WWE NXT Review - October 21, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Culling Attacked Fatal Influence

The Culling aren't babyfaces by any stretch, but Tatum Paxley is so likeable that the crowd was completely behind her here as she talked about challenging Jacy Jane for the NXT Women's Championship at Halloween Havoc. Her verbal exchange with Jane was fairly basic, but it accomplished what it needed to, including setting up their tag team main event for later on.

TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater def. Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo

Lorenzo noticeably isn't speaking with his phony Italian accent anymore now that his storyline with Tony D'Angelo is over. It's also worth noting that we haven't seen his NXT Heritage Cup in months, so it's safe to assume that championship is no more. The match itself was solid and Lorenzo looked impressive in defeat. Post-match, Slater and Je'Von Evans issued an open challenge for Halloween Havoc, leading to AAA's Mr. Iguana and La Parka emerging and accepting.

Jasper Troy def. Zachary Wentz in a WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Troy briefly feuded with Je'Von Evans and Ricky Saints over the summer but disappeared soon after. He feels completely out of place fighting for the WWE Speed Championship, but then again, I believe bigger guys have fought for it before when it was exclusive to the main roster. This was essentially a squash for Troy. That was disappointing knowing what Wentz is capable of and that he won on an NXT premium live event just last year.

Zaria Agreed to Defend Sol Ruca's NXT Women's North American Championship Against Blake Monroe at Halloween Havoc

It was announced coming into the show that Ruca would have an in-ring announcement with Ava, but I'm still not sure if she's legitimately injured or not. Zaria stepping up to defend the title on her behalf makes total sense based on the story they've been telling with them lately, but that'd be a lame way to get the belt off Ruca after a six-month reign, especially since we already got Blake Monroe vs. Zaria on last week's NXT. I'd put the belt on Monroe, regardless.

Axiom def. Sean Legacy in a WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Fraxiom aren't doing anything on SmackDown at the moment, so using Axiom in the WWE Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament is fine for now. Considering he's a SmackDown Superstar and Legacy is on Evolve, there was no doubt who was winning here, but I liked how Axiom won with only seconds to spare. This was a fun sprint and much better than Troy vs. Wentz from earlier on.

OTM def. Hank Walker and Tank Ledger

Apparently this was the first match OTM have had on NXT TV since May. Has it really been that long? Honestly, I didn't even notice they were gone, but the tag team division benefits from bringing them back. Walker and Ledger are obviously former NXT Tag Team Champions, so I was surprised to see OTM make such short work of them, but I'm not complaining. This was a nice way to establish OTM as threats upon returning.

Fatal Influence (NXT Women's Champion Jacy Jane and Lainey Reid) def. The Culling (Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame)

If Reid is cleared to compete after her "injury" last month, then why wouldn't she immediately challenge for the WWE Women's Speed Championship, a shot that she earned ahead of No Mercy last month? I assume she cares as little about the belt as the rest of us do. Nonetheless, this was a decent match, though Jane pinning Paxley was a questionable choice (I'm aware Paxley laid out Jane afterward but still).

NXT Champion Ricky Saints Attacked Trick Williams During the NXT Championship Contract Signing

If you've seen any contract signing in NXT (or WWE for that matter), you've practically seen them all, but to give credit where it's due, the mic work in this segment was strong, specifically from Saints. He amped up the intensity in a big way and left me more excited for their match at Halloween Havoc than I was previously, which is the whole point of these things.

Overall Show

With the timing of Showdown was terrible because it forced the build for Halloween Havoc to be rushed. Showdown should have been a premium live event instead, but oh well. They've put together a adequate card for the event, but I can't imagine it will be must-see. The last-minute hype for Williams vs. Saints was well done, but even more than that, I was psyched to see The Hardys announce they'll be bringing back their "broken" personas for their match with DarkState on Saturday. I'm sure I'm in the minority on that, but it'll be the first time we've seen The Broken Hardys in an actual matchup in WWE, so it should interesting, if nothing else.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews