SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV RESULTS
MARCH 25, 2025
ORLANDO, FLA. AT CAPITOL WRESTLING CENTER
LIVE ON CW NETWORK
REPORT BY KELLY WELLS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
NXT Commentators: Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Backstage Correspondent(s): Sarah Schreiber
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR POST-SHOW PODCAST
-A silhouette of Stephanie Vaquer opened the show, and a female-narrated hype piece covered Vaquer’s double championship win and her two matches defending both championships tonight. I’m assuming she beats Parker in a long affair and then drops the North American Championship to an opportunistic Henley afterward, but I wouldn’t write off the possibility of a double retention.
-Vaquer, Parker, Fatal Influence, and Je’Von Evans were shown arriving separately.
(1) STEPHANIE VAQUER (c) vs. JAIDA PARKER – NXT Women’s Championship match
Mike Rome handled formal introductions. Vic mentioned that statisticians told him that nobody had successfully defended two championships in one night in this company. Booker T even talked about defending a championship in WCW twice at SuperBrawl in separate matches against Rick Martel and Perry Saturn. Parker took the early advantage with some mat work, and she worked a leg submission until Vaquer reached a rope. Vaquer controlled with a couple or rollups and the two reset.
Parker took control again and snapped on a body scissors. She turned it into a cover for two. The two got to their feet and Vaquer laid out Parker after a rope run, and Parker evaded in the corner and downed Vaquer with a hip attack leading into split-screen. [c]
Parker was in control until a series of rollup exchanges that looked pretty awkward. Nothing has been openly botched here, but several of their transitions haven’t looked smooth. Backstabber by Parker gt two. Springboard cross-body by Vaquer followed by the Fate Kick. Vaquer teased, then hit her knee sequence of strikes on the mat. Parker got in a knee and then a deadlift falcon arrow for two. Teardrop in the corner by Parker. Jordynne Grace showed up on the apron, still salty about last week’s attack by Parker, and she cost her the match as Vaquer trapped and finished Parker.
WINNER: Vaquer at 9:25.
Parker and Grace were separated by officials afterward, and as Vaquer celebrated, all three members of Fatal Influence charged and softened Vaquer. Apparently the match isn’t right away, as I thought was insinuated last week, but I may have been connecting nonextistent dots.
(Wells’s Analysis: Despite a few iffy transitions, the match ended up coming together perfectly well and the runtime flew by as a result. These two could easily get twice this time and deliver. The pieces are in place for the two championships to be separated, and the only question is whether they actually want to separate them so soon after making history.)
-Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans argued in the locker room. Williams kept underestimating Evans and Evans said he’d show Williams he could win a championship, starting tonight.
-Vic promoted a sit-down interview with Ricky Saints later tonight, and we’ll never guess who interrupted the interview. [c]
-Ava and the women’s locker room watcheda monitor in the back, selling the importance of what Vaquer is doing this week. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson got into it with Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin, and Sol Ruca and Zaria got into it as well. The scene drove home how hard it is to get TV time in the division right now, as many of the women have been de-emphasized of late.
-Previously, in an empty arena, Vic interviewed Ricky Saints. Saints said that confidence scares people, and people were upping their game with his entrance to the company. He said when he broke into the business, he was living in his car, not knowing how he’d eat his next meal. He said he made it because of his confidence. Shawn Spears stepped into frame and verbally forced Vic out of his chair and told him to leave.
Spears asked Saints why he thought he wasn’t invited to the Culling. He said Saints is the same guy he left a year ago, and his arrogance would bring him down. He said he was a champion in WWE now. Saints said Spears was champion because of the three people around him and he’d be champion because of himself. All three other members of the Culling showed up behind him. Spears quipped that Saints could always go back…but wait, he burnt every bridge on his way out. They walked off.
-Wes Lee, Tyriek Igwe and Tyson Dupont watched on the monitor and Lee was annoyed with the fact that everything was about Saints already. They left. It transitioned to a scene between Ethan Page, Kale Dixon, Uriah Connors and Andre Chase. Page had a verbal exchange with Connors, then Chase.
-Hank & Tank walked through the back and ran into Motor City Machine Guns, who built them up before the next match. [c]
(2) HANK WALKER & TANK LEDGER vs. TYRIEK IGWE & TYSON DUPONT (w/Wes Lee)
In a pretty rare move, the match started during the split-screen break. Kind of a weak thing to do to the entrance of Igwe and Dupont, who haven’t had a televised match on NXT in a while.
It was a mess of activity with all four involved when the match returned to full-screen. Hank & Tank did a ten punch count-along in opposite corners, then flattened Igwe & Dupont with some blocks. They double-teamed Dupont for a while, and the Motor City Machine Guns were shown watching on a monitor backstage. Igwe tagged in and missed a big stomp, and tagged Dupont back in. Soon, both of them were dumped on the announce table side. Hank “hit” a tope suicida but actually sailed nearly clear of both men, with the announce table taking most of the impact (it didn’t break). If Hank got hurt at all, he sure didn’t show it, as he fired up after the spot. The crowd liked it enough for a “holy shit” chant to get muted.
Back in the ring, Dupont and Igwe took control soon after, and slowed things down with some work on Hank. They cut the ring in half and broke off a few near-tags before Hank finally made the hot tag. Tank took out both opponents with high-impact offense and hit a slam on Igwe that got two, as Dupont broke up the pin attempt. Tank hit a block from the second buckle, then made a tag. Wes Lee distracted the ref, pretending to run in, allowing Dupont to actually do so. Despite the match being almost nothing but double-teams, this particular double-team resulted in the finish because of the interference.
WINNERS: Tyriek Igwe & Tyson Dupont at 8:39.
(Wells’s Analysis: Lots of big parts slapping together, I guess, but it didn’t coalesce into anything very interesting this time around. Nothing was particularly off or anything, but all four were involved quite a bit of the time so every time something resembling a story broke out, it turned into frenetic action)
-Backstage, Ava tried to get Stephanie Vaquer to postpone her championship defense against Fallon Henley, but like a true bullheaded babyface, Vaquer said she wouldn’t break her word to Henley, to her home of Chile, and to herself.
-Je’Von Evans entered ahead of the next match. [c]
-Sarah Schreiber interviewed Axiom and Nathan Frazer, and asked Axiom about going to his home country of Spain and giving Gunther a great challenge. Frazer said he wasn’t invited, and Axiom said Frazer has a big mouth and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise for everyone. They bickered pretty heavily, so I guess that’s back after a very short hiatus. The two of them noticed Oba Femi walking angrily and with purpose on a monitor behind them.
(3) JE’VON EVANS vs. LEXIS KING (c) – NXT Heritage Cup championship match
I’m dying to get rounds matches back. They’re still showing the “Heritage Cup rules” on the screen beforehand, despite the fact that they’re the exact same as a usual match now, so maybe that’s a gag while heel King is holding the belt and it’ll revert afterward.
The two got going slowly with some mat stuff before Evans inevitably speeds things up. King hit a suplex and put up his arms to boos. An inset graphic told us that Andre Chase will face Ethan Page tonight. King continued to control with slow mat offense until Evans was able to hit a springboard headscissor takedown and the crowd yelled “bouncy” in Evans’ cadence. King got dumped and Evans went for a tope suicida, and just like Hank, he mostly cleared King and ate table. What’s going on tonight?! Evans still mugged after the spot to sell it, and the match went to split-screen.
[HOUR TWO]
King controlled and hit something like a falcon arrow or a fisherman-buster-driver, according to Vic and Corey respectively. Corey said “I’m sure the internet will correct me later.” Evans got in some strikes and spinning heel kick. He went high and hit a huge frog splash for a long two. He said Evans went “literally up to the lights,” reminding me of a very small-time indy show I once attended where a guy hit his head on the ceiling on a frog splash. King got dumped and Evans hit a high, long plancha on King.
Evans rolled King inside, and Oba Femi showed up and obliterated Evans on the outside, hitting a powerbomb on the apron. Evans was counted out.
WINNER: Lexis King by countout at 10:40.
