WWE NXT Battleground Review - May 25, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Women's North American Champion Sol Ruca def. Kelani Jordan

This was a rematch from last year's Heatwave event. That was Jordan's first defense of the NXT Women's North American Championship, so I liked how this was Ruca's first defense of the title and she avenged that loss here. Once again, they worked really well together and had a very enjoyable opener. These ladies are the future of WWE's women's division. I can't imagine it will be much longer until Zaria turns on Ruca and challenges her for the title.

Josh Briggs and NXT Tag Team Champions Hank Walker and Tank Ledger def. The Culling (Brooks Jensen, Niko Vance and Shawn Spears)

This could've easily happened on any ordinary edition of NXT TV and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. It ended up being a solid six-man tag team match, so there wasn't anything wrong with it, but it felt like a lazy attempt to fill out the card. I can't say I cared about this personally, especially with the babyfaces winning decisively. The Culling can't catch a break. Yoshiki Inamura saved them from a beatdown afterward, so perhaps we're headed toward Briggs and Inamura vs. Hank and Tank.

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo def. Tony D'Angelo

This D'Angelo Family melodrama doesn't seem to be catching steam at all based on how quiet this crowd was. It's been rather boring since Lorenzo betrayed D'Angelo at Stand & Deliver and now they're teasing that Luca Crusifino is aligned with Lorenzo. Can we just skip to the part where D'Angelo gets called up to the main roster? It's way overdue. This was decent albeit not very interesting.

NXT Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer def. Jordynne Grace

From an in-ring standpoint, I don't know if the quality of matches has ever been consistently stronger in NXT's women's division than it has been the last few months. It almost doesn't even matter who's involved as you can expect an excellent match virtually every time. This was no exception. Vaquer and Grace had a hell of a hard-hitting affair and brought the best out of each other. I was slightly surprised by the result (I figured they'd want to fast-track Vaquer to the main roster along with Giulia), but Grace can always win the belt in an eventual rematch.

NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints Attacked Ethan Page

It was already announced in a backstage segment earlier in the evening that the rematch between Saints and Page for the NXT North American Championship will open Tuesday's edition of NXT, so I'm honestly not sure what the point of this segment was other than to get them in front of bigger crowd. At least it was basic and they kept it short and sweet. It was also established that the winner will defend the belt at Worlds Collide on June 7th.

NXT Champion Oba Femi def. Myles Borne

I don't think there was a single soul in the building or watching from home that legitimately believed Borne would win the championship here, but this was all about him proving his worth and having an impressive performance in defeat. Mission accomplished. They told a nice story with Borne fighting from underneath and enduring everything in Femi's arsenal (multiple times) before eating defeat. Femi giving Borne a nod of approval afterward was a nice touch.

Trick Williams def. Joe Hendry to Win the TNA World Championship

Neither of these guys will ever be confused with being among the best wrestlers in the world, but they're over enough to where the crowd was into the action from the get-go. Even with the expected shenanigans down the stretch, this was entertaining. It was funny hearing the crowd rally behind the TNA guy on an NXT show, but that just tells you how popular Hendry is. I actually think Williams taking the TNA title was the right call, especially if the idea is for Mike Santana to be the one to dethrone Williams in Santana's native New York at Slammiversary in July.

Overall Show

Although Stand & Deliver was definitely better, Battleground had plenty of highlights and was a worthwhile event on the whole. Williams becoming the new TNA World Champion was newsworthy and Vaquer vs. Grace was the best bout of the night. Other matches could've been saved for NXT TV, but at least the show didn't overstay its welcome at less than two-and-a-half hours. The bit of hype for Worlds Collide was appreciated since that's coming up quickly in two weeks.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews