WWE NXT Review - December 23, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lola Vice def. Izzi Dame

Vice has been floundering for some time now, and although she won here, it was less about her and more about furthering Tatum Paxley's feud with The Culling. Her showing up with a damn chainsaw was way more memorable than anything that happened in the match, but the matchup itself was perfectly fine. The rematch between Paxley and Dame is obviously imminent. Kelani Jordan attacked Vice afterward, but will that program really accomplish anything for either of them other than keep them busy?

NXT Women's North American Champion Thea Hail and Blake Monroe Brawled

Reportedly, a ton of changes had to be made to NXT's plans for upcoming shows after Hail won the NXT Women's North American Championship in a botch last week, so who knows what would've happened on this show originally with these two had Monroe retained as she was supposed to last week. That said, Hail's impassioned promo here was great and Monroe also played her role well in acting distressed. They announced that they'll meet again for the title at New Year's Evil in two weeks.

Tavion Heights def. Eli Knight in a WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Eli Knight sounds like Eli Drake and LA Knight's ring names mixed together. In all seriousness, he was a lot of fun to watch here. I'm not at all familiar with this work, but apparently he's on Evolve. He was the perfect fit for the Speed style, so hopefully we see him again on NXT TV soon. Despite the three-minute time limit, I thought he shined in this match before Heights picked up the victory.

Kelly Kincaid Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with NXT Champion Oba Femi and TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater

Sit-down interviews are always an effective way to hype something coming up and this successfully left me looking forward to Femi vs. Slater at New Year's Evil. Neither guy said much, but they both came off well and cut quality promos. Kincaid also does remarkably well in her role when it comes to this sort of stuff. It's awesome Slater is getting this much exposure on NXT TV considering he's still a TNA talent.

Je'Von Evans and Ricky Starks Faced Off

I liked how Evans was serious for a change, which made sense after Saints attacked him last week. I enjoyed this exchange as much as I did Femi and Slater's. Evans isn't known for his promos, but he's improving at them, and he's feuding with someone who is a terrific talker. This was what it needed to be ahead of their outing on next week's episode. Ava made it sound like it'll be over after that and I wouldn't doubt it if a main roster call-up for Evans is imminent.

Skylar Rae and Shiloh Hill def. Arianna Grace and TNA International Champion Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo in a Christmas Chaos Match

Outside of a quick appearance in a Speed match a month or so ago, we haven't seen anything from Rae (it was previously spelled "Raye") on NXT TV at all. For those unfamiliar, she won Season 2 of LFG for the women. She comes off as generic and needs to give viewers a reason to care about her, but she did well in this holiday-themed Street Fight. It was campy, sure, but it didn't overstay its welcome, and I'm all for Hill getting featured more.

Lexis King def. Andre Chase in a WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

It would've been pretty ridiculous if King could beat Matt Cardona on TNA iMPACT! but not Andre Chase of all people. I don't see King winning this tourney, mind you, but at least he won here. This was passable, but as I've said before, the Speed crap doesn't interest me at all. For the record, we definitely don't need a tournament every time a new number one contender to either of the Speed titles needs to be crowned.

Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green def. Sol Ruca

I forgot Green defended the Women's United States Championship against Ruca during her first run back in March. That was a good match and this was along those same lines. Ruca is impressive with almost everything she does and Green is a fantastic foil for her babyface opponents. I didn't actually think the championship would change hands here, but it was a solid main event for the taped show.

Overall Show

This was very much a throwaway show for the holiday week. The focus on the Speed matches is boring and we didn't get any major developments for the current storylines. The mic work from Femi, Slater, Saints and Evans was strong, but everything felt inconsequential, including the main event with the predictable finish. Next week might be more of the same, but New Year's Evil is shaping up to be a significant show as always.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews