By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live October 15, 2024 on The CW
[Hour One] The show started off with the 2Chainz NXT Opening Theme… Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer…
Vic and Booker checked in from the Performance Center entrance ramp where the ran through some upcoming segments. They sent the show to highlights from last week’s NXT show…
Tony D’Angelo was already in the ring sitting next to the NXT North American Championship on a coffee table. He said he wanted to celebrate his title win with his family because without them he wouldn’t be champion. He said he wanted to give a toast to the former champion, Oba Femi. He noted that Oba is the longest reigning champion in history and Oba broke Tony. He said he had to win the title by any means necessary. He said he used Oba’s biggest strength against him, pride.
He said he baited Oba, to make Oba think that Tony was broken. Tony said he seized the moment and beat Oba. Tony said a part of him wants this to be over, but he knows it isn’t. Tony D said Salud to Oba Femi. Oba Femi made his entrance in street clothes. Oba said he’s not gonna lie, Tony got him. He congratulated Tony. Oba said it happened once, but it won’t happen again. Oba talked about how he’s going to regain his title at Halloween Havoc to once again be the ruler of NXT. Oba then said that Tony’s family will not be by his side at Halloween Havoc to help him. Oba went to the Halloween Havoc wheel and the wheel stopped at a “Tables, Ladders, and Scares” match…
Byron Saxton interviewed Oro Mensah about the upcoming Gentlemen’s Duel match. There was a list of elaborate rules that I couldn’t catch up with. Lexis King showed up and said that he didn’t want to make his father proud by cheating, he said tonight is going to be a fair match. Lexis said may the best man win. Oba said he’s not buying the nice guy act…
Stephanie Vaquer made her entrance to generic rock music…[c]
John’s Thoughts: They said they made changes to the Performance Center according to how Vic framed it, but it kinda looked the same. The PC is a good recording studio for wrestling, so it didn’t need to be improved too much (Only downside is it’s a bit claustrophobic compared to even Full Sail). Tony D and Oba Femi have turned a random feud into a pretty solid back-and-forth. Looking forward to the rubber match between the two because with Tony D plucking out the win last time, he’s still going into the next match as the underdog to the dominant champion. The Rocky 3 plot-thread made him winning the last one logical. I’m curious to see how they have him win here if they don’t decide to double-back to Oba (which they don’t have to).
Vic plugged WrestleMania ticket presale information…
No Quarter Catch Crew made their entrance. A graphic aired to show the broadcast team of Booker, Joseph, Rome, and Saxton…
1. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Wren Sinclair (w/Charlie Dempsey, Myles Borne, Tavion Heights). Wren and Steph started the match with some technical chain wrestling. Vaquer did a bicep curl during a deathlock. Sinclair countered into a few chain moves into a armbar. Steph rolled up Wren into a two count. Steph caught Wren with a kick to the gut. Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez were shown watching the match via PIP.
Jade and Perez left the room they were watching the match in. Steph blocked a Sunset Flip and used her knees to slam Wren’s face into the mat. Both women traded some fighting spirit right hands. Wren hit Steph with a running splash. Wren hit Steph with a Underhook Suplex. Steph escaped the corner and gave Wren a Dragon Screw in the corner. Steph hit Wren with a Meteora in the corner. Steph hit Wren with a Package backbreaker for the win.
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Wren Sinclair via pinfall in 4:40.
After the match, Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez beat down Stephanie Vaquer. Giulia ran out for the save. Giulia took out both opponents with a Shotgun Dropkick. Vaquer and Giulia cleared Perez and Jade from the ring. Vaquer challenged both women to a tag match at Halloween Havoc to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: With two international sensations coming in at the same time, Giluia and Stephanie’s debuts will have to be compared. WWE has done a way better job making Giulia look like a mega star with her entrance, camera angles, look, and presentation. WWE has rushed Vaquer’s debut a bit (I’m assuming the Visa issues just made things hard to time, so it’s understandable). Even the music seems a bit generic. That said, I think Vaquer came off better in the ring initially here as she got to showcase her move set and look badass doing so. It looks like we’ll get the tag team match first. I wonder if this will lead to either two singles feuds, or a four way for the Women’s title. If there’s a title change, I kinda hope there’s a one-on-one at a PLE…
Trick Williams and Kelani Jordan were chatting backstage. Trick talked about finding his opponent later tonight. Trick said he knows this title run will go better than last. Jordan talked about how she’s waiting for Ava to pick her opponent and how nobody can do it like Lani. Both of them dapped it up before leaving. The camera panned to Fallon Henley telling the rest of Fatal Influence that it’s time to talk to Ava…
Lexis King made his entrance…[c] Vic plugged CW game shows…
Karmen Petrovic was chatting with Brinley Reese in the back. Ashanti Adonis showed up to apologize for costing them their matches last week and he gave Reese a rose. Ashanti called them a couple of shawtys. Shawn Spears and Brooks Jensen showed up. Spears said to call them ladies. Jensen ripped up the rose and tossed it on the ground. Robert Stone and security showed up to make sure there wasn’t a fight. Karmen Petrovic went on the ground to look at the rose petals for some reason…
Oro Mensah made his entrance…
2. Lexis King vs. Oro Mensah in a “Gentlemen’s Duel”. Oro dominated the early collar and elbow. A picture-in-picture showed Tavion Heights on Twitter wondering if Lexis King knows the Gentlemen’s Duel rules. Oro tried to kick King on the ground, but the referee wouldn’t let him according to the rules. Oro used a side jackknife to get a two count. King slipped, but recovered and hit a crossbody for a two count.
King tripped Oro off the ropes, but saved Oro to prevent breaking the rules. Both men took each other out of the air with stereo crossbody blocks heading into regular break.[c]
Back from break, King hit Oro with a Swanton for a two count. King worked on Oro with clinch knees. Oro came back with a leg sweep and rapid chops. Oro hit King with a huracanrana and power slam for a two count. King came back with a Michinoku Driver for a two count. Both men traded European Uppercuts and right hands. Oro hit King with a Koppu Kick. Oro used a backflip to knock King off the top rope.
Oro hit King with a Slingshot Rolling Sobat for a two count. King hit Oro with a Superkick. Oro came back with a stiff lariat. Oro rolled into the corner and missed a corner heel kick. Oro rolled up King for a two count. King got a nearfall off a jackknife pin. Oro got a two count off a Crucifix pin. King rolled up Oro with a Modified Jackknife Pin for the clean win.
Lexis King defeated Oro Mensah via pinfall in 10:58 to win the Gentlemen’s Duel.
King and Oro shared a respectful handshake after the match with Oro looking baffled…
Cedric Alexander and Je’Von Evans were chatting backstage. Axiom and Nathan Frazer showed up to congratulate Evans for his good performance against Orton last week. Cedric talked about how Axiom and Frazer cost them their match a few weeks ago. Frazer said it was a accident. Wes Lee showed up to tell Evans that he’s not ready for the NXT Championship. Cedric and Evans said Wes was sounding salty. Wes talked about winning championships in WWE while Evans hasn’t. Both men bickered to end the segment…
Vic plugged Lola Vice vs. Nikkita Lyons for after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: They didn’t clearly state the rules of the “Gentleman’s Duel” but I think the confusion was a part of the point as the wrestlers were supposed to be just as confused. This feud between Oro and King is also confusing, but I also think that’s by design because Lexis King has done such a job being a scumbag in NXT, that the sudden honorable turn outta nowhere is baffling. Oro’s face after the match sold that too. They’ve made it logical, saying that King is trying to distance himself from Brian Pillman by doing things more by the book. The viewer totally expects this to be disingenuous, but maybe it isn’t. A good hook to see the next step of this feud.
A replay aired of Iyo Sky jawing with Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend, which cost her her match. Tweets of Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky were shown where they challenged Legend and Jackson. The show went to a Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson promo where they said they will eliminate Damage Ctrl from the title picture and go after the tag titles…
Tony D’Angelo vs. Oba Femi in a Tables, Ladders, and Scares match was announced for Halloween Havoc. Vic also plugged the NXT Championship number one contenders match…
Vic and Booker checked in from the commentary table where they sent the show to a sponsored profile package of Nikkita Lyons. Lyons said the audience has only got a taste of Nikkita Lyons. She said she likes to dance, fight, touch grass, and vibe. She said she can knock you lights outs whenever she wants. She said she’s been out, but the come back is always better than the set back. She said the Lioness is about to be untamed and she’s going to take over…
Lola Vice made her entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Not gonna lie, this match gonna be “thicccccccc”. Or the way Aku from Samurai Jack orders his pizza, extra thicc.
Vic announced that Cole Custer, the NASCAR XFinity Series Champion, appearing on NXT next week…
[Hour Two] Nikkita Lyons made her entrance…
3. Lola Vice vs. Nikkita Lyons. Lyons and Vice started the match with some Tae Kwon Do sparring. Vice landed a punch to the gut and high kick leading to her doing a dance. Lyons came back with a shoulder tackle and did some twisting and twerking. Vice gave Lyons a knee. Vice came back with a series of body slams. Lyons backdropped Vice. Vice sent Lyons into the ringpost. Vice put Lyons in a Sleeper. Lyons used the buckle to break the hold.
Lyons slammed Vice to the mat to break the hold. Lyons alternated hooks. Vice worked on Lyons with TKD spin kicks. Vice hit Lyons with rapid roundhouses. Vice hit Lyons with her I’m a Latina hip attack. Vice hit Lyons with a Axe Kick. Jaida Parker got on the apron and ate a thrust kick from Vice. Lyons dumped Vice to ringside with a Thrust Kick. Parker hit Vice with Hip-notic while the referee wasn’t looking. Lyons hit Vice with a Vader Bomb for the win.
Nikkita Lyons defeated Lola Vice via pinfall in 4:47.
Vice glared at Parker up the ramp…
NXT GM Ava was chatting with Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia about how she approves of their match against Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez. Fatal Influence showed up to demand a North American title shot. Ava said if they want a shot, they should first face Giulia and Vauqer on NXT TV next week. They all looked apprehensive, but Henley accepted…
Riley Osborne and Thea Hail made their entrance to Osborne’s theme…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A bit clunky at points, but both women put in hard work and looked solid given their developmental status. I joked that the match was going to be built around the thicc and the kick, but both women actually played into that with lots of booty shakin’ and Tae Kwon Do kickin’. I especially appreciated the actual Tae Kwon Do used given both women are black belts (Sorry, I love Tae Kwon Do! A fun martial art to learn). Big meaty men bumpin’ meat? Meet “Big booty women, kickin’ booty”. It would have sucked to just feed Vice to Lyons given the effort they’ve put in to develop her over the past year so I also liked that they gave her the logical out given her ongoing feud with Jaida Parker, who ironically added more to the thicc with that Hip-notic.
A replay aired of last week’s backstage brawl between Ridge Holland and Riley Osborne…
Riley used an axe handle and flip dive to jump Ridge Holland during his entrance…
4. Ridge Holland vs. Riley Osborne (w/Thea Hail). Osborne hit Holland with a Whisper of the Wind and standing Shooting Star for the two count. Holland gained control after a side slam. Holland slammed Osborne on the apron while acknowledging the negative crowd reaction. Osborne recovered on the top of the Announce Table and hit Holland with a Tornado DDT at ringside. Holland used a hook punch to stagger Osborne on the top rope.
Both men traded hands on the top rope. Holland hit Osborne with a Super Belly to Belly Suplex. Holland hit Osborne with a Release Power Bomb. Holland jawed with the crowd a bit. Holland hit Osborne with the Redeemer DDT for the victory.
Ridge Holland defeated Riley Osborne via pinfall in 3:43.
Holland attacked Osborne after the match and dumped him to ringside, continuing to jaw with the crowd. Hail begged Ridge to stop. Holland cleared the announce table and put Osborne on it. Holland soaked in “You Suck” chants. Before he could hit the DDT, Andre Chase ran out for the save. Chase rallied with shoulder tackles and dumped Ridge to ringside. Referees ran out to get in between them. Hail hugged Chase for his return…
John’s Thoughts: Ridge Holland continues to look like a completely new wrestler compared to when he was called up the first time to the main roster. As I said, as much as I hated the klutz and sad dad story in NXT, Ridge Holland has shown to be one of the most improved wrestlers in WWE. He’s been showing that he can work longer matches and has shown some good power and innovative suplexes in every match. In his return to NXT, he’s shown that he’s a very very good talker and can work angry, sad, serious, and comedy on the mic very well. Here’s hoping he can take all this and showcase it on the main roster down the road. And to Osborne’s credit, he’s a future guy in need of a serious push, who’s also able to make his opponents look really good. This match and his match against Oba Femi early in Femi’s career are good examples. He’s one of NXT’s best in-ring guys.
A replay aired of a Sol Ruca vs. Wendy Choo dark match last week where Tatum Paxley attacked Choo after the match…
Tatum Paxley was playing with her dolls. Byron Saxton interviewed her. Tatum talked about Wendy pretending to be her friend only to stab her in the back. Jaida Parker and OTM showed up and dragged Saxton away. Parker said she knows that Vice has hands. Paxley cut back in and said that Parker was interfering with her play time. Parker said Paxley handled business with Wendy Choo, but Jaida Parker doesn’t play around…
Vic Joseph plugged Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer vs. Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade for Halloween havoc. Vic then plugged the number one contenders match for this main event…
Ashanti the Adonis was shown checking out himself in a mirror. Brooks Jensen was warming up in the hallway…
An ad aired for Survivor Series War Games…[c]
Vic plugged donating to American Red Cross…
Ashanti the Adonis made his entrance. Brooks Jensen was in the ring. Shawn Spears has his arm in a sling…
5. Ashanti the Adonis vs. Brooks Jensen (w/Shawn Spears). Adonis hit Jensen with a flying clothesline for a two count. Jensen turned it around and worked on Ashanti with some grounded offense. Adonis got a thump to the eyes of Jensen to get back at Jensen with some hands. Jensen came back with an overhead elbow for a two count. Ethan Page was shown doing resistance band curls in the picture-in-picture. Jensen worked on Adonis with methodical offense.
Adonis dumped Jensen to ringside and followed up with a Wrecking Ball Kick. Adonis hit Jensen with a toehold and dropkick. Karmen Petrovic showed up and scared Spears with a spin kick. Karmen Petrovic showed up to ringside and poured the rose petals on the ring apron, which distracted Adonis a bit.
Adonis then pummeled Jensen with punches and a slingshot double stomp. Spears distracted Adonis which allowed Jensen to crotch him on the top rope. Jensen hit Adonis with a draping DDT for the victory.
Brooks Jensen defeated Ashanti the Adonis via pinfall in 4:38.
Adonis looked up the ramp and the camera showed Karmen Petrovic tilt her head and smirk…
Separate shots of the men in the NXT Championship number one contendership match were shown…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A well worked match with good development. Adonis was the weak link in Hit Row in terms of talking and character work, but this new playa that strikes out on the shawty characters has gotten him out of his shell and he’s showing that he’s looking comfortable in character work. Karmen Petrovic also showed a bit of a twist in terms of some of her facial expressions that has me looking forward to see what’s next in this storyline with Ashanti the Adonis. Things like that smirk at the top of the ramp makes her look more than just the happy-to-be-here karate lady. A part of me wants to see Ashanti get his Shawty this time! A good character goal and arc.
The mystery woman vignette showed that lady at the top of a skyscrapper. We saw her face this time. She beat up a giant CGI NXT sign (I believe it’s WWE’s newest signing, Australian women’s wrestler “Delta”)…
Lexis King walked past NQCC and said that maybe he should get a Heritage Cup match soon. He then passed by Tony D and the Family and walked away. Tony D and the Family chatted about Tony D’s upcoming Halloween Havoc match. Luca Crucifino asked Tony D if he could face Oba first next week on NXT TV…
Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane vs. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson; as well as Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer vs. Fatal Influence were announced for next week…
Je’Von Evans made his entrance. Wes Lee made his entrance heading into the break…[c]
A tweet aired from NASCAR champion Cole Custer where he hyped up his NXT appearance next week…
All Ego Ethan Page made his entrance. Vic noted that it’s been odd that Ethan Page has been quiet all day…
6. Je’von Evans vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Wes Lee to become Number One Contender to the NXT Championship. Evans took out Lee with a superkick off the bat. All three men traded rapid pin attempts. Page accepted a sunset flip from Evans to avoid a superkick from Lee. Evans dropkicked Wes to ringside and gave Ethan a huracanrana at the same time. Lee hit Evans with a slingshot move. Page used a Fallaway Slam on Evans to knock Lee off the apron. Page got a two count on Evans.
Evans hit Page with Sliced Bread. Wes broke up the pin with a slingshot Meteora to get a two count on Evans. Page watched as Lee and Evans took each other out with CQC. Both men then tossed the other person’s kicks into Page to dump him to ringside. Page tripped up Evans. Lee caught Page wit a Wrecking Ball Kick. Page tackled Lee into the apron and backdropped him on the announce table. While Page was doing a signature pose while sitting on the announce table, Evans hit Page with a suicide dive heading into break.[c]
Wes and Evans traded Boo Yay right hands. Evans and Lee turned each other inside out with stereo clotheslines. Page put the boots to both opponents. Page body slammed Evans on top of Lee. Page gave Lee a front suplex on Evans. Page gave Evans mounted punches and then hit Evans with a pull up Power Slam. Lee used a dropkick to break up Page’s pin. Wes and Evans took turns trading punches. Lee hit Evans with a DDT to also knock down Page. Lee hit Page with a Standing Shooting Star for the two count.
Evans and Lee traded right hands. All three men took each other out with stereo roundhouse kicks. A “fight forever” chant ensued. Lee crotched Page on the top rope and went up to brawl with him. Page knocked him off. Evans jumped to the top like a cat and hit Page with a Super Spanish Fly side slam on Page. Evans hit Lee with a spinning jump kick for a good nearfall. Page hit Evans with a high spin kick. Evans used a legscissors to reverse Ego’s Edge. Wes took out Page with a Top Rope Meteora.
Evans hit Wes with a High Top Rope RKO for a great nearfall on Lee. Wes kicked Evans to break an ego’s edge attempt. Evans escaped a Tower of Doom and superkicked Page to ringside. Evans hit Lee with a Corkscrew Splash. Evans went for the Pin but Page jumped in and rolled up Evans for the clean rollup win.
All Ego Ethan Page defeated Je’Von Evans and Wes Lee via pinfall in 15:27 to become the new number one contender to the NXT Championship.
Ethan Page took a mic and said he’s not going anywhere. He called out Trick Williams to spin the damn wheel. Trick Williams made his entrance to meet Ego at the wheel. The wheel landed at a Devil’s Playground match. While Trick was posing. Page hit Trick in the head with the stage light. Page posed over Trick saying you will see the devil inside of him. NXT closed…
John’s Thoughts: While I think that “fight forever” might have been a bit much, this was a very hard worked and awesome number one contenders main event. The story of the match was fun with Evans and Lee laying it all in the ring while All Ego is creepin’ around there picking the right spots. While he’s creepin’ he doesn’t look weak either as he does a great job making his moves look effective. He’s also the perfect “heel” in NXT in that he does the right things to draw heat from the crowd at-will. Something Wes Lee needs to learn. His heel work against Zach Wentz was top notch because of the years of built in character development.
Wes is going to have to find ways to get the crowd to boo him when he’s against other opponents. Trey and Zach had strong heel turns, so I hope that the third Rascal can do the same. Je’Von Evans loses nothing as he had the visual pinfall and had it stolen from him with a heel cleanly plucking one out. A Evans vs. Lee program might not be a bad program if as long as they give Lee some mic time to come off as a prick. This was your standard and solid weekly pre-CW NXT in that you got your good balance of character development and in-ring quality.
No real main roster boasts, back to the performance center; and this show was back to being carried by the developmental wrestlers that they’ve been cooking dating back to the 2.0 era (and those developmental projects have proven that they can fill NBA sized arenas in the past year with their PLEs). No TNA either, but I also understand that TNA is in the process of preparing for the biggest show of their year. It’ll be interesting to see how the ratings are. I expect a drop. How big? We’ll see. if it’s minimal, kudos to the developmental roster for having characters that people care about.
… “they didn’t clearly state the rules kf the gentlemens duel” ???
It was on screen and read by the announcers at least twice… there was 0 confusion to anyone watching ♂️
Okay, you have a point, but look at how they do the Heritage Cup descriptions where they have Mike Rome or Alicia Taylor enunciate the rules with visual aid. Yes, there was quantity of the announcers saying the rules here, but it was a bit quick…
(…again, maybe all viewers are paying attention and got it if that’s “anyone watching”. Also note, that I have my eyes darting back and forth from a computer screen and television, so I’m handicapped doing the report; and I have no trouble with NXT’s other gimmick matches like Iron Survivor or Heritage Cup because they do a good job clearly and concisely laying out the rules. Iron Survivor especially since those are derivative of Jeff Jarrett’s contrived King of the Mountain Rules)
I think the lack of presence of TNA talent would also be due to TNA’s schedule being thrown off by Hurricane Helene forcing them to Skyways to catch up. But I agree also with the build to Bound for Glory being a factor. BFG is after all on the same weekend as Halloween Havoc.