NXT Review: 20/01

NXT North American Championship: Ethan Page VS Elio Lefleur

Credit: WWE

After Ava told security that they needed to be on high alert tonight, this week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Elio Lefleur making his WWE debut as he challenged Ethan Page for the NXT North American Championship! This was my first time getting to see Elio wrestle properly; I’ve seen clips of him against Mustafa Ali back in early 2024, but I thought this was a good showcase for him! Lefleur was facing a guy in Ethan Page who has had two great years since joining WWE, and he’s very much the pillar holding NXT together right now! To be honest, a part of me wondered whether Elio would win this match in order to allow Ethan to head up to either the NXT Championship scene (again), or even the Main Roster! Instead, that didn’t happen as eventually, All Ego was able to steal the victory away from the French Luchador to retain his North American Title! Then, after the match was over, Ricky Saints’ music hit as Ricky wanted to endorse Ethan on how they’re the two people who are holding NXT together! That’s brilliant!

Grade: B

NXT Championship Qualifying Match: Josh Briggs VS Shiloh Hill, Chase University VS Swipe Right

We got an exclusive clip from LFG which showed a lack of respect between Booker T and Keanu Carver, and Carver seemed to have no interest in talking to anyone, especially Shawn Michaels! Josh Briggs was then out next as The Man of Mayhem was looking to book his ticket to the NXT Championship Ladder Match when he faced Shiloh Hill! This match was alright, I don’t really have too much to say about it, though! I think I still need some more time before I can truly work out what I actually think of Shiloh Hill, but what I do know is Briggs is very good (even though the crowd can’t stand him)! Because of that, I expected Briggs to get the win as he would be a pretty good person to have in a ladder match, but that’s not what happened! See, Hill was able to get the win to the surprise of both me and Ricky Saints (who was on commentary for this match), before Tony D’Angelo just arrived to drop both Briggs and Hill to end the segment! Ricky was once again the star here, with Saints hiding behind Vic Joseph as Tony D stared him down!

Grade: C+

After Zaria told Sol Ruca not to blame her if they come up short tonight, Swipe Right had their first match as official members of the NXT Roster when they took on Chase University! I fault a lot of things in regard to the new Chase U; Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors are just annoying human beings who waste Andre Chase’s time (for example)! However, what I will say about Dixon and Connors is they’re great in-ring workers, like, they’re genuinely really good! If they can sort their characters out/stop being so annoying, these guys could be big-time players in the Tag Team Division in 2026 and beyond! Swipe Right are clearly a big project for NXT in 2026, with all three members of The Vanity Project having potential, and what I liked about this match is that, despite being on the outside the entire time, Jackson Drake didn’t get involved once! That meant that when Swipe Right scored the win clean, it was a lot more of a satisfying victory to watch than usual (especially for “debuting” Heels)!

Grade: B 

Jaida Parker’s Return Promo, Eli Knight VS Sean Legacy: NXT Championship Qualifying Match

After Ava informed Mr. Stone that she’d called officers to come down to the Performance Center, both Lola Vice and Thea Hail made their claims for a shot at Izzi Dame’s NXT Women’s North American Championship! As a result, Ava booked a Triple Threat match for the Title in two weeks’ time, before Keanu Carver quickly snapped after receiving “stupid” questions from Blake Howard! Jaida Parker then came out to cut a promo about her return, stating that she watched on for months as the likes of Kendal Grey and Lola Vice stepped up, whilst someone like Blake Monroe acted like she’s better than everyone else! The crowd were fully behind Jaida, with Miss Parker cutting one of her best and most confident promos to date! Eventually, the lights turned off in order for Blake Monroe to put the spotlight firmly on her, but JP didn’t seem to care in the slightest! A Monroe-Parker feud is definitely an interesting way to go given that I feel like neither of them should be losing right now, but I guess that’s what creates the added intrigue!

Grade: B-

Ava confirmed with Myles Borne that he will be in a Qualifying Match next week before she praised Elio Lefleur for a strong debut performance! Ricky Saints and Ethan Page were then back together, this time ganging up on Myles, with Ethan telling Borne that “he knows what to do”! This Saints-Page dynamic is terrific! Speaking of Saints, Ricky was back on commentary for the next match as Sean Legacy and Eli Knight went one-on-one in the second NXT Championship Qualifying Match! Along with The Vanity Project, both Sean Legacy and Eli Knight are the newest signees to the NXT Roster, which I personally think is well deserved after seeing some of their previous work on both NXT and Evolve! Ricky Saints was quite impressed with this match again; he was absolutely the star of this show, and to be fair, I thought the wrestling was good, too! In the end, Legacy was able to get the win to advance to the NXT Championship Ladder Match on February 3rd, before Tony D’Angelo reappeared to once again wreck these fools! Once again, Saints hid behind Vic, before Tony D was arrested (for not the first time in his WWE career)! The thing I found interesting about all of this was it felt like D’Angelo wanted all of this to happen, like he didn’t seem to have a problem with being arrested at all! Maybe that’s me reading into things too much, or maybe that’s part of this entire D’Angelo storyline!

Grade: B-

TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contender’s Match: Fatal Influence VS WreNQCC VS ZaRuca

Credit: WWE

After The Culling set their sights on Tag Team Gold, OTM challenged DarkState to a match for the NXT Tag Team Championships, and Joe Hendry appeared to the chagrin of The Vanity Project, it was Main Event time as Fatal Influence, the WreNQCC, and ZaRuca battled in a Triple Threat Match to determine the Number 1 Contenders to The Elegance Brand’s TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships! Now, The Elegance Brand are Heels, so it would make sense based on that logic to expect a good guy team to get the victory! ZaRuca were literally on TNA programming last weekend, so them winning would make perfect sense, whilst a duo like Wren Sinclair and Kendal Grey could benefit massively from appearing in other promotions! Then you have Fatal Influence, who are simply just a very good team, and I have to say that I’m very impressed with how quickly Lainey Reid is developing! Ultimately, this is a match that really could’ve gone either way, but in the end, after Fatal Influence dealt with the WreNQCC, ZaRuca took advantage, with Sol Ruca hitting a double Sol Snatcher into a Z5 for Zaria to get the win for her team! If I’m being honest, I actually expect ZaRuca to defeat The Elegance Brand when that eventual match takes place!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B