WWE NXT Review - May 20, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sean Legacy def. Ashante "Thee" Adonis and Je'Von Evans in a Triple Threat Match

This wasn't officially a number one contender's match for the NXT North American Championship, but it was heavily implied that the winner would get a future shot. This was a super fun, chaotic opener where all three guys got a chance to shine. I don't regularly watch WWE's Evolve show, so this was my first (non-Battle Royal) exposure to Legacy and I thought he had a standout performance. Not only that, he ended up winning, so hopefully that means we'll be seeing more of him soon. Ethan Page attacked Ricky Saints at ringside right before the finish, so it's important to remember that Page's issue with Saints isn't over, either. It was actually announced later on that Page and Saints will have a rematch for the title on next week's episode.

Trick Williams Rapped About TNA World Champion Joe Hendry

I believe Williams has rapped in the past on NXT TV, but I was still skeptical of what this would be. Honestly, Williams' rap was pretty good. He didn't play it up for comedy like Hendry did with his performance at the end of the night and the beat wasn't bad. Remember when Hit Row used to rap in NXT? I actually thought this was better, but that's just my opinion. The crowd got into it, too.

Shawn Spears def. Josh Briggs

The first few minutes of this match happened during commercial break/picture-in-picture. What we saw of it was decent. Spears winning with help from The Culling led to Tank Ledger and Hank Walker making the save for Briggs afterward, setting up a six-man tag team match for Battleground. I'm surprised that's making the card over Saints vs. Page or something involving DarkState, who remain undefeated so far.

O.T.M. def. Chase U (Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors)

Although it has yet to be confirmed, I'm going to go ahead and assume Jaida Parker is on her own at this point and no longer a member of O.T.M. with Bronco Nima and Lucien Price. They've been off TV since January, so it was smart to reintroduce them with a win after a series of vignettes. We'll see how they do this time around, but this was a nice start and what it needed to be.

NXT Champion Oba Femi and Myles Borne Faced Off Before Jasper Troy Attacked Femi

I still don't see Borne as a legitimate threat to Femi with his singles push coming out of nowhere, but to NXT's credit, he's been built up very well in a relatively short span of time. He more than held his own on the microphone in this segment and it was an enjoyable exchange in general. Troy just won WWE LFG (along with Tyra Mae Steele) the other day, so I understand wanting to capitalize on that by having him lay out the NXT Champion, but I probably would have held off on that until Battleground or next week.

Lola Vice def. Fallon Henley

It's worth noting that Jazmyn Nyx hasn't been appearing alongside Henley and Jacy Jane in recent weeks, so I'm not sure what that means for her status in Fatal Influence. Speaking of Fatal Influence, they continue tease tension, so Henley losing here felt like a foregone conclusion. This lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. They had an average outing, but the crowd was largely quiet. I can't I blame them considering Vice has been spinning her wheels for many months and the Fatal Influence melodrama hasn't been interesting.

Kelani Jordan def. Zaria

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago where Zaria beat Jordan. In addition to avenging the loss here, Jordan also earned herself an opportunity at Sol Ruca's NXT Women's North American Championship at Battleground. This was the expected quality contest from them and I appreciated that they were given an ample amount of time. The only thing I didn't like was that they basically repeated the same finish from Vice vs. Henley right before.

TNA World Champion Joe Hendry Performed and Attacked Trick Williams

If you've seen any of Hendry's concerts either in NXT or TNA, they all mostly follow the same formula where he mocks his opponent and that's exactly how this went, but that isn't to say it wasn't entertaining. Williams attempted to attack him but ended up getting laid out. This was simple stuff, but it served its purpose. With Hendry standing tall to close the show, I'm more confident than I was before that Williams is walking out the new TNA World Champion at Battleground.

Overall Show

The six-match card for Battleground has been confirmed and it has potential on paper. As a go-home show, this was an effective and efficient episode. I hope they keep going with the longer matches instead of trying to cram as many matchups and segments into the show as possible. This was a focused effort with the bigger stuff delivering and everything else being solid.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews