By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live December 3, 2024 on The CW
[Hour One] Vic Joseph and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer. Vic hyped up Eric Bischoff appearing later in the show by mentioning Eric’s “Controversy creates cash” catchphrase…
Entrances for the women’s last chance match took place…
1. Jaida Parker vs. Cora Jade vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Wren Sinclair (w/Charlie Dempsey) for the final spot in the Iron Survivor Match at NXT Deadline). Jordan and Wren dominated the other two to start the match with rollup attempts. All four men traded rapid fire pin attempts. Jordan dumped all three women to ringside. Jordan went for a dive, but Jade dragged her to ringside and slammed her on the barricade. Jordan recovred and hit Jade with a moonsault off the barricade.
Jordan hit Parker and Wren with a corkscrew Plancha. Wren rolled up Jordan and Jade for nearfalls. Parker stacked Jade and Wren on the buckles to hit them at the same time with her signature draping Banzai Drop.[c]
Jade was working on Parker and Wren with knees. Parker cleared Jade away. Parker hit Wren with a sitout Uranage. Jade broke up Parker’s pin and got a one count on her. Roxanne Perez was watching the match as shown through the picture-in-picture. Jordan hit Jade with a RVD Pele Kick. Wren hit Jorden with a Butterfly Suplex. Parker escaped Wren’s Guillotine Choke and hit her with a Falcon Arrow. Jorden broke up Parker’s pin.
Jordan body slammed Wren and hit her with a Five Star Frog Splash. Jade broke up Jordan’s pin. Jade shoved Jordan a “baby” and shoved her. Jade dumped Jordan to ringside and got two counts on the other two women. Jordan hit Jade with a handstand into a lariat. Jordan hit Jade with a 450. Parker suplexed Wren into the pin to break it up. Lola Vice showed up on the apron and tried to give Parker a spinning Backfist. Parker ducked it and Lola nailed Wren with it. Wren fell on Jade for the pinfall win.
Wren Sinclair defeated Cora Jade, Jaida Parker, and Kelani Jordan via pinfall in 8:16 of on-air time to earn the final spot in the Women’s Iron Survivor Match at NXT Deadline.
Referees had to pull apart Parker and Vice at ringside.
John’s Thoughts: Solid work by all four women with a bit of a surprising outcome. Cora Jade was my favorite to win the match as Jaida and Jordan have other stories while Wren is usually used as a booster for other talent. Jade staying down so long after the 450 was a bit much, but excusable. I should have had my radar up when they did put some focus storyline-wise on Wren last week when they gave her a segment with NQCC. Wren’s the smoothest worker of the Last Chance women, so it works to have her improve the match. She’s going into Iron Survivor against a buncha superstars though, especially that international trio of Giulia, Zaria, and Vaquer.
Sarah Schreiber interviewed Eddy Thorpe about how he got NXT GM Ava knocked out last week, leading to HBK shoving him. Thorpe said HBK and Ava are allowing him to wrestle this week because they saw the replay of the show and saw that Eddy did nothing wrong. He said he’s going to win his fair chance to win Iron Survivor for him and his people. Lexis King showed up. He said even though he and Eddy will throw hands, Eddy needs to control his temper.
King said being a “loose canon” won’t get Eddy nowhere. Eddy said he doesn’t need advice from a grown man with daddy issues. King said he has proved that he’s not like his dad and he’s going to do what his dad didn’t, win a major singles title. King said he empathized with Thorpe’s fear of being suspended. Thorpe told King to get his hand off his shoulder. Thorpe walked off. King said tonight is not about Eddy Thorpe, it’s about the King…
Vic and Booker checked in on commentary. Before Vic should plug upcoming segments, Jaida Parker walked out with a mic. Parker said if Lola Vice wants an underground match, bet. Parker yelled at the referees to take down the ropes so they can have a Underground match now…[c]
Back at the Performance Center arena, the referees were in the process of taking down the ropes and turnbuckles. Parker was in the ring with a mic, pointing out how Vice cost her the qualifyer match after Parker laid out Vice with a brick at the ECW themed show. Parker had a brick in her hand and called Vice a bitch, saying they have to run things back. NXT GM Ava made her entrance and said she’s not giving Jaida two matches tonight. Ava said she is booking Jaida Parker vs. Lola Vice in an NXT Underground match at Deadline.
Lola Vice made her entrance and called Parker stupida. Vice said Parker’s ego played into her hands because the Underground is Vice’s world. Vice said because Parker won’t have a brick, she’s going to knock Parker’s ass out. Parker said “you know what? I don’t need it”. Parker gave Vice a elbow to the head and knocked her out to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: Simple and effective setup for the expected Parker vs. Vice match. Parker is the cooler of the two in this feud with Vice still struggling to really connect as a babyface. Hopefully this feud ends soon and they turn Vice heel again because that’s where she was picking up most steam. Parker meanwhile, I can see her on a fast track to be called up after Mania because she’s been more than main roster ready overall. Best to let her cook a bit in NXT too to let her refine her bell-to-bell work.
Dion Lennox was chatting with a couple of shawtys backstage, Karmen Petrovic and Brinley Reece. Petrovic said that Brinley Reece was right about Ashante Adonis and she’s glad she is over him. Brinley said even though she doesn’t like Ashante, Ashante clearly likes Karmen. Dion said he actually got a glimpse at the crazy texts that Nikkita sent Ashante.
A delivery man showed up and handded Petrovic roses. The note was from Ashante and he said he was sorry, and that the texts to Nikkita were sent before he was pursuing Karmen. Dion said that Ashante is smooth and a playa…
Vic and Booker checked in on commentary. Booker said Ashante got game…
OTM and the D’Angelo family made their entrance heading into break…[c]
Axiom was trying to chat with Nathan Frazer about being confident about winning the Last Chance match, but Frazer was ignoring him by staring at the TV. Frazer said he’s locked-in on the tag team battle royal, notably because he has to wrestle two matches at Deadline. Axiom rolled his eyes and said that NOW Frazer cares about tag team matches. Frazer pointed out how he needs to win both his matches…
2. Men’s Number One Contender Batttle Royal. Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura were a new team added to the match. Back from break, Hank and Tank used their sandwich press on Gallus. A picture-in-picture showed some of the eliminations that happened during break. Axiom and Nathan Frazer were also shown bickering in the back. Tyriek Igue was eliminated by Hank and Tank. Igwe held down the top rope to help elimate Hank.
Tank was tossed over the top rope by Gallus, but Hank caught him and saved him from elimination. Mark and Wolfgang gave running moves to Borne, Price, and Tank. Price eliminated Mark while Tank eliminated Wolfgang to get both Gallus guys out. Borne, Price, and Tank were the final three. Price gave Tank a Uranage on Borne. Tank used a diving headbutt on Price to help Borne escape a Fireman Carry. After a bit of a scuffle. Bourne eliminated Price and Tank to win.
No Quarter Catch Crew won the men’s number one contender battle royal to win a title shot for the NXT Tag Team Championships.
A split screen shot was shown of Trick Williams and Ridge Holland walking backstage. The show then cut to Eric Bischoff walking backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I like WWE addressing their Tag Team division problem, but at the same time just throwing them all out there with no character development isn’t a big help. Hopefully they try a bit to build these guys up. A good story can be built for No Quarter Catch Crew with the tag team and Wren going forward in their title pursuits. In a strange way, there’s a “draped in gold” story they can go with the mid-card faction if they want to give them the instant boost.
[Hour Two] Eric Bischoff made his entrance in the Performance Center to his classic “I’m Back” WWE theme. Bischoff said that NXT is “undeniable”. He said what’s also undeniable is him creating Nitro to go against Raw. He said what also was undeniable was him creating the NWO to change the industry. He said walking through the Performance Center was awesome. He said the change was happening in the industry and the NXT crowd gets to be a part of it. He said he saw the NXT talent, and they are able to take the business to the stratosphere.
