Powell’s NXT Hit List: Thoughts on how the unplanned finish of Blake Monroe vs. Thea Hail for the NXT Women’s North American Title was handled, Ricky Saints as a heel, and another quirky babyface

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

NXT Hits

Ricky Saints and Je’Von Evans: Saints struggled as a babyface in NXT, but he’s off to a great start as a heel. Saints comes off as being more confident as a heel in terms of how he carries himself and delivers his promos. Evans is one of the most popular and dynamic wrestlers on the NXT roster, so he’s a great first opponent for heel Saints. In fact, this already jumps out as one of the most appealing NXT feuds that doesn’t involve a championship.

TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater vs. Joe Hendry vs. Dion Lennox vs. Myles Borne in a four-way for a shot at the NXT Championship: A good main event, and they went with the most interesting of the four championship match scenarios. Slater’s long-distance Swanton was beyond impressive, and his Swanton 450 finisher is tremendous. It will be interesting to see how Je’Von Evans reacts to Slater earning a shot at the title that he would have won had it not been for the interference of Ricky Saints. Meanwhile, Lennox needs a statement win to really put him on the map, and Hendry needs to be more than the “say his name, and he appears” guy. Hendry has a great background story. Sure, he shared that story in TNA, but it’s worth repeating to the larger audience. Finally, they picked the right guy to lose. Borne has a nice look and is good in the ring, but he just hasn’t connected with the fans yet.

Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair vs. Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley: It was the obvious call to have Grey beat a member of Fatal Influence before she challenges the faction’s leader, Jacy Jayne, for the NXT Women’s Championship.

NXT Misses

Blake Monroe vs. Thea Hail for the NXT Women’s North American Championship: An accidental title change? Doh! It was unfortunate, but the referee deserves credit for making the three count. Granted, that’s protocol, but it’s easier said than done, and we’ve seen plenty of veteran referees freeze instead of hitting the mat for a third time when wrestlers have failed to kick out. For that matter, Hail and Monroe handled it well. Hail went right into celebration mode, while Monroe told the referee her shoulder was up. And while I have to give this a Miss due to the finish, there’s no real harm done. If they need the belt on Monroe due to creative plans, she can win it back quickly. It may cause some headaches if the creative team had other plans for the tapings of the holiday week shows, but I can’t imagine that any long-term damage was done.

Hank Walker and Tank Ledger vs. “OTM” Lucien Price and Bronco Nima: A minor Miss. Did this match go long to make up for the NXT Women’s North American Championship match finishing early? Either way, I like these teams, and this wasn’t a bad match, but neither has much going on creatively, so it felt like the nearly 14-minute match overstayed its welcome.

Shiloh Hill: I was more intrigued by Hill when it looked like he was going to be an unhinged heel based on how his introductory vignettes grew darker by the week. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s in quirky babyface mode. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, as it’s very similar to what NXT did with Dexter Lumis and is currently doing with Tatum Paxley.

(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)