WWE NXT Review - December 30, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion and AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champion Ethan Page def. Moose

Amazingly, next year marks a decade that Moose has been in TNA, which is insane. I'd like to see him make the move to NXT full-time whenever his contract is up considering he's done all he can do there. Page has been on a tear as North American champ since the summer, so while there was no reason to think he was losing the title here, I thought they had a good match and it was another nice title defense for Page.

Tatum Paxley Attacked Izzi Dame

Paxley has been one of the best developed characters in all of NXT over the last year and has come a long way both in the ring as well on the mic. That was evident in this segment, but that's to take nothing away from Dame, who has also improved immensely since the start of this storyline. I thought put women put forth an admirable effort on the mic here to set up their rematch for New Year's Evil next week.

NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jane def. Wren Sinclair (Non-Title)

Jane will be defending against Sinclair's friend Kendal Grey next week, so this was a logical match to do before then. Sinclair was obviously never going to win, but she had a solid showing, nonetheless, and I hope she gets to do more in 2026 than she did in 2025. Speaking of Grey, she was shown attacked backstage beforehand. What if it's revealed that it wasn't Fatal Influence who attacked her but rather Sinclair, who ends up costing Grey the title?

DarkState Crashed Joe Hendry's Concert

Hendry just had a concert on SmackDown last Friday, so as I said in my review of that show, WWE has to be careful not to overexpose him early on in his run with the company. Then again, I don't see him pulling double duty often if he's headed to the main roster permanently soon. We've seen enough of Hendry against DarkState in various multi-man tag team matches over the last year, so them attacking him did nothing for me, but perhaps they'll be responsible for writing him off NXT soon (unless this was indeed it for him).

Tavion Heights def. Lexis King in the Finals of the WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament

Any momentum King had from beating Andre Chase last week was immediately wiped away when the bell rang here and he proceeded to lose in mere seconds. I'm aware that King has been an enhancement talent for quite some time now, but this pretty much cemented it. Ouch. That said, I'm looking forward to Heights vs. Jasper Troy for the WWE Speed Championship, even though it will be limited to only three minutes.

OTM def. Swipe Right

Fingers crossed we get to see Swipe Right on NXT TV more regularly in 2026 and not just on Evolve. They're a talented tandem and NXT's tag team ranks could definitely use the depth. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this, mind you, but it did allow OTM to pick up another win. For the record, I have no idea when they officially turned face, but I guess that's their new role. Based on the crowd reaction to them here, that might be better for them in the long run.

Ricky Saints def. Je'Von Evans

It was said multiple times coming into this contest that this would be the end of their short-lived feud, heavily hinting at Evans' NXT tenure being over ahead of a rumored move to either Raw or SmackDown. They had an enjoyable main event. Saints has shown in the past that he works well as a heel, and Evans will obviously be just fine. Saints winning was the right call if Evans is indeed done with NXT soon if not now.

Overall Show

This was a perfectly serviceable edition of NXT to close out 2025. The year-end awards were also given out, and those alone aren't worth seeking out, but the matches were adequate and there was effective build for New Year's Evil next week. NXT is going to need new blood relatively soon if Evans, Hendry, Trick Williams, Oba Femi and likely others are all main roster bound at the beginning of 2026.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews