NXT Review: 09/12

Linus O'Howell
4 days ago
5 min read

Oba Femi Starts the Show, Jordynne Grace VS Kelani Jordan

This week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Oba Femi celebrating his status as a 2-time NXT Champion! Oba said the universe corrected itself when he won back his Title from Ricky Saints at NXT Deadline, and Femi was very firm when it came to saying that he will put Cody Rhodes in the ground at Saturday Night’s Main Event! This brought out Ricky Saints, who wanted his rematch with Oba Femi, but it was Je’Von Evans’ arrival that really got things going, with The Young O.G. saying that he couldn’t wait for New Year’s Evil! Because of this, Femi-Evans will take place tonight with the NXT Championship on the line, and that is very similar to the way Roxanne Perez dethroned Mandy Rose back in 2022!

Grade: B-

After Tatum Paxley said Izzi Dame is the only person in this story that has anything to lose, a rivalry looked to be settled as Jordynne Grace and Kelani Jordan clashed in the opening match of the night! Jordynne looked like a bit of a beast in her new gear, whilst Kelani continues to build on her best year to date! I thought this was a fun opening contest; it went the right amount of time, and there were multiple ways this result could’ve gone! Earlier in the match, Kelani Jordan brought a steel chair into play, but Jordynne Grace was the one who really lost out by trying to use it! See, after the referee pulled the chair from out of Grace’s hands, Jordan took advantage to nail JG with a wonderful 450 to earn a pretty big win! What is going on with Jordynne Grace’s Win-Loss record?!

Grade: B-

Blake Monroe’s NXT Women’s North American Championship Open Challenge, Shiloh Hills Debuts (VS Lexis King)

Jordynne Grace seemed incredibly down in the back, which is why Thea Hail started to give her some advice! Thea couldn’t finish off what she was saying, however, as she needed to head down to the ring to try and answer Blake Monroe’s Open Challenge for her NXT Women’s North American Championship! Blake made it clear that she was happy to face anyone, but she didn’t mean everyone, as the large majority of the NXT Women’s Locker Room tried to answer Monroe’s call! This opened up an opportunity for Thea Hail to sneak in from the other side and get into the ring, quickly forcing Blake to tap out! Unfortunately for Thea, this wasn’t an official victory as the match never began, but what I will say is I love how NXT does Open Challenges; it makes so much more sense than the ones that take place on the Main Roster!

Grade: C+

When we returned from the break, we actually got a proper scheduled contest as Shiloh Hill made his NXT in-ring debut against Lexis King! There have been quite a few video promos over the past couple of weeks for Shiloh Hill, with NXT clearly wanting to make a big deal out of the Winner of Season 2 of LFG! Hill is certainly a unique individual; him taking out his gumshield and handing it to the referee was certainly a new one, but he was helped by the fact that Lexis King is quite a good seller! In the end, Shiloh was able to pick up his win on debut, and I’d say that this guy already has more personality than Jasper Troy has ever had!

Grade: C+

Ethan Page Speaks, Sol Ruca VS Wren Sinclair

Oba Femi said that as a Champion, you have to expect the unexpected, and I get the feeling he was talking about more things than one given how the next segment went! See, Ethan Page arrived to usual stick from the crowd, with the reigning NXT North American Champion basking in his excellence as not only a double Champion, but also as the Greatest North American to ever live! Ethan said that there’s going to be a huge void left once John Cena retires this Saturday, but All Ego is the perfect person to fill that void! This is when the lights turned off, with Tony D’Angelo arriving to floor Page to end the segment! I thought Ethan Page’s promo was great, I really did, but I’m not certain that All Ego will have anything to do with Tony D’Angelo moving forward (I get the feeling Tony D is running through a lot of different people until he gets to the NXT Championship)!

Grade: B

Ava told Leon Slater, Joe Hendry, Myles Borne, and Dion Lennox that they will have a Fatal 4-Way match next week, with the winner becoming the new Number 1 Contender to the NXT Championship at NXT New Year’s Evil! Ethan Page was then furious with Ava about the whole Tony D’Angelo situation, before Wren Sinclair was forced to go one-on-one with Sol Ruca after comments made after the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline! Sol and Wren are two of my favourite workers in NXT; they’re great personalities, and their in-ring work tends to be quite strong! Of course, Ruca and Sinclair are firmly in different places when it comes to the pecking order of the NXT Women’s Division, and that was showcased here as Sol picked up a pretty straightforward victory via a Sol Snatcher! After the match was over, Sol Ruca chased after Zaria (who’d been watching the match from the crowd), and this is when Fatal Influence arrived, as Jacy Jayne had some choice things to say to Kendal Grey! Jacy told Kendal to enjoy her momentum while it lasts, because it’s very much going to be snuffed out come the end of New Year’s Evil! Grey fired back, stating that Jayne should know better than anyone that an underdog can dethrone a Champion (referencing Jacy’s shock victory over Stephanie Vaquer back in May), and I really liked that point, because it puts the Heel in a difficult spot! Eventually, Fatal Influence had clearly had enough as they floored Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair, and despite the WreNQCC’s best efforts to fight back, it was the trio of Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid who stood tall!

Grade: C+ for the Match, B- for the Post-Match Segment

NXT Championship: Oba Femi VS Je’Von Evans

After OTM got in the faces of Hank and Tank, Blake Monroe told Ava that she refuses to do any more Open Challenges, and ZaRuca hugged things out, it was Main Event time as Je’Von Evans looked to finally dethrone Oba Femi for the NXT Championship! Oba and Je’Von are very much magic together; not only are they the future of WrestleMania, but they’re very much the now in both NXT and WWE! The difference in size works perfectly when you add in the insane agility that both men have, and I really enjoyed this clash! Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that it wasn’t clear who was going to win, because there were genuine arguments to be made for Evans winning the Title here (especially if Leon Slater was to become the next Number 1 Contender)! In fact, both guys came close at different points, with some really strong sequences throughout, and in the end, I genuinely brought Je’Von Evans scoring the win after nailing Oba Femi with a pair of cutters! However, in a shocking turn of events, the referee was pulled out of the ring by none other than Ricky Saints, with this moment very much opening the door for Oba to deliver an insane uppercut, followed by a Fall From Grace to give The Ruler his first successful Title defense in his second reign as NXT Champion! Out of all of the different scenarios I could’ve seen playing out at the end of this match, Saints costing Evans certainly wasn’t one of them!