NXT Gold Rush 2025 Week 2 Review

Linus O'Howell
3 days ago
5 min read

Evolve Championship: Jackson Drake VS Sean Legacy

Week 2 of NXT Gold Rush 2025 opened with a huge opportunity for 2 up-and-coming superstars as Sean Legacy looked to dethrone Jackson Drake for the Evolve Championship! I’ve seen Sean Legacy a few times before; he’s had multiple matches on NXT, but I can’t remember seeing too much of Jackson Drake! Personally, I was very impressed with Mr. Drake, as Jackson delivered some wonderful moves, including an insanely unique backflip/double knees combo (I was genuinely stunned by this)! The crowd weren’t the best to begin with, mostly because they probably didn’t know much about either guy (plus the fact that they’d already watched one show), but they did become more interested towards the end! Speaking of the end, that came when Drake delivered a Knee Strike to get the win, successfully retaining his Evolve Championship on the biggest stage at Madison Square Garden!

Grade: B-

NXT Women’s Speed Championship: Fallon Henley VS Zaria

Ethan Page tried to give Sol Ruca some advice about how she should handle her situation with Zaria, before Myles Borne got involved, prompting All Ego to tell Myles that he’ll lose to Trick Williams tonight! Interestingly, after that backstage segment, Sol Ruca was nowhere to be seen as Zaria came out alone to face Fallon Henley in a match to crown a brand-new NXT Women’s Speed Champion! For a Speed match, Zaria took her time, working over Fallon with pretty lengthy submission holds! It was sort of an odd decision, and it meant we only really got going in the final 50 seconds once the rest of Fatal Influence tried to get involved! However, kind of unsurprisingly given the pace of this match, neither woman scored a victory when the 5-minute time limit ended, with Ava then having to come out to restart the match as “Sudden Death, Winner Takes All”! The benefit of this is it meant we actually got to see some proper wrestling between Zaria and Henley, but it honestly did feel like a very odd way to crown a new Champion! Anyway, towards the end of the match, Lainey Reid pulled Fallon Henley out of the way, meaning Zaria went crashing into the steel steps! This then allowed Fallon to deliver both a Shining Wizard and an Axe Kick to get the win, meaning Henley has now held 3 different Championships during her time in NXT!

Grade: C+

TNA Knockouts World Championship: Kelani Jordan VS Jordynne Grace VS Lei Ying Lee

Shiloh Hill got his second video package hyping up his upcoming debut, before John Cena appeared in a pre-recorded video to announce the competitors in this year’s Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge! Cena picked Leon Slater, Je’Von Evans, Joe Hendry, and Dion Lennox (of DarkState), whilst he also confirmed that the final spot would be awarded to the winner of tonight’s Main Event between Trick Williams and Myles Borne! What came next surprised me as the TNA Knockouts World Championship was on the line as Kelani Jordan looked to defend her Title against both Jordynne Grace and Lei Ying Lee in a Triple Threat match! I was surprised about this because I expected it to be the Main Event; it was the biggest Championship on the line in Week 2, and I felt like it was a statement for NXT to have both weeks of Gold Rush Main Evented by their stacked Women’s Division! Ultimately, that didn’t happen, but it didn’t stop us from getting a good contest! The crowd were firmly behind Jordynne Grace here; no surprise really, but Lei Ying Lee’s support grew as she reminded older NXT fans about how good the former Xia Li really is! And then you have Kelani Jordan, who’s done really well as Knockouts World Champion, and I expected her to continue that heading into TNA Genesis in January! However, that wasn’t to be the case, as after Jordynne Grace floored Kelani, Lei Ying Lee came in and took out Grace, before she pinned Lani to get the win! Yes, Lei Ying Lee is officially the brand-new TNA Knockouts World Champion, and I’m honestly very happy for her!

Grade: B

Evolve Women’s Championship: Kendal Grey VS Lainey Reid

After Izzi Dame had stated that Tatum Paxley deserved everything that came her way, Fatal Influence were excited about the prospect of all three women leaving New York City with gold, only for Ava to tell them that Lainey Reid would have to go it alone, as both Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley were banned from ringside! Anyway, Ricky Saints then had a sit-down interview where he said that if he doesn’t beat Oba Femi at NXT Deadline, then all of this will be for nothing! However, having said that, Saints believes he thrives under pressure, believing he does have what it takes to take down The Ruler once again! It was then time for the final Title match of Gold Rush as Lainey Reid looked to complete a Fatal Influence clean-sweep when she went one-on-one with Kendal Grey for the Evolve Women’s Championship! Kendal Grey has shown vast signs of improvement since she originally stepped into the WWE Performance Center, with her run on Evolve really elevating her to work alongside Wren Sinclair on NXT full-time! Lainey Reid still has a long way to go in her career, but she too is making decent progress, and it meant we got a match between two women that could be at the top of NXT within the next couple of year! Despite being banned from ringside, both Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley ran down to try and help Lainey’s cause, and this is when Charlie Dempsey just returned out of nowhere to catch a falling Sinclair! The referee then rightly chucked all four of them to the back, and this eventually led to Kendal delivering Shades of Grey to secure a successful Title defense!

Grade: C+

Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Trick Williams VS Myles Borne

After John Cena announced Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Jordynne Grace, Kelani Jordan, and Kendal Grey as his picks to compete in this year’s Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge, it was time for the Main Event of Week 2 of NXT Gold Rush 2025 as Myles Borne looked to stun Trick Williams in a match to determine the final competitor in the Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge! The fact that this was the Main Event of Gold Rush didn’t exactly make a lot of sense, but what is undeniable is the fact that Trick Williams was still the most over-man on this show (by far)! Myles Borne being in the Iron Survivor Challenge would make sense; that match has a history of different people shining, but it would also feel odd not to have Williams on the show at all, given he’s still in NXT (for some reason)! Ultimately, that’s exactly the route that NXT decided to take as Myles pinned Trick clean with 3 “Borne Again’s”, and after the match was over, DarkState appeared, only for Leon Slater, Je’Von Evans, and Joe Hendry to run down to even the odds! I was correct with my assumption that we would get an 8-Man Tag match before Deadline next week!