NXT is back and its happening live from Lowell, Massachusetts. It’s a night full of grudge matches and its kicking off with David vs NXT’s residential Goliath, Oba Femi.
The show kicked off with shots of NXT’s superstars arriving at the building. Ethan Page looked a little stressy depressy, but there’s no time for sour pusses! It’s time for some NXT action.
Oba Femi versus Axiom (with Nathan Frazier)
This is going to be such a good match. Both men entered the ring and Femi immediately gained control and started tossing is opponent around the ring. Axiom recovered and tried to gain an offense with some chops, but Femi nailed a judo throw and took him out again. Axiom went for a Lionsault but Femi struck him, which sent him to the outside, coincidentally, just in time for a commercial break!
Back from break and Axiom was displaying the handprint of Oba Femi, like his own red badge of courage. Femi kept up the offense, hitting a myriad of clubbing flows. Axiom eventually fought back with some dropkicks, which took Femi to his knees, but when Axiom tried to gain the offensive, Oba Femi absolutely nailed him out of his boots with a clothesline.
Axiom eventually tried a Triangle Choke, but Femi powered out and deadlifted Axiom and threw him into the corner, and then hit a series of strikes. Axiom tried to hit back, but but Femi no-sold them and hit another series of blows. Axiom finally got the advantage a bit, and performed multiple pin attempts to no avail, but the crowd responded in kind and cheered both men. Axiom hit another dropkick and then did a kip-up, ala NXT’s head honcho. He tried to hit a Golden Ratio, but Femi reversed it and then hit a beautiful pop-up powerbomb for the 1-2-3.
Oba Femi defeated Axiom
Backstage, Sarah Schreiber interviewed that liar, that cheater, that no good, son of a b…she interviewed Eddy Thorpe and demanded answers!
Schreiber asked him what he had to say for himself after the stunt he pulled last week. Thorpe, smug b*stard that he is, bragged about it! He actually bragged about it! Can you believe it? He said that if somebody else did it, they’d be called a genius. But since it was him, they call him a cheater. NXT General Manager Ava showed up and yelled at Eddy Thorpe. She said she can’t do anything about it because the contract was signed. Thorpe said that she can call him whatever she wants but, after tonight, she’ll have to call him Champion!
A segment aired from “over the weekend,” in which Karmen Petrovic and Dion Lennox were at the Performance Center. Petrovic was asking Lennox some advice about Ashante Thee Adonis. Lennox, who’s gotta be the friend zone’d best friend now, right?, said that he thinks Adonis was looking out for her during her match with Nikkita Lyons. Petrovic said that, like all of us, she tends to spin out but hat she thinks he’s right. She should apologize. Lennox agreed and the two hugged (but like, as friends) right as Adonis walked in. Adonis said he cut off Nikkita but he’s gonna hit her up now that Petrovic “betrayed” her.
This is some straight up CW, Freeform, high school-ass miscommunication drama. All we need is for Chad Michael Murray to show up to be guest referee for one of their matches. I hate it.
Back to action!
Sol Ruca and Zaria versus Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson
Legend and Jackson are really growing on me. They’re not growing on Sol Ruca, however, as she immediately began the match by body slamming Jackson and riding her like a surfboard. Legend tagged in and attempted an elbow drop. Roca responded with an elbow of her own, followed by a slingshot codebreaker. Legend gained the advantage and threw Sol Ruca across the ring, and then begged her to tag in Zaria. So, she did. Zaria and Legend had a stare-up-and-down, and traded shoulder tackles.
Each woman attempted to hit one of their moves, but they each kept reversing them. Legend finally hit a body slam, and tried to hit an Ultimate Warrior-esque running splash, but Zaria moved out of the way. Ruca tagged back in and slammed Legend outside of the ring. Zaria picked up Jackson in a fireman’s carry (fireman carry? firemen carry? firemen’s carry? I DON’T KNOW!) and Sol Ruca walked on her and then dove onto Legend. Zaria then hit an Ultimate Warrior-esque press slam at ringside.
COMMERCIAL BREAK!
BACK FROM COMMERCIAL!
Sol Ruca attemted a sunset flip, but Legend blocked it. She then held Ruca in place with Jackson hit some strikes. Legend gave Ruca a double underhook suplex, followed by her elbow drop for a two-count. Ruca turned a submission move into a pin attempt and then knocked Legend off the apron, before rolling Jackson up for another two-count. Ruca then tagged in Zaria who hit a German Suplex and spear on Jackson, because we definitely needed another wrestler to use the spear. Legend broke up the pin attempt and got tagged into the match. Roca was tagged in, too and she hit a springboard splash on Legend. Jackson broke up the pin attempt and then dropkicked Zaria. Legend hit a pump kick on Ruca and sent Zaria to ringside. Jackson jumped up Zaria at ringside, and Legend hit her Gory-Buster for the win!
Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson defeated Sol Ruca and Zaria
Backstage, Tyson Dupont asked Tyriek Igwe why homeboy was getting disrespectful? Wes Lee showed up and pontificated that maybe Tyson needs to alter the way he thinks. Be more like Igwe, Lee suggested. Then he fist bumped Igwe.
Jaida Parker versus Wren Sinclair
Both women brought their respective teammates with them.
Parker hit her Banzai Drop and a Falcon Arrow early, but only got a one count. Sinclair and Parker traded Full Nelsons and Parker nailed a suplex for a nearfall. Parker then put Sinclair in a Butterfly Stretch, but Sinclair narrowly escaped. Both women traded strikes and Parker screamed “Let’s go bitch!” in Sinclair’s face, which was funny. That fired up Sinclair, who won the strikes battle and then a bulldog and an underhook suplex.
Meanwhile, outside of the ring, the fellas made things about themselves and began brawling, all the way to the back. While all of that was going on, Sinclair attempted a rollup and then a guillotine choke, but Parker escaped, hit a back elbow, and the Hip-Notic to pick up the win.
Jaida Parker defeated Wren Sinclair
Cut to backstage, and Shotzi Blackheart, Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin were chatting backstage. Like the girls in The Craft, all three women agreed they were outcasts (“We are the weirdos, mister”). Paxley thanked Shotzi and Gigi for saving her last week, and said she doesn’t have to play by herself anymore. Dolin said the first step is taking care of Fatal Influence. Paxley said that, just like her dolls, she’s gonna rip their heads off. And there’s not much else you can say to that, so Shotzi opted for “Dolls out, balls out.”
Totally.
Cut from backstage to backstage and Nathan Frazer is comforting Axiom and trying to revive him, as the two have a tag team title match tonight! Axiom is pulling double duty!
Cut from backstage to Vic Joseph and then to a promo video, highlighting all of the past NXT Women’s Champions. The video included Paige/Saraya, the Four Horsewomen, and Mandy Rose, among others. Which was a little surprising, considering the fact that many of those women are no longer in the company. That was cool.
Vic Joseph hyped up Giulia vs Roxanne Perez for New Year’s Evil.
Nathan Frazier and Axiom versus Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) for the NXT Tag Team Championships
Long night for Axiom but, still, he wanted to start the match. Frazier told him not to, and he took the reins. Frazer hit Coffey with a slick arm drag, and Wolfgang tagged in. Wolfgang hit a knee to the face on Frazer but then Axiom tagged in and the two cleared out Gallus from the ring.
Frazer dove onto Mark Coffey, while Axiom dove onto Joe Coffey. But Axiom petered out a bit, selling the effects from his match with Oba Femi. Wolfgang hit Axiom with a uranage, while Coffey hit a back suplex on Frazer, on the ring apron.
COMMERCIAL BREAK!
BACK FROM BREAK!
We join our hero, Axiom, as as Gallus are double teaming him. They continued to dominate, but Axiom was able to jump to his corner and tag in Frazer with a hot tag! Frazer hit a clothesline and a Lionsault into a reverse DDT (think AJ Styles). Frazer threw Wolfgang to ringside and then hit a standing shooting star splash for a two-count.Fraxer continued his onslaught, hit a slingblade and a frog splash! He went for the pin, but Wolfgang broke it up.
The two then hit Frazer with an enzuigiri and power slam, for a two-count. Wolfgang followed that up with a Swanton Bomb but Axiom rushed in and broke up the pin, hitting his slingshot dropkick, Axiom hit a Golden Ratio on Coffey and Frazer rolled up Wolfgang for a nearfall. He followed that up with a Dragon Sleeper hold, but Axiom accidentally hit a Golden Ratio, which broke up the sleeper. Axiom, clearly embarrassed, took it out on Coffey by hitting a Canadian Destroyer. Frazer nailed a Poisonrana on Wolfgang, who took it but then struck Frazer with a right hand. Axiom tagged in and eventually hit a Super Spanish Fly and then tagged back in Frazer. Axiom dove onto the Brothers Coffey and Frazer hit a Phoenix Slash for the win!
Axiom and Nathan Frazer defeated Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang)
Backstage, Je’Von Evans was giving a pep talk to Hank and Tank. Then, Evans reflected on his own year, talking about main eventing a PLE, meeting X-Pac, battling Randy Orton and more. Then, Ethan Page entered the frame, looking positively forlorn.
Cut to backstage from backstage! A vignette aired in which Charlie Dempsey and Lexis King were training together, for some reason. At the end of it, King survived the workout and Demsey agreed to give him a title shot next week. Wherein, King will probably cheat to win. Right?
Ethan Page interrupted the commentary team. He got on the mic and said that he deserved all the hate that he’s getting. He said that people don’t know the journey that brought him there. He promised his daughter he would win the big one, and he did! He did it faster than Kevin Owens, even. He won the title for his wife, for his daughter, and for his son.
The crowd boo’d him a bit, which Page said was fine. They paid their ticket. The crowd kept chanting ‘What,’ at him (god please let that chant die already). Page said that he’s lost a lot lately and when he loses, his fans lose. His family lose. His supporters lose. And when he looks into his wife’s eyes, he sees disappointment.
Page said it’s all eating him alive. In fact, Page said he has “lost his smile.” Because of course he did, LOL. And then can all mock him, but he’s an emotional guy. He lost his smile.
Je’Von Evans came out and said that Page came into NXT with, well, an ego. He bragged and was cocky. But, Evans said, that wasn’t the real Ethan Page. Evans saw the real Page at Heatwave. It wasn’t what he did during the match, it was what he did after.
Evans said he saw Page tell his family that he loved them. And he saw Page smile. And it was the smile of a proud dad, a proud husband. It was the smile of a man who busted his ass for 18 years to get to where he was at. Evans said that fans saw the real Ethan Page. He said he was proud of Page. NXT was proud of page. Everyone…was proud of Page.
Ethan Page, choking up bit, said that Evans was right. He shouldn’t worry about losing his smile…because he’s gonna take away Je’Von Evans’ smile! The dastardly heel that he is, Page struck Evans and then got a chair and wrapped it around Evans’ neck. “You want the real me!?” age screamed. “This is the real me!” Then, he leg dropped the chair, which quite possibly murdered Je’Von Evans. Evans started coughing up blood and the segment ended.
Cut to commercial and then back, with a replay of the previous segment. Evans really sold it and this was hopefully the kick that Page needed to shift into another gear. He’s always had the talent. He just needs that little something extra. Hopefully this was it!
Backstage, Sarah Schreiber interviewed Trick Williams. Williams wished Evans well and started talking about his upcoming match. Then, Oba Femi showed up and said that he hopes Trick wins the match, so that he can take the title from a somebody. Trick said he was looking forward to it.
Another promo, this time from Stephanie Vaquer. Vaquer said she wasn’t an overnight sensation. She put in years of hard work. She said that while Cora Jade signed with NXT first, Vaquer was traveling the world becoming bigger, stronger, faster (fascinating documentary, by the way). Vaquer said she’s taking Cora Jade to hell next week!
Eddy Thorpe made his entrance for the main event, followed by Trick!
Trick Williams versus Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Championship
The crowd told Eddy that he sucked. Trick began the match on the offensive, nailing a series of shoulder tackles. Thorpe escaped to ringside, but Williams followed him and chopped him. Back in the ring, Thorpe hit a flying crossbody. But before he could take advantage, Trick hit a popup punch, followed by a crescent kick to the back of Thorpe’s head and neck. Trick went to the top rope, but Thorpe pulled the top rope, which crotched Williams and Thorpe shoved him to ringside, just in time for a final commercial break!
Back from break. Thorpe had the advantage. Thorpe maintained the advantage, with a variety of maneuvers. Williams slammed Thorpe and then hit a series of right hands, followed by a flapjack and a Book End. He covered Thorpe but only got a two-count. Williams picked up Thorpe for a fireman’s carry , but Thorpe escaped and hit a kick and German suplex. Thorpe hit his splits elbow drop for a two-count.
The two men both got to their feet and traded strikes and kicks. But neither man would go down. Finally, Thorpe hit a backbreaker. But then Williams hit a Death Valley Driver. But then Eddy reverse another pop-up punch into a delayed, hanging DDT. But in doing so, they accidently struck the referee. A second referee ran out just in time for Williams to roll up Thorpe. Luckily for Eddy, he kicked out and then nailed a few Yakuza Kicks. He went for a third, but Trick hit his Trick Shot and then fell on Eddy for the pin. Both referee’s counted to three.
The referee’s argued about who won the match, and NXT GM Ava ran out to figure out what the heck happened!? We won’t find out until next week, because that was the end of the show!
Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe ended in a no-contest
Thanks for joining us this week! We won’t be here next week, or the following week due to Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but you’ll catch us back in NXT come January 7! So follow your instincts, and meet us there why don’t ya? Happy Holidays!