WWE NXT Review - February 25, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT Women's North American Champion Stephanie Vaquer def. Karmen Petrovic

There was no chance of Vaquer dropping the title so soon, but I thought Vaquer was a good first challenger for her. They had a nice match and I appreciated that they received as much time as they did. For the record, they went around 11 minutes on a two-hour show, while Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai went around seven minutes on a three-hour show. Take notes, Triple H. At any rate, I'm intrigued by that Giulia vs. Vaquer in a Title for Title match at Roadblock, especially since I honestly don't know who'd go over between them.

TNA X-Division Champion Moose def. NXT Heritage Cup Champion Lexis King (NXT Heritage Cup Championship Was Not Defended)

Although both of these guys are heels, King was the babyface by default because he's a Cincinnati native. King scored a fair amount of offense, but this still felt like an extended showcase for Moose, who really shined and felt like a natural fit in a WWE ring. Considering he's now 40, I don't know if they'd bring him in once his TNA deal expires (he should've been there years ago), but it's cool to get him as part of TNA's working relationship with NXT, at the very least. We officially found out that Moose and Oba Femi will have their own Title for Title match at Roadblock in two weeks, which I'm really looking forward to.

Jordynne Grace Attacked Roxanne Perez

Grace wasn't the greatest talker during her time in TNA, but she has improved over the years and hopefully she'll continue to improve in NXT. Perez has definitely improved on the mic, so this turned out to be a quality exchange for as long as it lasted and I'm glad Perez acknowledged that she beat Grace to retain the NXT Women's Championship last summer. Grace avenging that loss would be the perfect sendoff for Perez from NXT.

TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz def. No Quarter Catch Crew (Miles Borne and Tavion Heights)

Jeff and Matt Hardy obviously aren't what they once were in the ring (and it shows in most of their matches), but you can't deny that they're still incredibly over. That alone adds to their matches because crowds are consistently behind them. That was certainly the case here, but No Quarter Catch Crew deserve credit as well for the standout showing they had. This was fun. We found out Hardyz vs. Nathan Frazer and Axiom for the TNA World Tag Team Championship has also been added to Roadblock.

Lola Vice def. Arianna Grace

Vice has been such a non-factor on NXT TV since winning that NXT Underground match against Jaida Parker at December's Deadline event that I totally forgot about her. This was an easy way to reintroduce her with a win and it was thankfully kept short and sweet. It also allowed Grace to get back in the ring after being injured 

Ricky Saints and Je'Von Evans def. Wes Lee and Ethan Page

For starters, Saints' NXT entrance is awesome. It's as close to the amazing entrance he had in AEW as we were going to get. The match itself was entertaining with everyone playing their roles well and the crowd being into the action. Evans and Page furthered their feud by brawling through the crowd while Saints made an impact by pinning Lee for the win. I still think we're getting Saints vs. Lee one-on-one at some point and this served as a solid preview of that.

Overall Show

This was my favorite edition of NXT so far this year. They had a hot crowd in Cincinnati, Moose and The Hardyz having matches was sick, Saints made his in-ring debut and three major matches were announced for the Roadblock edition of NXT at Madison Square Garden. You can't ask for much more than that. Speaking of Roadblock, they're really stacking that show, to the point where Stand & Deliver might pale in comparison depending on what they have in store. Either way, this is the most must-see NXT has felt in a long time.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews