WWE NXT Battleground live results: Joe Hendry vs. Trick Williams TNA title match
For the first time ever, the TNA World title will be on the line on a WWE event as Joe Hendry defends against former NXT Champion Trick Williams on tonight’s NXT Battleground from Tampa, Florida.
The two were on opposite ends of a tag team match at Friday’s TNA Under Siege.
Reigning NXT Champion Oba Femi will defend against Myles Borne following his recent battle royal victory in hopes of his fifth successful title defense.
The red-hot women’s division keeps rolling as NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer defends against former TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace. Vaquer has three successful defenses while this is Grace’s third-ever shot at the title.
In her first title defense, NXT Women’s North American Champion Sol Ruca will defend against former champion Kelani Jordan.
Former allies turn enemies as Tony D’Angelo battles “Stacks” Lorenzo.
The main card is rounded out by Josh Briggs, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. The Culling (Shawn Spears, Brooks Jensen & Niko Vance).
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Countdown to Battleground
– After the WWE signature open, we were welcomed to the WWE Studios in Stamford for the kickoff by hosts Megan Morant and Sam Roberts. The two discussed the card to come for tonight’s show. We then got a video package for the Stephanie Vaquer versus Jordynne Grace match for the NXT Women’s Championship.
– We got a sitdown interview with Sol Ruca and Zarya ahead of Ruca’s Women’s North American Title match against Kelani Jordan. After the interview, Morant and Roberts talked about Hank and Tank and Josh Briggs versus The Culling.
– Myles Borne was interviewed about his NXT Title Match against Oba Femi, as we then had Morant and Roberts discussing Borne’s chances of overcoming the dominant NXT Champion. The subject soon turned to Tony D’Angelo versus Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo.
– Our esteemed hosts talked about Joe Hendry defending the TNA World Championship versus Trick Williams before they tossed to an AJ Styles-narrated video about this match. After a final rundown of the card for the evening, Morant and Roberts signed off as the actual Battleground PLE was set to begin in minutes.
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WWE NXT Battleground 2025
– Vic Joseph’s voice over shots of several NXT stars arriving to the Yuengling Center welcomed us to tonight’s show as we then went to the cold open for the evening. Joseph was joined on commentary by Booker T and Corey Graves.
NXT Women’s North American Championship: Sol Ruca (c) vs. Kelani Jordan
As the bell rang, we got some fast-paced back and forth action between Ruca and Jordan, with flips and skillful dodges a’plenty. Ruca offered a hand to Jordan, who accepted. She then followed that up with a surfboard stance over Jordan’s body. Ruca caught Jordan in an STF momentarily, but the challenger made an escape. Ruca carthweeled over Jordan and hit a superkick afterwards. The stalling suplex from Ruca was followed by a modified moonsault as the two competitors then got into an exchange of pinss.
Jordan wriggled out of an attempted Samoan Drop from Ruca and turned it into a Crucifix Bomb pin attempt, but to no avail. Jordan took advantage by stopping an attempted springboard dive from Ruca to clip her foe. Jordan slammed Ruca with a spinning modified Samoan Drop, but Ruca kicked out again. The single-leg Boston Crab by Jordan managed to keep Ruca grounded, but the Women’s North American Champion made her escape.
On the apron, Ruca leapt up to the top rope and hit an impressive avalanche X-Factor that ended up being a rough landing for her and Jordan. Ruca began to pick up some steam with a running slam, followed by a knee to the face. Jordan scurried to the apron and caught Ruca with a kick as she then dragged her onto the apron. A kick from Jordan sent Ruca to the floor, as the feisty challenger followed up with a diving springboard moonsault.
Jordan tried for a dive from the top rope, but Ruca caught her and then delivered a modified Backstabber with her feet against Jordan’s back. The innovative Women’s North American Champion then soared with an impressive diving moonsault over the top rope. Ruca appeared to be attempting her take on Zaria’s Zone of Destruction, but Jordan countered and then hit her Frog Splash. One, two… not quite. Both Ruca and Jordan found themselves up the top rope as the latter attempted an avalanche Poison Rana, but Ruca landed on her feet. Ruca once again paid tribute to her partner with a Spear, but Jordan just kicked out at two.
Another skirmish on the top turnbuckle led to an avalanche Spanish Fly by Jordan. One, two… Ruca kicked out! Jordan and Ruca traded strikes for a good while until Ruca got the better of her foe. Jordan reversed her fortunes and looked to have Ruca dead to rights for her One of a Kind Moonsault, but Zaria pulled Ruca out of harm’s way. The referee saw this and had Zaria ejected from the match for her troubles.
