WWE NXT Review - April 29, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

DarkState Attacked TNA World Champion Joe Hendry

It's awesome that we got immediate follow-up to Williams attacking Hendry at the end of TNA Rebellion on NXT TV and not even on iMPACT!. It was cool to see Hendry back in the NXT Arena and he cut a logical promo addressing Williams. DarkState attacking him should only fuel speculation that Williams is secretly behind the group. This was a solid segment to start the show.

NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints def. Lexis King

Even with King losing the NXT Heritage Cup Championship to Noam Dar on last week's episode, there was zero chance of him taking the title here. Despite that, they had a nice match and worked well together. I'm all for establishing Saints as a fighting champ. He's already beaten Ethan Page and now King. Wes Lee and Eddy Thorpe were also involved in that number one contender's match a few weeks ago, so maybe one of them will be next in line for a shot?

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo Interrupted Tony D'Angelo

I can't say I'm overly invested in the latest melodrama with The D'Angelo Family, but honestly, I'm down with whatever gets D'Angelo off NXT and onto the main roster. This feels like the end, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, he showed good intensity in this promo and I thought Lorenzo also played his role well (speaking through the big screen). We'll see if Lorenzo ends up having potential as a singles star because currently I'm not seeing it.

NXT Women's North American Champion Sol Ruca def. Karmen Petrovic (Non-Title)

The only thing worse than the romance storyline Petrovic and Ashante Adonis had for so long is that Petrovic has done virtually nothing since they became a couple. Thankfully, she kicked him after losing here, so they're already over. This was fine while it lasted, but it felt more like a showcase for Ruca coming off her NXT Women's North American Championship victory at Stand & Deliver.

Ava Interrupted Trick Williams

It's interesting to note that Williams didn't heel it up all that much during this promo, though he did say he had Hollywood aspirations after traveling to Los Angeles for Rebellion this past weekend. I'm sure a full-fledged heel turn is coming and I'm glad they're taking their time getting there so it doesn't feel so abrupt. Ava announced that a 25-man Battle Royal next Tuesday will determine Oba Femi's NXT Championship challenger at Battleground, so it's possible Williams wins to earn himself another opportunity at the title.

NX Tag Team Champions Hank Walker and Tank Ledger def. Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura

Ava said in a backstage segment that Inamura's NXT excursion was over, yet he was able to get himself and Briggs a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship here and he'll also be involved in the aforementioned Battle Royal next week, so this wasn't his NXT swan song like I thought it would. This only existed to give the new champs a credible win, but it was a quality contest that was given some time.

Women's World Champion IYO SKY and Jordynne Grace def. Roxanne Perez and Giulia

Just a reminder that WWE's women's division across all three brands (but specifically NXT) is so unbelievably stacked at the moment. Perez and Giulia have formed an alliance recently on Raw, so it made sense for them to take on common enemies in SKY and Grace on this show. This was an entertaining main event as you'd expect and I loved that we got some interaction between Giulia and SKY.

Overall Show

With the excitement of WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas officially over, NXT TV was back to normal this week. However, I still thought this was a thumbs-up show that featured another appearance from Hendry, two title matches, build for Battleground and an above-average main event. You can't ask for much more than that, so I ultimately enjoyed the episode as I felt they managed to maintain the momentum from last week.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews