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NXT TV REPORT
AUGUST 26, 2025
ORLANDO, FLA. AT WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER
AIRED LIVE ON THE CW
REPORT BY DAVID MILLER, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Backstage Correspondent(s): Sarah Schreiber
[HOUR ONE]
-Highlights of this past Sunday’s Heatwave aired.
-Ricky Saints made his ring entrance. He spoke of wanting Oba Femi’s NXT title and called out the champ. Instead, Josh Briggs came out to run his mouth to a chorus of boos. Saints and Briggs nearly came to blows before Ava came out. She announced they would face each other tonight for a shot at Oba Femi at No Mercy.
-A video from Sunday showed Ava talking to Blake Monroe. Kelani Jordan approached them and challenged Monroe. Ava made it official.
-Blake Monroe made her ring entrance before they cut to the first commercial break of the night. [c]
(1) BLAKE MONROE vs. KELANI JORDAN
The announcers reminded us that the last time these two met, Jordan won by countout when Monroe ran for her life from Jordynne Grace. Jordan exploded out of the corner with a dropkick to take the early advantage. They executed some pretty sharp chain wrestling until Monroe clocked Jordan with a headbutt. She started throwing fists and showing her mean side before wrenching on Jordan’s arm in a unique bridge armbar.
Jordan fired up and used her incredible athleticism to get the better of Monroe, who took a powder. Jordynne Grace walked out and chased Monroe to the back. She tried to leave, but the door was chained shut. Grace cornered her at the door and told her she had a match to finish. Monroe backed off as Grace urged her to get back to the ring. Monroe ran back to the ring, where she soon fell victim to a split-legged moonsault that resulted in a three-count. Grace stared Monroe down as she seethed over the loss.
WINNER: Kelani Jordan at 4:18.
(Miller’s Take: I would say nothing special here, but any time Kelani Jordan is in the ring, you can expect something really good. The point of the match was really in how it ended, with Grace getting one over on Monroe.)
-The Progressive NXT Spotlight was on (drum roll, please) Lexis King being a jackass to Myles Borne, and Ava’s announcement of a blindfold match between the two.
-Myles Borne was stopped halfway to the ring by Sarah Schreiber, who asked him how his vision was. He said it was still a bit blurry, and he was going to have to depend on the NXT crowd to let him know when he was close to King so he could thump on him. He continued his entrance while they cut to commercial. [c]
(2) MYLES BORNE vs. LEXIS KING – Blindfold Match
Vic Joseph mentioned that the first blindfold match in WWE was Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel and the last one was five years ago in NXT. In a funny spot, King was yelling at Borne, who wasn’t even there, and took a swing at nothing. King got knocked out of the ring, where he accidentally smacked the ringpost and tripped over the ring steps.
Back in the ring, King threw a dropkick at absolutely nothing. Both men dropped elbows to nothing but canvas. They finally found each other and started trading blows. Borne hit some short-arm clotheslines. King “accidentally” thumbed the referee in the eyes, then took advantage of a blinded referee to remove his hood long enough to kick a field goal between Borne’s goalposts. He slid the hood back on and hit the coronation for the pin.
WINNER: Lexis King at 4:53.
(Miller’s Take: They played this off well, especially King, who bumbled and fumbled his way around the ring comically before winning in a sleazy heel move befitting of his character.)
-Wren Sinclair was freaking out to Charlie Dempsey because she didn’t have a partner to face Izzi Dame & Tatum Paxley yet. Dempsey told her he found a partner for her and introduced Evolve’s Kendal Grey. Sinclair was excited to see her. Dempsey said Grey agreed to listen to what he had to teach her. She denied any such thing, and said she just agreed to help Wren. As the ladies walked off, Grey chopped the bejesus out of Dempsey, knocking him backwards. He seemed impressed. [c]
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)
(3) KENDAL GREY & WREN SINCLAIR (w/Charlie Dempsey) vs. IZZI DAME & TATUM PAXLEY (w/Shawn Spears & Niko Vance)
Grey showed off some super-impressive offense against Dame, then tagged in Sinclair, who soon succumbed to some double-teaming from The Culling. Paxley locked Sinclair into a snug legscissors, but she soon escaped and made the hot tag to Grey, who really made a case for making the move up to NXT with some red-hot offense. Tatum was going to launch herself off the ropes, but Dame tagged herself in, which seemed to confuse Paxley. As Grey locked in an armbar submission on Paxley, Dame hit a popup sit-out powerbomb on Sinclair for the three-count.
WINNERS: Izzi Dame & Tatum Paxley at 3:30.
(Miller’s Take: Short matches are the theme of the night so far. I thought this match accomplished two things. It furthered the interaction between Dame and Paxley, which I’m sure will lead to tension and a split-up before Stand & Deliver rolls around. It also showcased the highly-polished Kendal Grey, who, with some character development, will one day be a big-time player on the main roster.) [c]
-TNA World Champion Trick Williams talked about NXT’s fall schedule and about how great he is.
(4) RICKY SAINTS vs. JOSH BRIGGS – No. 1 Contender Match
No ring entrances, as the two were already in the ring after the Trick Williams promo. Saints chopped the skin off Briggs’s chest, which angered him. He began beating on his smaller opponent and hit a Bossman slam for a near-fall, then settled in with a headlock. He missed an elbow before continuing the fight outside the ring. Saints dove off the ring steps onto Briggs, who caught him, but ate the ring post after Saints slipped out of his grasp and shoved him headfirst into the ring post. They cut to the first split-screen commercial break of the night.
A bunch of kids talked about where they were from and the blue bear peddled TP again before the wrestling took over the screen again. Briggs hit a high-impact running cross body that looked amazing. He kept on top of Saints and tried another elbow, but missed again. It took several forearms to get Briggs off his feet. A Michinoku Driver got him a near fall.
Briggs hit some power moves like his life depended on it. He got some very believable near falls before the momentum shifted. Saints dropped Briggs to the mat and followed that up by spiking him with a tornado DDT to score the win.
WINNER: Ricky Saints at 12:47 to become the No. 1 contender to the NXT championship.
(Miller’s Take: About as good of a match as these two can have, given their style clash. Saints coming out on top is no big surprise. Oba Femi came as close as he’s ever come to losing the NXT title last Sunday. This Saints challenge might be the end of the road for the big Nigerian.)
[HOUR TWO]
-In the locker room, Sol Ruca, Zaria, and Lola Vice were prettying themselves up when Jaida Parker walked up. Vice immediately got agitated until Parker told her it wasn’t like that, that she did her thing at Heatwave and she was proud of her. Lola breathed a sigh of relief and the non-confrontation. Lash Legend then walked in and made fun of Parker’s humility. Parker told her she got cremated by Nia Jax and still isn’t humble. An eavesdropping Kale Dixon commented that Jaida Parker don’t play like that. Parker walked off smiling at that comment as Legend gave him a little shove. Parker passed by a lovey-dovey Stacks Lorenzo making google eyes with Arianna Grace and said she was going to be sick. She left as Ruca was curling her belts and Zaria was curling Lola Vice.
-In the ring, Saints was still celebrating his win when Oba Femi’s music hit, and he was shown making his way to the ring entrance. [c]
-Back from the break, Femi was in the ring with Saints. He told Femi he thought he might be wearing down and he can’t be the ruler forever. Femi said he saw fear in his eyes and would make the absolute absolutely mediocre.
-At that, DarkState appeared in the crowd. They slowly sourrounded the ring, then slid in and went on the attack. Hank & Tank ran out to even the odds, and the four men ran DarkState out of the ring.
-A spot aired about the Speed titles coming to NXT and the rules were explained. Ava said beginning September 2nd there would be a tournament to determine the No. 1 contender to Sol Ruca’s Speed title, which would include Candice LeRae, Lainey Reid, Faby Apache, and Xia Brookside. The title match will take place at No Mercy.
-Chelsea Green, her Secret Hervice, and Ethan Page made their way to the ring. [c]
(5) ALBA FYRE (w/Chelsea Green & Ethan Page & Piper Niven) vs. TYRA MAE STEELE (w/Tavion Heights)
The slender Fyre flexed in front of Steele before getting thrown like a rag doll. Steele rolled her around the ring a bit, before Fyre kicked her out to the floor. Page hid behind Green when Steele cocked her fist, but Fyre took advantage of the distraction to hit a flying press to the floor.
Back in the ring, Fyre’s experience took over and she spiked Steele with a DDT. Steele recovered and applied an ankle lock, but Page grabbed Fyre’s arm to drag her out of the ring. Steele stomped on Page’s hand and rolled Fyre up for the pin. After the match, Green attacked Steele and threw her out of the ring. She tried to slap Tavion, but he caught her hand. Of course, that was the distraction Page needed to blast him from behind with the North American title belt. He hit him with a Twisted Grin and draped the Canadian flag over Tavion’s prone body.
WINNER: Tyra Mae Steele at 4:24.
(Miller’s Take: Not much to say about this one. It was what it was. At least Steele wasn’t booed out of the building while the fans chanted for Chelsea like they did at Heatwave. As I’ve said previously, I don’t think fans in general buy into the whole evil foreigner, USA rah-rah stuff like they used to. It’s especially ineffective when said evil foreigners are CANADIANS and one of those Canadians is super popular despite being a heel.)
-Hank & Tank asked Ava for a rematch with DarkState. She announced an 8-man tag match next week with DarkState facing Hank & Tank, Ricky Saints, and Oba Femi.
-A spot for Unreal aired, featuring footage of Cody Rhodes talking about fans hijacking the show and his philosophy on that. [c]
-Sarah Schreiber interviewed Fatal Influence. It didn’t go very well. Jacy Jayne said Ash by Elegance stole her TNA Knockouts title. Jazmyn Nyx said no worries, they may be down a title but she would bring the Speed title to Fatal Influence. Jayne berated her and told her if anyone would challenge for that belt, it would be Fallon Henley. Nxy said she hadn’t been a champion yet, and Jayne said there’s a reason for that. Nxy shot back by saying nobody thought Jayne would ever win one title, let alone two. As Henley and Jayne left, Nyx wondered aloud what the hell was going on.
-Vic Joseph ran down next week’s card, including Smackdown’s Candice LeRae vs. TNA’s Xia Brookside, Lash Legend vs. Jaida Parker, and the 8-man tag team match.
-Lola Vice gyrated her way to the ring, followed by Zaria & Sol Ruca. Fatal Influence made their usual ring entrance. [c]
(6) LOLA VICE & ZARIA & SOL RUCA vs. FATAL INFLUENCE (Jacy Jayne & Fallon Henley & Jazmyn Nyx)
Ruca started the match vs. Henley. As expected, the action was fast and furious with these two. FI soon took control with some good teamwork, but it was short-lived. Nyx soon found herself on the receiving end of the power and speed attack of Zaria and Ruca. Zaria tagged Vice and bodyslammed her on top of Nyx. Jayne took the tag to face her soon-to-be challenger, Lola Vice, who showed off some nice moves before taking a short beating.
She tagged Ruca, who went to work on Henley. She ran the ropes, but Jayne pulled the rope down, which sent the double champ sprawling to the floor before they cut to a split-screen commercial break. [c]
Six women fought on the microscopically tiny screen on the left while the larger picture on the right showed a guy teaching people to not act like their parents, kids jumped on a trampoline, and a NASCAR race was plugged. Back to full screen, Lainey Reid was watching from above while Jayne threw Vice hard into the ring steps.
Ruca was being dominated by FI while Zaria was begging for a tag. She finally took the hot tag and began dismantling FI. The match got wild, with everyone getting put down. Vice recovered and took the tag. She hit a corner to corner hip attack while Booker T lost his mind. Jayne and Henley hit a double-team finisher, but only got a two-count out of it. Ruca pulled Jayne out to the floor and set her up for Zaria to spear her out of her boots. Vice pushed Henley into Nyx, who got her soul snatched by Ruca as Vice hit a back fist on Henley and covered her for the victory.
WINNERS: Lola Vice & Zaria & Sol Ruca at 14:16.
(Miller’s Take: This was SO much fun! I’m glad they seemed to have dropped the tease of a split between Zaria and Ruca, as they are just so good together. Vice fit in with them perfectly. You know you’re going to see something special with Ruca involved, and Fatal Influence, to their credit, played their roles to perfection. A split is inevitable, but I hope they hold off and continue to build the friction with them.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: Lots of matches tonight, as opposed to last week’s outing. There was a LOT happening and it was a fun show. With Parker’s congratulatory attitude toward Vice, could this be the face turn we’ve been waiting for? It appears so, as she’s tackling the brash and arrogant Lash Legend next week. Ricky Saints is a good next opponent for Femi, but I don’t see a title change happening for awhile yet. DarkState is becoming more interesting to watch, as we’re finally starting to see a little personality from them. When are we going to see what happened to Tony D’Angelo? NXT is heating up with all of the upcoming fall events, and I’m looking forward to seeing how everything plays out. See you for Evolve!
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