By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired live May 20, 2025, on The CW Network
[Hour One] Separate shots of the NQCC, Oba Femi, Joe Hendry, and Ricky Saints were shown as they were arriving at the WWE Performance Center. The camera followed NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints as he go tout of a SUV and headed to the ring…
Vic Joseph, Booker T, and Corey Graves were on commentary. Mike Rome was the ring announcer…
Ricky Saints made his entrance to the Performance Center crowd. A quick replay was shown of Ethan Page leaving Ricky Saints lying at the end of last week’s NXT. Saints put on a headset and joined the commentary team for the upcoming match…
Je’von Evans made his entrance first. Out next was Sean Legacy. Out last was Ashante the Adonis, who made sure to get a kiss from a lady in the front row…
1. Je’von Evans vs. Sean Legacy vs. Ashante the Adonis. Legacy backdroped Jevon and Adonis early on. Legacy and Evans traded quick rollups. Both men then had rollup counters. Both men kept Adonis at bay. Legacy hit Evans with a dropkick combo to send him to ringside. Adonis gave legacy a clothesline to prevent a dive. Adonis grazed Evans with a corkscrew dive to ringside. Adonis dropkicked Legacy to the corner.
Evans hit Adonis with a huracanrana to send him to ringside. Evans tripped Adonis off the apron and jumped over Legacy. Evans (mostly missed but) hit Legacy and Adonis with a dive heading into break.[c]
Adonis was dominating back from break. Adonis gave Evans a spinebuster on top of Legacy for a nearfall. Legacy blocked Adonis’s Sweet Chin Music. All three men alternated strikes. Evans dumped Legacy to ringside. Adonis took down Evans with a clothesline. Legacy took down Adonis with a slingshot dropkick. Legacy prevented a dive by hitting Evans with a Spanish Fly for a nearfall. Legacy hit Adonis at ringside with a flip dive.
Evans jumped to the top rope and hit Legacy with a Super Frankensteiner. Evans hit Legacy with a flip overhead kick. Adonis tried to steal the pin by dumping Evans to ringside, but Evans got back in the ring and broke up a nearfall. A “this is awesome” chant ensued. Adonis and Evans traded Boo Yay punches. Adonis hit Evans with a Spike DDT and superkick. Legacy broke up the pin with a slingshot 450.
All three men soaked in “fight forever” chants. Evans hit Legacy with a RKO. Evans hit Adonis with a springboard German Suplex. Evans took out Legacy with a plancha at ringside. Evans hit Adonis with a Frog Splash. Legacy broke up Je’von’s pin. The camera then cut to Ethan Page jumping Ricky Saints at ringside. Evans took out Page and the guards with a dive. Legacy dodged a dive from Adonis. Legacy hit Adonis with a nice looking Burning Hammer into a Final Cut for the victory.
Sean Legacy defeated Ashante the Adonis and Je’von Evans via pinfall in 12:00.
Ava was chatting with her assistants Robert Stone and Stevie Turner. Turner is the GM of Evolve and bragged about her roster member Legacy winning. Ava sent Stone and Turner to deal with the chaos Ethan Page was starting. The camera then panned over to Ava congratulating Tyra Mae Steele and Jasper Troy for winning WWE LFG. Ava accepted their NXT contracts and noted they will compete in NXT soon…
Vic hyped up the Trick Williams rap performance for later…[c]
John’s Thoughts: WWE doesn’t overdo it with the indie spotfests which makes these things stand out in a positive way when they pop up. This was an awesome indie-style spotfest with wonderful usage of nearfalls. Lots of logical pinfall breaking instead of kicking out of big moves. Legacy getting a spotlight in the last three weeks shows us that WWE is really high on this ID prospect and he already looks to be on the fast track to success on the NXT main roster. Deserved too as he has a great look and is smooth in the ring to back up the good look.
A drone shot of the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Park were shown as Vic hyped Money in the Bank…
A workout montage was shown of Jordynne Grace pumping iron and doing cardio. Grace talked about how she, Giulia, and Stephanie Vaquer were the hot incoming free agents in NXT in 2025 with all three women having the goal of becoming the best women in the best women’s division in wrestling. Grace talked about how she and Stephanie sacrificed everything to get to WWE while also dominating other territories. Grace said Stephanie escaped with the title once, but not at Battleground…
Lola Vice and Stephanie Vaquer were chatting backstage. After Stephanie left, Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne showed up to trash talk Vice (still no mention as to why they are ignoring the absence of Jazmyn Nyx). Jayne set up a match between Vice and Henley against Henley’s wishes…
The camera followed Trick Williams with a mic in hand backstage as he headed to the ring. A beat played as Trick rapped his way to the ring, focusing on saying he ain’t backing down to no “Average Joe”. A lot of the song was pre-taped with Trick making sure to keep up with the set lyrics (while also making sure to not gas himself out)…
The camera cut to Joe Hendry warming up with his acoustic guitar in the locker room…
Kelly Kincaid interviewed Josh Briggs, who was sad that Inamura wasn’t here. Briggs said he was dedicating this match to his friend in Japan, Yoshiki Inamura. The show then cut to The Culling making their entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: In terms of past rap performances by wrestlers in NXT, this was aight. For comparison, Hit Row, specifically Swerve Strickland and AJ Francis, was a lot smoother and organic. Swerve and AJ were more freestyle, while Trick had his lyrics pre-taped (which isn’t a bad thing, as it would prevent disaster in terms of potentially botching the rap). Trick handled the rap fine enough and even better, he didn’t get gassed.
Josh Briggs got an entrance during the break. The bell rang during the break (and I was able to get my stopwatch at the correct time)…
2. Shawn Spears (w/Izzi Dame, Niko Vance, Brooks Jensen) vs. Josh Briggs. Spears dominated early on with methodical offense. Briggs took down Spears with a running crossbody. Briggs used his size to block a T Bone suplex. Briggs reversed Spears with a body slam. Spears rolled to ringside to dodge a lariat. Spears shoved Briggs into the ringpost at ringside to turn the tables. Spears got a one count after a neckbreaker.
Briggs recovered and hit Spears with a sidewalk slam and standing splash. Spears used a armdrag to escape a chokeslam. Spears knocked Briggs off the apron with a superkick. Brigg caught Spears out of the air and gave him Snake Eyes on the announce table. Briggs shoved Vance into the steel steps. Izzi hit Briggs with a Yakuza Kick while Jensen distracted the referee. Spears picked up the win after a Small Package.
Shawn Spears defeated Josh Briggs via pinfall in 5:28.
The Culling mulled Briggs with the numbers advantage. Hank and Tank ran out and cleared the heels from the ring…
John’s Thoughts: A nice match to set up Josh Briggs in a logical feud against the Culling where his old tag team partner is associated with these days. Having the likable and over Hank and Tank with him is a good way to even up the odds to set up a six person tag down the road. They can drag out a decent program out of this, with one possible avenue being Briggs being dragged over to the heel faction to put the old band back together of sorts.
Kelani Jordan was warming up and told Sol Ruca that she should get a title shot against Sol if she can beat Zaria. Sol agreed. Zaria got in Jordan’s face saying that she beat her a few weeks ago…
Andre Chase was psyching up Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors backstage. Graves was baffled at Dixon having spaghetti straps holding up his Chase U shirt…[c]
Tatum Paxley was sitting by herself and sad backstage. Thea Hail walked up to Paxley to encourage her. Paxley cut a despondent promo about losing everything. Hail talked about knowing something about losing everyone. Hail was jumped and laid out from behind by Jaida Parker. Parker teased helping out Paxley, who was happy to see it; but Jaida tricked Paxley and walked off, leaving Paxley sad again…
Chase U were in the ring. Bronco Nima and Lucien Price made their entrance (to the better OTM theme than whatever Jaida Parker switched her theme too)…
3. “Out Tha Mud” Bronco Nima and Lucien Price vs. “Chase U” Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors (w/Andre Chase). OTM dominated Kale and Uriah for the opening matches with power moves. Kale managed to turn the tide on Price with a DDT for a one count. Graves joked that Dixon’s parents named him after a crappy vegetable. Vic said he actually likes eating kale. Nima tagged in and dominated for a bit.
Kale and Uriah took down Nima with a double team strike. Nima quickly stuffed an attempt by Kale to rally up the Chase U section. OTM planted Connors with their double team Dominator Power Slam to give Price the pinfall win.
OTM defeated New Chase U via pinfall in 3:08.
A camera followed Myles Borne in a suit walking backstage. They also showed Oba Femi walking backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I’m happy to see OTM back. I’m also happy to see the withstand multiple cuts because it wasn’t their fault workwise as to why they haven’t progressed too much on TV yet. They’ve just been setback with big injuries to both Nima and Price. Nima having that face injury and Price having that wrist injury at different times. I really like their look and the whole concept of gettin’ out tha mud. I still think they need that talker to help legitimize them. I really thought that Reggie was starting to fill that role well by developing a voice, but WWE released him. I wouldn’t mind WWE bringing Reggie back as Reggie has been killing it on the indie scene. I also always thought he brought legitimacy to OTM, because he used pro wrestling and gymnastics to literally get him out of the mud. He’s also a real life OG, legitimately wearing a blue flag hanging out his backside, but only on the left side, yep that’s the crip side…
Number One Contender Myles Borne made his entrance. NXT Champion Oba Femi made his entrance to meet Borne in the ring. Oba pointed out that Borne came out alone and said he doesn’t know if that makes Borne stupid or brave, maybe both. He said nobody believed that Borne can make it this far, and look at him now. Oba said this fight isn’t only for the title, but a fight for everyone Borne is trying to uplift with disabilities like Borne.
Oba said that’s admirable, but also misleading. Oba said good things don’t always happen to good people in this cruel life. He said Borne is a good person, but this isn’t a Disney movie. No happy ending, no dream come true, no running to the sunset with the title. Oba said the real dream was becoming number one contender and upsetting Ethan Page. Oba said the dream will die once Borne steps in the ring with the Ruler, Destroyer, and bringer of war.
Oba said that Borne is about to join the list of victims, ending in destruction by Oba Femi. Borne said he may be out there by himself, but he’s not alone. He said Wren, Tavion, and Dempsey helped him get here and have his back. He said they don’t only have his back, but his community has his back. Borne said he’s here for every kid that feels different, every parent that fears their child not fitting in. Borne said this isn’t about winning a title, it’s about making a statement.
He said Oba should underestimate him. He said he won’t be the first. He said his doctors underestimated him. He said his wrestling coaches underestimated him. He said he even thinks a WWE coach underestimated him. He said he’s been surviving battles since he was born. He said this isn’t a Disney movie, but every ruler falls. He said he may be hard of hearing, but at Battleground the fans will hear the 1-2-3 loud and clear…
After Borne left the ring, LFG winner Jasper Troy planted Oba Femi in the ring with a Black Hole Slam. Bourne chased Jasper away. Borne tried to help Oba up, but Oba slapped his hand away. Borne picked up the NXT Title and handed it over to Oba. Oba and Borne faced off to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: Awesome face off promo and an even better go-home segment to sell the David vs. Goliath match. Oba was perfect here as the confident and respectful champion, laying down reality to the young Borne. Borne cut the best promo of his young WWE career, and it was made even better that he cut this great promo with his disability. They really struck a bit of gold here with that “i want to be judged based off my ability, not my disability” concept. Borne representing the disabled community here doesn’t come off as forced, but wholesome and inspiring. I’m sold on this match and rooting for Baby Randy!
NXT GM Ava was with security, moderating an argument between Ricky Saints and Ethan Page. Saints yelled that he’ll put his title on the line. Ethan said he’ll keep whooping Ricky’s ass. Ava said they can’t make matches, she does. Ava said because she said so, Ricky Saints will face Ethan Page next week with the title on the line.
Lola Vice made her entrance. They are really laying it on thick with the Miami Vice/Vice City color scheme with her…[c]
The show cut to Tony D’Angelo cutting a promo alone at his usual Italian restaurant. Tony D said he doesn’t understand Stacks. Tony D said he’s not a coward and he thought Stacks was the same growing up together. Tony D said he and Stacks rose to power in NXT, but that wasn’t good enough for Stacks. Tony D said Stacks wanted more, for people to follow and pay tribute to him. Tony D said he only let Stacks what he wanted Stacks to see. Tony D said Stacks has guts but no brains. Tony D hyped up his match with Stacks at Battleground and said he’ll break Channing’s face…
Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne made their entrance. Everyone is acting like Jazmyn Nyx was never a part of this group (not sure what reason that is?)…
4. Lola Vice vs. Fallon Henley (w/Jacy Jayne). Henley dominated the match early on with right forearms. Vice came back with footsies and jujitsu. Vice put Henley in a heel hook. Vic and the announcers cut to a somber note, wishing Zoey Stark the best after that nasty injury the prior night on Raw. Vice countered Henley into a Juji Gatame. Henley got to the bottom rope for the break. Vice took down Henley with a huracanrana and thrust kick.
Henley came back with a draping boot and Tiger Feint Kick off the ringpost.[c]
Henley worked on Vice with Muay Thai clinch knees back from break. Vice broke it up with a rollup. Henley came back with a knee to the gut and pie face. Henley hit Vice with a basement forearm for a nearfall. Vice and Henley took each other out with clotheslines. Graves threw in the obligatory plug of NXT having the best women’s division in wrestling. Vic talked about there being a bit of trouble in paradise with Fatal Influence.
Vice rallied with forearms and nice looking Tae Kwon Do switch kicks. Vice hit Henley with rapid kicks. Vice hit Henley with her I’m a Latina hip attack. Vice got a two count after an axe kick. Henley hit Vice with a flying X Factor and springboard Blockbuster for a nearfall. Henley blocked a Juji Gatame attempt. Jayne got on the ropes for the distraction, but Vice shoved Henley into Jayne to knock her off the apron. Vice took out Henley with a Spinning Backfist for the victory.
Lola Vice defeated Fallon Henley via pinfall in 11:29.
Jayne and Henley bickered at ringside…
The show cut to Kelly Kincaid having a sitdown interview with Stephanie Vaquer. Vaquer said being la primera doesn’t come without sacrifice. She talked about being rejected by WWE initially when she wasn’t ready. She said she used that as motivation to hone in her craft in Japan in Mexico. She said she swept floors and cleaned shoes. She said she was hungry, cold, cried, and bled. She said that wasn’t a sad time in her life, it was necessary to get here.
Kelly asked Stephanie if she accomplished her goal of becoming the best women in the best women’s division. She said when she first saw Rey Mysterio, she knew she was meant to be a WWE star. She said her recent battles made her better and were all worth it. Kelly brought the discussion to Jordynne Grace. Stephanie said she respects Grace making a name for herself in TNA. Stephanie said she also conquered hell and made hell her home. Stephanie said that when Grace steps into Stephanie’s hell, she will burn in flames…
Kelani Jordan made her entrance…[c]
John’s Thoughts: English is still rough for Stephanie, but she’s improving and overcoming her lack of English promo ability with her natural aura, confidence, and charisma. I really think her confidence has carried her well as she has been captivating crowds and doing the media spots very well. It was smart here to also have her in a backstage segment as opposed to the live crowd too to clean up any stumbles.
The show cut to a stylized DarkState vignette. This was NWO style with black and white and quick camera cuts. Saquon Shugars said the fear of DarkState has conquered the locker room. Dion talked about how he tears people apart physically and mentally. Cutler James said he sees through people, their illusions, and their lives. Osiris Griffin hyped up Saquon being the wild card of the group. They all dapped it up. Shugars said when DarkState strikes, ain’t nobody safe…
John’s Thoughts: A good promo to have DarkState introduce themselves. The NWO style fit the invading faction. All four men, especially Saquon, came off well spoken in this pre-tape. Saquon in particular is being presented as the 2nd coming of Jon Moxley, being presented as a smooth talker and “wild card”. One thing that stood out in an eyebrow raising way was Cutler James. He delivered his promo well, but it felt like he should be in a different gimmick and group. He feels like the person in this group that hasn’t fully meshed yet.
Vic cut to another replay of Jalen Brunson and Tyreese Halliburton from Smackdown in 2024 and noted that WWE should take credit for seeing Knicks vs. Pacers a year out…
Zaria and Sol Ruca made their entrance to Karrion Kross’s old TNA theme (Even though I don’t think the team has chemistry, I do like Sol’s poses during Kross’s theme)…
5. Zaria (w/Sol Ruca) vs. Kelani Jordan. Zaria dominated early on with power moves. Jordan caught Zaria at ringside with a corkscrew plancha and tossed her into the steel steps. Jordan got a one count after a slingshot crossbody. Zaria rolled through a crossbody. Kelani countered a Fireman Carry with a Sleeper. Jordan kicked Zaria off the apron. Zaria blocked a Dragon Rana and tossed Jordan into the barricade.[c]
Zaria used her size to block a Sunset Flip. Jordan tripped up Zaria and hit her with a DDT. Jordan and Zaria traded strong style strikes. Jordan took down Zaria with a combo into a cartwheel back elbow. Jordan followed up with a dropkick and Tornado DDT for a two count. Zaria dodged a 450. Jordan rolled up Zaria for a nearfall. Zaria ended Jordan’s rally with a clothesline.
Both women traded counters. Zaria hit Jordan with an impressive Backpack Cannonball which took Sol Ruca aback. Zaria hit Jordan with a pump kick on the apron. Sol caught Zaria after she was superkicked off the apron. Jordan sent Sol into Zaria with a baseball slide. Jordan sidestepped Zaria and Zaria accidentally tackled Sol off the apron. Jordan rolled up a distracted Zaria for the win.
Kelani Jordan defeated Zaria via pinfall in 10:28.
Vic introduced a graphic saying that with Jordan picking up the win, Sol vs. Jordan was made official for Battleground. Hank, Tank, and Briggs. vs. The Culling was added to the card. The commentators also ran through the matches already advertised for Battleground…
Joe Hendry picked up his acoustic guitar and TNA title in the locker room and headed to the ring…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A solid women’s match. Jordan really needs to push forward with her chearacter development as she has stalled a bit, not moving past being a little mopey and pissed off. That hasn’t taken back her in-ring style as she has developed into one of the best and most consistent athletes on NXT television. Zaria was protected with the miscommunication between the “friends”. Can’t wait until they move forward with Zaria whooping Sol’s ass, because that’s what this union is clearly leading to. This is a breakup they can hopefully make vicious and violent enough to get Zaria back on track after those awesome monster vignettes they brought her in WWE with. By the way, low key, Kelani Jordan vs. Sol Ruca has the potential to be a dark horse banger. Last time those two faced over the North American Championship, people were comparing that match to Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay.
Ricky Saints vs. Ethan Page for the North American Championship was advertised for next week’s NXT…
“Say his name and he appears! I believe in Joe Hendry! clap clap!”. TNA Champion was already in the ring with a red carpet for his Joe Hendry concert. He acknowledged Trick having a musical performance early on and said he did his best even though it wasn’t the best. Joe then started playing the acoustic guitar with the crowd joining in with claps.
Joe sung about how people will believe in him after Battleground. Joe then mocked Trick for only holding the NXT title for a few weeks. Joe said people used to be behind Trick, but now Trick is the world champion of producing tears. Joe said he had some footage of the good ol days of Trick being the crappy sidekick of Carmelo Hayes.
Joe then paused and a clip from NXT 2.0 aired where Trick and Melo were in one of those Dexter Lumis haunted house cinematics. Joe’s face was photoshopped over Dexter’s face as Trick ran away crying like a little bitch. Joe then led the crowd in singing about how some people singing “whoop dat trick” and now chanting “Melo’s bitch”. Trick made his entrance and a “Melo’s bitch” chant ensued.
Trick said that they can chant that, but people are also chanting “Average Joe”. Trick clocked Joe in the face and hit him with a discus boot. Trick went for a Trick Knee, but Joe shattered his acoustic guitar over the knee of Trick. Joe hit Trick with the Standing Ovation, sung a bit, and posed with the TNA Title to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: A fun iteration of Joe Hendry’s signature acoustic rock concerts. Hendry has done a fine job elevating the singing gimmick from a fun undercard comedy bit to something he can utilize in his main event feuds. He spreads them out a bit more too as to keep them feeling special. As I’ve been predicting for weeks, the tea leaves and Joe standing tall here all feels like Trick is leaving Battleground as TNA Champion. That would actually be a huge boost to TNA is they will benefit off using WWE’s character development in order to presumably put over Mike Santana at TNA Slammiversary in a large arena in New York. (As much as I wished Frankie Kazarian would be in the role of heel champ due to his great heel work in 2024 and 2025, Trick is definitely an upgrade as WWE is serving TNA with months of fresh character development on a silver platter).
Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Trick Willy, and hopefully Mike Santana going over Trick in New York? That has a chance to sell out a crowd. As for Battleground, I wonder if the guitar shattering this week wouldn’t be the last shattered guitar? I totally see the former Drifter Elias Sampson smashing a guitar over Joe Hendry’s head to cost him the TNA title. Battleground is looking better than Stand and Deliver with good storyline development and singles matches. This isn’t the full go-home segment yet, as TNA has been focusing their shows on booking towards Battleground too. TNA Impact has sort become NXT’s version of AEW Collision which has been interesting to see. Thankfully, TNA and WWE have done a wonderful job of syncing the show with quick recap segments to not require you to watch both shows to feel in the loop.
No review tonight?
Oops, my fault. I had my usual setup to update both the members and non-members live review, but only the members’ side was getting updated.
There is one factor that has been missed – and NXT did miss the chance by not pointing it out. That’s the tag at Under Siege (Joe & Elijah/Elias against Trick & Kaz). We’ll have to see if TNA take care of that contingency.