WWE NXT 7/8/2025

WWE NXT 7/8/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-nxt-712025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-nxt-7152025.html

We see various wrestlers arrive.

Gauntlet Match

Saints gets to pick the stipulation with his match with Page if he wins.

Leg 1 - Ricky Saints vs Brad Baylor

Brad hits some shots. RS chops him and bangs his head off the buckles. RS boots him out of the corner and hits a 2nd rope dropkick. RS tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him. Brad hits oblivion for 2. Brad hits shots in the corner.

RS hits punches. Brad double underhook twisting drops him for 2. Brad misses a knee drop. RS hits shots and lariats him. RS hits a back body drop. RS tornado ddt's him and pins him.

Leg 2 - Ricky Saints vs Ricky Smokes

Smokes hits shots and enzugiri's him in the corner. Saints takes a twisting suplex for 2. We go to PiP break and return. Smokes hits an ushigoroshi for 2. Saints backdrops him then hits a belly to belly overhead suplex. Saints reverse ddt's him for 2.

Smokes rolls him up for 2 and Saints atomic drops him. Saints rolls him into a pin and wins.

Leg 3 - Ricky Saints vs Jackson Drake

They trade forearms. Drake knees him in the gut then boots him in the corner. Saints hits chops. Drake kicks him in the back for 2. Drake ties Saints' legs up and stomps his neck. Drake surfboards him.

Drake dropkicks him in the knee and headkicks him. Drake hits a fireman's carry gutbuster for 2. Saints hits doi fives for 2. Drake step up enzugiri's him. Saints misses a corner charge. Drake superkicks him. Drake tries a springboard swanton but Saints gets his knees up. Saints hits the roshambo and wins the gauntlet.

Thoughts: It had the usual limits gauntlets had. The last leg was the best but I didn't like Drake losing to Saints while being champ. I thought Brad did a decent job here as well. Saints won this one as expected.

Saints gets to call the stipulation for winning for their match at The Great American Bash. He wants a falls count anywhere match.

Zaria and Sol Ruca talk in the locker room with Kelani and Lola behind them. Sol's excited about Evolution. Lainey Reid comes in and has some negative words. Kelani Jordan interrupts and says Reid is getting involved in other people's business. Reid says she should be in the battle royale tonight. Kelani asks what she has done and Reid says she will have no problem showing her.

We see Jordynne Grace working out in the gym. We then see Blake Monroe calling her. Grace asks where she is as they are supposed to be training. Blake mocks her training. Blake says they will have a glamour work out. Blake wants to do hair and a massage. We see Grace get taken by Blake's driver somewhere and we cut away.

If Tavion wins, he leaves NQCC - Charlie Dempsey vs Tavion Heights

Tav and CD walk out with Wren. CD side headlock takeovers him then Tav does the same. CD armdrags him and Tav armdrags back. CD euros him out of the ring and euros him outside. Tav dropkicks him out of the ring.

CD rolling cravates him. Tav throws him hard on a slam. Tav armdrags him. CD pulls Tav's facemask off. Tav gets mad, double legs him and pounds on him. Tav flying lariats him. They run into each other outside and both go down.

We go to break and return. CD goes for the chickenwing. Tav does a cool slingshot gutwrench suplex. Tav does arm throws and overhead belly to belly suplexes him. They both roll out of the ring together.

Tav's leg is caught between the post and steps. CD then stomps the leg. CD single leg crabs him then pulls on the leg while on his back. CD does a bow and arrow variation and Wren throws in the towel.

Thoughts: Interesting finish here with Wren throwing in the towel. That should lead to some drama. What we got was fine here with CD working the leg and Tav showing some spirit.

Hank and Tank talk in the back. They are hyped up and say there will be no sneak attacks or steel chairs tonight against The Culling. Lexis King is banging around behind them on a garage door. Je'Von Evans comes in. He says he got his win back and now they need to. Jasper Troy then splashes Evans against the garage door.

Mike Santana and Joe Hendry vs The High Ryze (Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe)

This is easily the biggest match ever for TD and Igwe.

Igwe wristlocks Joe. Joe side headlock takeovers him. Igwe headscissors him and they stand off. TD rams Mike into the corner and hits corner spears. Joe fallway slams TD. We go to break and return. 

Joe rolls up TD then armdrags him for 2. TD running euros Joe for 2. Igwe rolling sentons Joe and TD splashes Joe. Igwe busts out a new standing moonsault on Joe. We see Natalya and Maxxine Dupri arrive (they call them The Dungeon Dolls). Igwe grounded guillotines Joe.

Joe suplexes Igwe. Mike and TD get in. Mike lariats TD twice then hits punches. Mike backrolls into a cutter on TD. Mike hits doi fives on Igwe. Mike tope con hilos TD outside.

Joe hits punches on Igwe. Igwe is pulled over the top. Joe then plancha's Igwe outside. Mike backdrops TD. Mike goes up top. Trick Willaims comes out and throws Joe into the steps while Wes Lee distracts the ref. TD misses a corner splash and Mike spinning lariats TD to win.

Thoughts: I liked it. It was short and brief but High Ryze hung in there well with Joe and Mike. Igwe busted out a new standing moonsault.

Trick spinning facekicks Mike after. Joe hits punches on Trick. Joe and Mike then get beat up on by the heels. Trick hits a trick shot on Joe. 

We see Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji, Ulka Sasaki, Iyo Sky and Kaito Kiyomiya wish Inamura luck. Mutoh does the pro-wres love sign and says "you become champion".

We see clips of Dark State attacking Matt Cardona on Impact. Dark State talks. Dion says they live by any place, any time. He says Matt Cardona found out what happens when the lights go out. Shugars says they got their hands in every cookie jar and will see TNA real soon. Cutler says they should take a look at the tag match tonight and implies they attacked Hank and Tank. Griffin says seeing is believing or is it just an illusion. They say you don't know when Dark State will strike, but when they do, nobody is safe.

Yoshiki Inamura, Josh Briggs and Oba Femi are in the ring. Inamura says he beat Troy and Trick. He says Oba will be his greatest challenge but he is ready. Inamura says he must make Briggs and his Japanese friends proud. He says he will fight with honor and become champ. Trick says maybe Inamura's friend can pick up his pieces when he beats him. He asks if Inamura can lose with honor. He says he's not worthy enough to take the title from him.

Briggs says Inamura beat Troy easier than Oba did. Briggs says Inamura is too honorable to say that he will beat Oba's @ss. Briggs says he's not a man of honor unlike Inamura. He says he's a man of mayhem and says he will do everything in his power to make sure Inamura leaves champ. He says this is their only champ.

Oba says this isn't Briggs' fight. He threatens Josh. Josh and Oba trade shots. Oba hits Inamura then Oba lariats Josh over the top. Inamura forearms and slams Oba. Refs then come out to try and break it.

Thoughts: This was a neat segment here. I don't think Inamura will win, but the thought of it is fun and you never know. Josh getting involved should be interesting.

Blake Monroe and Jordynne Grace are at a spa. Grace goes with it but doesn't want to. They get their nails done. They get massages and Grace isn't impressed. They then do makeup and Grace seems to somewhat like it. Grace says this isn't her vibe but Blake says it is. Grace says she's been chasing the NXT Women's Title for a while and says she does kind of like this. Grace says they should beat Fatal Influence at The Bash then she should beat Jacy at Evolution.

Kelani Jordan vs Lainey Reid

KJ legsweeps her, Reid flips off of her then headscissors her. KJ bridges out of a pin. KJ monkey flips her with her feet and dropkicks her. KJ is swept on the apron and has her leg banged off the apron edge. Reid cradles her for 2. KJ hits her in the gut.

KJ forearms her then Reid spinebusters her for 2. Reid single leg crabs her. We see Zelina Vega arrive. Reid is pushed into the buckles back first. KJ hits forearms then dropkicks her. KJ cartwheel back elbows her.

KJ hits wasteland on her. KJ is on the buckles and is kicked. They fight on the buckles. KJ does a very dangerous looking double jump twisting split legged moonsault to win.

Thoughts: The match wasn't bad here. It didn't quite get the time to be anything too great. Reid fit right in here. KJ's new finisher looks really dangerous and she should never do it again. I do feel like they need to do something with Kelani as she's stuck in a sophmore rut.

Thea Hail attacks Reid after (while Kelani holds her knee after the landing). Hail and Reid fight to the back.

Je'Von Evans is being worked on in medical. Jasper Troy jumps on him and pounds him. 

Tony D'Angelo and Luca Crusifino meet with Stacks backstage. Adrianna Rizzo returns and tells them all to sit down. Rizzo says she called this final sit down and said she knew none of them would show up if she told them what's going on. She said she watched all of them lose focus on what The Family accomplished.

She said she tried to sit down with Tony to resolve all this but he didn't want. Rizzo said she thought this would settle things but nothing will. She says there's one last piece of family business. Rizzo says Stacks felt he deserved better and Luca wondered if Tony had his best interests. She says Tony always wondered if someone would stab in the back. She says she talked to Ava and got them a triple threat next week. She says she can't guarantee their paths will cross again but says this is the final battle.

Stacks says he thinks it's a set up. Tony says the rat things he's being set up. Luca says he agrees with Tony. Tony says Luca and Stacks are in the same boat. Stacks said he grew bigger than his family and is bigger than all of them with the Heritage Cup. Tony says Luca and Stacks should split the cup in half and says Stacks will lose it soon. Tony says good talk Rizz, it's over. He says he's done. The four all stare at each other over the table. Stacks tells Tony not to let him catch him by himself. Luca says one time he tried to do things by himself...

Jasper Troy talks in the ring. He says he's done with Je'Von Evans and tells Ava to make the NXT Title match at The Bash a triple threat. Evans then comes out and they fight. It is quickly broken up and Evans goes down to a ribs shot. Evans superkicks Troy. Evans then suicide dives Troy and security.

The Culling meet. Tatum says she feels at home here and Izzi says their home is hers. Niko says they will bring the tag belts back. He says he put Hank and Tank down once and will do it again. Niko says they will regret saying they attacked them last week. Spears says the truth will come to light. He says they stay level headed. Izzi says they can win the tag title tonight and Izzi will win the N-A Title. Tatum says all her friends will have titles. Niko then looks all mean in the camera.

NXT Tag Titles - Hank and Tank (Hank Walker and Tank Ledger) (c) vs The Culling (Shawn Spears and Niko Vance)

I'm predicting an upset here with The Culling winning.

The Culling are in the ring, Hank and Tank slide in and fight. Hank corner splashes Spears then lariats him. Niko is seated on the apron and Hank kind of cannonballs him from behind. Spears snapmares and boots Hank in the head.

Hank's head is banged off the buckles. Tank criss-crosses Niko and shoulders him. Tank gets on Hank's back and they double splash Niko. Niko drops Tank with a shot. Spears neckbeakers and legdrops Tank for 2. We see Ivy Nile arrive.

Spears knees Tank in the gut. Niko punches Tank then hits a corner spear. Tank hits punches then Niko punches him in the gut. Hank corner splashes Niko then bulldogs him. Tank sentons Niko. Hank gets yelled at by Izzi and Tatum outside. Niko then hits a huge pounce on Hank onto the commentary table.

We go to break and return. Hank knocks Niko off the top and hits a flying lariat off the top. Tank gets in and hits offense on Spears. He 2nd rope twisting shoulders him then topes Niko outside. Tank cartwheels and is superkicked. Spears superkicks him again. Niko top rope diving headbutts Tank for 2.

Tatum distrcts the ref and Izzi facekicks Tank. Spears lifting ddt's Tank for 2. Sol Ruca comes out and fights with Izzi. Zaria then carries Tatum to the back. Hank and Tank take their shirts off and hit punches. Tank hits a hard lariat on Niko. Spears takes the double team for Niko. Spears then takes a double team running powerslam and is pinned. Tank gets busted open at the finish.

Thoughts: It was a good tag. They kept things moving. Niko was really getting around well and showed some new agility and had his best showing yet. The two teams matched up well and I was surprised to see the faces win. I'd like to see this one again and hope they run it back.

We see clips from earlier. Kale Dixon can't wrestle tonight due to his blood pressure being high. He says he's not mentally ready and begs him not to have him wrestle. He says he's freaking out. Chase says he doesn't have to do this.

Ava is in the ring at an Evolution podium. She said she was in high school during the first Evolution and thought about how good it would be to be involved. She puts over that show. She says she's proud the NXT girls will be all over Evolution. She says the girls will show why NXT has the deepest women's division and says they will stand out.

Fatal Influence comes out. Jacy complains that Ava talks about everyone else when her match will be the highlight of Evolution. Jordynne Grace comes out and says Jacy is running her mouth again. She says Evolution is about the women who paved the way for them. She says she will steer the division into the future when she wins.

Lash Legend comes out. She says she loves this. She tells them to keep fighting over the NXT Women's Title. Lash says she will be the talk of the show when she wins the battle royale. 

Stephanie Vaquer comes out. She says it's amazing to be back. She says Grace will beat Jacy at Evolution and SV ssays she will be the winner of the battle royal. Natalya and Maxxine Dupri come out. Max says one of them will be crowned champ in Paris. Nat says they will be the last two women in the battle royal.

Other girls come out. Jaida Parker says the entire women's division is stacked. She says she will be on point at Evolution. She says it's her time in Atlanta.

All the girls end up fighting to close the show.

Thoughts: It was a little predictable but I liked the segment. It was cool to see all the girls out there at once.

Overall thoughts: The gauntlet was okay but ran into the usual limits gauntlets have with nothing being allowed to go long or get too crazy. Dempsey/Tavion was fine. I liked the Hendry/Santana tag. Inamura's segment was interesting as was the Blake/Grace stuff. Jordan/Reid was acceptable. The NXT Tag Title match was good and beat my expectations with Niko having a strong night. The segment to close the show was fine too. The tag match was clearly the best thing on here but nothing was bad on this one. I'd give it a 7 out of 10 as it was a good show with a lot of different things going on.