WWE NXT live results: Jordynne Grace in action
After a newsworthy episode last week, NXT is back tonight with its Battleground go-home show.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace made a surprise appearance last Tuesday and was revealed as Roxanne Perez’s NXT Women’s Championship challenger for Battleground. We’ll see Grace in action before Battleground as she takes on Stevie Turner tonight.
Former AEW wrestler Ethan Page made his WWE debut last week by attacking NXT Champion Trick Williams. We’ll see if Page is confirmed as Williams’ Battleground opponent.
Battleground is taking place from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas this Sunday. The first-ever Women’s NXT North American Champion will be crowned in a ladder match at the event. Tonight, all six competitors — Lash Legend, Fallon Henley, Sol Ruca, Michin, Kelani Jordan, and Jaida Parker — will meet for a summit.
Tony D’Angelo defends his Heritage Cup against Damon Kemp tonight. Thea Hail vs. Jazmyn Nyx is also set.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Footage from earlier today shows Ethan Page arriving to the building. He is met by NXT General Manager Ava and Mr. Stone, who are also flanked by security. Page thinks he is there to iron out a deal.
Opening the show is an interpromotional match, featuring the champion of a company with a lot of recent questions about its future.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace defeated Stevie Turner in a non-title match
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez joined Booker T and Vic Joseph at the announce desk for commentary. This was a showcase match for Grace, working to get her more over with the audience ahead of her challenging Perez for the NXT title. Grace pinned Turner after a Juggernaut Driver, all the while beaming with a big smile.
The smile turned into a smirk after the match, as Perez confronted Grace in the ring. Perez held her NXT title belt over her head. Perez put her title down and shoved Grace. Perez took a bump when Grace shoved her back. Grace counters Perez with a tilt-a-whirl, but Perez escapes Grace’s grasp. Perez flees the ring, and Grace stands tall.
Lash Legend meets NXT Champion Trick Williams as Trick is arriving at the building. Trick is looking for Page, threatening to punch him in the face. Legend encourages him to do so, but then Legend drops a bomb on Trick. Lash tells Trick whatever they have between them is done and over. Lash says she has a chance to be the first Women’s North American Champion. Trick says he gets it, and he is happy for her. Lock in and do whatever it takes to get that title, and Trick is going to handle the Page situation. “We good,” Trick says to Lash before walking into the building.
In a pre-taped skit, Shawn Spears is holding court with series trainees under his learning tree. Josh Briggs interrupts, leading to he and Spears getting into an argument. This would seem to set up a match between the two.
Lash Legend, Fallon Henley, Sol Ruca, Michin, Kelani Jordan, and Jaida Parker all meet for a “summit” in the ring. The six met again Sunday in ladder match to determine the first ever NXT Women’s North American Champion.
They are seated in the ring, with Booker T at a podium as the host. The title belt was on its own pedestal in front of the podium. Ladders surround the ring, hinting at the ladder match on Sunday. Everyone is dressed in street clothes, but Sol Ruca was wearing her knee brace. That foreshadowed a brawl that eventually erupted in the ring.
Before the brawl starts, the participants cut some promos ahead of their match on Sunday. Booker T hypes them up, and Michin is first to cut a promo. Parker cuts her off, and Parker cuts a promo on Michin. Fallon Henley interrupts, saying title was created just for her. Jordan responds with the best promo of the bunch.
Sol Ruca won’t cut them down, but she does say she will defeat all of them. Legend interrupts with a high-pitched sound of breaks, as she stops Ruca. The other women sell the high-pitched sound. Legend is cutting a promo when Parker makes an insult playing on Trick Williams. Everyone gets out of their chairs, and a melee ensues. Out comes Mr. Stone, doing the Teddy Long gimmick of booking a six-man tag for later tonight.
A wacky skit with a the No Quarter Catch Crew has Charlie Dempsey doing his version of a mobster gimmick.
Thea Hail is disappointed when Duke Hudson and Riley Osborne tell her they won’t be in her corner tonight. Andre Chase assures her he will be in Hail’s corner. In walks Ridge Holland, and he is going to also be in her corner.
Jaxmyn Nyx defeated Thea Hail (with Andre Chase & Ridge Holland)
Nyx pinned Hail, as Osborne and Hudson watch on after all. Hail was firing up and making a comeback when she is distracted by Osborne and Hudson. She wondered aloud why they are at ringside, after saying earlier they would not be in her corner. Nevertheless, she goes for a Kimura. Nyx manueavers herself and Hail into a corner, with the referee sandwiched in as well. The ref starts a count, so Hail must break the hold. Nyx then catches Hail with a Pele kick, and Nyx scores a pinfall.
Ethan Page and Ava are exiting her office, and a deal is apparently not done. Page leaves and in walks Mr. Stone. He ask about Page, and Ava shows him what is apparently an absurd list of demands.
“Exclusive footage” shows The Good Brothers brawling with NXT Tag Team Champion Nathan Frazier & Axiom. They get into a brawl at a merchandise stand, when Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows run in with an unprovoked attack. Security jumps in to pull Good Brothers away.
Shawn Spears attacked Josh Briggs before what was supposed to be their match. Spears lays out Briggs in Gorilla. Je’Von Evans walks up and he starts fighting with Evans. They brawl their way to the ringside, where Spears teases putting Evans through the announce desk. Evans counters by backdropping Spears on the desk.
Evans follows up with a springboard cutter in the ring. Evans then clotheslines Spears out of the ring, and Evans stands tall. Evans against Spears is clearly a match for the near future.
NXT Heritage Cup Champion Tony D’Angelo (with The D’Angelo Family) defeated Damon Kemp (with No Quarter Catch Crew)
D’Angelo wins two falls to none, ending the match in the fourth round. D’Angelo also takes the first round. He pinned Kemp after a fisherman’s buster suplex and a float-over cover.
No falls in round two or three. Much of the second round goes through a split-screen commercial break. Round three begins when the show returns from the commercial break. The intensity picks up slightly before D’Angelo hulks up. Kemp cuts him off, and Kemp executes a rolling DVD. Kemp goes for a cover, but D’Angelo is saved by the bell.
Kemp rushes towards D’Angelo soon as the fourth round begins. The Don responds with a spinebuster on Kemp. D’Angelo then covers Kemp for a pinfall, winning the match in the fourth round with two falls to none.
Ava is being interviewed by Kelly Kincaid about the contract negotiations with Ethan Page. He wants to have a public contract signing, but Ava says there are still details to work out with his contract. Trick Williams walks in to insist Ava give Page whatever he wants, as Trick is set on revenge.
Jordynne Grace interacts with other women in an odd skit. First, Grace and Michin have a reunion of sorts, as both were in TNA together. Sol Ruca marks out over Grace. Jaida Parker enters to cut a promo and leave.
Grace keeps walking, and she runs into Arianna Grace. The pagent queen remarks how they have the same last name, but no relation. Tatum Paxley then enters the scene to creep out Grace. Not sure where any of that is going, but there it was regardless.
Dueling video package hype Lola Vica and Shayna Baszler, ahead of their Underground match on Sunday. Great highlight reels featuring both.
Natalya (with Karmen Petrovic) defeated Izzi Dame
Nattie pinned Dame to win a competitive match. As they went home, Nattie goes for a sharpshooter. Dame counters into a cradle. Nattie then counters the cradle into a pin cover of her own, and Nattie scored a pinfall. Short, but fun, match.
The tag champs, Nathan Frazier & Axiom, cut a promo on Gallows & Anderson.
Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) jump Tyriek Igwe & Tyson Dupont during a commercial break. Igwe & Dupont entered the sound stage for a match that never takes place, as they are jumped by Gallud.
The Coffeys and Wolfgang cut promos on how they are in NXT to be professional wrestlers. They vow to do whatever it takes to ensure Joe Coffey leaves Battleground as the North American Champion. Out comes the reigning NXT North American Champ, Oba Femi. He is cutting a promo when they are all interrupted by Wes Lee. He is among the live studio audience.
A melee ensues in the ring, as Gallus jump Femi. Wes Lee rushed in to join the fight, but Gallus has both Lee and Femi outnumbered. Lee and Femi are both left laying in the ring. Odd to see Femi sell so much, but they are trying to sell a triple threat match.
Wendy Choo is awakened from her sleep, and she returns next week.
Lexis King and Dante Chen get into a wild brawl in the backstage area. King is being interviewed, where he cuts a promo about Chen. That led to Chen rushing in to attack King. They brawl around the backstage area, and they are separated by producers and coaches. I popped for a Norman Smiley cameo. Robbie Brookeside is also there holding back King.
Jaida Parker, Michin & Sol Ruca defeated Fallon Henley, Kelani Jordan & Lash Legend
Sol Ruca pinned Lash Legend to win the match. This was a wild card match of sorts, with babyfaces and heels mixed together as teams. The teammates end up fighting among themselves just before they go home.
Big melee just for the finish. The smoke clears with Legend thinking she is standing tall, when in leaps Ruca with a springboard into her finisher. Ruca then covers Legend for a three count. Pretty good match, albeit hectic at times.
Eddy Thorpe is the focus of another vignette. He returns soon to NXT.
The ring is set up for a contract signing, with a table and such. Ava is already in the ring, and she introduces Ethan Page. Out comes Page to a chorus of boos. He gets in the ring, and sits in a chair at the table with Ava.
Ava wants to get this done, and she urges them to finish. Page heels on the live studio audience, while the crowd chants for Trick Williams. Page rants about how everyone will be mad about all the perks in his contract, but he “doesn’t really give a damn.” Page goes on say Ava is about to sign the wrestler with the biggest upside in pro wrestling.
Ava responds by telling Page she will not sign anyone with those contractual demands, of which remain a mystery to us. Page insists that Ava needs to sign himself basically because NXT needs fresh talent. There is more inside baseball talk by Page, with the first hint on this show of NXT moving to a new home on television (which is coming in September with the move to the CW)
Page continues bragging on himself as the studio audience chants “whoop that trick” at him. He heels on them. NXT Champion Trick Williams soon enters the sound stage. Williams gets in the ring to confront Page. Meanwhile, Page is moving the table. Page then tells Trick no one is getting put through a table.
Williams insists Ava give Williams whatever demands he wants in his contract, so that Williams can “whoop yo’ ass!” Williams rambles a bit in a promo on Page, and Page soon cuts him off for a promo of his own. Page even compliments Williams, before saying him attaching Trick was not personal. Rather, it was about Page creating an opportunity for himself. Page then says he is ready to sign the contract.
Page signs, and all that remains is Ava’s signature. She tells Trick she cannot sign because of one particular stipulation, although Trick insists she sign. Page says she is signing on for two things: giving Page a title match as his first match in the company, and she is signing on for the end of the “whoop that” era.
Williams cuts one final promo, calling on the crowd to chant “whoop that trick.”
Ava signs the contract. Page and Williams then get face-to-face in a standoff. Their title match is official for Battleground on Sunday.