Tucked into a packed WrestleMania 41 week is Stand & Deliver at T-Mobile Arena. Regardless of the event being this Saturday at 1 p.m., the card only tonight came together with final qualifying matches, a number-one contendership fatal four-way and a number-one contendership tag team gauntlet. And in the spirit of multi-person matches, NXT threw two more into the batch of many this weekend.
Lexis King vs Wes Lee vs Ethan Page vs Eddy Thorpe
The four competitors are in-ring at showtime when North American Champion Ricky Saints brings his aura to the announce desk. Immediate, continuous action looks like a four-ball pinball machine, and Lee garners “NXT” chants with the obligatory Tower of Doom. Page shoves Thorpe into Saints, and the referee ejects the champion for crashing out. After break, Page concurrently hoists King on his shoulders while headlocking Thorpe for a DDT when Lee connects with an atomic Whisper in the Wind. A series of consecutive maneuvers later, Page hits Twisted Grin on King for victory, earning a North American Championship match at Stand & Deliver. Page grabs the mic, vowing to ruin Saints’ first title reign – only to be speared by the champion right after. NXT openers used to be habitually hot, and this was an unexpected return to form.
Winner: Ethan Page
Jordynne Grace discusses turning doubt into discipline in a video package. Her body transformation led to becoming “The Juggernaut,” coupled with highlight videos courtesy of TNA. History existing is one of the pros of cross-promotion.
Tatum Paxley vs Lola Vice – Qualifying Match
Backstage, Kehlani Jordan pulls out personality throwing shade at Za-Ruca, and Izzi Dame says she’ll bring the Women’s North American Championship to The Culling on Saturday. Paxley and Vice compete to earn the next ladder match spot, and the former gains control by sneaking under the ring. After picture-in-picture, Paxley delivers a superplex for two, but Vice connects with a crisp backfist for victory.
Winner: Lola Vice
In Giulia’s video package, she explains turning on Stephanie Vaquer over not offering her a rematch for the NXT Women’s Championship. Giulia was out for just two weeks, making her loss even more questionable than the reasoning.
NXT General Manager Ava sets up a triple-threat tag team match at Stand & Deliver between Fatal Influence, Meta-Four and Chemical X. The winners will get a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match next Tuesday. Roxanne Perez rightfully objects to the unjust card addition, but Ava agrees to make it a fatal four-way.
Tag Team Gauntlet Match
The winners face Fraxiom for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Stand & Deliver, and judging by the TV time, first entrants Hank Walker and Tank Ledger are favorites. Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe follow, accompanied by a battered Wes Lee, but are quickly eliminated by the opposition’s “honk honk” finisher. The Culling enters next, bloodying Walker’s mouth during picture-in-picture. Ledger makes the comeback, stopped in mid-air by a pleasantly-surprising spinning heel from Brooks Jensen. But Ledger connects with his own mid-air reversal, turning their atomic double-team around for the pinfall. No Quarter Catch Crew arrives fresh, Walker counters with rapid strikes, and Myles Borne regroups with a picturesque somersault over the ropes. After break, Ledger fires up and rolls up Tavion Heights for the next pin, and Yoshiki Inamura and Josh Briggs make the final entrance. They power through the weaker opposition, but a small package from Walker grants them the victory in their best showing to date.
Winners: Hank Walker and Tank Ledger
Evolve General Manager Stevie Turner wishes Kali Armstrong good luck for her main event tomorrow. Ava tells Turner and Robert Stone that she found the last competitor for tonight’s qualifying match, which logistically is coming down to wire.
Like Trick Williams’ arrival earlier, Vic Joseph mistakes NXT Champion Oba Femi’s car for the D’Angelo Family. “Hey, is that Darkstate?” he says before cutting to break. After, Jaida Parker takes her turn at a video package, walking through the streets of Port St. Lucie, Florida. She tears up over losing her uncle, but “life made [her] hard.”
The D’Angelo Family finally arrives in the parking lot with about seven additional Italians. “Stacks” informs the group that Tony D’Angelo isn’t coming, grabs a crowbar and begins brawling with Darkstate. The action spills indoors with artificial camera cuts, and The Family spears Osiris Griffin through drywall. Still, intensity prevails, and Darkstate slams Luca Crusifino on the hood of a car. D’Angelo makes the heroic save with a crowbar as police lights flash, chewing out “Stacks” for questioning him. D’Angelo declares fighting “on the biggest stage,” cinematically setting up a match for Stand & Deliver.
In Santiago, Chile, NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer returns a star on news broadcasts and in recognition from the city’s mayor. “I promise to represent you with pride,” Vaquer says ahead of defending the title on Saturday.
New number-one contenders Hank Walker and Tank Ledger are interviewed backstage, and the latter says, “We gave it a bodacious, belly boy, booming twist.” Axiom congratulates them on finding themselves, but Nathan Frazer says they ran the gauntlet for nothing.Roxanne Perez is still complaining to Ava and says she’ll be her own tag team partner. Cora Jade then steps in, questioning if she wants it bad enough to say sorry.
Karmen Petrovic vs Thea Hail – Qualifying Match
Andre Chase worries that he’ll ruin Kale Dixon and Uriah Connors’ lives like he did everyone else. “You didn’t ruin mine,” says a returning Thea Hail, giving him the blessing to restart Chase University. “I’m a grown-ass woman” echoes another lame def rebel intro, stripping Hail of the university pep that set her apart. The “endless energy,” as Corey Graves describes, is still there in a nondescript way. She ultimately earns the win with a Kimura, but the loss of the real Chase University is forever felt.
Winner: Thea Hail
Trick Williams enters the ring to a standing ovation of “whoop that trick” chants. “You either die the hero,” he says about being called Carmelo Hayes. “But Trick Willy’s still alive.” NXT Champion Oba Femi arrives, calling the opposition a broken record of the same hits. “The spotlight is moving on,” he semi-accurately says before more “whoop that trick” chants. Je’Von Evans comes out next, begging Williams to shut up. He prides himself on dropping a future WrestleMania main-eventer in Femi, getting to WWE in the first place and being the underdog in Saturday’s championship match. “You can’t handle this because you are a child,” the champion tells the 20-year-old challenger. The bigger men shove him ringside, but Evans drops them both with a springboard cutter.
