NXT Heatwave results: Moore’s live review of Trick Williams vs. Ethan Page vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Shawn Spears for the NXT Championship, Roxanne Perez vs. Lola Vice for the NXT Women’s Championship

By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)

NXT Heatwave
Streamed live July 7, 2024 on Peacock
Toronto, Ontario at Scotiabank Center

Pre Show Notes

Megan Morant and Sam Roberts were the hosts of the pre-show. They checked in from the WWE studio set. The panel sent the show first to the Roxanne Perez vs. Lola Vice hype package. The show cut to Sarah Schreiber interviewing Lola Vice about her story she told on Tuesday’s NXT. Vice said today is not about emotion, but about her picking up the NXT Women’s Championship.

Lola said this match is about her family, but she left her tears in Florida. She said after tonight she’ll become the first ever Cuban NXT Women’s Champion. Roberts and Morant then gave their thoughts and predictions on the Perez vs. Vice match…

Morant sent the show to the Oba Femi vs. Wes Lee hype package (which aired this past Tuesday on NXT TV). Sarah Schreiber checked in from backstage of Scotiabank Arena and announced that Nathan Frazer hasn’t arrived to Toronto yet and if he can’t make it to the venue in time for the match, Axiom will have to defend the tag team titles by himself. Axiom could be seen warming up behind Sarah in the hallway…[c]

Back from break, Morant sent the show to the Kelani Jordan vs. Sol Ruca hype package where both women were shown training with each other heading into their NXT Women’s North American Championship Match. The panel then gave their thoughts and predictions on the match. Morant then sent the show to an Ethan Page Instagram video where he vlog’ed himself leaving the hotel. He said that Denim was the “Canadian Tuxedo”.

He said he assumes that Shawn Spears is probably wearing a three piece suit, but Tuxedos are the way to go. He said he’s planning of winning the title tonight. The show cut to a Je’von Evans Instagram video where he was outside of the Scotiabank arena. He said 6 months ago he was on the indies, but today he’s challenging to becoming the youngest NXT Champion in history. He said things are about to get bouncy.

The show cut to Chase U (Sans Ridge Holland) hanging out backstage. Ridge Holland called Thea Hail via facetime. Holland said he’s hanging out with his kids and he and his family are rooting for Chase U to bring home hold. After they hung up, Duke Hudson said he feels bad because he ratted on Holland. Chase said it was no problem and they should focus on bringing the Tag Team Titles to Chase U. The show cut to Morant and Hudson who gave their thoughts on the tag team title match…

Morant welcomed Ava to the pre-show, who was in Toronto. Ava talked about how the landscape of NXT might change after Heatwave. Roberts asked if Ava regrets making the NXT title match a 4 way? She said a 4 way only makes the match better. Morant then hyped the pre-show match for after the break.[c]

Back from the break, Morant sent the show to a Shawn Spears instagram video. Spears talked about driving past the Scotiabank arena as a young aspiring wrestler saying that he looked at the arena promising to make it happen because he believes. He said he made that happen because he believes. He said he now has a chance to get what he thought he deserved years ago, winning the NXT Championship. He said the young talent in NXT will finally see the light, truth, and they’ll believe.

The show cut to a Trick Williams instagram video where he was vlogging through the streets of Toronto. Trick talked about how everyone is trying to come after the NXT title thinking he’s an easy target. He said Spears and Page think they are about to get home cooking in Canada, but Trick’s loved around the world. Trick said he’s going to walk out champion. The panel ran through the advertised Heatwave card again. ..

Megan sent the show to Scotiabank Arena where Vic Joseph and Booker T checked in on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer. Entrances for the pre-show match aired…

1. Karmen Petrovic and Ariana Grace vs. Jacy Jayne and Jasmyn Nyx. Grace and Jayne started out the match. Vic noted that Petrovic was wearing Toronto Raptors colors. Jayne dominated the early collar and elbow with an armdrag. Grace came back with a shoulder tackle and body slam. Petrovic tagged in and hit Jayne with a discus lariat for a two count. Nyx tagged in. Petrovic hit Nyx with a sweep kick and blockbuster for a two count.

Petrovic hit Nyx with a Yakuza Kick in the corner. Grace tagged in and hit Nyx with an elbow drop for a two count. Petrovic and Grace used tags to cut the ring in half on Nyx. Petrovic hit Nyx with a Rolling Sobat and facebuster for a nearfall. Jayne blind tagged in and hit Petrovic with an assisted neckbreaker. Jayne soaked in boos from attacking the hometown girl. Jayne and Nyx used tags to cut the ring in half on Petrovic.

Petrovic managed to get a two count off a small package. Jayne hit Petrovic with a back kick for a two count. Nyx tagged in and got a two count. Petrovic escaped a reverse triangle for a two count. Petrovic escaped a double suplex and dumped Nyx to ringside. Petrovic used boots to kick Jayne to bring in Grace for a hot tag. Grace rallied with high knees on both opponents. Grace hit Jayne with a diving overhead elbow for a two count.

Petrovic tagged in. Petrovic hit Jayne with a Leg Lariat Hart Attack for a nearfall. Jayne dodged a kick and slammed Petrovic to the mat by the hair. Nyx hit Petrovic with a sweep  kick. Jayne hit Petrovic with a knee. Grace broke up Nyx’s pin. Grace hit Jayne with a Codebreaker. Nyx rolled up Petrovic, but Grace pulled Nyx’s hair to put Petrovic on top for the pinfall win.

Karmen Petrovic and Ariana Grace defeated Jasmyn Nyx and Jacy Jayne via pinfall in 7:40.

John’s Thoughts: Of course, I go in with lower expectations given the abundance of developmental wrestlers in the match (Jacy Jayne and Ariana Grace being the “veterans” of the group. Jayne does have indie experience though). Both teams did a good job filling time, wrestling, and showing their improvement in front of a arena crowd outside of the Performance Center. Petrovic looked good in her first arena match. Ariana Grace was the one with the hottest hometown crowd reaction when she was in the ring and she’s shown a lot of skill in playing a wrestling character. There was a part of me that wanted Grace’s Toronto moment to be bigger with the TNA x NXT relationship, by having her father and on-air TNA authority figure, Santino Marella, make an appearance.

Axiom was praying in Spanish in the locker room. Nathan Frazer showed up and said he finally made it. Axiom was mad at Frazer being late. Frazer said he was just busy getting here and even taking pictures with fans. Frazer said he’s looking forward to defend the titles and he’s locked in. Axiom covered his face and said “ay dios mio”. The show cut back to Morant and Roberts, who gave more thoughts on the NXT Title match. The show then cut to the NXT Title Match hype package. That closed the pre-show…

John’s Thoughts: Eh, the pre-show match was fine, but as I said, they only extended these things to an hour just go put out more Peacock ads. I feel bad for Morant and Roberts who are thrown out there to fill time talking in Kayfabe like it’s an ESPN talking head show. If you want to see an inconsequential developmental match, have at it, it was fine, but otherwise if time is precious you didn’t miss anything skipping it.

Main Show Review

The NXT Heatwave intro video aired which was themed after a Smart TV selection screen…

Ethan Page was shown entering the arena from the parking lot. Trick Williams was shown hanging out with the fans in the arena entry line…

Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer…

Wes Lee made his entrance. Vic Joseph reminded viewers that if Wes Lee loses, he can’t challenge for the North American Title as long as Oba Femi is North American Champion. Vic noted that Seth Rollins already fell victim to that stipulation at Money in the Bank. Wes looked like he might be wearing Vegeta themed tights (Wes’s alternate Final Flash finisher is named after Vegeta’s finisher) Oba Femi made his entrance with new overlay graphics for the lead up to his theme. Vic noted that Wes is giving up over 130 pounds to Oba Femi…

1. Oba Femi vs. Wes Lee for the NXT North American Championship. Wes played footsies with Oba by using strikes to keep Oba at a distance. Oba managed to get Wes in the corner and smother him. Wes hit Oba with double boots to turn the tables. Oba Femi no sold gut strikes. Wes then fended Oba to the corner with alternating hands. Oba recovered and tossed Wes to the corner. Oba missed a boot in the corner and ate a CQC combo on Wes.

Wes Slipped off a springboard but recovered nicely to hit a springboard strike. Oba recovered and slapped Wes off the top rope to dump him to ringside. Oba spun Wes like a pizza with a spinning Press Slam. This invoked a “Holy Shit” chant from the crowd. Wes held onto the apron and fended off Oba with boots. Oba dumped Wes to ringside with a choke. Oba talked trash while choking Wes. Oba tossed Wes’s face into the steel beam under the ring.

Oba hit Wes with a backbreaker once Wes broke up the ten count. Oba gave Wes a knee to the gut and ragdolled him. Oba put Wes in a Tree of Woe and struck a Three Point Stance. Wes did s sit up to avoid a spear. Oba used his weight to block a Sunset Flip. Wes managed to reverse Oba and dump him to ringside. Wes avoided Oba’s hand swipes, but eventually got swatted out of the air with a slap to the chest. Oba hit Wes with a backbreaker and then put him in a backbreaker stretch.

Oba smacked Wes’s chest to the mat to prevent an escape. Wes kicked out at two. Vic Joseph quoted Eminem by saying Wes’s palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, and how he has to drop bombs. Wes rallied with strikes and kicks in the corner to get Oba to a knee. Wes hit Oba with a Tornado DDT for a two count. Wes hit Oba with a series of Suicide Dives, but couldn’t get him off his feet.

Oba blocked a diving Meteora and Sunset Flip. Wes managed to ground Oba with a Victory Roll for a two count. A NXT chant ensued. Wes hit a diving Meteora to the back of Oba’s neck. Oba caught a diving Wes with a uppercut for a two count. Oba dragged Wes to the top rope in Fireman Carry position. Wes escaped. Oba blocked a Frankensteiner. Wes countered (and kinda botched) a Super Spirit Bomb into an X Factor. Wes hit Oba with a Cardiac Kick. Oba kicked out at two.

Wes hit Oba with a Frog Splash, which Oba sold into a choke. Wes dumped Oba to ringside. Oba caught Wes out of the air and hit him with a shoulder breaker. Wes hit Oba with a double stomp to the back. Oba caught Wes during a Cardiac Kick attempt. Wes hit Oba with a thrust kick. Oba caught Wes again and then tossed Wes like a basketball. Oba hit Wes with a sitout power bomb for the victory.

Oba Femi defeated Wes Lee via pinfall in 16:19 to retain the NXT North American Championship.

John’s Thoughts:  While it started out slow, the slow pace is beneficial to building towards longer matches. The match turned out pretty good with Wes Lee doing a good job making Oba look good by bumping all over the place for him. Wes also looked really credible giving Oba the biggest run for his money. Oba on the other side, is way ahead of his years in looking like a star. Since his debut, the guy has looked like a main roster star and future Mania main eventer. Most of the people who acclimate quickly with zero pro wrestling experience  have a combat background, like Tony D’Angelo, Lola Vice, and even Logan Paul. Oba came into WWE as a NIL college shot putter and is one of the fastest learners of pro wrestling that we’ve seen.

Separate shots of Roxanne Perez and Lola Vice were shown as they were arriving to the arena. Vic Joseph sent the show to the Kelani Jordan vs. Sol Ruca hype package…

Entrances for the next match took place…

2. Kelani Jordan vs. Sol Ruca for the NXT North American Championship. Both women quickly started the match at a stalemate. Both women then showed their athleticism and hand balance during the next stalemate. Vic noted that both women come from Big 10 colleges (boo that conference for killing the Pac 10! I kid, I kid). Kelani reversed a X Factor into a crossbody for a one count. Kelani got a two count off a backslide.

Ruca hit Joran with an X Factor for a two count. Sol put Jordan in a Surfboard, which Vic noted makes Ruca look like she’s at home. Sol and Kelani traded hands. Jordan hit Ruca with a armdrag and dumped Ruca to ringside. Jordan hit Ruca with a Corkscrew Plancha. Jordan hit Ruca with a X Factor for a two count. Ruca recovered and slammed Jordan to the mat. Ruca hit Jordan with a slingshot 450 Clothesline for a two count.

Jordan hit Ruca with a Pele Kick. Jordan then hit Ruca with a Poison Rana. Jordan hit Ruca with a Asai Moonsault. Jordan broke up the countout to prevent Ruca from losing. Ruca recovered and hit Kelani with a PK from the apron. Ruca hit Jordan with a wall run Triangle Moonsault. Both women beat the ten count. Jordan rolled up Ruca for a few two counts. Both women traded rapid rollups. Ruca hit Jordan with a power bomb for a two count.

Jordan knocked Ruca off the top rope. Ruca got legs up to block a 450. Jordan slammed Ruca to the mat and got a two count after she blocked a Sol Snatcher. Dueling lets go chants ensued. ruca put Jordan in an Electric Chair and hit her with a reverse Alabama Slam into the buckle. Jordan reversed a top rope Electric Chair into a Super Poison Rana. Jordan hit Ruca with the One of a Kind Split Legged Moonsault for the victory.

Kelani Jordan defeated Sol Ruca via pnfall in 11:37 to retain the NXT Women’s North American Championship. 

Jordan held up Ruca’s hand in respect after the match…

John’s Thoughts: Good placement of the developmental match, just to not put the women in a tough position. That said, these women made it more than just a buffer by putting in some hard work and doing well in a developmental vs. developmental match in front of a live PLE arena crowd. Jordan has worked arenas well by herself, so it wasn’t surprising she did well here. This might have been Ruca’s first PLE singles match and she did really well. You could tell because both women managed to captivate the crowd. Sol Ruca in particular is someone special. If she were on the indies, she’d be a sensation. Watching some of the new wrestling moves she pulls out reminds me of when young Shelton Benjamin or Kofi Kingston in some of the innovation she shows. Heck, We haven’t seen Ricochet or Will Ospreay pull out some of Sol’s new tech.

A Twitter viewer from Gallus aired where they were addressing Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe brawling with them for weeks. They talked about how Igwe and Dupont care more about social media, while Gallus cares more about fighting. Joe said they’ll see Igwe and Dupont on Tuesday…

A replay aired of Karmen Petrovic and Ariana Grace picking up the win in the pre-show. They cut to Ava praising Petrovic and Grace for making a pretty good tag team. Grace said she’s glad it worked out and if Petrovic were by herself it would have been catastrophic. Petrovic said she picked up the win and they’re a team. Grace said she was the real MVP tonight and unfortunately this is the last time they’ll be teaming. Ava booked Grace and Petrovic in a match for Tuesday. Grace said it was disgusting to pit two tag team partners against each other…

Lola Vice was shown getting ready in the makeup room. Ethan Page was shown taping up his wrists…

Entrances for the tag team title match took place. Vic Joseph noted that the last time tag team titles have changed hands on Heatwave were back in the 90s on ECW Heatwave…

3. Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs. Duke Hudson and Andre Chase (w/Thea Hail, Riley Osborne) for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Chase and Axiom started out at a stalemate after some grounded chain wrestling. Axiom had Kenesio Tape on his shoulder. Both men then traded rollups. Chase told Axiom that his rollup was a teachable moment. Frazer tagged in and ate a few armdrags. Frazer hit Chase with a jump kick. Hudson tagged in. Hudson caught Frazer out of the air and hit him with an overhead Belly to Belly Suplex.

Chase tagged in. Frazer took control and tagged in Axiom. Frazer and Axiom swarmed Chase with running strikes to give Axiom a nearfall. Axiom gave Chase a Northern Lariat for a nearfall. Axiom tagged in Frazer who hit Chase with  a gamengiri. Frazer and Axiom hit Chase with kicks to give Frazer a two count. Chase and Frazer took each other out. Axiom tagged in first and prevented chase from tagging out. Axiom put Chase in a Juji Gatame which chase broke with a pin.

Axiom then put Chase in a heel hook. Chase went for an enzuigiri, but Axiom grapvined an Ankle Lock. Chase used a leg whip to send Axiom into the buckle. Hudson and Frazer tagged in with Hudson having momentum, cleaning house. Hudson hit both opponents with Chase U Bionic Elbows. Hudson hit Axiom with a corner Uranage. Hudson hit Frazer with a press slam. Hudson hit Frazer with a Gutbuster while hitting Axiom with a falling Senton at the same time to get a nearfall.

Frazer dumped Hudson to ringside with a dropkick. Hudson blocked a dive with a punch. Hudson hit Frazer with an athletic Slingshot German Suplex. Frazer reversed a Razor’s Edge with a huracanrana into the buckle. Axiom tagged in and hit Hudson with a top rope Huracanrana. Axiom and Frazer hit both opponents with multiple suicide dives. Axiom hit Hudson with a Frog Splash and tagged in Hudson.

Frazer hit Hudson with a 450 for a good nearfall. Axiom ate double boots from Hudson. Frazer used an armdrag to block a gamengrir. Hudson hit Frazer with a nice handstand headscissors. Hudson hit Frazer with a side slam for a nearfall. A “This is Awesome” chant ensued. Hudson dragged Frazer to the top rope, but Frazer used a headbutt to escape. Frazer hit Duke with a slingshot dropkick. Axiom tagged in. Axiom staggered Duke on the top rope with a Gamengiri.

Axiom hit Hudson with a Spanish Fly. Frazer hit Duke with a Phoenix Splash. Chase broke the pin by running off Frazer’s back and hitting Axiom with a Canadian Destroyer. All four men were left lying. Chase and Axiom traded fighting spirit forearms. Both men then traded big boots. Chase hit Axiom with a leg slice. Axiom accidently gave Axiom a Superkick. Chase rolled up Axiom for a really compelling nearfall. Frazer dropkicked Duke into the steel steps at ringside.

Chase gave Axiom a Russian Legsweep. Chase gave Axiom Chase U Boots. Chase hit Axiom with a High Fly Flow. Frazer broke up Chase’s pin. Chase dumped Frazer to ringside. Frazer blind tagged in. Chase caught Frazer with a boot. Frazer hit Chase with a Superplex into a Brainbuster with a kick by Axiom. Frazer hit Hudson with a Flip Dive. Axiom hit Chase with a Golden Ratio for the victory.

Axiom and Nathan Frazer defeated Andre Chase and Duke Hudson via pinfall in 13:50 to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.

John’s Thoughts: Awesome tag team match with the crowd getting into every moment. Axiom and Frazer have developed into a very entertaining tag team with their fast paced and technical offense. Chase U are NXT’s gem in terms of in-ring, sports entertainment, and crowd engagement. It’s not just the Performance Center, and I’ve been a part of arena shows with Chase U; this cheesy act has the power to really get the crowd behind them. If you’ve been watching television dramas for a long time, this might have been surprising because NXT has been laying it on thick that Nathan Frazer is distracted with WWE Speed and singles matches. They even teased the backfire with Frazer’s accidental superkick on Axiom. While they didn’t pay that off here, I’m sure that they are going to use that story facet to take the titles off Frazer and Axiom whenever they decide to do so.

A cameraman tried to interview Wes Lee but he yelled saying that it should have been his time tonight. He talked about how he failed. He said Oba Femi was the better man tonight. Wes said he was at a loss for words and he needs some time to figure out what to do next…

John’s Thoughts: Excursion to TNA to reform the OG Rascalz trio? That would be fun, and me fantasy booking.

An ad aired for NXT Great American Bash which is being preempted to SyFy nextwork…

Je’von Evans was shown warming up backstage. They then cut to Shawn Spears sitting on a couch and staring blankly…

The Roxanne Perez vs. Lola Vice hype package aired…

Entrances for the Women’s Championship match aired. Mike Rome handled the formal in-ring Championship introductions…

4. Roxanne Perez vs. Lola Vice for the NXT Women’s Championship. Perez slapped Vice in the corner. Vice slammed Perez to the mat. Perez blocked a Juji Gatame attempt. Vice worked on Perez with Muay Thai knees. Perez rolled quickly away to dodge a Backfist. Vice hit Perez with a dive at ringside. Perez regained control and hit Lola with a draping foot stomp for a two count. Vice rolled up Perez for a two count. Perez slammed Vice to the mat by the hair.

Perez hit Vice with a European Uppercut and Russian Leg sweep for a two count. Vice hit Perez with a knee to the gut. Vice worked on Perez with rapid kicks. Vice yelled “I’m a Latina!” and hit Perez with a hip attack in the corner. Vice hit Perez with an axe kick for a two count. Perez rolled up Vice for a two count. Perez went for a European Uppercut, but Vice put Perez in a Sleeper. Perez broke it up with a rollup. Lola put Perez in a Rear Naked Choke.

Perez broke it up by slamming Lola’s back into the announce table. Vice went for a backfist, but missed and hit the ringpost. Perez stomped on Vice’s injured hand. Perez hit Vice with a Northern Lights at ringside. Perez stomped on Vice and hit Vice with a Sacrifice Arm Breaker for a two count. Perez stomped on Vice’s injured hand again. Vice got back to her feet and hit Perez with kicks. Perez came back with a Saito Suplex.

Vice reversed a Moonsault into a Triangle which Perez escaped. Vice hit Perez with a backfist, but Perez crumpled to the floor. Vice sold her injured hand. Perez gave Vice’s injured arm a few uppercuts. Perez then tossed Vice’s injured hand into the ringpost. Vice escaped Pop Rocks and hit Perez with Tae Kwon Do switch Kicks. Vice used her boot to lift Perez by the face. Perez hit Vice with Pop Rocks. Vice kicked out. Perez cleared the announce table.

Perez yelled “you will never be champion”. Perez hit Vice with a Pop Rocks on the table. “I am the Table”, the table didn’t break. Vice kicked out at two in the ring. Perez gave Vice elbows to the injured arm. Perez put Vice in a Crossface. Perez rolled up into Pop Rocks. Perez hit  a clunky Pop Rocks. Perez hit Vice with a third Pop Rocks for the victory.

Roxanne Perez defeated Lola Vice via pinfall in 12:49 to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.

John’s Thoughts: The biggest singles match in Lola Vice’s singles career, and I think she did a pretty decent job. It takes two to tango. Yes, Perez led Lola to a good match, but Lola showed her improvement by holding her end of the deal. They did go a bit overboard by having Perez kicked out of a bunch of Roxanne’s finishers, but the key there is to take advantage of that and have that play into her future feuds now that they’ve essentially used that to position her as a potential upper echelon talent. As Jason Powell has joked, if you dedicate a match to a family member, that’s a guaranteed loss. That trend followed here, but I also didn’t think they positioned Vice to take the title anyway.

A replay aired of HBK inviting Brooks Jensen to NXT on Tuesday for intervention based off his recent “downward spiral”…

A Instagram video of a shirtless Lexis King was shown where he continued to mock Eddy Thorpe’s EDM in favor of his Rock and Roll. He announced that he’s facing Tony D’Angelo this upcoming Tuesday for the Heritage Cup…

The show cut to a Tony D’Angelo Instagram video. Tony D’Angelo was in his garden watering his fruits. He said Luca Crucifino showed him the Lexis King Instagram video on how he is trying to take away the “Italian” Heritage Cup. Tony said it isn’t going to be a cakewalk to take the title. He said he’s going to slap the fake beard off Lexis’s face and then come back to his garden to water his basil plants.

The following segments were announced for the the upcoming NXT episode: Tony D’Angelo vs. Lexis King for the Heritage Cup, Gallows and Anderson vs. OTM, Gallus vs. Igwe and Dupont, and Wes Lee “addressing his future”. Vic sent the show to the NXT Championship hype package…

Je’von Evans made his entrance with a nice looking red jacket. Shawn Spears did his usual Chairman entrance, wearing a skull mask. Ethan Page was out next. Vic Joseph noted that Ethan founded a wrestling promotion called Alpha-1 in Toronto, just so he can become a world champion. Trick Williams came out to his usual strong Whoop Dat Trick entrance. Mike Rome handled the formal in-ring championship introductions. Vic noted that Trick has a 25% chance to survive…

5. Trick Williams vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Je’von Evans vs. Shawn Spears for the NXT Championship. Page slapped his ass and ducked to ringside. Evans hit Page with a suicide dive. Trick gave Spears hands and a body slam. Trick dumped Spears to ringside. Page and Spears then took control and took turns slamming their opponents on the steel steps. Page and Spears then got in each others’ face in the ring. The crowd gave Spears ten chants. Spears and Page teased an alliance and gave each other stereo eye pokes.

Trick and Evans then cleared the heels from the ring. Trick and Evans did a handshake and traded counters. Evans rolled up Trick for a two count. Evans hit Trick with a high dropkick and a seated springboard huracanrana for a nearfall. Trick came back with a high clothesline. Trick hit Evans with a body slam. Trick took down Evans with a high dropkick. Spears brought his chair in the irng and missed. Vic noted that it’s no DQ in a fatal four way.

Trick hit Page and Spears with a double flapjack. Evans hit Page and Spears with a double crossbody. Trick hit Evans with a Book End for a two count. Page suplexed Evans on a draping Spears. Page put Evans on the top rope and slammed him on both opponents. Page hit Evans with a pop up power slam for a two count. Page, Spears, and Evans brawled to the top rope. Spears escaped. Trick put Evans in an electric chair. Trick hit Spears with a Russian Legsweep while Page hit Evans with a Doonsday Device.

Trick and Page picked up nearfalls on Spears and Evans. Spears took out everyone with chairs to the back. The crowd fired up with ten chants. Trick hit Spears with a pop up punch. Spears hit Trick with a C4 DVD into the steel chair for a nearfall. Evans hit Spears with a superkick. Page caught Evans’s foot and sent it into Spears. Evans and Spears were laid out with kicks. Trick took out Page with a Blockbuster to leave all four men lying.

Trick cleared the announce table at ringside. Page recovered and tossed Trick into the ringpost. Trick escaped a Ego’s Edge and tossed Page into the ringpost. Evans hit Trick with a flip dive over the ringpost to send Trick through the barricade. In the ring, Spears hit Evans with a Super Death Valley Driver. Page tossed Spears away and tried to steal the pin, but Evans kicked out at two. Spears sent Trick and himself ot ringside with a headscissors. Evans hit Page with a Super Spanish Fly and High Springboard Cutter.

Trick broke up the pin for a wonderful nearfall. Trick and Evans traded hands. Then they traded feet. Evans and Trick took each other out with stereo dropkicks. Evams was tripped off a slingshot attempt by Spears. Spears went dragged Evans to the second rope. Evans escaped the hold. Both men met at the top rope. Evans hit Spears with a Super Cutter and Corkscrew Splash. Trick broke up the pin again for another close nearfall.

Evans went for a slingshot, but Trick shoved him into and through the announce table. A “Rest in Peace” chant ensued, I think? Spears blocked a Trick Knee and turned it into a Canadian Sharpshooter. Page broke it up with a Big Boot to Spears. Page hit Trick with an Ego’s Edge. Evans put Trick’s foot on the rope to break the pin.

Page was furious and gave Evans punches while yelling that it was his fault. Spears saved Evans. Trick hit Page and Evans with Trick Shot knees. Spars dragged Trick to ringside as Page fell, knocked out, on top of Evans to pick up the win.

“All Ego” Ethan Page defeated Je’von Evans, Trick Williams, and Shawn Spears via pinfall in 17:22 to become the new NXT Champion. 

Ethan gloated and posed with the title to close the show. (There was a weird random clip of Joe Hendry’s entrance video that played, but they quickly switched to a Nia Jax generic video package)…

John’s Thoughts: When NXT set up this fatal four way in convoluted fashion, I know I wasn’t the only one that thought that the forced booking like this was for them to have an avenue to put the title belt on Ethan Page. In fact, they went with that route, and I’m totally fine with that because not only does it set up Ethan Page as THE top  antagonist of NXT (bouncing back from him losing his debut NXT match), but it also sets up a mountain for babyfaces to climb. Trick loses nothing because he can get his heat back with his natural charisma and talking ability. Homeboy is really good as the main protag of NXT and protags need journeys  to go on.

As for the match, the match was very well worked with everyone playing their role well. Odd that the two heels were the hometown heroes, but thankfully the crowd chose to christen Spears with his old “perfect 10” gimmick against his will, where they chose him as the de facto hometown hero. Je’von Evans is marvelous to watch and he really captivated the crowd with his hops and high flying smoothness. Trick was the low key MVP who tied things together with his amazing timing of those nearfalls which played into the finish as the one-pinfall-too-many that he couldn’t get to. His face selling “nooooo!” in the camera shot during Page’s fluke win was perfect.

As for the rest of the show, solid effort by both the veterans, but especially the developmental talent being asked to carry an well-attended arena PLE show. This was nowhere as “epic” as the old Black and Gold shows, but way better compared to those clunky 2.0 efforts. Up there with a lot of pro wrestling from other companies. Each match on the main show was over 10 minutes. We forget that Oba Femi is a NIL former Shot Putter with no combat sports background, and the guy goes out there and has a 15+ minute high workrate match with less than 15 matches on air in is career. This was a great show. Jason Powell and I will be by in a bit with the same-night audio review for the Dot Net Members and the Patreon Patrons.

NXT Heatwave Poll – Grade the overall show

 
pollcode.com free polls

NXT Heatwave Poll – Vote for the best match

 
pollcode.com free polls

 

WE VALUE YOUR PRIVACY

Readers Comments (7)

  1. Tag Team Title match was a match of the year candidate. Awesome!

    John – I saw the Impact spoilers, and your suggestion for Wes just might be reality. It was the Rascalz having issues with the visiting No Quarter Catch Crew.

  2. Best PLE of 2024 so far. Excellent too to bottom

    Say his name and he appears…

    • “I believe in Joe Hendry! Clap Clap! I Believe in Joe Hendry!”

      Joe Hendry has created such a strong pavlovian dog bell, that every time someone says his name an he appears, I can’t help but type the “say his name” bit in my written review…

  3. I was there live. That “Rest in Peace” chant you thought you heard was “Holy shit”.

    • Was this somehow a weird Canadian accent version of “Holy Shit”? (I kid, I kid. Half of my family members live in Buffalo, NY, where a lot of Canada has seeped into; so when I’m out there I always do a double take when regular spoken words I hear feel off)

      • No, I take it back. Watched it back after I got home and there was a “Rest in peace” chant that must have been coming from nearby a ringside mike, ’cause it was sure “Holy shit” around where I was sitting.

  4. The main event finish was a recreation of the Backlash 2007 fatal four way for the WWE Championship.

    There Shawn Michaels superkicked John Cena who fell on top of Randy Orton, who had also taken a finisher, to give Cena the lucky win.

    Shawn Micheals even sold the break up attempt like Trick did

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.