SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV REPORT
DECEMBER 30, 2025
ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER
AIRED LIVE ON THE CW
REPORT BY DAVID MILLER, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
[HOUR ONE]
-Ricky Saints and an angry-looking Je’Von Evans were shown walking into the building before Vic Joseph introduced the show.
(1) ETHAN PAGE (c) vs. MOOSE – NXT North American Championship Match
Page attacked Moose as Mike Rome introduced him. They soon took it outside the ring, where Moose unceremoniously met the ring steps. He yanked Page’s shoulder into the ring post to catch a breather. Back in the ring, Page took control with a neckbreaker before they cut to the first commercial break of the night. [c]
Back from the break, maintained control with a couple of kicks, but he couldn’t lift Moose up for a suplex, and Moose reversed it. He hit a senton, kipped up, and pulled Page off the second turnbuckle to deliver a powerbomb. They traded powerful blows mid-ring until Moose got mad and headbutted the champ. He dropkicked Page out of the ring, then speared him through the barricade on the floor. Back in the ring, he hit a second spear but was slow to cover, which allowed Page to gain the presence of mind to put his foot on the bottom rope.
Moose charged Page on the outside, but Page backdropped him onto the ring steps. Ouch. After getting back in the ring, Page got a two count out of a splash, but managed to get three after a Twisted Grin.
WINNER: Ethan Page at 10:47 to retain the NXT North American Championship.
(Miller’s Take: I would have enjoyed this match more had I not been 100% certain of the outcome. It’s cool for WWE to take all of the TNA titles to NXT, but the opposite doesn’t hold true. There wasn’t anything really wrong with this match, but Moose had a much better showing with Oba Femi. After losing tonight, I don’t buy Moose as a threat to any NXT gold, mainly thanks to WWE’s lopsided booking.)
-For the start of the Year-End Awards, Male Superstar of The Year nominees were Je’Von Evans, Ricky Starks, Trick Williams, and Oba Femi. The winner, Je’von Evans, stood with the golden ring bell plaque. He said a bunch of stuff and managed to say nothing. Lack of mic skills aside, Evans is a premier athlete and future superstar.
-In the back, Izzi Dame was ranting to The Culling about Tatum Paxley chasing after them with a chainsaw like she was Terry Funk wearing powdered pantyhose over his head. She suggested confronting her now, but Shawn Spears told her she didn’t know what Niko Vance and he had seen in Paxley lately, and he didn’t think it was a good idea. A miffed Dame walked off while muttering to herself that she had to do everything herself. [c]
-Back from the break, a camera caught up with Kendal Grey lying on the floor in pain while Wren Sinclair shrieked for help.
-Izzi Dame was in the ring, running down Tatum Paxley as the fans booed loudly. She questioned Paxley’s choice of going after Spears and Vance instead of her. She said she wasn’t scared of Tatum. Paxley’s music hit as she came out to confront Dame. Paxley told her she’s sorry she’s so insecure. She said she doesn’t need friends like her. Dame said if she’d listened to her, she’d still be NXT Champion. Paxley said it would be just Dame and her at New Year’s Evil. Dame started to walk off, but Paxley told her she wasn’t in control. As Dame went to hit her, Paxley sensed it coming and ducked, then took Dame down.
-The Progressive NXT Focus was on the NXT Tag Team of The Year Award. Nominees were Hank & Tank, Zaruca, The Culling, Fatal Influence, and DarkState. The winners, Zaruca, were holding their plaque as they listed their credentials.
