WWE NXT Review - September 9, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Josh Briggs def. Je'Von Evans

I loved that they wasted no time in taking the fight to each other and that they worked with such a sense of urgency. This was an entertaining opener with both guys excelling in their respective roles. Briggs just failed to become number one contender to the NXT Championship, so this was a necessary victory to make him feel like more of a threat. Evans will fine and I'm sure he'll avenge the loss eventually.

#DIY Faced Off with TNA World Champion Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes

Williams recruiting Hayes to be his backup against #DIY made sense and I appreciated how they weren't immediately friends again after what went down between them early last year. I honestly hope this is a test run to see how they'd do as a heel duo on the main roster (though I'd like to see Hayes dump The Miz soon and embark on another singles run, possibly as a babyface). Anyway, this was a solid segment to set up a big tag team match for next week's NXT Homecoming episode.

Lainey Reid def. Faby Apache in a WWE Women's Speed Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

It's only been two weeks and I already hate that NXT is adopting the Speed stuff. There's just only so much they can do in three minutes. To their credit, they packed a lot into the minimal amount of time they had here, but it was still difficult to care, especially when it was obvious from the second they showed Natalya (er, Nattie?) in the crowd that she'd cost Apache the win before they battle at Worlds Collide this Friday night.

NXT Tag Team Champions DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) def. Hank Walker and Tank Ledger

This was along the same lines as their Heatwave encounter in that it was well worked and had a nice pace. Hank and Tank attempted to use Joe Hendry to their advantage again at the end, but it was an unsuccessful effort this time. I have no issue with DarkState holding onto the gold, but the key now is building up the rest of the division, which feels virtually nonexistent at the moment.

Tavion Heights def. NXT North American Champion Ethan Page in a Flag Match (Non-Title)

As goofy as Flag matches are, it's exactly the type of concept I expect to see used in NXT, not to mention it was befitting of this feud. This was pretty much what you'd expect, but they did what they could with the stipulation to prevent it from being completely boring. I assume Heights earns a future title shot with his win here, but what's funny is that Tyler Breeze is contending for the title on next week's show just because he showed up afterward and posed by Page while he was down.

The Culling (Izzi Dame and Tatum Pxley) def. Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx) and NXT Women's North American Champion and WWE Women's Speed Champion Sol Ruca & Zara in a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination Match

When was the last time the WWE Women's tag titles were defended in NXT? I remember Gigi Dolin and Taxum Paxley challenging for them on the post-Stand & Deliver episode, but that was back in April. This was a good match that not only set up The Culling for an opportunity against Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair on the Homecoming show but also teased more tension between Ruca and Zaria as well as Fatal Influence afterward.

Stephanie Vaquer, WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley Interrupted Fatal Influence

Fatal Influence sticking around after the commercial break gave away that the big surprises to close the show would be women challenging them to a six-woman tag team match for Homecoming next week, and the surprises delivered according to this crowd. Vaquer hasn't been gone for long enough for that to feel like a big deal, but she's still super popular. It was cool to see Stratton and especially Ripley return with all three of them being former NXT Women's Champions from different eras of the division.

Overall Show

Homecoming is shaping up to be a blast next week, and the big sell of this show was that you didn't know who was going to show up. That added to my enjoyment of the episode and it made for a fun night. They started strong and ended strong and it helped that all of the matches either had stakes or felt meaningful, resulting in an above-average edition of NXT on the whole. Give me some random cameos next week at Full Sail University and not just NXT alumni currently on the main roster.

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