From WrestleMania Weekend to a couple weekends prior, and from Peacock to YouTube for U.S. viewers, NXT presented its annual Stand & Deliver show on April 4. A few thousand fans attended The Factory in St. Louis, Missouri, garnering milder reactions – whether due to gray-area match dynamics or otherwise.
The night after Pat McAfee and Lil Yachty’s appearances on Smackdown, Shawn Michaels opened the show with rapper Sexyy Red. Entering to her song “Hang Wit a Bad B—,” attached to numerous TikTok edits of 1990s “HBK,” the St. Louis native told anyone not down with Stand & Deliver to “suck it.” This evidently applies to Cagematch ratings too.
Lola Vice vs Kendal Grey vs Jacy Jayne (c) – NXT Women’s Championship
AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion Vice and Grey’s inconclusive finish on NXT led to tonight’s triple threat, via Robert Stone’s social media announcement. Jayne’s entrance, accompanied by Fatal Influence, recaps an unexpectedly dominant reign – albeit in jeopardy tonight. Booker T says the world has talked about the aforementioned singles match, mainly high praise for Grey’s effortless grappling seen again tonight. Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid’s interferences grant Jayne minutes of control. Vice completes the obligatory Tower of Doom and hits four running hip attacks thereafter. Grey comes back with German suplexes, and Jayne hits a running knee to “NXT” chants.
Jayne and Vice trade strikes, and Grey capitalizes on the champion’s left foot with an ankle lot. The YouTube feed blacks out multiple times for Jayne’s malfunctions, but Vice steals Grey away with a sleeper hold. Wren Sinclair brawls with Fatal Influence to the back, and Grey capitalizes with an outside moonsault. She escapes another sleeper hold but eats Jayne’s Rolling Encore, allowing Vice to hit the spinning backfist on the champion for victory.
Winner: Lola Vice
A vignette plays for Kali Armstrong, the inaugural WWE Evolve Women’s Champion, who is scheduled to join the NXT roster.
Los Americanos vs The Vanity Project (c) – NXT Tag Team Championships
NXT and AAA are alternate universes where Los Americanos and El Grande Americano are fan favorites. They crotch Ricky Smokes on the post and showcase good lucha things, courtesy of two Europeans. Rayo practices some familiar joint manipulation before Smokes and Brad Baylor cut the ring in half – “textbook tag team work,” as Booker T describes. Bravo makes a comeback with a “Big Strong Boi” airplane spin and double suplex. Amid the champions’ double-team maneuvers, El Grande Americano aids Bravo with a loaded mask.
Smokes steals it into his trunks, gets crotched again, and kicks out of consecutive top-rope splashes. “That was tres!” St. Louis chants. Bravo fires up with an outside dive, and Rayo hits Bitter End on Baylor for a two-count. Americano turns Jackson Drake inside out at ringside, but the latter discreetly punches Bravo. The champions capitalize with an assisted double foot stomp, retaining the titles in their first PLE-level performance.
Winners: The Vanity Project
Vic Joseph and Booker T recap the Countdown show, where Birthright faced Hank and Tank, Shiloh Hill, EK Prosper and Women’s Speed Champion Wren Sinclair in a 10-person mixed tag team match. Propser, the recently renamed Eli Knight, hits a diving moonsault, and Hill follows with a neckbreaker on Charlie Dempsey for the win.
Hill celebrates with Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley, who credits being on last year’s Countdown show. Sexyy Red invites them to the after party, but Ricky Saints call them weirdos, offering to hang with a VIP like him instead.
Zaria vs Sol Ruca
A cinematic shot places Zaria on top of the Gateway Arch, and Ruca interrupts her entrance. St. Louis goes 50-50 on Zaria, and Ruca isn’t the makeshift villain tonight. The former keeps methodical control until Ruca reverses momentum with a top-rope hurricanrana. They attempt the double suplex over the ropes, and Zaria counters Sol Snatcher with a boot. But Ruca wakes St. Louis up with a Sol Snatcher onto the elevated steel ramp. Zaria kicks out of a second Sol Snatcher, Ruca kicks out of an F5, and the former friends have a brief, melodramatic staredown. Ruca hits a top-rope facebuster, and third time’s the charm with a Sol Snatcher for victory.
