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NXT TV REVIEW – “GOLD RUSH – WEEK 1”
NOVEMBER 18, 2025
NEW YORK, NY AT THE THEATER AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
AIRED LIVE ON THE CW
REPORT BY DAVID MILLER, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Backstage Correspondent(s): Sarah Schreiber
[HOUR ONE]
-After an overhead shot of Madison Square Garden aired, Sol Ruca & Zaria, Blake Monroe, Fatal Influence, and The Culling were shown walking into the building. I thought some random guy was walking alongside The Culling, but then I realized it was Niko Vance.
-A video package was shown of the events leading up to Gold Rush before Vic Joseph and Booker T introduced the show to an enthusiastic New York crowd.
(1) ETHAN PAGE & CHELSEA GREEN (c) (w/Alba Fyre) vs. JOE HENDRY & THEA HAIL – AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship Match
Hendry & Hail (Double H?) made an entertaining Joe Hendry entrance in stereo. Page and Green looked exceptionally smug upon entering the ring. The ladies started the match with some exciting chain wrestling before tagging out to the guys. The crowd chanted “we believe” as the men tied up. Hendry showed off some really impressive offense. The women briefly got involved, with Hail cinching a Kimura lock on Page before the referee restored order. Hendry and Hail cleaned house and did their posing routine before they cut to a split-screen commercial break. [c]
The same commercials we saw last week and the week before played on the larger right screen while the men grappled in the tiny left screen. When they returned to full-screen, Page was able to turn the tide of the match, thanks to a little help from Alba Fyre. Hendry turned a front facelock into a suplex to escape, then dropped Page with some clotheslines and a hurricanrana. The former TNA champ also showed his strength game by throwing Page over his head. In a bit of an awkward spot, Page had to stand in the same place on the floor and sell while Hail got in place for a backward senton off the top rope. Hail had the Kimura lock clamped on Green, but the referee was tied up with the men. Page shoved Hendry onto Hail to break the move, then Green hit the Unpretty-her on Hail for the final pin.
WINNERS: Ethan Page & Chelsea Green at 10:51 to retain the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship.
(Miller’s Take: Eh, this was okay. I think they could have done a lot more with this, with better match placement and a little more time to tell a story. As it was, it felt a bit rushed at the end and a bit slow in the middle, but that could have just been the commercial break.)
-In the locker room, Jordynne Grace and Lola Vice were complaining about Kelani Jordan when the TNA Knockouts Champion walked in and said a few heelish words to both of them. [c]
-A “John Cena on seeking approval” video aired.
-The Culling were shown hanging out on the stairs, where all the cool kids hang out.
-Ava announced that the final NXT PLE of the year, Deadline, would be held on December 6th in San Antonio, TX. She revealed that the Iron Survivor Challenge would make its return at that show. She said that while in the past, various legends have selected the competitors, this year, only one man will select all of the participants next week… John Cena.
-Sarah Schreiber interviewed Tavion Heights up in the stands with the fans. He talked about how much he learned with NQCC and gave them a lot of credit. He went into a rambling, disjointed promo that basically said nothing before he was attacked by Josh Briggs. The two men fought their way up the ramp and into the concourse before referees emerged to separate them.
-In a hallway, Zaria asked Sol Ruca if she was sure she wanted to go through with the match tonight. Ruca said there was only one person who can take that North American title back, and it’s her. Zaria looked on disapprovingly as Ruca made her way to the ring.
-Blake Monroe made her ring entrance before they cut to commercial. [c]
(2) BLAKE MONROE (c) vs. SOL RUCA (w/Zaria) – NXT Women’s North American Championship Match
The big question here is how many minutes into the match will it take for Zaria to find a way to cost Ruca the match. Let’s find out. Ruca went into a headlock takedown after an extended tie-up. Booker T made note of the knee brace worn by Ruca, indicating that meant she wasn’t at 100%. Ruca seemed to be moving very well as the action picked up. Monroe slammed Ruca’s leg into the ring post repeatedly, but Ruca answered her with a clothesline on the floor. With the floor action comes a commercial break. Go figure. [c]
Back from the break, Monroe was trying to twist Ruca’s knee off. The challenger made it to her feet and cut loose with some great kicks until Monroe went back to the knee. Ruca kept up with her aerial assault and then amazingly kipped up on one foot. As the scuffling continued, the announcers pointed out repeatedly that Ruca’s knee brace was sliding down. Ruca “hit” a moonsault on the floor. Well, Ruca’s hand did brush up against Monroe. Back in the ring, the brace came off and Monroe immediately went after Ruca’s knee with a vengeance. As Ruca howled in pain, a frantic Zaria found a towel from ringside and threw it in the ring, signaling surrender.
WINNER: Blake Monroe at 13:28 by surrender to retain the NXT Women’s North American Championship.
(Miller’s Take: The action was very good. The finish was very lousy. When was it made clear that Zaria could throw in the towel? It continues the story of Zaria’s overprotectiveness of Ruca causing problems, but I can’t believe WWE went back to the old “throwing in the towel” bit. Monroe and Ruca are very talented and gel well together, so the match flowed well and was highly entertaining, but please, can we not leave towels lying around ringside unattended?)
-After the match, Zaria comforted an emotionally and physically hurt Ruca while Monroe gloated.
-Fatal Influence put themselves over to each other in the back.
-They showed a bit of what happened after NXT went off the air last week, with Oba Femi returning to confront Ricky Saints. Saints was shown smiling while walking down a hallway toward the ring. [c]
[HOUR TWO]
-NXT Champion Ricky Saints walked into the ring like he owned it. He barely got his hand on a mic before Oba Femi’s music hit and The Ruler emerged. Booker T said some things that were incoherent before Femi joined Starks in the ring. Starks spoke first, and talked about taking advantage of knowing when he was worn down to take his title. He said Femi would not come back and take the NXT title back. Femi reacted by saying he stayed gone, rested, worked out, took his vitamins, and so forth. He told Saints, “The bringer of war is back and your daddy is home!” That got a huge pop from the crowd. Saints, upon realizing he was Femi’s son, immediately took the bait and gave The Ruler his rematch right then and there.
-Trick Williams interrupted. He said nothing was over until he wins his NXT championship back. Myles Borne waffled him from behind with a chair, grabbed a mic, and told him what payback was. Borne told Femi and Saints he didn’t care who was champion, because he was going to win the Iron Survivor Challenge and see one of them at New Year’s Evil. [c]
-Ava admonished Borne for making his presence known in an unwelcome way earlier. Borne pled his case until an exasperated Ava took a phone call, then rushed off. The camera immediately cut to Tavion Heights and Josh Briggs fighting in a random room in the back. Heights bounced Briggs off a couple of equipment cases. There was a table with a black cloth over it, and you know what that means… Heights took the chokeslam through it.
(3) DARKSTATE (Osiris Griffin & Dion Lennox w/Saquon Shugars & Cutler James) (c) vs. LEON SLATER & JE’VON EVANS – NXT Tag Team Championship Match
This took off like a rocket! Speaking of rockets, Evans did his Superman dive out of the ring, which is always a sight to behold. Evans and Slater dazzled Darkstate with their speed, agility, and smooth teamwork. They offered up some stereo dives to the outside before commercial break. [c]
Back to action, Darkstate was in control, with Lennox working over Evans. Slater finally took the hot tag and came in with feet flying. He nailed a high flying press on Lennox for a two count. With Darkstate on the floor, Slater did his suicide twisting dive to the outside. The champs beat on their challengers for a bit before Evans inadvertently splashed his own partner while trying to break up a pin. That was the beginning of the end. Slater soon got slammed through the mat by Darkstate to signal the end of the match.
WINNERS: Darkstate at 11:08 to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.
(Miller’s Take: Evans & Slater are amazing together, which is why I’m afraid some seeds of discord were sown when Evans bounced off his own partner. I would like to see them wrestle each other, but I don’t want to see this team break up, either. Despite winning the match, Darkstate seems to have lost their edge. They need to get it back.)
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of “PWT Talks NXT” with Kelly Wells and Nate Lindberg, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
-In the back, Wren Sinclair and Evolve Women’s Champion Kendal Grey were chatting about Charlie Dempsey and some others crashing TNA’s party last week. Wren said Charles is a complicated man. [c]
-John Cena talked about having a torn pectoral and coming back from it four months later. Bradshaw said nobody should have recovered from something like that so quickly.
-The Progressive NXT Spotlight shone down on….Shiloh Hill, who was sitting behind four computers, appeared to be hacking into a government website. He smiled warmly, revealing that he was wearing his partial denture, and spoke eloquently. He mentioned experiences that suggested he had a difficult upbringing. He talked about skipping school and how good it felt in football to hit someone really hard and feel their breath escape their body. I like this laid-back, sinister version of Hill. From watching him in LFG, I’d say give the guy a good gimmick and he could be money.
-A video aired of the current Evolve rivalry between the champion, Jackson Drake, and “Super” Sean Legacy.
-Fatal Influence made their customary ring entrance before going to commercial. [c]
-In the back, an agitated Sol Ruca was giving Zaria a hard time for throwing in the towel earlier. Zaria said she could see Ruca wouldn’t tap, and she wasn’t about to let her throw her career away over stupid pride. Ruca said pride is what made her a double champion. Zaria suggested they focus on her winning the Speed title next week. Ruca shoved her towel in Zaria’s chest and muttered, “Whatever,” as she walked away.
(4) TATUM PAXLEY (c) w/The Culling (Shawn Spears & Niko Vance & Izzi Dame) vs. JACY JAYNE w/Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid) – NXT Women’s Championship Match
There were a lot of people out at the ring for only two people to be involved in the match. The two ladies started out with some very good chain wrestling sequences. The announcers spoke about all the people who left Tatum behind (that is, all the ones still contracted by WWE). Paxley hit a beautiful moonsault on all of Fatal Influence. I dislike moonsaults to the outside because it’s rare that they ever actually connect with it, but this one sure did. [c]
Back to the match, both competitors were sprawled on the mat. They slowly rose to trade blows and kicks. Paxley took the advantage and hit what Joseph called a “modified Harlem Hangover” for a two count. Jayne came back with a cannonball and climbed the ropes, but Paxley caught her with a kick, then took her down to the mat hard with a neckbreaker.
Izzi Dame slid a chair into the ring to Paxley, but the champ refused to use it. Some shenanigans started happening with Fatal Influence getting involved. Jayne hit a rolling encore, but only got a two count. Lainey Reid grabbed the title belt, but Dame punched her lights out and slid the title belt into the ring for Paxley, but she refused it again. Jayne picked up the chair, but got caught by the referee, which allowed Tatum to sneak in a roll-up for a two count. Jayne kicked Paxley out of the ring. While the referee was trying to get the belt away from Jayne, Spears and Vance blocked Paxley from getting back in the ring. Dame nearly decapitated Paxley with a big boot, then rolled her into the ring, where Jayne hit her with a brutal rolling encore for the win.
WINNER: Jacy Jayne at 11:25 to win the NXT Women’s Championship.
(Miller’s Take: I’m a little surprised that Paxley’s title reign ended so soon, but I can see where this story needed to move forward. The inevitable happened, with The Culling turning on Paxley. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve warmed up to Jayne in recent months and don’t mind seeing her get a second chance with the strap. I don’t find Reid adding much to the group yet, but she may develop her own personality within them. The match quality was what it should have been, and it came across as main event-worthy.)
-As a jubilant Fatal Influence made their way to the back, The Culling stood over a beaten Tatum Paxley. Dame reached down and grabbed her by the hair to snarl something at her, but the show cut off.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Week One of Gold Rush is in the books. Let’s look back on it. AAA was represented on tonight’s show by two contracted WWE wrestlers who are not, nor ever have been, luchadors. That match really should have been much more entertaining than it was. Blake Monroe may have won her match, but she’s just a co-star in the Sol & Zaria Show. I want to see Monroe face some different opponents like Jaida Parker or the now-dethroned Tatum Paxley. What can you say about the team of Evans & Slater? They came, they flew, they lost, but they were damn entertaining to watch. I tend to think of this show as WrestleMania Night 1, because it was acceptable without blowing the roof of the joint like I thought it would. Let’s see if Week 2 lives up to the hype.
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