Results
- Jasper Troy def. Axiom (WWE Speed #1 Contenders Match) (2:54)
- Kendal Grey def. Lash Legend (WWE EVOLVE Women’s Championship) (10:50)
- Myles Borne def. Tavion Heights (10:08)
- Tatum Paxley vs. Lola Vice (NXT Women’s Championship) (No Contest) (3:52)
- Kelani Jordan def. Jordynne Grace (TNA Knockouts World Championship) (12:29)
Trick Williams wants another shot at Ricky Saints
This week’s episode of WWE NXT got started with a recap of Saturday night’s Halloween Havoc Premium Live Event (PLE). The biggest headlines were: Tatum Paxley has captured the NXT Women’s Championship, DarkState took the brand’s tag belts back in a rematch with the Hardy Boys, and Ricky Saints retained his world title over Trick Williams.
Following the recap, we went backstage at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, where an irate Trick Williams was still reeling from his Halloween Havoc loss. After harassing WWE staff, a frustrated Williams made his way to the ring.
Williams got on the mic to address Saints, claiming that he’d beat him 99 times out of 100. He demanded another shot against Saints, stating that he wouldn’t leave the ring until such match was made official.
NXT General Manager Ava had no sympathy for Williams’ “temper tantrum,” refusing to grant such a matchup. Williams kept running his mouth until Saints came charging to the ring, causing a brawl between the two.
This brawl was split up by security before we quite suddenly cut away to a video package about this week’s first match, Axiom vs. Jasper Troy in a #1 contender’s match for the WWE Speed Championship – it almost felt like an error how quickly they cut away from the Williams/Saints segment. Nonetheless, it looks like a rematch is around the corner.
Jasper Troy takes down Smackdown’s Axiom, books Speed title match
The in-ring portion of Tuesday night’s show opened with a three-minute time limit bout between Smackdown’s Axiom and NXT’s Jasper Troy. This was the finals of a four-man tournament, with the winner of the bracket earning themselves a shot against WWE Speed World Champion El Grande Americano.
Troy drove Axiom into the turnbuckles then scored a backbreaker at the one-minute mark of the match. After Troy connected with a series of clubbing blows to the body of the Smackdown tag wrestler, Axiom got back into the battle with a dragonscrew leg whip then a missile dropkick off the top.
One minute left. Axiom came charging at Troy for a move, but was instead taken down with a pounce of sorts. Axiom hopped on the back of Troy for a sleeper, bringing the LFG Season 1 winner down to a knee. Axiom went running into the ropes again but was dropped hard with a lariat. Troy followed up with a World’s Strongest Slam then a Black Hole Slam, earning him a pinfall win with just six seconds to spare.
It was confirmed after the match that Troy will get his title shot against El Grande Americano on the November 11 episode of NXT.
Backstage, Ava asked Sol Ruca if she wanted someone to defend her WWE Speed Women’s Championship on her behalf. Zaria notably tried to defend Ruca’s Women’s North American Championship last weekend against Blake Monroe but lost. Ruca decided that she’d rather vacate the belt instead. Ouch. Zaria didn’t like that and stormed out of the shot.
Ava mentioned during the segment that we’ll get a new women’s Speed bracket beginning next week to crown a new champion.
Tatum Paxley wants to be a busy champion
The next segment saw Tatum Paxley make her first appearance since capturing the NXT Women’s Championship. Accompanied by Izzi Dame, Shawn Spears and Niko Vance of The Culling, Paxley received a significant ovation from the PC crowd, including a “You deserve it” chant.
An overjoyed Paxley talked about how Halloween Havoc was the best night of her life and how long she had waited to finally capture the title. As someone who waited a long time for her shot, Paxley wanted to pay her victory back by giving opportunities to face her for the title to anyone in the back, starting tonight.
Dame cut off Paxley’s brainstorming about the open challenge concept: “You have been chasing this title for a long time, and you have come up short every time. So, are you sure you’re willing to risk putting that title on the line already?”
Paxley brushed off Dame’s warning. The champ ran to the stage, where she revealed a wheel full of NXT names. She mentioned the idea of spinning the wheel, and whoever’s name landed on would receive a title shot. Spears had an astute observation: Dame’s name wasn’t on the wheel.
Paxley gave the wheel a spin, and who did it land on? Recent title challenger Lola Vice! We’re going to get that matchup later tonight.
Kendal Grey keeps EVOLVE title run alive with victory over Lash Legend
NXT has become such an inter-brand and inter-promotional show, and Tuesday’s lineup was no exception. Before we saw the TNA Knockouts Championship on the line later in the night, WWE EVOLVE’s Women’s Champion, Kendal Grey, put her belt up against Lash Legend.
Grey earned her title on EVOLVE’s “Succession” TV special earlier this month and was defending it for the first time in this appearance. She was cornered by Wren Sinclair, who has been campaigning for a women’s No Quarter Catch Crew spin-off (“Wren-Q-C-C”).
Legend’s size advantage was put over significantly early in the match, bullying Grey around the ring then simply throwing her through the ropes and to the outside. Grey came over the ropes and attempted a double stomp onto the stomach of Legend, but had her feet caught by the ex-Meta Four member on her way down. Legend, still holding Grey by her feet, launched her over the top and to the outside – crafty spot here!
Grey started to mount a comeback after a commercial break, coming out of the corner with a crossbody, then dropping Legend with a dropkick. She dodged a chokeslam from Legend and then scored a big German Suplex.
