WWE NXT live results: DarkState debuts

A new faction is set to make their official in-ring debut on WWE NXT tonight.

DarkState will have their first televised match, taking on Oba Femi, Trick Williams & Je’Von Evans in a six-man tag. The group consists of Dion Lennox, Saquon Shugars, Osiris Griffin & Cutler James, but we don’t know which three will be competing tonight. They have been wreaking havoc across NXT since debuting at Vengeance Day.

NXT Stand & Deliver is now less than two weeks away — and Femi, Williams, and Evans will be facing off in a triple threat match for the NXT Championship at the WrestleMania weekend event. We’ll see if they’re able to get on the same page for this six-man tag.

A match between Jordynne Grace and Jaida Parker is also set for tonight. The result could help determine who challenges NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer at Stand & Deliver. After being crowned a double champion, Vaquer decided to relinquish the NXT Women’s North American title. But that decision came with the condition that Vaquer would be able to choose her NXT Women’s Championship challenger for Stand & Deliver.

The next Women’s North American Champion will be crowned in a ladder match at Stand & Deliver. Zaria and Kelani Jordan have already earned their spots, and qualifying should continue tonight.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

NXT is on the air from a sound stage at the Performance Center in Orlando. My local CW affiliate joined the show already in progress by several seconds as NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer is being interviewed backstage. She then heads towards the entrance ramp.

Jaida Parker vs. Jordynne Grace ended in a no contest (or maybe a disqualification)

NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer is at ringside for guest commentary. The winner of this match challenges Vaquer for the title at Stand & Deliver, except Vaquer got involved in the match from ringside. Giulia also returned in a post-match angle to attack the champion.

The referee throws the match out when Vaquer gets physically involved at ringside, or at least I assume the ref did. It could have been a disqualification. Who knows, because we never got any official word. I miss when commentators said, “Let’s get the official word.” Then, the ring announcers would tell us the end result or lack thereof. This was more like a lack thereof.

Good opener up to that point, if somewhat scary at times on some wild bumps. They wrestled through a split-screen commercial break. Grace almost crashed and burned while doing a dive through the ropes just before the finish. That led into Vaquer getting involved in a melee.

Vaquer was likely supposed to get hit as collateral damage on Grace’s tope suicida, but Grace takes a spill instead. So, Grace sort of shoves Parker into Vaquer. The champ looks to hit Parker, but Vaquer instead clotheslines Grace. From there, the match descends into a brawl while the ref calls for the bell. So, Grace might have won via disqualification, unless the proceeding melee deems it being ruled a no contest. Your guess is as good as mine.

Out comes Giulia to help Vaquer clean house, and then they face-off. Giulia headbutts Vaquer, and Giulia delivers a Northern Lights bomb. Giulia then poses with the title belt while standing over the reigning champion, who is laid out in the ring.

Following up on a similar cliffhanger from last week, the previous episode ended with Ethan Page laying out Ricky Saints, who has just won his first title in WWE when he captured the NXT North American Championship.

Hank & Tank are backstage chatting when they are approached by the tag team known as Swipe Right. This skit plays into Swipe Right wrestling in the next match on tonight’s card.

NXT Tag Team Champions Fraxiom (Nathan Frazier & Axiom) defeated Swipe Right (Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes) in non-title match

Vic Joseph on commentary called it “a statement win.” The win by Fraxiom could also be called an enhancement match. However, this was far from a squash match. Swipe Right got their stuff in, and they had a competitive match at times. For the finish, Spanish Fly by Axiom on Smokes, and Frazier follows up with a Phoenix Splash. Frazier then covers Smokes for the pinfall.

Fatal Influence is backstage. Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne are arguing over who gets to face Sol Ruca. Jazmyn Nyx cuts off her Fatal Influence partners to say she is facing Ruca tonight.

Sol Ruca (with Zaria) defeated Jazmyn Nyx (with Jacy Jayne & Fallon Henley) in a NXT Women’s North American Championship qualifying match

Ruca pinned Nyz after a Sol Snatcher in an okay match. In winning, Ruca qualifies for the ladder match at Stand & Deliver for the Women’s North American title. A subplot in this bout tonight was Fatal Influence leaving Nyz out to dry with no help.

Je’Von Evans cuts a promo on NXT Champion Oba Femi and Trick Williams.

Giulia is stopped while leaving the building for a TMZ-style interview. She wants for title rematch at Stand & Deliver against Vaquer.

Brooks Jensen & Niko Vance defeated Hank Walker & Tank Ledger

Vance pinned Walker to win the match. Yet another loss for Hank & Tank, as their losing streak continues. On commentary, it was phrased as they are still trying “to find their way.”

Hank & Tank got a lot of offense in the match, and they were a house of fire at times. Even moments before the finish, Hank was running wild. Tank is thrown into the barricade at ringside, and Hank was double-teamed in the ring. The led into the finish.

Out comes new NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints for a monologue. While Saints gets a full entrance and some promo time, he tries to calling out Ethan Page. Instead, out comes Lexis King to interrupt the segment. More interruptions follow because no in-ring promo in NXT can go without an interruption. It must be some kind of rule. Thou must interrupt.

So King interrupts first, followed by Eddy Thorpe. Wes Lee soon joins the talking segment after another interruption. Saints says this is not the place to figure this out when Saints is suddenly ambushed by Ethan Page. Saints takes a Twist of Fate from Page.

Page, Lee, Thorpe and King all have a tug-o-war over the NXT title match. All four then start brawling among themselves. Lee does a flip dive to the outside on a pile of bodies, and Lee is set for a match up next. Yet, Lee was time to recover, because before his match is a skit and a backstage interview.

NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer informs NXT GM Ava that she made up her made. Vaquer wants to fight “all of them” at Stand & Deliver. That would seem to set up fatal four-way for the women’s title at Stand & Deliver. Lazy booking in my opinion, but the match will probably be great. Men’s title match is also a multi-person match. Very lazy booking, but let us hope they have a plan.

Wes Lee (with Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe) defeated Yoshiki Inamura (with Josh Briggs)

Lee pinned Inamura after a Cardiac Kick. Inamura was in control in the closing moments. He did an airplane spin body slam, and Inamura went to climb the ropes. Igwe interferes by jumping on the apron and grabbing the top rope. Briggs comes in for the save by pulling Igwe off the apron, but it was too late. A shaken top rope causes Inamura to lose his balance, and he takes a bump into the ring. Cardiac Kick by Lee, and he covers Inamura for a pinfall.

NXT Champion Oba Femi cuts a promo on DarkState.

Izzi Dame (with The Culling) defeated Wren Sinclair (with No Quarter Catch Crew) in a NXT Women’s North American Championship qualifying match

Dame pinned Sinclair after a sit-out powerbomb. Weakest match on the show so far, as it was not particularly good. With her win, Dame qualifies for the ladder match at Stand & Deliver.

NXT Champion Oba Femi, Trick Williams & Je’Von Evans vs. DarkState (Dion Lennox, Saquon Shugars & Cutler James) in a six-man tag team match

Freebird rules for DarkState, as we did not know which three of the four would wrestle in this trios match until it starts. At least they still have that aura, because for me whatever aura they had is gone with this bout. They are just another group of wrestlers on the show, albeit with gear that matches.

The trios match itself goes through a commercial break. The heel trio gets heat on Evans, as they work him over. They built to Evans making a hot tag, with Femi shoving Trick’s hand out of the way so Femi could tag in. Femi was cleaning house when he sends Shugars crashing into Trick. With that and the shove of the hand earlier, Trick had enough. He gets into the ring to argue with Femi.

Evans yells at Trick and Femi to pay attention. Femi inadvertently tags Evans, so he is now legal. Meanwhile, Femi and Trick start to brawl with a slugfest. Cactus clothesline sends both Femi and Trick over the ropes and out to the floor.

Evans leaps high off the top rope with a frog splash on James for a near fall. While referees pour out to ringside to separate Femi and Trick, DarkState gangs up on Evans in the ring. Triple power bomb by DarkState, and Shugars covers Evans for the deciding pinfall.

The show ends with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo on the Titantron speaking on behalf of the D’Angelo Family, and Stacks challenges DarkState to fight in the parking lot next Tuesday.