne with a chair shot and then breaks apart the ring steps. King wraps a chair around Borne’s head and mounts him on the bottom part of the ring steps. Borne manages to slip out before King’s stomp can end things. Borne charges and drives King through the barrier. (They really love the visual of someone being smashed through the barrier lately. At this point a chant breaks out that the CW censors have to deal with- let’s assume it was Holy Shit.)

King flees back into the ring and manages to have enough left to clothesline Borne to the floor. King has the bottom of the ring steps in the ring and he poses it in front of the SLIM JIM table before heading out to collect Borne, who has managed to collect King’s belt again. Borne starts hammering away with the belt but King stops the attack with a superkick. King pulls Borne up onto the ring steps but Borne blocks every attempt at a suplex. Borne snaps off a DDT on the ring steps and then wallops King with the Borne Again through the SLIM JIM table. Borne covers and gets three.

I’m not a fan of plunder matches and I’m not a fan of Lexis King. The crowd was into this but it felt weirdly heatless to me for what should be a blood feud culmination match. There was no actual wrestling other than Borne’s oddly placed dropkick and a lot of the more fun stuff happened during PIP. I desperately hope both of these guys are moving on at this point. 1.5*

Winner – Myles Borne (Borne Again through a table)

Robert Stone and Stevie Turner are backstage talking with NXT GM Ava on a phone as Ava is apparently not at the show tonight. Ava wants them to run the show tonight (I BET NOTHING AT ALL WILL HAPPEN. NOTHING.) and Stone reports that there are some TNA wrestlers backstage. Ava sadly cannot hear Stone’s query and hangs up.

Here’s NXT Men’s North American Champion Ethan Page walking past a toweling-off Myles Borne as they eye each other up. We go to commercials.

Ethan Page joins us in the ring and it turns out that AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jr is in the front row, conveniently. Page says he should be celebrating his win over Tyler Breeze but instead he has to deal with Dr Wagner Jr (If you’ve ever seen EHDDrWJr you can tell this isn’t actually him, by the way. I’m pretty sure it’s Tavion Heights in a mask.) who gets a nice hand from the crowd. Page mentions how Wagner “screwed” him at Worlds Collide and wants to invite Wagner to No Mercy to watch him embarrass Tavion Heights. Wagner rises and Page invites him into the ring for an unscheduled match.

Ethan Page vs El Hijo Del Dr Wagner Jr

Wagner slaps on an ankle lock and Page taps immediately. Wagner unmasks and indeed, it’s Tavion Heights. Heights hoists the NA belt as Page stares in disbelief. They’ll fight for the title at No Mercy.

Sure. No rating here, just an angle to set up No Mercy.

EARLIER TODAY Jordynne Grace is in the women’s locker room watching last week’s Blake Monroe promo. Arianna Grace mentions that Monroe has gone to a dark place and then gets in a Maybelline plug. (Two Graces in one scene! They should be doing the Spider Man point gif at each other.) Arianna points out that she mentioned to Monroe that just because her and Jordynne share the last name doesn’t mean she wanted conflict with Monroe. Jordynne seems to indicate that there’s going to be a match between them later to make sure Monroe understands the actual differences between the two Graces.

Candice LeRae makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament Final: Candice LeRae vs Lainey Reid

As always, these matches have a three minute time limit. NASCAR driver Cole Custer does the ring announcements here in a bit of CW cross promotion. NXT Women’s North American and WWE Women’s Speed Champion Sol Ruca and Zaria are in the NXT Roost holding up dry-erase signs with writing on them. (Ruca’s sign just says BOOOOO which I find oddly hysterical.)

LeRae drops Reid with a trip just after the bell and then stands on Reid’s back to deliver a senton. LeRae botches a springboard moonsault and when she actually manages to go for it Reid slips away. Reid snaps LeRae up for a rolling neckbreaker and covers for two. (Xia Brookside and Lei Ying-Lee from TNA are shown walking the hallway in an inset picture here.) Reid runs into a LeRae back elbow as LeRae decides to ascend. Reid goes to the apron so LeRae hops down to join her there. They slug it out a bit and then LeRae drops Reid face-first on the apron. LeRae hits a springboard reverse cross-body and then dumps Reid back in. LeRae hits a tilt-a-whirl neckbreaker and then slaps on an STF. Reid rolls it over and gets a two count. Reid hits a backslide and gets two. Reid misses a knee and LeRae rolls her up for two. Reid smashes LeRae with a knee lift and covers for three with 35 seconds to go. Lainey Reid will challenge Sol Ruca for the Women’s Speed title at No Mercy.

From a reviewing perspective, I love Speed matches. From a wrestling perspective, it’s always just kind of a messy sprint with very little selling. 2*

Winner – Lainey Reid (Knee lift strike to LeRae’s jaw)

Here’s Jaida Parker in a pre-taped promo to say she hopes everyone enjoyed Homecoming because she didn’t. Lash Legend got one over on her a couple of weeks ago and Parker thinks Legend should mount the victory picture on her wall. Parker wonders how Legend felt after the match when Parker drove her through a barrier. Parker vows the next time she meets Legend things will be different and she’ll give Legend the reality check she desperately needs.

Here’s Tatum Paxley chatting with Lyra Valkyria backstage. Valkyria laments letting people into her life because shortly after they do they seem to lose their minds. (Steve Maclin from TNA is shown walking around behind this scene as it unfolds, as are Hank & Tank.) Izzi Dame sidles up and hands Paxley her doll before pointing out that Valkyria left Paxley once before and will likely do it again. Dame leads Paxley away who says it was nice to see Valkyria. A non-plussed Valkyria watches Paxley leave.

Jordynne Grace makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

A busted up Andre Chase is backstage with Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors who apologize to Chase for letting him get hurt. Chase says they were going fast and he wants them to understand what that means so here’s the NASCAR dudes, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer to talk to them. Mayer wants to know if the “say his name and he appears” thing actually works, but Darkstate wander in to tell the Chase U/NASCAR contingent to not say a word. (TNA’s The Rascalz wander into this shot.) Of course someone says Joe Hendry’s name and….Joe Hendry pops up in a NASCAR driving suit. A visibly grumpy Darkstate challenges Hendry, Connors and Dixon to a six man tag later.

Jordynne Grace vs Arianna Grace

Arianna attacks before the bell and once it actually rings, Jordynne slips out of the corner and starts smashing Arianna with forearms. Jordynne wallops Arianna with a double slap to her back and then hoists Arianna for a rolling Death Valley Driver. (I remember Grace hitting that move on Piper Niven to a huge pop at one point. It’s a cool looking move.) Arianna wanders out of a corner directly into a Jordynne side powerslam. Jordynne misses a Vader Bomb as Arianna recovers to send Jordynne to the canvas by her hair. Arianna bustles Jordynne over and then hits her with a running splash. Arianna covers for two.

Arianna stomps away and then hits a short shotgun dropkick to Jordynne’s back. Arianna twists Jordynne in the ropes and pulls her back by her hair. Arianna misses an elbow drop and Jordynne forces her to a corner where she hammers Arianna’s face into a turnbuckle. Jordynne hits a couple of short-arm clotheslines and then hammers Arianna with a spinebuster. Jordynne hits the Direct Effect slam and covers for three.

Not a whole lot to chew on here match-wise. The post-match angle was the much bigger take-away from this, but I will say that even though there was a slight botch just before her running splash, Arianna didn’t look too bad tonight at all even in a squash-tastic affair like this was. She needs more reps, that’s all. 1.5*

Winner – Jordynne Grace (Direct Effect slam)

Post-match sees Arianna being comforted by Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo at ringside. Blake Monroe then emerges with a garbage can full of plunder that includes a bright pink kendo stick. Jordynne grabs a chair and her and Monroe swing at each other. Jordynne gets the advantage and hammers Monroe with a chair shot. Monroe recovers quickly and destroys Jordynne with kendo stick shots to the gut and back. (She put some stink on the one to Grace’s back here, yeeeeeow.) They start grappling on the mat and out pours the referee room and Security to break it up. Stevie Turner and Robert Stone come out to tell them it’s enough. Turner makes a Weapons Match for No Mercy and Stone tells them it will also be inside of a STEEL CAGE. Well then.

Kelly Kincaid is backstage with a happy Lainey Reid. Reid mentions beating Faby Apache and Candice LeRae on the way to facing Sol Ruca at No Mercy. Fatal Influence walk through the scene and NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne congratulates Reid on her win and wishes Reid good luck at No Mercy. Reid reciprocates, and Jayne then tells Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx that she can handle Lola Vice by herself. It’s time for the “top of the second hour yap fest” we always get as we go to commercials.

Jacy Jayne makes her entrance solo as Joseph questions whether or not this is a good idea. Jayne mentions that no one should talk about last week when she caught a backfist from Lola Vice that lead to Jayne getting pinned by Rhea Ripley in the main event. Jayne says none of it matters because she’s been the NXT women’s champion for over 100 days now. (Consider that Trick Williams first reign as NXT men’s champ lasted 70 days. Just pointing this out.) Jayne mentions some of the labels she’s been given, “most beatable” and “transition champ” but they’re just wrong. Jayne mocks everyone thinking that Lola Vice will be the one to beat her. Jayne says Vice is flashy and has a lot of social media followers and has improved a bunch but isn’t ready to hold the title. Jayne says she’s the underdog in this story and while Vice was shaking her ass Jayne was busting her ass to get to where she is now.

Here’s Lola Vice to interrupt. Vice mentions having an ass she can actually shake unlike Jayne. (BURN UNIT to the trauma center STAT). Vice says Jayne is barely surviving and always needs help unlike Vice. Vice says while Jayne was a “toxic third wheel” she was knocking women out to earn her opportunity. Vice talks about facing Roxanne Perez for the title a year ago and how nervous and emotional she was but now, even with her family coming to No Mercy, this time it’s different. Vice says she’s a fighter and a professional wrestler and her winning the title wouldn’t just be for her and her family, it would also be for the people in the crowd who always believed in her. Vice vows to knock Jayne out and win the title at No Mercy.

Jayne says she’s fully aware that Vice “is probably gonna beat my ass” on Saturday. However, Jayne knows Vice is looking for validation and wants to make her mama and papa so proud. Jayne says she’s walking out with the title no matter what Vice does to her. Jayne says Vice is going to have to look her parents in the eyes and have them realize all of it was for nothing. Vice has had enough and wallops Jayne with a backfist. Vice hoists the title and stands over a downed Jayne. We go to commercials.

THE NXT SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE is on Josh Briggs. Briggs is leaning into the go-away heat he has with the PC crowd. (I’m not sure about this choice but here we are.) Briggs points out that the hpocrites in the crowd also chant “This is awesome” during his matches and then tells Je’von Evans that he’s coming for him at No Mercy.

Darkstate (Saquon Shugars, Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) vs Kale Dixon, Uriah Connors and Joe Hendry

Cutler James is at ringside with the Darkstate crew, as Andre Chase is with the babyfaces. As Hendry does his hand-waving thing, Darkstate attack prior to the bell. There’s a lot of that going on tonight for some reason. The bell sounds and it will be Shugars and Connors to start things.

Connors throws a couple of chops but Shugars drags him to the heel corner where Griffin tags in. Griffin trucks Connors and then splashes him in the corner. Lennox tags in and hits a powerslam on Connors before covering for two. Dixon gets a blind tag as Connors runs around and hits a shotgun dropkick on Lennox’s knees. Dixon splashes Lennox and covers for two. Dixon rolls Lennox into a crucifix and that gets two.

There’s some acrobatics and Dixon comes off of it with a gigantic clothesline before covering Lennox for two. Hendry tags in and he and Dixon waffle Lennox with back elbows. Hendry chops Lennox in a neutral corner but Lennox fires up with a forearm that staggers Hendry. Hendry recovers as Lennox misses a chop, but Shugars charges in to prevent Hendry from hitting a backdrop suplex. Dixon charges in to drive Shugars to the floor while Hendry does the same to Lennox. Dixon and Connors hit a double dropkick on Griffin and then Hendry clotheslines Griffin to the floor. Dixon hits a twisting cross body on Shugars and Lennox and the babyfaces all hit their poses. We go to commercials.

Shugars is working over Dixon as we come back. Shugars dumps Dixon to the mat as Griffin tags in. Griffin snatches Dixon up onto his shoulder and tags in Lennox. Griffin drops Dixon’s head onto Lennox’s knee. Lennox runs Dixon over with a lariat and covers for two. (Here’s TNA’s Mike Santana strolling into the building in an inset. Joseph mentions to Booker that clearly something is going on with TNA but Book just blows it off and tells Joseph to call the match.) Darkstate hit triple team offense on Dixon that ends with a Griffin Oklahoma Stampede. Griffin’s cover is broken up by Hendry and then everyone starts duking it out.

Lennox tosses Connors into the crowd over the barrier. Griffin keeps hammering on Dixon in the heel corner. Dixon manages to fight his way out of it and tag in Hendry. Hendry cleans house and takes Griffin down with a swinging head-scissors. Lennox charges so Hendry snatches him up for a fall-away slam. Hendry gets the crowd going and goes for the chokeslam but Griffin charges in to wipe Hendry out with a clothesline as Shugars distracts the ref. Hendry recovers and hits Lennox with a back suplex. Andre Chase manages to revive the fallen Connors from the crowd and sends him up the steps.

Hendry tags Connors in and he runs wild on Darkstate. Connors ends up hitting Shugars with a tornado DDT that sends him to the floor. Griffin and Lennox get lined up as Cutler James and Andre Chase bark at each other on the floor. Connors flies out to take out James and when he returns to the ring he takes out Griffin and Lennox as well. James jumps up on the apron to bitch at the ref as Shugars sneaks in to hammer Connors with a knee. Griffin tags in and he tags in Shugars. Darkstate hit their toss powerbomb and Shugars covers Connors for three.

Meh. This wasn’t great, but Joe Hendry is super over with the PC crowd. Like, in a very big way, they pop for everything he does. Darkstate are getting better but they still work a little quickly and Griffin and Lennox still really look like they’re counting their steps some times. I’ll give it this – there was a long heat sequence, a hot tag, and some nefarious cheating for the heels to win, so in that sense I’m okay with it. It’s just the quality of the whole thing was tough because the Chase U kids are just so jobber-riffic. Still though, match of the night thus far. 2.5*

Winners – Darkstate (Toss powerbomb on Connors)

Ricky Saints returns to New Orleans to talk about how it made him who he is. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his childhood home, but he’s proud of New Orleans and still loves it. Saints believes in himself because it’s all he has. Saints needs to prove to himself it’s all been worth it by taking the NXT title at No Mercy.

This was good, much like with Lola Vice’s hometown promos prior to her match with Jacy Jayne.

Joseph runs down the No Mercy card which looks to be pretty solid. Kelly Kincaid is backstage with Je’von Evans who seems unconcerned with the large number of TNA folks roaming the building. Evans talks about his match with Josh Briggs at No Mercy and suddenly there’s a big noise in the background. It turns out the big noise was Jazmyn Nyx being attacked leaving her down and apparently out. Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley rush in but then seem kind of unconcerned before leaving, speculating that it was Lola Vice who did the deed.

Trick Williams makes his entrance as we go to commercials. There are a number of TNA folks in the crowd including Moose, Steve Maclin, and some of the Elegance Brand.

Title for Title – TNA Men’s World Champion Trick Williams vs NXT Men’s Champion Oba Femi

Mike Rome does in-ring introductions and I’ve got a crisp five dollar bill that says there will not be a finish in this match.

Femi catches a kick attempt from Trick at the bell. Trick hits some chops but Femi refuses an irish whip and lifts a knee into Trick’s midsection. Femi wants a powerbomb but Trick slips out of it. Trick tries for an enziguri but Femi casually blocks it. Femi boots Trick in the gut and then chops him hard. Trick misses a Trick Shot attempt as he and Femi reset while eyeing each other warily. Trick hits a weird reverse kick to Femi’s jaw and then poses acrobatically for the crowd. (Don’t show off, Trick. That’s how you get wrecked.) Femi trucks Trick a few times and then runs him to the floor. Trick makes the apron after Femi comes out to continue the battle, so Femi waffles Trick in the chest with a big slap. (More TNA wrestlers are shown including Zach Wentz of the Rascalz and Cassie Lee of the Iinspiration.) Trick manages to get to the other side of the ring and Femi chases after. Trick recovers to drop Femi face-first on the apron. Mike Santana jumps the barrier to join the announce team as Trick complains to Joseph and Booker. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Trick works Femi over along the barrier. (Eric Young of TNA is shown barking at Trick from the crowd.) They continue to battle it out along the barrier before the refs count forces them back in. Trick hammer Femi with a flying clothesline but doesn’t cover choosing instead to stare out at the crowd. Trick finally covers and gets two. Trick grabs a rear chinlock (There’s an ICE commercial that the CW plays incessantly during these breaks and I swear I want to punch the television every time it comes on. Also, Frankie Kazarian is in the crowd.) Trick hits a sort of twisting splash and covers Femi for two. Trick goes back to the rear chinlock. Femi has had enough and hoists Trick up for a short slam. Femi misses a knee drop and Trick waffles him with a leg lariat. Trick’s cover gets two.

Back to full screen with Femi trying to fight out of yet another Trick rear chinlock. Trick hits a short powerslam as Matt Cardona gets a gigantic pop from the PC crowd as he enters. Trick hits a uranage and covers Femi for two. Femi gets real fired up and smashes Trick with a one-handed chokeslam. Trick staggers to a corner and eats a Femi uppercut. Trick comes flying back and wallops Femi with a lariat. (Cedric Alexander is back in the PC as well. Man, they brought everyone. It must have been a fun bus ride! I wonder if they sang “99 Bottles Of Beer”?) Femi once again fires up and drops Trick with a face-first sit-out slam. Femi covers Trick for two.

Trick fires up and hits a couple of roundhouse pump kicks that stagger Femi. Trick’s third pump kick leads to a cover that gets a LONG two. Femi blasts Trick with a forearm but Trick responds with another roundhouse kick. Femi calmly picks up Trick and tosses him half-way across the ring. Trick rolls through a Fall From Grace attempt and his cover gets two. Trick comes off the ropes with the Trick Shot but only gets two. Femi pops up and hits the Fall From Grace OUTTA NOWHERE but Trick kicks out at two. (I may have to take a deep breath here, but they actually let Ole Mancer into the PC. I never thought I’d see the day.) Femi and Trick tumble to the floor and Trick manages to run Femi into the ring steps. Trick turns his attention to Santana and then slaps him full in the face. The ref sounds for the bell.

I have to think about this a bunch so I might have more to say in the comments later. They telegraphed this a week ago, and then obviously had Ava stay away so she can come back and put the pieces of what happened together. The match itself was actually very good leading up to the wildly predictable ending. Still though, they went a LONG way to get to what just turned out to be another angle disguised as a match. Listen, a DQ finish was always coming and I guess we’re doing COMPANY WARZ now, so we’ll see how the whole thing plays out. 3.5*

No Winner – No decision announced, DQ finish when Trick attacked Mike Santana

Post-match sees a GIGANTIC brawl break out between the TNA faction and the NXT group that has poured out of the back. In the middle of all this, Ricky Saints casually strolls out and ignores the chaotic scene that’s unfolding. Saints takes a good long look at the NXT title belt but Femi puts a paw up to grab it away from Saints. The credits roll and we’re out.

This was not their best effort tonight for a go-home show. There’s no direct TNA involvement at No Mercy so I guess the follow-up to the big show-ending angle will happen at TV next week, unless there’s more stuff planned for the weekend show. TNA brought an entire company of people tonight, which says something about the intent of this angle maybe being thought about a bit more than other invasion angles. In-ring was not great tonight but I’m sure No Mercy will deliver. The Grace-Monroe thing needs to end soon, though. Both need to move on from it. I gotta go thumbs leaning down tonight, I just wasn’t feeling it.

Thanks for reading and commenting, as always. It’s so appreciated, and please, as always, check out our other talented recappers as much as you can. Have a good day.