Triple H could argue the introduction of another new era, as some of NXT’s top stars begin transitioning into the main roster. Last night on Monday Night Raw, Ethan Page inserted himself into the Intercontinental Championship picture with a win against Je’Von Evans, and next week, Joe Hendry debuts with a signature concert.
Sol Ruca challenged the new Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan last night, where rival Zaria interfered. They main-evented NXT Revenge Week Two in a Last Woman Standing match, ending a feud that made it easy to side with Zaria.
Myles Borne (c) vs Dion Lennox – North American Championship
DarkState dissension gives the group some nuance, and Lennox eventually embraces Saquon Shugars before the match. Booker T congratulates Page, the longest-reigning North American Champion, on his Monday Night Raw debut. Meanwhile, numbers lend Lennox the advantage as he sends Borne into the apron’s exposed steel. After break, Lennox hits a back suplex onto the steel steps and continues targeting the back. He lands a superplex, but the champion blocks the pinfall and “never breaks” – like the theme song says. Shugars provides a distraction, but Borne shoves Lennox into him, following up with Borne Again to retain.
Winner: Myles Borne
Blake Monroe uses her custom Women’s North American Championship as a mirror, so confident in tonight’s casket match that she lets Vanity Project leave to meet a blonde.
Shugars asks Robert Stone to give DarkState another chance, and meanwhile, Shiloh Hill chats with real Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley. “I kept telling people I was supposed to be in all day, and it kept working,” Hill says about his appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale. He’s also the culprit of Vanity Project’s fake date and announces a match against Ricky Saints next week.
Joe Hendry vs Keanu Carver
Orlando gives Hendry a courtesy standing ovation before his Monday Night Raw debut next week. Vic Joseph includes him in a short list of names winning both TNA and NXT Championships: Bobby Roode, Drew McIntyre, Nic Nemeth and Trick Williams, but no mention of Samoa Joe. Carver doesn’t have the ferocity of the latter, yet he’s built as someone unassailable. He interrupts Hendry’s hard-camera shot with a lariat and spinebuster, finishing the match with ground-and-pound via referee’s stoppage.
Winner: Keanu Carver
Lizzy Rain, formerly known as English indie wrestler Rayne Leverkusen, says that “heavy metal will never, ever die,” in an introductory vignette. Her NXT TV debut match is scheduled for next week.
Lexis King vs EK Prosper – Speed Championship
The competitors vie for the vacant Speed Championship after Elio LeFleur’s injury. Prosper personifies speed, combined with unique springboard offense. King shields himself with TNA Knockouts Champion Arianna Grace, but Prosper comes back with a running knee. At the one-minute mark, he hits a diving moonsault onto all of Birthright – except Grace, who slaps him. King capitalizes with Coronation, bringing more gold into Birthright.
Winner: Lexis King
In an Instagram video, Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor catch up with Jackson Drake and his fake date. “Never showed,” Drake says. “If Lebron James can take an L, then so can I.” WWE LFG’s Myka Lockwood, formerly Bayley Humphrey, steps in, and he gawks at the 5’10” girl.
Saquon Shugars tells DarkState he got them a North American Championship rematch next week. “He said it had to be me,” Shugars says about Robert Stone, and Dion Lennox obliges.
Blake Monroe vs Tatum Paxley (c) – Casket Match for the Women’s North American Championship
Vic Joseph says the last casket match for a WWE championship took place in 1998: Shawn Michaels versus Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. The competitors don black veils, and Paxley weaponizes a bouquet of flowers. She pulls out a dollhouse, and Monroe dropkicks her through it. After break, they trade strikes into the casket, and Paxley hits a brutal Spanish Fly off of it. Monroe hits a casket-assisted Glamour Shot after using a fire extinguisher and closes the lid. But Paxley saves herself with Monroe’s custom belt, weaponized by the latter thereafter. Monroe takes out a casket pillow, dropping plastic diamonds onto the mat for Paxley to hit Semetary Drive on. She follows with a Rolling Thunder kick into the casket, shutting the lid to retain.
Winner: Tatum Paxley
Lockwood tells Drake she used to be a mortician’s assistant, fitting as a mentee of Undertaker on WWE LFG. He figures out that Shiloh Hill set him up, but Drake follows Lockwood out of the bar anyway.
NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice enters the ring, gives props to former champion Jacy Jayne, and threatens to knock out anyone stepping into Vice City. The Culling’s Izzi Dame interrupts with a more eloquent comeback, vowing to rip into her weaknesses. Dame drops Vice with a big boot, standing with the NXT Women’s Championship alongside Shawn Spears and Niko Vance.
In a backstage interview, new Speed Champion Lexis King talks down to collegiate recruits and indie degenerates, planning to get each Birthright member a title. EK Prosper shows up alongside Dorian Van Dux, and Arianna Grace proposes a tag team match next week.
Another NXT Chronicle follows Kendal Grey, who highlights her amateur wrestling accolades. She describes herself as a tomboy, telling stories about baseball games, barbecues and scars.
Robert Stone finds Ricky Saints in his office attacking Shiloh Hill. After break, Stone runs into NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo, who receives a box with an Asian logograph on it. Keanu Carver doesn’t claim it but knows it’s the symbol for war.
Sol Ruca vs Zaria – Last Woman Standing
Zaria blindsides Ruca like she did on Monday Night Raw and knocks her down with a trash can. She hangs her from the mouth with cable wire, but Ruca recuperates with kendo-stick shots. Ruca spears her through the podium to muted “holy sh-” chants, and Zaria rises at the nine-count. They fight through the stands in picture-in-picture, and Zaria delivers an F5 through the announce desk from the barricade. She pulls out two Slim Jim tables, and Ruca lays her out. Ruca climbs the podium, and Zaria follows, eventually eating a Sol Snatcher on the platform. They trade right hands, and Ruca saves Zaria after the latter pleads, saying, “I love you.” They embrace to mixed reactions until Zaria makes her decision, pushing Ruca back into the closest table – hitting her head on the second. The referee counts to a stunned silence, and Zaria is the last woman standing.
Winner: Zaria
