NXT Review: 17/02
- Linus O'Howell
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Lola Vice VS Kelani Jordan
This week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Lola Vice looking to get some revenge on Kelani Jordan! Over recent weeks, Kelani has continued to target the right hand of Lola, with Vice’s hand being heavily taped up/protected as a result! I am glad that Lola still wrestled pretty strongly here, mainly because she’s won the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championships since Jordan’s first attack, so it’s not like she’d been selling it particularly well anyway! Anyway, this match itself was pretty decent; it got a good amount of time, and it’s clear to see that these are two of the most highly-rated women in NXT! Now, as expected, it was Kelani Jordan who won this match, but most impressively, she won by submission! Yes, Lola Vice tapped out, and that not only stands out in Vice’s career, but it also massively puts over Lani! I liked this a lot!
Grade: B
Joe Hendry Calls Out Ricky Saints, Tony D’Angelo VS Cutler James, Hank and Tank VS OTM VS The Culling VS The Vanity Project: NXT Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way
After Tony D’Angelo sent a warning shot to both Cutler James and DarkState, Ricky Saints was walking through the NXT Parking Lot when he was attacked by Joe Hendry! Security actually did a decent job of breaking the two up (it’s a miracle), before Shiloh Hill was being hyped up by Hank and Tank! Joe Hendry then stormed down to the ring with no interest in doing his entrance, as Joe simply wanted to call out Ricky Saints! Ricky then appeared on the Podium/Platform area, stating that they went from having a real WWE Superstar as NXT Champion to a “Meme Champion”! Saints then continued to say that Hendry has the entire NXT Universe fooled, and that he’s the real star that carries NXT! This clearly bothered Joe as he told Ricky to come down to the ring so they could fight, but instead, Saints said that he’ll come for the NXT Title at NXT Vengeance Day (on March 7th)! The fact that NXT is doing this feud now has me very confused of what the Stand and Deliver Main Event is going to be, but at least we’ve got Vengeance Day confirmed! Also, Ricky Saints is such a good promo!
Grade: B-
After The Culling talked about their aims of becoming NXT Tag Team Champions, Tony D’Angelo started his “cleansing” of DarkState by taking on Cutler James! Tony looked really good here, with a new look really benefited him after years of being the same character! This match was also basically a squash match, with Tony D destroying James before he just won! After the match was over, Dion Lennox attacked D’Angelo from behind, but this wasn’t a good move as Tony probably would’ve broken Lennox’s ankle if it wasn’t for James making the save! I would assume that all of this will result in a stipulation match between Tony and Dion!
Grade: C+
Ethan Page was once again hanging out with The Vanity Project as Ethan once again made it clear to Myles Borne that he doesn’t deserve a shot at his NXT North American Championship! Then, after Ricky Saints and Ethan put each other over, we were set for a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match to determine the new Number 1 Contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championships! The teams involved here were Hank and Tank, OTM, The Culling, and The Vanity Project! Personally, I didn’t mind this match; it felt very hectic towards the end, but that was probably the best part of all of this! I expected Hank and Tank to win given that I feel like OTM are going to be saved for a bigger stage (potentially Stand and Deliver), but to my surprise, it was actually The Vanity Project who stole this one after Jackson Drake knocked out Shawn Spears! And yes, Swipe Right is seemingly no more!
Grade: C+
Jacy Jayne and Sol Ruca Come Face-to-Face, Eli Knight VS Elio Lefleur: NXT Speed Championship Tournament (Finals)
After Keanu Carver talked about being kicked off his College Football Team, Mr. Stone politely asked Joe Hendry to leave the building before Zaria snapped at Sol Ruca, stating that she’s done with their friendship! Yikes! This then led nicely into the next segment as Fatal Influence arrived so Jacy Jayne called talk about how she’s jealous of Sol Ruca! Yes, despite being a double Champion last year, someone who carried two brands on her back, everyone still only wants to talk about Sol Ruca, and that showed when Ruca won NXT Female Superstar of the Year in 2025 (something you guys already know my opinion about)! This brought out Sol, who stated that Jacy might actually get more recognition if she stopped being so envious of other people, whilst Jayne responded by questioning Ruca’s friendship with Zaria, making it clear that to make it to the top, you have to get rid of your best friend (something The Rockstar knows very well about)! Anyway, after Fatal Influence started to attack Sol Ruca, Zaria ran down to make the save, clearly going back on what she said literally 10 minutes earlier! Honestly, I understand why NXT is doing this match next week; it’s to set up the big ZaRuca feud that we’ve been waiting for for ages! However, there’s a world where Jacy Jayne VS Sol Ruca should Main Event Stand and Deliver this year, because I really believe that this story between them is a lot bigger than just a TV bout!
Grade: B
After a chat with Sean Legacy, Eli Knight and Elio Lefleur went one-on-one to determine a new Number 1 Contender for Jasper Troy’s NXT Speed Championship! These are two incredibly quick competitors, so this felt like a bit of a blur! In fact, this gave me reminders of Axiom VS Nathan Frazer from back in the 2.0 days, so I’d now quite like to see these guys having proper matches against each other! Anyway, neither guy managed to get the win in under 3 minutes, meaning in theory, Jasper Troy just retains his Title! However, Robert Stone had other ideas, with Stone instead booking a historic first-ever Triple Threat Speed Match for the Title next week, a match that will also see a unique 7-minute time limit! This could be the best thing for this concept!
Grade: B-
After Myles Borne and Shiloh Hill got into a heated war of words backstage, Uriah Connors tried to convince Charlie Dempsey to join his new group! Charles had doubts due to Lexis King being the leader, whilst Connors rightly wanted to know what Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo has done to prove himself! Anyway, Fallon Henley was then chatting to Mr. Stone about getting more NXT Women’s Speed Title defences under her belt, with Stone adding Blake Monroe to the field after Monroe found out that Jaida Parker is both suspended and injured (please don’t be anything serious)! DarkState were then fuming backstage before Zaria apologised to Sol Ruca, as ZaRuca tried to get back on the same page ahead of Sol’s huge match with Jacy Jayne next week!
NXT North American Championship: Ethan Page VS Shiloh Hill
And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of NXT, Ethan Page looked to make history as he put his NXT North American Championship on the line against Shiloh Hill! This match was set up because Ethan Page wanted to break the record for the most successful Title defences in a single North American Title reign, and yet, Page kept trying to end the match by any means necessary! That didn’t exactly make much sense, but other than that, I thought this was a good Main Event! Whilst most of what I’ve seen of LFG has been poor, Shiloh Hill is actually quite interesting; he feels different, and it’s cool to see him Main Event across two of the last three weeks! Anyway, after multiple interference spots from The Vanity Project (these guys are everywhere), Ethan was able to deliver a Twisted Grin, meaning All Ego is officially a record-breaker! After the match was over, The Vanity Project continued their assault on Hill, resulting in Myles Borne running down to make the save! Myles was then adamant about getting his North American Title shot, to the point where he threatened to stamp a chair onto the ankle of Ethan if he refused to give him one! Now, Page finally agreed to have the match last week, but a silly comment led to Borne pulling off the move anyway! Ethan Page is just over a week away from becoming the longest reigning NXT North American Champion of all time, and yet, he may just come up short!