-As Jacy Jayne walked through the back with her cohorts, she snickered that now Wren would be all alone for their match, insinuating that Fatal Influence was the culprit in the earlier thumping of Kendal Grey. [c]
(2) JACY JAYNE (w/Fallon Henley & Lainey Reed) vs. WREN SINCLAIR
Jayne showed off very early in the match and was not taking her opponent seriously. Sinclair tried fighting back briefly, but Jayne overwhelmed her. She got a two-count out of a short-arm clothesline. Sinclair grabbed Jayne’s arm and dug into her shoulder socket. She stood on Jayne as she attempted to pull Jayne’s arm off and keep it as a souvenir. A slight distraction by Fatal Influence gave the champ a chance to take the advantage back. [c]
When they returned from the break, Jayne was wrenching Sinclair’s neck. She snagged a neckbreaker off the ropes, but Sinclair kicked her off and started throwing chops and clotheslines as she got fired up. She got two out of a double underhook suplex. Jayne came back with a crushing knee to the face but couldn’t keep Sinclair down. Wren applied a unique double arm submission and started taking Jayne to school until she got caught by a Rolling Encore for the pin.
WINNER: Jacy Jayne at 11:09.
(Miller’s Take: Sinclair showed how talented she was late in the match, but has not been presented as anywhere near the level of Jacy Jayne, who has improved dramatically since her days with Toxic Attraction. It was a suitable match for both participants.)
-Fatal Influence continued pounding on Sinclair after the match, but a recovered Kendal Grey ran out and took out the heel trio.
-In the back, Joe Hendry was practicing for his upcoming “concert”. [c]
-Joe Hendry made his ring entrance as guttural noises came from the mouth of Booker T, who was attempting to sing along with the song. Why they didn’t cut his mic is beyond me.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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[HOUR TWO]
Hendry began strumming as he sang a song about the past year of NXT. He sang a couple of hilarious lines about Chelsea Green & Ethan Page. He went on to make fun of Trick Williams and Ricky Saints as well. After he sang a line about DarkState, the lights went down before strobe lights revealed DarkState rushing the ring from the bleachers. They hit the ring and then hit Hendry with their finisher as they gloated menacingly.
-In the back, Ava asked Robert Stone to make sure the rest of the Year-End Awards were ready. She walked into the open door of her office to find Blake Monroe, still clad in a silk bathrobe and looking like an unkempt Barbie doll, sulking while leaning against her desk. She sobbed as she asked Ava to make sure there was a different referee for her upcoming title rematch. She said she couldn’t guarantee it, but she’d do what she could. She then told Monroe that if she wanted to win her title back, the glamour needed to show up again. Monroe looked a bit inspired as she walked off.
Tavion Heights made his ring entrance before they cut to a commercial break. [c]
-When they returned from break, various wrestlers were giving their predictions for Oba Femi vs. Leon Slater. Matt Cardona, Elijah, Mike Santana, and Mara Sade picked Slater. Stacks & Arianna picked Femi. Hank & Tank disagreed.
(3) TAVION HEIGHTS vs. LEXIS KING – Speed Tournament Match
King was trying to fire himself up before the bell. After it rang, he turned into a belly-to-belly suplex from Heights for the three-count.
WINNER: Tavion Heights at 8 seconds to advance.
(Miller’s Take: I really hope they have more planned for the charismatic and talented Lexis King than jobbing out in record time to a mid-carder. Tavion is great in the ring, but he could really use a personality transplant.)
-After the match, Speed Champion Jasper Troy came out and glared at Heights.
-Nominees for Match of The Year were Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Trick Williams (Stand & Deliver), Sol Ruca vs. Kelani Jordan (Battleground), Ethan Page vs. Ricky Saints (Great American Bash), Jacy Jayne vs. Lola Vice (No Mercy), Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans (Heatwave), and the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge (Deadline). The winner was announced as Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Trick Williams. I can’t argue with that one.
-Ricky Saints was shown preparing to face Je’Von Evans later. [c]
(4) SWIPE RIGHT (Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes) (w/Jackson Drake) vs. OTM (Lucien Price & Bronco Nima)
Baylor started against Price, who began destroying him. Smokes fared no better against Nima. Swipe Right served as OTM’s crash test dummies for a while, but that changed when Jackson Drake sacrificed himself to allow his team to take the upper hand. Baylor and Smokes then had a chance to show off their fantastic teamwork against their rather large opponents.
Price took a hot tag and began swiping left. Nima took the tag and lifted Smokes into a suplex position, then dropped him gut-first across the shoulder of Nima, who drove him to the mat for his partner to pin him.
WINNERS: OTM at 4:38.
(Miller’s Take: It was good to see Swipe Right get some airtime on NXT. They are extremely talented with great weaselly heel personalities and remind me of a more juvenile version of The Midnight Rockers. OTM, of course, are big, strong, agile men who could also be major players in the WWE tag team scene.)
-In the women’s locker room, Jordynne Grace (still wearing her Velma Dinkley glasses) told North American Champion Thea Hail the only thing wrong with her celebration last week was Blake Monroe ruining it. Hail begged Grace to be in her corner at New Year’s Evil and rushed in for a big hug when she agreed. Grace said she wasn’t into the hugging thing but agreed to one time for Hail. [c]
-Female Superstar of The Year nominees were Kelani Jordan, Sol Ruca, Tatum Paxley, Blake Monroe, and Jacy Jayne. The winner, Sol Ruca, said it had been one hell of a year. She spoke of her singles success and that of Zaruca. She promised 2026 would be bigger and better. All of these women have a lot of main roster potential, but I certainly can’t argue with this one, either. I am looking for Ruca to be headlining the main roster within a year.
-An intense Je’Von Evans made his ring entrance before the commercial break. [c]
(5) JE’VON EVANS vs. RICKY SAINTS
As Saints posed on the ropes, Evans yanked him down and began thumping him. The referee called for the bell, and it was officially on. Saints dropkicked Je’Von’s legs out from under him and went to work on the left leg. He bodyslammed him in such a way that his knee caught the ring ropes on the way down. They blistered each other with chops before Saints pitched Evans out of the ring, then threw him into the barricade. He dribbled his skull off the announce desk a few times as Booker T growled incoherently. Evans came back to hit his Superman dive over the top rope. Saints sidestepped him but sold it anyway.
Evans laid Saints out on the announce desk and hammered at him with wild punches. Back in the ring, Saints tripped up Evans and took it outside the ring again. Just as it looked like he was about to do something nefarious, they cut to a commercial break. [c]
Upon returning from commercial break, Saints sank in a choke, but Evans flipped him over and got bouncy on him. He got a two-count on a glassy-eyed Saints, who came back with an attempted tornado DDT, but Evans reversed it into one of his own. Saints got his knees up for an Evans splash and hit a sit-out powerbomb for a near fall. As Saint was clearing the announce desk, Evans flew through the ropes and, in what has become something of a staple in NXT, knocked him over the announce desk. Back in the ring, Evans went for a pin, but the referee caught him with his feet on the ropes for leverage. He landed a tornado DDT, but Evans kicked out at one.
Saints went for Roshambo, but Evans slipped out and went for a springboard cutter. Saints got out of the way and Evans nailed the referee with the cutter. With the referee down, Saints kicked one between the goalposts and then successfully executed a Roshambo as another referee ran in to make the count.
WINNER: Ricky Saints at 16:43.
(Miller’s Take: Good match with Saints leaning heavily into his new heel persona. Personally, I find this version of Saints to be more believable. The second referee sliding into the ring to count the pin mere seconds after a flagrant low blow by Saints was a tad too convenient for me, but Saints needed the victory worse than Evans did.)
-Vic Joseph ran down next week’s New Year’s Evil, featuring Tatum Paxley vs. Izzi Dame, Thea Hail defending the North American Championship vs. Blake Monroe, Jacy Jayne defending her NXT title against Evolve Champion Kendal Grey, and Oba Femi defending his NXT Championship vs. TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater.
-Saints posed on the ropes and smirked as the show went off the air.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Not a bad go-home show leading up to New Year’s Evil, but not a can’t-miss show by any means. There appears to be some upward movement happening, with Je’Von Evans and Trick Williams seemingly primed for the main roster. Similarly, The Vanity Project and Kendal Grey have been making their presence known in NXT. One thing is for certain, and that is that NXT is not lacking talent moving into 2026. Happy New Year!
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