Afterward, Femi was going to keep up the attack, but the lights went down, and then back up, and Dark State was positioned out in the crowd as usual, looking ready to pounce. Instead, Trick Williams showed up and got involved in the ring, dumping Evans to get his moment with Femi. Again, fuel potentially added to the fire that Williams is involved with Dark State. [c]
(Wells’s Analysis: Evans is a wunderkind and looked like a pro upon his debut, but King is starting to look like a success story, as he was still pretty raw when he showed up and he’s been in consistently good matches for a while now. Evans of course was held back from winning this championship to potentially free him up for a bigger one, but if Williams has any involvement in Dark State, I’m guessing Williams becomes a three-time champ and Evans has to climb a new mountain. All this said, I still don’t think they should go too far into heel territory with Williams, as they’re already playing with fire having a beloved babyface act like a dick week after week)
(4) TATUM PAXLEY & GIGI DOLIN vs. LASH LEGEND & JAKARA JACKSON
Vic promoted Paxley & Dolin’s match with TNA Knockouts tag team champions Heather & Ash By Elegance. They quipped, as usual, about Ash (the former Dana Brooke) looking familiar. The match isn’t for the titles, strangely.
Legend and Dolin opened the match. Zaria and Sol Ruca showed up on the ramp immediately after the match started. Dolin and Paxley controlled early before Legend and Jackson turned things around and double-teamed Paxley. Legend covered for two, and Jackson tagged in and posed before some strikes, allowing Paxley to kick her away and make a blind tag. Dolin came in and dominated both women, and she used Paxley to lay out Legend in a weird-looking spot. Shortly afterward, Dolin and Paxley hit the Cemetery Driver to win.
WINNERS: Tatum Paxley & Gigi Dolin at 3:58.
(Wells’s Analysis: It was obvious Dolin and Paxley would win heading into a match with the TNA tag champions, but man, Legend and Jackson are in a weird spot. It seemed like they were nearly figured into the main roster, and now they’re losing the quickie on the weekly show)
-In a sponsored segment, Tony D’Angelo talked to his crew and said he wanted intel on the four men who attacked him. He let everyone go, but had Stacks hang back. He asked Stacks if everything was alright, and we got a tense scene where D’Angelo was asking – without really asking – if he could trust Stacks. Stacks put a hand on Tony’s shoulder and forebodingly said “Always.”
-Ethan Page was introduced for his match with Andre Chase, but as soon as Page hit the ramp, Ricky Saints walked past him and took focus on his way to the announce desk. [c]
(5) ANDRE CHASE (w/Kale Dixon & Uriah Connors) vs. ETHAN PAGE
Chase looked more disheveled than ever, drawing Booker to say he should visit AA. Page controlled the first half-minute before Chase snapped on a headlock. Rope run and a big block by Page. After some reversals, Chase hit a monkey flip. Back suplex by Page. Page stomped Chase a little. Rope run and a lariat by Page. Page looked like he was trying to go high and miss but Chase went down like it fully connected. Whoops. Page bailed to jaw at Dixon and Connors and Chase laid him out after flying from the apron. Dixon and Connors fired up Chase going into split-screen. I’m still a little surprised that Hudson was released and Chase was retained (not that Chase shouldn’t be retained; I’m just surprised they weren’t either both retained or both released). [c]
Chase fired up and took down Page with some chops. He started to fire up but got in his head again. He started his CHASE U stomps but got held up at the A. He hit a slam anyway, and covered for a long two. Page took Chase from the top and then hit a kneelift for two. Page threw chops and palm strikes down at Chase, who asked for more. He returned fire. They spilled to the apron, where Chase hit a Rude Awakening. Back inside, Chase hit a top rope move and covered for a very long two. Color me surprised that they want to present Chase at being right at the level of Page. Page cut off a rally and hit a powerslam from the second buckle for two. Twisted Grin finished.
WINNER: Ethan Page at 9:59.
Saints got in the face of Page, but was blindsided by Shawn Spears, who clocked him with the North American Championship belt. The Culling stood above Saints.
(Wells’s Analysis: This was pretty good, though Chase’s story could be furthered
-The Dark State were shown in a selfie video saying that when they show up, no one is safe. I mean…they didn’t even attack this week (just like last time) so this doesn’t make any sense unless someone else is involved. I don’t know if it’s a tease or just poor framing.
-Hype for Stephanie McMahon’s sit-down show, specifically week one with CM Punk as the interview subject. Well, that’s a hook.
-Those involved in the main event prepared to make their entrances. [c]
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