Ruca headed up to the top rope once more with Jordan down and out and hit a super Sol Snatcher for the one, two, three, and the first successful defense of her Women’s North American Championship.
Sol Ruca def. Kelani Jordan via pinfall to retain the NXT Women’s North American Championship.
A hot opener to kick off the action at Battleground. It’s insane how much chemistry Ruca and Jordan have and I enjoyed this one greatly. The Sol Snatcher continues to be one of my favorite finishing moves in WWE and seeing Ruca find new variaions to hit this move will never stop being impressive.
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– NXT General Manager was seen chatting with AAA’s Dalys and Chik Tormenta before we went backstage to Sarah Schreiber interviewing Mike Santana. The TNA star made it clear that he wanted a shot at whoever wins Joe Hendry vs. Trick Williams tonight as Charlie Dempsey interrupted proceedings. Tavion Heights seemed to reach an agreement with Santana for a challenge of some kind for Tuesday’s NXT. During this segment, Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne were seen arguing in the background.
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Hank & Tank (Hank Walker & Tank Ledger) & Josh Briggs vs. The Culling (Shawn Spears, Niko Vance, Brooks Jensen)
Briggs didn’t waste any time going after Vance to start off this match. He floored Vance with a huge clothesline before he amde the tag to Ledger. The NXT Tag Champions showed some nice teamwork to leave Vance stunned. As things broke down, the trio of Hank and Tank and Briggs left The Culling rocked with stereo dives to the outside.
Vance took back control with a rough Irish Whip on Walker that sent him crashing hard into the ringpost. This gave The Culling the opportunity to assert their will on Walker, with Vance laying it in on his opponent with repeated stomps. Spears found himself tagged into the match as he continued to work over Walker in the middle of the ring. Spears took too much time to taunt Briggs and Ledger, which allowed Walker to momentarily find some daylight., A back bodydrop by Walker on Jensen allowed him to tag his championship partner into the match.
Ledger was a house of fire as he unleashed his wrath on the Culling with a diving cannonball to the outside on Vance, followed by a shoulder block on Spears in the ring. Hank and Tank dropped Spears with a double superplex, but they got hit with simultaneous splashes from Vance and Jensen. Briggs hit a diving splash on the prone Spears, but found his pin broken up by the other two Culling members.
Jensen caught Ledger with a kick to the face and looked to hit a double team move on Ledger in the form of a double stomp/Dominator combination. One, two… Walker somehow managed to break it up in the nick of time thanks to an apparent mess-up on the referee’s part.
Briggs with the blind tag as Hank and Tank took out Spears with a double shoulder block. Briggs looked to have his former friend dead to rights, but Vance and Izzi Dame provided a distraction and a roll-up from Jensen nearly had the match won, but Briggs kicked out. The NXT Tag Team Champions entered the fray and crushed Jensen with the sandwich, followed by the double team slam to secure the win.
After the match, The Culling tried to attack the victorious trio. Spears ordered Dame to get a chair to finish the assault, but the hand of Yoshiki Inamura stopped Dame from doing so. Inamura then entered the ring to attack The Culling with the chair and turn the tide for his allies. The faces stood tall in the ring in the aftermath of the melee.
Hank Walker, Tank Ledger, and Josh Briggs def. The Culling via pinfall (Ledger pinned Brooks Jensen)
Just a fun six-man tag match and seeing Yoshiki Inamura return was a great moment and a nice surprise for sure. Hank and Tank continue to be impressive in terms of having an explosive offense to get the crowd on their feet.
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– As Ethan Page talked about his upcoming North American Championship Match against Ricky Saints on Tuesday’s NXT, Ava interrupted and informed Page that he and Saints would be kicking off the show, with the winner set to defend the North American Championship at Worlds Collide on June 7th.
Tony D’Angelo vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo
D’Angelo responded to Stacks talking trash to him at the start of the match with a slap to the face, followed by some hard punches to the face. As Stacks stood on the apron, D’Angelo threw him back into the ring and looked to continue the punishment. Stacks responded with a kick to the gut as he then got his licks in on his former friend. D’Angelo countered Stacks as he threw him over his shoulders and right over the top rope.
At the ringside area, D’Angelo threw Stacks against the LED barricade and then right into the ringpost afterwards. He yelled into Stacks’ ears, “All you had to do was listen to me!” Stacks gained the advantage with a cheapshot, as he then hit D’Angelo with a dropkick that sent The Don’s back against the steel steps. As the action spilled back into the ring, Stacks targeted D’Angelo’s ribs in the corner. He flew right into D’Angelo with a running cannonball, but that got a near-fall.
Stacks wrapped his legs around D’Angelo’s ribs with the body scissors submission hold. D’Angelo fought out of the hold and rocked Stacks with bunches of punches, but got hit in the ribs in the process. Stacks drove his knee to the back of D’Angelo’s head and looked to have the victory. One, two… The Don kicked out just in time. D’Angelo fought back and threw Stacks with an overhead suplex as he then mounted a comeback of his own.
D’Angelo scored a satisfying spinebuster on Stacks as he then threw a series of uppercuts to his betrayer’s ribs. Stacks recovered, but he missed on the knee stomp, which opened him up to a deadlift German suplex from D’Angelo. Stacks managed to kick out at two, however. Stacks caught D’Angelo in a triangle submission, but D’Angelo used his strength to slam him with a powerbomb. D’Angelo battered Stacks with punches to the face until he abruptly stopped the attack, apparently showing some sort of remorse at his actions.
Stacks took advantage of this and sent D’Angelo right against the ringpost back-first. He appeared to have D’Angelo dead to rights with a running knee strike, but D’Angelo dodged out of the way, which caused Stacks to crash into the ringpost instead. D’Angelo hit the Forget-About-It fisherman suplex, but Stacks kicked out at two. Stacks woke up and dropped D’Angelo with a guillotine legdrop across the middle rope.
Stacks tried to look for his crowbar against one of the ringposts, but couldn’t find it. This allowed D’Angelo to take advantage once more iwth some strikes to the face. Stacks tried to beg off, but to now avail. He got dropped with a spinebuster from D’Angelo. Suddenly, Luca Cruisifino appeared at ringside, to D’Angelo’s confusion. This allowed Stacks to go low with a trip to Dick Kick City on D’Angelo. The Underboss put an end to this match with a running Busaiku knee to the back of D’Angelo’s head.
After the match, Cruisifino entered the ring and wanted to embrace D’Angelo, but got pushed aside by the defeated Don.
Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo def. Tony D’Angelo via pinfall
As hard hitting a match as you’ll certainly get. Both men sold the struggle between former friends quite well, in my opinion. Cruisifino’s appearance at the end, his first since apparently being left in the desert by Stacks adds some intrigue to this mafioso storyline on NXT.
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NXT Women’s Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
Vaquer and Grace started off with a respectful handshake as the bell rang. We then got a test of strength as neither woman could take a clear advantage to start off. Grace took over with a pair of shoulder blocks, followed by an arm wrench. The two competitors then traded pins, which ended with a stalemate between Grace and Vaquer.
Grace missed with the chop in the corner, which gave Vaquer the opening she needed to gain momentum with a suplex, followed by a back drop. The NXT Women’s Champion looked to have Grace set up for the Devil’s Kiss, but Grace rolled her and Vaquer out of the ring and used her strength to slam Vaquer onto the commentary table. Grace threw Vaquer onto the barricade before she brought her champion foe back into the ring.
The challenger trapped Vaquer in a Boston Crab, but Vaquer reached the ropes in time to break the hold. Grace tried to use her strength to great success as she slammed Vaquer on her back. Grace hit a World’s Strongest Slam, but missed on the subsequent Vader Bomb attempt. As Vaquer headed up top, she caught Grace in a rope-assisted armbar, followed by the springboard crossbody. Vaquer had Grace prone in the corner long enough for the running Meteora. This left Grace stunned long enough for the Devil’s Kiss, much to the delight of the crowd (and Booker T). One, two… not yet.
Grace wanted to get Vaquer in a submission, but the NXT Women’s Champion fought out of it. Grace tanked a strike from Vaquer, as she hit her with a spinebuster, followed by a sitdown package powerbomb. Vaquer kicked out at two as the crowd had justified “this is awesome” chants for this match. Vaquer roared back with a suplex and a DDT on Grace, but that couldn’t put her resilient challenger away for the three. Grace used her power to block an Irish whip attempt from Vaquer, as the action headed to the top turnbuckle.
With Vaquer stunned, Grace hit a superplex/Jackhammer combo in an iimpressive show of strength. One, two, Vaquer kicked out! Vaquer used a bridge attempt to try for the SVB, but Grace fought out of it. A series of wild counters soon followed as Grace looked for Beast Mode to no avail. A kick to the head of Grace by Vaquer allowed the NXT Women’s Champion a moment to create some needed separation. Grace grabbed Vaquer from ringside and wanted to hit a powerful slam on the outside, but she got shoved right into the barricade to break it apart.
Vaquer threw Grace back into the ring and hit the SVB. Is this one over? One, two… Grace kicked out at 2.9999999999! The crowd was left incredulous at this turn of events. Vaquer and Grace, both battle-worn, traded back and forth strikes. In the corner, Vaquer twisted Grace’s leg with the dragon screw as she then headed up top. Grace intercepted her opponent as she and Vaquer jockeyed for position. Grace got sent to the mat, as Vaquer took flight and hit the Spiral Tap to get the three and the successful title defense in amazing fashion.
After the match, Dalys and Chik Tormenta were seein in the front row keeping a close eye on the victorious Vaquer.
Stephanie Vaquer def. Jordynne Grace via pinfall to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
One hell of a title match right here. Vaquer and Grace left it all on the line and it made for what has been the clear match of the evening. Just some solid action from Vaquer and Grace and the crowd was well into the action from start to finish.
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Ricky Saints in-ring promo
Sarah Schreiber was in the ring as she introduced NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints for an interview.
Saints talked about how Ethan Page must be obsessed with him and that he was tired of Page getting into his business. Which meant, that if he had to start NXT on Tuesday to end this business with Page, then so be it. As the subject turned to the North American Title defense at Worlds Collide, Ethan Page himself tried to sneak in for the attack, but Saints met him at the pass to foil the ambush. Security officials stood in to keep Page separate from Saints. This prompted the North American Champion to take off from the top rope and fly right onto Page and the security corps.
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NXT Championship: Oba Femi (c) vs. Myles Borne
Borne and Femi with the test of strength to start off as the challenger avoided Femi’s offense, culminating with Borne landing on his feet as Femi attempted to throw him high. Borne seemed to have Femi flatfooted with a dropkick, which prompted the NXT Champion to respond with a rageful shoulder block. Femi sent Borne into the corner and thrusted his shoulder onto his opponent’s ribs, but Borne refused to back down.
Borne soared from the top rope with a crossbody, but Femi responded by throwing his foe across the top rope. Femi slowed down the pace to his advantage with a suplex, as he began to go to work on Borne. Femi went after the back of Borne with clubbing blows as the fans were split on who they wanted to see to come out on top of this contest. Femi seemed to relish in punishing Borne as the assault continued, but the challenger created some much-needed separation with a dropkick to the face of Femi.
The comeback for Borne was all too fleeting as Femi once again made a target out of his back with a backbreaker. Femi nearly took Borne’s head off with a vicious clothesline. Borne refused to go down as he mounted on Femi’s back and applied the sleeper hold. Femi managed to escape by ramming Borne’s back against the turnbuckle.
Femi wanted to hit a suplex from the apron, but Borne blocked and hit the third dropkick of the match. The NXT Champion stopped a planned dive by Borne with a punch, as he followed that up with the double knees to the gut of Borne. One, two, not yet. Femi applied a championship chinlock on Borne, but he couldn’t hold it for long. Femi’s attempt at a shoulder charge was missed when Borne dodged at the last second, which sent Femi crashing into the ring post. This gave Borne the opportunity to finally take advantage with a dive to Femi outside the ring.
Diving crossbody by Borne to Femi wasn’t enough to end things just yet. Femi got sent to the turnbuckle as Borne hit a Randy Orton-style powerslam for another near-fall. Borne missed with the moonsault, but he countered Femi. Another set of counters allowed for Femi to catch Borne with the chokeslam. One, two… Borne kicked out!
Borne stunned Femi with the DDT in the middle of the ring, but he couldn’t connect with the splash. Femi’s attempt at Fall From Grace was countered into a pin by Borne, but that wasn’t the finish just yet. Borne delivered a powerful German suplex on Femi as he took flight from the top rope with the diving splash. One… two… Femi just kicked out at the last possible second. Blow for blow, Femi and Borne traded strikes as the challenger struck Femi with a dropkick. Roaring uppercut by Femi was followed by the Fall From Grace. One, two… 2.99999! An angered Femi tried to rock Borne with repeated uppercuts, but found himself in a roll-up attempt that he kicked out of.
Femi threw Borne like a sack of potatoes, followed by consecutive Fall From Grace powerbombs to leave no doubt in this hard-fought title defense.
After the match, Femi appeared to show respect to Borne’s efforts as he gave him a nod of approval before he walked off.
Oba Femi def. Myles Borne via pinfall to retain the NXT Championship
Certainly an intensely fought championship match that got only more intense as things picked up and they really did a great job in making you believe that Borne would somehow score a miracle victory. Borne showed that he could really go and he was the standout of this one, even in defeat. Don’t sleep on this match. I liked it a lot.
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– We went backstage as we saw Stephanie Vaquer arguing with Dalys and Chik Tormenta, as we once again got a peek at Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley yelling at one another in the background. This eventually spilled into Jayne slapping Vaquer in the face, which only caused things to become more chaotic.
This Week on NXT (5/27/25)
- NXT North American Championship: Ricky Saints (c) vs. Ethan Page
- LFG Season 1 winner Jasper Troy’s in-ring debut
- Tatum Paxley vs. Jaida Parker
- TNA’s Mike Santana vs. Tavion Heights
TNA Championship: Joe Hendry (c) vs. Trick Williams
The crowd inside the Yuengling Center erupted in cheers as the match got underway, clearly excited at this main event. Williams shoved Hendry aside, but got sent outside for his troubles. Hendry followed that up with a dive to the outside that flattened Williams in short order. Insied the ring, Hendry maintained control with a shoulder block, followed by a stalling suplex, Early pin attempt by Hendry saw Williams kick out at two. Hendry with the side headlock takeover on Williams, but the challenger responded in kind with a fallaway slam. With a kip-up, Williams mocked Hendry with signature pose, followed by the Book End for a near-fall.
Williams headed up top, but Hendry ran up and hit a super fallaway slam for a close near-fall. Hendry used his speed to catch Williams with a couple of pinfall attempts, that the challenger kicked out of at each turn. Williams and Hendry exchanged strikes a’plenty, as Williams delivered a Booker T-style axe kick in the aftermath of the exchange. Williams paid tribute to the third man of the NXT commentary team with a Spin-a-Roonie, but this opened him up to a Rock Bottom by Hendry. One, two, not just yet.
The challenger got the better of Hendry with a series of kicks as he headed up top and looked for a Blockbuster. Hendry rolled through and used his strength to slam Williams down right in the middle of the ring. Williams sent Hendry outside and threw him into the steel steps. Inside the ring, Williams kept up the momentum with an unusual neckbreaker on Hendry. Williams rolled under a Hendry clothesline and hit a proper neckbreaker on the TNA Champion, but only got a two-count out of it. Williams squeezed away at Hendry with a body scissors, but the Scotsman powered out of it and dropped Williams with a suplex.
As both men struggled to get back on their feet, Hendry got up first and hit Williams with a flurry of offense to believe in. He connected with the fallaway slam as the champ did his signature pose. Hendry connected with the Standing Ovation, but Williams got his foot on the bottom rope at the very last second.
Hendry looked like he was going to hit an Attitude Adjustment, but Williams escaped. The fight headed out of the ring, as Williams threw Hendry face-first onto the base of the steel steps. Williams then hit a uranage onto the announce table as he followed that with a Trick Shot knee inside the ring. One, two… Hendry barely kicked out!
Williams introduced the TNA Championship and looked to use it as a weapon. The referee stopped him before he could do any damage. In the confusion, Hendry tried to roll him up, but Williams kicked out. Williams fought out of the Standing Ovation with a thumb to the eye, as he then slammed Hendry face-first onto the TNA Championship belt! Williams followed this up with one more Trick Shot knee for the three and that’s it, over. NXT’s Trick Williams is your new TNA World Champion.
Trick Williams def. Joe Hendry via pinfall to win the TNA World Championship
Certainly an interesting finish that won’t help dissuade the potential of WWE having bought out TNA Wrestling, but all that aside, it was a good main event that showed just how much these two wrestlers who have been often been accused of being nothing more but flashy entrances can really go. I was surprised at how much I was invested in this main event match.
It’s clear that NXT Battleground won’t be the biggest wrestling show of this evening (and that’s okay), but what we got was once again an enjoyable show from the silver-and-black brand of WWE. Just another solid set of matches (with the Vaquer vs. Grace title match being my favorite of the night) and certainly not a bad way to spend a Sunday night.