Grey kept the momentum going at ringside with a creative DDT onto the floor. She tried to come off the top with a crossbody but was caught by Legend, who threw her onto the top rope.
Legend tried to score a big boot in the corner moments later, but Grey avoided the move. Grey used the opening to connect with her Shades of Grey finisher for the pinfall win in just under 11 minutes, retaining the EVOLVE Women’s Championship. Solid Legend performance as per usual and also a great spotlight on Grey, who is certainly someone to watch on EVOLVE.
Myles Borne prevails in NQCC alumni showdown
It was a clash between ex-NQCC members next, as Tavion Heights and Myles Borne faced off in a singles bout.
The story early on in this match was that they were quite evenly matched, both struggling to get on a real run. Things took a turn during the commercial break, when Josh Briggs appeared at ringside to watch the bout.
Borne got a near fall after the show returned with a moonsault out of the corner. Heights answered back with a Swingblade then an Ankle Lock attempt, which Borne eventually escaped. Heights came running off the ropes but was taken down by a Powerslam. Heights scored a massive belly-to-belly German suplex to get a near fall right after.
Heights rolled to ringside and briefly got in the face of Briggs. After Heights rolled back into the ring, Briggs climbed up to the apron, where he was knocked down moments later by a huge forearm.
Borne knocked Heights to ringside with a clothesline, then dove over the top and to the outside onto both Briggs and Heights. Back in the ring, Borne reversed a belly-to-belly attempt from Heights into a roll-up, earning him the pinfall win.
This segment went off the rails in the post-match: Briggs attacked Heights, then a distracted Borne was attacked by Trick Williams, who emerged from the crowd. Not far behind was NXT Champion Ricky Saints, who jumped Williams to continue their brawl from earlier in the night.
Joe Hendry (notably still given the TNA nameplate when introduced) crashed a backstage meeting between Ethan Page and Chelsea Green, who were on the show to plug their upcoming AAA Mixed Tag Team Championships match against La Hiedra and Mr. Iguana.
Fatal Influence crashes title match
Just days removed from first becoming champion, Tatum Paxley looked to defend her title against prominent contender Lola Vice in the next segment.
It became clear just a few minutes into this match that some outside-of-the-ring antics would influence the finish, as we were shown Fatal Influence arriving at the venue during a picture-in-picture shot. Like Trick Williams, Jacy Jayne is quite angry following her (clean) loss last weekend.
Fatal Influence appeared at ringside and attacked Izzi Dame, then targeted Vice and Paxley just moments later, causing the title bout to get thrown out in just under four minutes.
The heel trio took out Vice then singled out Paxley, with Jayne scoring her Rolling Encore Forearm onto the champ to end the segment.
Blake Monroe announced during a vignette that she’ll defend her NXT North American Championship for the first time at the brand’s November 18 Gold Rush event in New York City.
In a clip posted by NXT Anonymous, Je’Von Evans went face-to-face backstage against DarkState. Evans said that he plans to team with Leon Slater and take the group’s tag titles soon.
Confirmed for next week’s episode of NXT:
- Women’s WWE Speed Tournament Begins
- Tatum Paxley, Izzi Dame & Lola Vice vs. Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid
Ringside brawl helps Kelani Jordan overcome Jordynne Grace, major title rematch booked for next month
The main event of the night saw Kelani Jordan put her TNA Knockouts World Championship on the line against Jordynne Grace. A win would mark the beginning of Grace’s fourth reign with the title. The only other past four-time Knockouts champs are: Mickie James, Gail Kim, Angelina Love, Madison Rayne, ODB, and Tara.
Jordan scored an interesting move just two minutes in: As Grace was draped on the ropes, Jordan came down with a frogsplash onto the former TNA talent’s legs, sending her stomach-first into the ropes. Jordan did a moonsault to the outside then ran Grace knee-first into the steel steps before the show went to its final commercial break.
Grace started climbing back into the match after the show returned. Jordan continued to go after Grace’s injured knee, slowing the challenger’s momentum at times. Jordan got caught with a spinebuster from Grace for a two-count.
Jordan escaped a Death Valley Driver from Grace, then came off the ropes with a Split-Legged Stunner for a two-count. Grace went to the corner for a move near the 10-minute mark, but her knee gave out on the way up. This allowed Jordan to instead score a double-stomp to a draping Jordan.
Grace escaped a Half Crab attempt from Jordan, then got a near fall with a Jackknife Powerbomb. The crowd started to chant “This is awesome.”
The match went to the top rope, where Jordan connected with a super Spanish Fly. But, it still wasn’t enough to end the match. The brawl between Trick Williams and Ricky Saints reappeared on the stage, distracting the referee from the match for a moment.
Jordan, looking to capitalize on the ringside madness, grabbed the Knockouts title and brought it into the ring. But, once she got in the ring she was hit with a huge German Suplex from Grace, bridged into a pin attempt. The referee rolled back into the ring and counted the pin, but Jordan kicked out at two.
Saints and Williams brawled in the ring before spilling to the outside once again. The referee got distracted for a second time by this madness, and Jordan used this moment to strike Grace in the head with the Knockouts title, earning her a pinfall win in 12 minutes. The finish here felt a little silly, but Jordan and Grace otherwise had a really fun match.
Saints speared Williams through the side of a platform in the venue – this was an awesome visual. This brawl, which had been happening for two hours, was briefly separated by NXT General Manager Ava. She confirmed that Williams and Saints will face off in a rematch for the NXT Championship in two weeks (November 11) in a Last Man Standing bout. The show went off air as Williams and Saints continued to fight.
