By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
January 28, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia at Center Stage
Aired live on The CW Network
[Hour One] Vic Joseph, Corey Graves, and Booker T were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer. After a drone shot of the venue was shown, Vic noted that Center Stage was sold out…
Separate shots of A-Town Down, Oba Femi, Meta-Girls, and Bianca Belair and Naomi were shown…
Giulia and Bayley made their entrances first followed by their opponents, Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade. Vic noted that Bayley last wrestled in NXT back in 2020 when she was a WWE Tag Team Champion (w/Sasha Banks)…
1. Giulia and Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade. The heel team quickly ducked out to ringside to taunt and stall. Perez and Giulia then traded counters. Giulia got a two count after a rollup. Both women traded rollup variations. Perez dragged Giulia by the hair, but Giulia countered by grabbing Perez’s hair and slamming her to the mat. Bayley tagged in. Perez gave Bayley a right hand and quickly ducked away to tag Cora in.
Bayley gave Cora right hands after Cora tried to trash talk. Bayley hit Cora with a basement uppercut and lariat for a two count. Jade escaped a draping move and dragged Bayley to her corner, tagging in Perez. Bayley fought out of the corner with a forearm on Perez. Bayley hit Perez with a draping meteora. Giulia tagged in. The face team hit their opponents with clotheslienes and suplexes.
Perez dumped both opponents to ringside and hit them both with a crossbody. Cora Jade hit Bayley and Giulia with a top rope cannonball. Perez and Jade taunted the crowd heading into break.[c]
The heels cut the ring in half on Giulia during the break. Giulia managed to use boots to send away Jade and bring in Bayley for the hot tag. Bayley hit Jade with a Belly to Back suplex and hit Perez with a twist slam. Bayley rolled up Jade for a two count. Bayley stumbled into an uppercut by Perez after Jade’s kickout. Bayley recovered and set up Jade on the mat. Perez grabbed Bayley by the leg to allow Jade to recover and nail Bayley with a knee.
Perez and Jade attacked Bayley when the referee was distracted. Perez tried to mock Bayley’s arm wave, but ran into Bayley’s Gutwrench Suplex. Jade tagged in and hit Bayley in the back with a elbow. Perez hit Bayley with a springboard moonsault. The heels cut the ring in half on Bayley. Bayley sidestepped a back elbow and hit Jade with a Belly-to-Bayley Suplex.
Giulia and Perez tagged in with Giulia having momentum. Giulia hit Perez with a Deadlift Belly to Belly and Missile Dropkick for a nearfall on Perez. Jade tagged in and accidentally hit Perez with a running elbow. Giulia slammed Jade to the mat. Perez broke up Giulia’s pin attempt. All four women traded punches. Bayley tossed Perez into the barricade. Giulia knocked out Jade with a headbutt. Bayley tagged in and hit Jade with a flying elbow drop for the win.
Bayley and Giulia defeated Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez via pinfall in 12:58.
John’s Thoughts: Strong opening tag match with lots of hard work from the women. I understand Jade taking the pin here because they need to set up Bayley going against Perez, but it does make her look weaker going into her TNA Knockouts program with Masha Slamovich. The problem with working two programs in two companies. Perez is presumably in the waning days of her NXT career and my guess is still her possibly getting a win against Bayley, and losing to Giulia at Stand and Deliver. Either that or something of the sorts.
The show cut to a promo vignette by Eddy Thorpe. Thorpe talked about proving why he belongs. He said he heard the voices of his ancestors. He said a responsibility of any man is to exercise his mind and suffering. He talked about how he put obstacles in front of himself to strengthen. He said his destiny is not a matter of chance and he will make his mark in NXT. He said “Eddy Thorpe cannot be broken”…
Vic Joseph hyped the Grayson Waller Effect for after the break…[c]
Mike Rome introduced the Grayson Waller Effect talk show. Grayson Waller and Austin Theory were in the ring on the talk show set. Waller hyped up Austin Theory being in his home town of A-Town. Theory hyped up the hometown crowd and talked about hanging out with Quevo and 2Chainz last night. Waller introduced NXT Champion Oba Femi, who made his entrance to join the talk show.
Waller welcomed the champion to the show and said that he deserves the chants. Waller then said the fans in Atlanta weren’t that smart, which Theory didn’t like. Waller said Oba must be used to having a title on his shoulder, which Oba agreed. The crowd then wanted Theory to speak. Theory talked about how Oba started taking over at age 24, which reminds him of a certain someone.
Theory said he was the youngest US champ of all time, and coming from him, Oba is seen as a future main roster star. Theory said he and Waller don’t see that view at all. Oba said it’s funny for Theory to say that because Oba never saw either Theory or Waller as NXT champions. Oba said as NXT Champ, he did more than Theory and Waller did in NXT combined.
Waller talked about how he and Theory won tag titles at WrestleMania while Oba is sipping on juices in the back hoping to do what A-Town Down can do. Theory said when the ink was drying on Oba’s WWE contract, Theory was a part of 4 WrestleManias. Theory said that Oba came from a good High School and got a full ride scholarship in college to get to NXT. Theory said he’s seen people like Oba have success in NXT only to end up in catering and later on the indies selling t-shirts.
The crowd chanted “turn on Grayson” to Theory. Waller yelled “don’t turn on me!” at Theory. Theory talked about how he and Waller have traveled around the world and created moments. Oba said that Theory and Waller talk a lot about becoming the champions at WrestleMania, but they don’t have titles now.
Oba said they talk too much. Oba said Waller’s lips writes checks that his hands can’t cash. Oba proposed a match at Vengeance Day against either Waller or Theory and asked who will step up? A picture-in-picture showed Trick Williams pacing and watching the match on a monitor. Waller said he wants the title shot. NXT GM Ava made her entrance.
Ava was about to talk about the situation, but Trick Williams made his entrance to get in Oba’s face. Trick then dumped Theory and Waller to ringside. When Trick turned back around, he ate a power bomb from Oba Femi. Oba Femi posed over Trick with the NXT Championship. Vic noted that Trick has to wrestle Wes Lee after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Not much was accomplished in terms of development, but I did like the delivery of all three men in the talk show setting. Waller is always a solid agitator. Theory is showing good potential babyface tendencies (which we saw glimpses of when he was Johnny Gargano’s pre-teen-mind son). Oba continues to shine all over the place by being able to hang on the mic and look cool doing so.
Sarah Schreiber interviewed Izzi Dame in the crowd and asked what was going on between her and Tony D’Angelo. Izzi said nothing. She said she just had common enemies with Tony D in Shawn Spears. Ridge Holland cut in and called Izzi a “liar”. Stacks cut in and told Ridge to not talk to a lady like that. Ridge said he doesn’t want to talk to Tony D’s lackey.
He told Stacks to go away and shine Tony’s shoes and keep the car warm. Producers kept Ridge and Stacks apart…
The camera then cut to referees helping Trick to get to his feet. Wes Lee, Tyriek Igwe, and Tyson Dupont made their entrance…
2. Trick Williams vs. Wes Lee (w/Tyriek Igwe, Tyson Dupont). Wes Lee dominated the opening minutes of the match with methodical CQC strikes, while Trick was selling Oba Femi’s power bomb from earlier. Trick managed to catch Wes out of the air, but Wes chopped Oba back down to a knee with elbows to the gut. Wes got a two count after a basement Cross Body Block.
Trick managed to power up and dump Wes to ringside with right hands. Wes managed to recover and drive Trick into the announce table with a diving meteora heading into break.[c]
Back from break, Wes was working on Trick with a single leg crap. During the break, Wes had gotten the advantage with a Savate Kick. Trick got to his feet and floored Wes with a uppercut combo. Trick rallied with a body slam and back body drop. Trick did a cartwheel into a Book End. Dupont and Igwe dragged Wes to ringside to save him from the Trick Shot. Trick dragged Dupont in the ring and dropped him with right hands.
Trick tossed Wes onto Dupont with a hip toss to ringside. Trick hit all three foes with a top rope cannonball to ringside. Trick pummeled Wes with alternating strikes, while also throwing hands on Igwe and Dupont. The referee tried to break Trick from the corner, but he was shoved by trick. The ref called for the DQ.
Wes Lee defeated Trick Williams via DQ in 10:11.
The heels cleared the ring when Trick started to wildly swing a chair. Mike Rome handled the formal announcement of Trick being DQ’d…
NXT GM Ava was watching the previous match backstage. Oba Femi showed up. Ava told Oba to not to overstep her. Oba asked Ava who he’s facing at Vengeance Day. Ava said Grayson Waller. Oba quickly agreed. Ava said she wasn’t done and that Oba was facing Waller and Theory in a triple threat. Oba looked mildly baffled, but accepted the decision…
Separate shots of Shotzi, Gigi, and Tatum as well as Fatal Influence were shown backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A nice touch of having Mike Rome handle the formal announcement of the DQ. I have no clue why they don’t do this on the regular in pro-wrestling and we have to go by the “apparent” DQ route in most cases. Here it was able to put heat on Wes Lee who really needs it after what has been a tepid heel run so far. I was afraid they were going to feed Wes to Trick, especially since I’m looking forward to Wes vs. The Rascalz in TNA. Wes gets heat and Trick gets protected.
Ava was looking for Trick backstage. Ava barged into the men’s locker room which freaked out the dudes (thankfully nobody had their junk out, I kid, I kid.). Ava berated Trick for trying to get involved in the Waller Effect segment when he didn’t have to. Trick wondered what Waller and Theory ever did to deserve a title shot. Ava said Trick has a chance to prove they don’t deserve anything. Ava booked Trick and Oba vs. A-Town Down for next week…
[Hour Two] Shotzi, Gigi, and Tatum made their entrance first. Fatal Influence made their entrance. Mike Rome handled the formal in-ring championship match introductions…
3. Fallon Henley (w/Jacy Jayne, Jasmyn Nyx) vs. Shotzi Blackheart (w/Tatum Paxley, Gigi Dolin) for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Shotzi rallied early on with strikes. Shotzi hit Fallon with a Frankensteiner in the corner. Shotzi was about to go for her diving Senton, but was dragged to ringside. Shotzi hit all three Fatal Influence Members with a top rope dive to ringside.
Dolin and Tatum brawled with Jayne and Nyx to the back. Tatum caught Shotzi’s kick and sent her leg into the ringpost. Tatum hit Shotzi with a Chop Block on the injured leg heading into break.[c]
Shotzi rallied with strikes and a Bulldog. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson were shown warming up backstage via picture-in-picture. Shotzi sold her injured leg, followed by a inverted cannonball. Henley dumped Shotzi to ringside and hit her with a Tiger Feint Kick. Henley suplexed Shotzi’s injured leg on the announce table. Henley hit Shotzi with a running X Factor for a two count.
Shotzi reversed a Stretch Muffler into a two count. Shotzi reversed a Fame Asser and hit Henley with a kick and Sliced Bread Number 2 for a nearfall. Shotzi shoved Henley off the top rope and hit her with a diving Senton. Henley kicked out at two.
Shotzi rolled up Henley for a two count. Shotzi hit Henley with a clinch combo. Henley recovered and put Shotzi in the Tree of Woe for an elevated Stomp. Henley hit Shotzi with a Fame Asser for the victory (I think Vic called the move the “Ho Down”, which would be a wild and nice finisher name for a woman).
Fallon Henley defeated Shotzi Blackheart via pinfall in 10:15 to retain the NXT Women’s North American Championship.
Henley smiled and was careessing her title belt at the top of the ramp, but frowned when Stephanie Vaquer confronted her. Vic noted that Henley vs. Vaquer was booked for Vengeance Day.
John’s Thoughts: A well worked women’s match. This might have been Henley’s strongest win as champion and I liked that they got rid of Jacy Jayne and Jasmyn Nyx early on as it was starting to get old with both of them always being the reason that Henley would get wonky wins. Shotzi loses nothing in defeat and the injury angle during the match protects her and puts heat on Henley.
Karmen Petrovic thanked Kelani Jordan backstage for having her back. Jordan said she wasn’t helping Petrovic and only handling her own business. Jordan said she agrees with Jaida Parker and that Petrovic should be careful about Ashante eventually leaving her ass. After Kelani left the makeup room, Petrovic said “what a bitch!”…
“All Ego” Ethan Page made his entrance…[c]
Ava ran into Sarah Schreiber backstage, who asked her about Vengeance Day. Ava talked about NXT having the best women’s division in the world. Ava was about to announce Giulia’s Vengeance Day opponent, but was cut off by Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade. Perez said Bayley doesn’t deserve a title shot. Perez said she didn’t even get her title rematch yet. Perez said it was Cora’s fault they lost the match earlier in the show.
Ava said she was about to say that at Vengeance Day it will be Giulia defending against Bayley and Perez. Perez said she was okay with that! Cora yelled that she wasn’t okay with that. Cora stormed off…
Rapper Killer Mike was shown watching the show from the crowd…
Cedric Alexander made his entrance…
4. “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Cedric Alexander. Cedric dominated the first few minutes with strikes. Vic noted that Cedric wasn’t going for covers due to Page injuring him, Evans, and Chen in recent weeks. Page managed to recover and rally. Page targeted Cedric’s injured wrist. Cedric regained control after a right hand strike.
Page gained control after suplexing Cedric on the apron. Cedric escaped the corner when Ethan tried to undo Cedric’s wrist brace. Cedric rallied a bit, but Page ended that rally by slamming Cedric’s injured wrist into the ringpost. The show cut to break.[c]
Back from break, Page was working on Cedric with methodical offense, focusing on Cedric’s injured wrist. Cedric managed to get a moment of respite after hitting Page with a Snap German Suplex. Cedric then hit Page with a Gamengiri and Basement Dropkick. Page punched Cedric in the injured wrist again, but Cedric fought through with a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall on All Ego.
Cedric hit Page with a Brainbuster for a nearfall. Cedric put Page in a Koji Clutch. Page escaped by twisting Cedric’s injured hand. Cedric rallied with punches and kicks. Cedric went for his handstand roundhouse, but he ate a roundhouse to the gut. Page hit Cedric with a Twist of Fate for the victory.
Ethan Page defeated Cedric Alexander via pinfall in 11:10.
Page was about to go after Cedric’s wrist again, but Je’von Evans ran out and cleared Page from the ring with strikes. Evans stood tall to end the segment…
Fatal Influence were shown backstage. Jacy Jayne cut a promo about not forgetting about Stephanie Vauqer attacking her in the makeup chair. Jacy said she’ll see Stephanie next week…
Trick Williams and Oba Femi vs. A-Town Down Under, Karmen Petrovic vs. Kelani Jordan and Ridge Holland vs. Channing Lorenzo were announced for next week’s NXT TV…
Separate shots of the Meta Girls and Belair and Naomi were shown as they were walking backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: The Ethan Page vs. Je’von Evans feud is my favorite feud in NXT at the moment and one of my favorite feuds in pro wrestling. I like it simply based off the simple and effective builds on both Page and Evans. Constant heat on Page by making him more deranged; making him out to be a headhunter that’s injuring people. Evans is doing a strong job building sympathy on his end with the blood and wired-jaw giving him proper pathos.
The show cut to Josh Briggs chatting with Yoshiki Inamura at some random place that looked like a garage. Briggs thanked Inamura for making his experience in Japan one of the best experiences of his career. Briggs gifted Inamura with a biker’s vest. Inamura said it means a lot to them and they look like a tag team. Briggs said one-way-or-another, they’ll get to Axiom and Frazer to get to the belts. Inamura said that Briggs will be a singles champion one day and nobody can touch them as a team right now…
The commentators ran through the advertised matches for Vengeance Day so far…
Entrances for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match aired. Mike Rome handled the formal in-ring championship introductions. The match finished with 15 minutes left at the top of the hour…
5. Bianca Belair and Naomi vs. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Naomi and Jakara started the match. Naomi got a takedown. Jakara did a kip up. Jakara used an armbar pin on Naomi, while also shaking her booty a bit in Naomi’s face. Belair tagged in. The tag champs hit Jakara with tandem offense. Jakara tagged in and tagged in Lash.
The crowd cheered the standoff between the two powerhouses, Belair and Lash. Lash had the early power advantage. Belair came back with a Back Suplex and Standing Moonsault for a nearfall on Lash. Belair slapped her ass and did a backflip over Lash. Lash lifted up Belair and hit her with a backbreaker.
Lash Legend did a smooth looking cartwheel into a backflip meteora. That was the cleanest and sweetest looking flip Lash has done. Lash and Belair did a few kip ups and had a staredown heading into the break.[c]
Lash Legend was dominating the match during and coming off of the break against both opponents. A picture-in-picture showed Cora Jade demanding something from GM Ava. Naomi managed to bring in Bianca for the hot tag. Bianca hit Jakara with a running in place Suplex. Belair then hit Jakara with Ten Punches in the Corner. Belair hit Lash with a huracanrana (which was mis-timed).
Belair Press Slammed Jakara and hit her with a Standing Moonsault for the nearfall. Naomi hit Jakara with an assisted Disaster Kick. Lash broke up Naomi’s pin. Lash punched Bianca off the apron. Jakara hit Belair with a Suicide Dive after Lash held open the ropes. Jakara hit Naomi with a Jawbreaker and axe handle strike. Lash tagged in.
Jakara and Lash hit Naomi with their wheelbarrow Cutter move. Belair broke up the pin. Bianca hit Jakara with a Spear. Lash hit Bianca with a Alabama Slam. Naomi hit Lash with an X Factor to leave all four women lying. Two minutes were left in the show. Lash took down Naomi with a Pump Kick. Jakara tagged in.
Naomi kicked away Jakara. Bianca dumped Lash to ringside and shoved her into the steel steps. Jakara rolled up Naomi for a two count that really looked like a three, but Naomi escaped. The crowd booed the slow looking count. The Tag Champions hit Jakara with their Double Team Falcon Arrow looking move for the victory.
Bianca Belair and Naomi defeated Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend via pinfall in 12:57 to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Vic Joseph acknowledged the disputed looking finish. The show quickly ended after the Paul Levesque, Lee Fitting, and Shawn Michaels Executive Producers credits aired…
John’s Thoughts: I’m very curious as to whether or not that wonk looking count by the referee was intentional. I was drawn in, in that I was hoping that WWE’s classic edict of “always counting the pin no matter what” is still a thing. It would have been CRAZY if the Meta Girls would have pulled off the upset, even an accidental upset, and I would have been all for it. Bianca’s and Naomi’s title defenses feel like foregone conclusions because we are just waiting until Jade Cargill gets back, so this would have been a nice twist to the system.
Seeing Alligator Arm referee pins is so common in other companies like AEW and so rare in WWE, which is why I’m questioning if the pin was on purpose or not. If anything, it got me and ppl talkin’. As for the rest of the match, one of the best tag matches of the last two weeks in terms of effort. One of my highlights of the match was Bianca and Lash entering the ring and the crowd getting into the powerhouse matchup. Lash was in her hometown, yes, but that would have happened anywhere else. That reactions, along with what I already seen, tells me Lash definitely has it in her to be a future WrestleMania main eventer, and I’m not being hyperbolic.
She has Rhea Ripley upside, and this upside shines even brighter after WWE set her up to fail initially when they were putting developmental wrestlers on TV before learning the basics of pro wrestling (Can we give Von Wagner another chance? That dude didn’t deserve them setting him up to fail too! Plus, he was starting to click once they teamed him with Robert Stone’s real life sons). Lash has the power, look, and size of Rhea Ripley. Where Lash has more than Rhea is Lash’s strong baseline promo ability. I hope they get the most out of her and not waste that complete package.
Overall, a solid edition of NXT tonight. Covering three hours of Smackdown, with two hours being dry, last week really made me appreciate the 100% productive storytelling of NXT. No filler, no yeet. NXT has the opposite problem where they actually need a third or fourth hour because they are swamped with TV ready wrestlers and not calling acts up at a fast enough rate. My guess is that TNA will end up being that pseud0 extra two hours for NXT with Wes Lee’s crew and Cora Jade already being lined up with programs there. Will be a bit interesting to see how the two shows mesh in continuity due to TNA being taped while CW NXT is live.
Am I still the only person who thinks Trick Williams is massively overrated? He cuts a good promo, but he can’t have a great match without being carried by his opponent.
Hardys coming to NXT apparently.