WWE NXT Review - April 8, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jordynne Grace vs. Jaida Parker Ended in a No Contest

This wasn't officially billed as a number one contender's match for the NXT Women's Championship, but it was heavily implied to be on commentary with Stephanie Vaquer saying that she'd making her decision for who she wanted to face at Stand & Deliver afterward. The match was good, but I hated the non-finish as it set up the now-official Fatal 4-Way for the title with these three and the returning Giulia. Sure, it'll be a hell of a matchup, but we just got at a Fatal 4-Way for the belt at Vengeance Day, so this seems unnecessary.

NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazer and Axiom def. Swipe Right (Non-Title)

As someone who has been following Brad Baylor's development on the northeast independent scene for years now, it was really cool to see him compete on NXT TV, especially while still designated as a WWE ID talent. I haven't been keeping tabs with what Swipe Right have been doing on Evolve, but they had a strong showing their debut here and, of course, the tag champs shined as always. This didn't last long, but it was a very fun sprint.

Sol Ruca def. Jazmyn Nyx to Qualify for the NXT Women's North American Championship Ladder Match at Stand & Deliver

I'm not going to lie, they had me convinced Nyx was winning on that nearfall when she hit her finisher. Thankfully, Ruca went over instead as she's a much better fit for the Ladder match environment. This was perfectly passable and what it needed to be. It looks like tension is being teased within the ranks of Fatal Influence, so we'll see if it amounts to anything or if it's ultimately forgotten about.

The Culling (Niko Vance and Brooks Jensen) def. Hank Walker and Tank Ledger

The Culling doesn't overly interest me and Hank and Tank haven't clicked for me yet, so while this match didn't do much for me personally, it was decent and didn't overstay its welcome. The story was that Hank and Tank once again failed to work together effectively, so a split is being teased with them as well. The issue with them is that they have both have a high chance of getting lost in the shuffle as singles wrestlers.

NXT North American Champion Ricky Starks, NXT Heritage Cup Champion Lexis King, Eddy Thorpe and Wes Lee Brawled

This was one of your typical WWE talking segment where it was essentially a revolving door of promos before breaking down into a brawl. None of the promos stood out and the subsequent brawl was basic. I'm glad Starks has a bunch of potential heel challengers waiting in the wings, but I wish the focus was firmly on Starks vs. Page since that's the clear championship match for Stand & Deliver and not some multi-man nonsense.

Wes Lee def. Yoshiki Inamura

This stemmed from Lee disrespecting Inamura in a backstage segment last week. Inamura and Josh Briggs have been spinning their wheels since coming up short in their NXT Tag Team Championship opportunity at Vengeance Day, so there wasn't much uncertainty surrounding the outcome here. To their credit, however, they had a quality contest. This was designed to give Lee a much-needed win before next week's number one contender's Fatal 4-Way for the NXT North American Championship.

Izzi Dame def. Wren Sinclair to Qualify for the NXT Women's North American Championship Ladder Match at Stand & Deliver

This was similar to the other women's qualifier earlier in the episode in that it was fine for what it was. Sinclair stood out in that Iron Survivor Challenge match at Deadline in December, so it's unfortunate that the momentum she had wasn't capitalized on at all. Dame is who they're pushing now as part of The Culling, so it was logical for her to go over here (though the ending was a bit embarrassing because Dame didn't cover her for the full three count).

DarkState (Saquon Shugars, Cutler James and Dion Lennox) def. Je'Von Evans, Trick Williams and NXT Champion Oba Femi

Could Evans, Williams and Femi coexist before their NXT Championship Triple Threat at Stand & Deliver? The answer was no. The story was simple, but the action was enjoyable and chaotic. The jury is still out on DarkState, but them winning here was a must. Plus, the babyfaces had an out for losing with Williams and Femi fighting to ringside, inadvertently leaving Evans to fend for himself. Post-match, Channing Lorenzo popped up on the big screen to challenge DarkState to a parking lot brawl with The D'Angelo Family next week.

Overall Show

The booking on this show was fairly formulaic, but it was needed to set up several matches for Stand & Deliver and progress certain storylines. Even with the event next weekend, there's still more stuff that has yet to be determined including the rest of the field for the NXT Women's North American Championship Ladder match, the opponents for Frazer and Axiom as well as Saints, and whatever the losers of the Women's North American title qualifiers will be involved in. This was an effective episode despite not being the most exciting.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews