NXT Review: 23/09

Lexis King VS Myles Borne: Lights Out Match

Credit: WWE

NXT kicked off this week with the lights being turned off as Lexis King faced Myles Borne in a Lights Out Match! I was excited for the idea of this match coming back, mostly because I really enjoyed the Lights Out match between Wendy Choo and Tiffany Stratton back in 2022! Whilst this match wasn’t nearly as good as that, it still had its fun moments, and I like the presentation a lot! I feel like the winner was fairly obvious, but that’s okay, as Myles was eventually able to pin Lexis after sending The King crashing through a table with a Borne Again! Myles Borne to go after the North American Title soon?

Grade: B-

Ethan Page Promo, Candice LeRae VS Lainey Reid: NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament Finals, Arianna Grace VS Jordynne Grace

After Ava left Mr. Stone and Stevie Turner in charge for the night (the Mayor was in London, England), Ethan Page came out to cut a promo on how great he is! However, Ethan quickly talked about the fact that he would also be holding the AAA Latin American Championship right now if hadn’t been for El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., and this is when he invited Dr. Wagner Jr. into the ring for an impromptu match! However, this only lasted about 5 seconds (it wasn’t legal, either) as Page immediately tapped out before the man under the mask was actually revealed to be Tavion Heights! Genuinely, I didn’t see this coming, this got me good!

Grade: B

Arianna Grace’s mouth got her into more trouble, this time with Jordynne Grace, before Candice LeRae took on Lainey Reid in the Finals of the NXT Women’s Speed Championship Tournament! ZaRuca watched on from the Podium/Platform area (they both had whiteboards) as Candice showed why she is so much better than her position in the company! Also, Lainey Reid continues to show signs of promise, and as expected, a wicked knee to the face was enough for Reid to get the win, ensuring herself a date with Sol Ruca at NXT No Mercy!

Grade: C+

Jaida Parker was incredibly fired up when it came to talking about Lash Legend, before Tatum Paxley was reconnecting with Lyra Valkyria, only for Izzi Dame to drag her away! DarkState then weren’t at all impressed by Chase University (who were talking to NASCAR driver Sam Mayer), before Joe Hendry appeared in Haas overalls (which is very cool for me)! It was then time for a battle of the Grace’s as Arianna went one-on-one with Jordynne! As expected, Jordynne Grace dominated Arianna Grace; this really wasn’t much of a contest, and it ended with JG scoring the easy victory! After the match was over, Blake Monroe ran down to the ring with a pink kendo stick (more of this, please) before security actually broke them apart (for once)! This then led to Mr. Stone and Stevie Turner booking a Weaponised Steel Cage Match for No Mercy, and that should be good!

Grade: C+ (just because of the pink kendo stick)

Jacy Jayne and Lola Vice Come Face-to-Face, DarkState VS Joe Hendry and Chase University

Lainey Reid had another interaction with Fatal Influence, before Jacy Jayne came down to the ring for a face-to-face confrontation between her and Lola Vice! Jacy a cut promo first, calling herself the underdog of this whole story, and that no matter what, she will leave No Mercy “and still” NXT Women’s Champion! This brought out Lola Vice who said she’s a completely different person to the one that challenged Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Title last year, and that she will knock Jayne out on Saturday! However, having said that, Vice then knocked out Jacy with a back fist here too, and that makes me think that The Rockstar may be retaining this Saturday (something I wouldn’t have said before this show)! As for the segment itself, it was fine, pretty simple, but I thought both women delivered their points well!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

Josh Briggs cut a fantastic video promo saying it’s the fans who don’t get it, not him, before Joe Hendry teamed up with Chase University to take on DarkState! Chase U showed some signs of life here, they weren’t weak at all, but they still weren’t good enough! Joe Hendry carried his team massively, taking it to everyone in DarkState, but that too wasn’t enough as the NXT Tag Team Champions eventually got the win as Andre Chase watched on! Mr. Chase needs to change his students!

Grade: C+

NXT and TNA World Championships Winner Takes All: Oba Femi VS Trick Williams

Credit: Cageside Seats

After a great Ricky Saints video, and Jazmyn Nyx seemingly being kicked out of Fatal Influence (after she was laid out), it was Main Event time as Oba Femi faced Trick Williams in a Winner Takes All match for both the NXT and TNA World Championships! Let’s be honest, we all knew this match wasn’t going to end with a finish, and that meant it was hard to get invested in the actual action! It was decent, Oba and Trick are both very good at what they do (and that’s putting it lightly), but this was all about the stars of TNA! See, throughout the night, we’d seen lots of TNA superstars lurking in the background, from Moose to Zachary Wentz, to The Angel Warriors, and we even had Mike Santana join commentary for this Title match! There was also a bunch of top names in the crowd, like Steve Maclin, Frankie Kazarian, Mance Warner, The IInspiration, and even “The Complete” Matt Cardona (he easily got the biggest pop of the night)! Eventually, Santana got into a fight with Trick Williams, resulting in a DQ finish before the TNA wrestlers ambushed the ring, starting a brawl with a bunch of NXT superstars! This was very cool, I thought it was very well done, and I’m very excited to see where this leads going forward! However, perhaps the best part about all of this was whilst everyone was fighting in the background, Ricky Saints just strutted his way to the NXT Championship as he stood face-to-face with Oba Femi! This is the new definition of cool!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B