Bischoff said two of those talents are facing each other this Saturday. Bischoff introduced Ridge Holland who made his entrance. Eric then introduced NXT Champion Trick Williams who made his entrance. Bischoff said he couldn’t wait to see both men face each other and that the tension between both of them can be sliced by a chainsaw. Eric said that Ridge looks like the prototypical WWE star, like a Dick the Bruiser or The Crusher from Eric’s childhood. Eric said that Trick looks like the evolution of the revolution.
Eric praised Trick for having the size, skills, and charisma that you would expect from a collegiate athlete. He said he can’t wait to see what happens here. Ridge said that Trick is nothing but a stand up comedian with abs. Ridge said Trick is a insult to the vision of what NXT should be. Ridge said Eric and the crowd can praise Trick, but he’ll be NXT Champion after Deadline. Ridge said that on after Deadline he’ll hear from antagonists like Eric, trying to hold on to the last bit of relevancy they have.
A “Ridge is a wanker” chant ensued. Trick said that Ridge is built like a damn fridge. Trick said that Ridge took down Chase U so he can chase Trick. Trick said Ridge isn’t original taking peeps jokes. Trick said that Ridge is bland and vanilla. Trick said he’ll take this coat off and whoop Ridge’s ass right now. Ridge said he proved what he’s about when he took down Chase U. He said he also proved what he’s about when he beat Trick at the ECW themed show.
Ridge said he came up different than Trick. Ridge talked about Tricked came up in Football, where they cover their players in pads, but he came up in the “man’s game” of Rugby, which is unprotected Footaball. Ridge said people wouldn’t tell Trick this, but Trick is soft. He said he’ll put Trick down and become NXT Champion. Trick said “you think I’m soft right?”. Trick threw right hands. Trick and Ridge brawled to ringside.
Ridge got the advantage after tossing Trick into the steel steps. Ridge cleared the announce table. Ridge dragged Trick to the top of the announce table and gave him the Redeemer DDT on top of it. Medics ran out and were putting Trick on a stretcher…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Solid go-home segment. As I kinda expected, Bischoff was here kinda just to boost the star power of the segment, without really adding to the story of the segment. That’s fine. It’s always fun to get a legend back and Easy wrestling E is an easy star to come back and bring that boost. Good segment to put heat on Trick. Don’t expect Ridge to take the title off him though, because there’s no reason.
A replay aired of Ridge giving Trick a Redeemer DDT and the subsequent scene of Trick getting stretchered out of the arena. The show cut to Sarah Schreiber in the NXT Parking Lot. Sarah noted that Ava joined Trick in the ambulence. Sarah said she asked Ava for an update on Deadline’s title match and Ava said she doesn’t know what is going to happen.
Nikkita Lyons was in the ring, locking thicc, doing her nunchaku katas. Karmen Petrovic made her entrance with her real ass Katana…
3. Nikkita Lyons vs. Karmen Petrovic. Both women showed off their Taw Kwon Do by dodging each others’ kicks. Petrovic caught Lyons with a Rolling Sobat after an exchange with Lyons coming back with a clothesline. Lyons worked on Petrovic with corner moves. Both women traded pin attempts after trading some strikes.
Petrovic rallied with kicks and a crossbody for a nearfall. Petrovic got a two count after a Sling Blade. Lyons ended the rally with a German Suplex. Petrovic dodged a Vader Bomb to leave Lyons crashed and burned. Ashante Adonis showed up to help Petrovic to her feet. Lyons accidentally nailed Adonis with a right forearm when Petrovic dodged. Petrovic hit the distracted Lyrons with a spin kick for the win.
Karmen Petrovic defeated Nikkita Lyons via pinfall in 3:33.
Petrovic berated Adonis for pushing her out of the way…
Shawn Spears was chatting with Brooks Jensen and “Niko”, who’s named Niko Vance. Spears praised Niko for his help last week. He said he’s been cultivating Niko for weeks and he’s almost ready to be unleashed on the roster. Spears caught up with Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley, saying that he’s looking forward to Gigi’s return match. Gigi said thanks. After Gigi and Tatum walked away, Tatum said Spears was creepy, and that’s coming from a creepy person like Tatum…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Again, a bit soap opera-y and not for all, but the Petrovic and Adonis rom com is a guilty pleasure of mine and a fun midcard act. This is a showcase of how deep the women’s division is in NXT and what the main roster should strive for. NXT has so many talented and TV ready women that they are able to hold storylines for the main title, midcard title, and even have room for side-stories like the Adonis rom com. Even though it’s been on hold in recent weeks, the TNA-NXT partnership was also useful to give the talented NXT women’s roster TV time because tehre wasn’t enough time on NXT weekly TV.
Charlie Dempsey praised Wren Sinclair, Myles Borne, and Tavion Heights for winning their contenders matches. Wren continued to have a bit of imposter syndrome, but Dempsey praised her for falling into a victory. Wren said she and the tag team are going to bring more titles to NQCC…
Entrances for the next match took place…
4. Gigi Dolin (w/Tatum Paxley) vs. Izzi Dame. A picture in picture showed Fatal Influence watching from the back. Gigi dominated with a snapmare and huracanrana. Gigi got a two count after a shotgun dropkick against the bottom rope. Shawn Spears showed up to watch the match at the top of the ramp. Gigi recovered and Gigi fought out of a Boston Crab.
Gigi rallied with knees and clotheslines. Gigi got a two count after a shortarm clothesline, with Dame getting a two count off a rollup. Gigi dodged Dame in the corner. Gigi hit Dame with the Gigi Driver (rollup slam) for the win.
Gigi Dolin defeated Izzi Dame via pinfall in 3:49,
Sarah Schreiber interviewed Je’von Evans about his prediction for the Last Chance men’s match. Evans said he’s picking uncle Cedric Alexander. Sean X-Pac Waltman showed up and said he’s a fan of Je’von’s work. Evans fanboyed over X-Pac being a fan of his. X-Pac referenced being young and like Evans when he beat Razor Ramon. He then wished Evans luck. Evans wanted to dap it up, but Pac threw up the Too Sweet and both men shared a wolfpac too sweet…
Lexis King made his entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Solid return for Gigi after her long injury layoff. I guess they’ve ditched the weird “makeover” storyline they were doing with her and Ariana Grace (which is fine. It was a bad storyline so far).I still hope they end up giving Gigi more promo time because she really showed up on my radar with her strong promo work in MLW.
Vic Joseph plugged CW’s upcoming college basketball games this week…
The rest of the Last Chance entrances took place. Ethan Page joined the commentary team for the match. Wes Lee watched the match from the crow’s nest. Je’von Evans watched the match from the crowd seats…
5. Lexis King vs. Axiom (w/Nathan Frazer) vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Eric Thorpe in a match for the last spot in the Iron Survivor Match at NXT Deadline. Axiom took down Cedric and Thorpe early on. King used superkicks to take out his other opponents. Thorpe cleared the ring. Thorpe rolled up ALexander for a two count. Alexander came back with a two count of his own. Cedric hit Thorpe with a slingshot Paydirt for a two count. Axiom broke up Cedric’s pin and dumped Thrope to ringside.
Axiom and Cedric traded fighting spirit right hands in the ring. Cedric and Axiom took out Thorpe and King with Suicide Dives at ringside. Cedric hit Axiom with a Standing Spanish Fly. King broke up the pin heading into regular brreak.[c]
Axiom, Thorpe, and Alexander brawled top rope. King power bombed them Tower of Doom Style. Cedric and Axiom kicked out when King pinned both of them with a Jackknife Fisherman Suplex. King hit Axiom and Alexander with a flip dive. King hit Alexander with a Swanton Bomb on Alexander. Thorpe broke up King’s pin attempt. Thorpe worked on King with a kick combo and hit Alexander with a German Suplex.
Thorpe hit Axiom with a Brainbuster for a nearfall. Alexander hit Thorpe with a body slam and springboard moonsault. Axiom did an old school into a huracanrana on Alexander. King rolled up Axiom for a two count. Axiom kicked King and caught Thorpe with a Gamengiri and Super Spanish Fly for a nearfall. Alexander broke up Axiom’s Juji Gatame on Thorpe with a Frog Splash. After clearing house, Alexander hit King with a Michinoku Driver. Thorpe broke up Ced’s pin.
Axiom recovered and hit King with a Golden Ratio. Thorpe dragged Axiom to ringside and stole Axiom’s pin for the victory.
Eddy Thorpe defeated Lexis King, Axiom, and Cedric Alexander via pinfall in 10:46 to earn the last spot in the Men’s Iron Survivor Match at NXT Deadline.
The Iron Survivor competitors at ringside jawed at each other while Axiom looked annoyed at Frazer…
Robert Stone and Stevie Turner, the GM assistants, were chatting with GM Ava on a tablet. Ava informed her assistants that even though Trick is hurt, he’s still looking like he’s going through with his title defense. Turner said Trick is a fighter…
Roxanne Perez was shown walking backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: While I’m not a huge fan of the “Last Chance” thing dumbing down the stakes of match qualifiers, this was a entertaining last chance match. All four men would have been a great boost to the Iron Survivor match. I’m kinda disappointed Cedric didn’t go over given how great he’s looked in NXT recently, despite still being a gatekeeper. Thorpe being added to the match is actually a positive. People behind the scenes clearly see that he’s a natural in the ring, and they also see that his only weak point is his character work. I’m hoping he steals the show to some extent in Iron Survivor because in-ring is his wheelhouse.
Cora Jade was arguing with Stevie Turner and Robert Stone about losing her Last Chance match. After Cora left, Eddy Thorpe told Stevie and Stone that she’ll show Ava that he deserved to be in Iron Survivor in the first place. Stevie wondered if it was just her or if everyone is pissed off…
Vic Joseph ran through the advertised Deadline card…
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez made her entrance in street clothes. Perez said that Deadline can be life changing and talked about how the winner will be getting a Christmas present of facing Perez. Perez said it won’t be easy and she bragged about being the first women’s Iron Survivor. She said it’ll all be for naught because everyone is fighting to be 2nd place behind Perez. Perez praised Wren Sinclair for winning and how people doubted her like Perez in 2022.
Perez said the sad part is Sinclair can’t beat Perez. Perez then said that Sol Ruca, even though she has a knockout Sol Snatcher move, can’t beat Perez. Perez said people thought Giulia was supposed to be the next champ. Perez said yes, Vaquer, Giulia, and Zaria have beat her in tag matches, but that doesn’t count. Sol Ruca, Zaria, Stephanie Vaquer, and Giulia made their entrances in street clothes to join Perez in the ring.
Perez gloated and looked nervous. Perez said they all have to get through each other before they get to her. The four women that came out brawled with each other. Wren Sinclair ran out and dragged Perez to ringside, knocking her out. Security guard ran out to separate the women. Vic was about to cut to something happening backstage, but the show cut to local news due to NXT not being able to have an overrun now…
John’s Thoughts: I’ll have to check out a recording to find out the final part of the show. NXT still has to get used to having no overrun anymore now that they are on network TV with network news. A standard and solid go-home segment to push the women’s Iron Survivor match, which I’m looking forward to more than the men’s. The men’s is fine, but the concentration of talented women in NXT has me hyped for a fun match with them. As I noted earlier, NXT’s women’s division is DEEP, and this was a good framing of how deep it is with a great mix of established worldwide talent and up-and-comers.
Simple and effective go-home show this week with the final pushes for all the matches going through. I talked about them setting the table for a “draped in gold” scenario for No Quarter Catch Crew, but given the other deserving women in the Iron Survivor match, I don’t seen Wren coming out of the match the winner unless they want to do a plucky underdog story with her; which I don’ think it is worth it at the expense of Zaria, Giulia, and Vaquer. I’ll be by this Saturday with my written review of the Deadline show so make sure to drop by the site to follow along.
The show didn’t cut off on my end actually as they went to the back they showed that Eddy Thorpe was layed out then the show cut to the news.