Winner: Sol Ruca
Robert Stone congratulates new NXT Women’s Champion Lola Vice and gives her time to celebrate on this week’s NXT. “For old time’s sake,” Vice twerks with Sexyy Red for the viewers at home.
Vice, North American Champion Myles Borne, Women’s North American Tatum Paxley, NXT Champion Joe Hendry and Ruca open an NXT on The CW hype package – inadvertent spoilers for tonight’s card?
Johnny Gargano vs Myles Borne (c) – North American Championship
“Johnny Takeover” returns to an NXT PLE like an ex-football player returning to a high school game. He possums in plank position and comes back to “Johnny Wrestling” chants, hitting an apron senton ringside. Borne’s offense is sullied by Gargano’s underdog fervor, and the challenger hits a diving spear from the elevated ramp. He follows with a sunset flip and outside dive, but Borne recuperates with an avalanche powerslam.
“Johnny trying to turn back the clock,” Vic Joseph comments about Gargano, who wears his previous Stand & Deliver 2023 gear. On the ramp, Borne hits a Sting-esque splash, and unc comes back with Willow’s Bell and One Final Beat for a two-count. He kicks out of Borne Again, and Candice LeRae punches the champion at ringside. Gargano capitalizes with Gargano Escape, but two Borne Agains grant a successful defense. As promised on NXT, “ain’t nobody safe” as DarkState leader Dion Lennox blindsides Borne with a steel chair, sending a message to the singles division.
Winner: Myles Borne
In a backstage interview, Sol Ruca says defeating former friend Zaria was her toughest challenge yet. The Culling’s Izzi Dame interrupts, vaguely threatening Ruca for sharing similar, unspecified goals.
Blake Monroe vs Tatum Paxley (c) – Women’s North American Championship
NXT’s favorite freak Paxley destroys a Monroe doll in her pre-entrance vignette. The latter uses the stolen Women’s North American Championship belt during introductions, and the actual champion jumpstarts thereafter. “My shoulder!” Paxley yells out after Monroe delivers a hurricanrana onto the elevated ramp. Monroe immediately targets the left shoulder, and the champion eventually comes back with her signature rolling leg drop. She hits a superplex combo and powerbomb for near-falls, and Monroe regroups with a senton to the floor. The challenger exposes two turnbuckles and weaponizes the stolen belt for another two-count. Another kick-out on the Glamour Shot gets much less of a reaction, and Paxley finally ends it with Cemetery Driver.
Winner: Tatum Paxley
Saquon Shugars doesn’t agree with Dion Lennox’s solo attack on Myles Borne, saying he doesn’t appreciate being a spectator. “I got a plan for all of us to eat – this Tuesday,” Lennox says to his DarkState equals, including a returning Cutler James.
In a promo package, Jasper Troy calls out Josh Briggs for interfering in his and Keanu Carver’s big-man rivalry. An NXT in April tradition, the big-man triple threat does down this Tuesday. Sol Ruca versus The Culling’s Izzi Dame is additionally announced.
Paxley celebrates with Shiloh Hill, Hank and Tank, and EK Propser over her win. The NXT Tag Team Champions The Vanity Project try consoling Monroe, who finally lets them help – along with fetching a hairbrush.
Tony D’Angelo vs Ricky Saints vs Ethan Page vs Joe Hendry (c) – NXT Championship
D’Angelo gets a vigilante vignette, Saints is surrounded by paparazzi, Page is followed by Canadian flags, and Hendry covers The Factory with handouts of his face. St. Louis believes in Hendry, who throws around the opposition early on. The frenemy duo of Saints and Page takes control, inevitably crumbling when “All Ego” finishes the Superplex and Frog Splash combo on the former instead. D’Angelo comes back from sleeping, as St. Louis briefly chants, with a spinebuster to the champion. Saints and Page regroup, hitting their respective finishers on D’Angelo before Hendry dives onto both at ringside.
Hendry fires up with signature fallaway slams, and D’Angelo follows with suplexes. He intercepts Hendry’s Standing Ovation with a spear for a two-count, and Saints introduces and weaponizes a steel chair. At ringside, the frenemies brawl until D’Angelo spears them through the announce desk to “holy sh–” chants. He hits another spear on Hendry, finishing with the Dead to Rights spinebuster for victory.
Winner: Tony D’Angelo
