NXT Women’s North American Championship Ladder Match
NXT Battleground 2024 kicked off with a Ladder Match as Fallon Henley, Sol Ruca, Lash Legend, Kelani Jordan, Michin, and Jaida Parker battled to be crowned the first-ever NXT Women’s North American Championship. This was a pretty competitive bout and it was really unclear who was going to win. Lash Legend was probably the favourite, but it was certainly a tough one to call. Out of all the women, I’d say Sol Ruca looked the best here which isn’t that surprising, and towards the end of the contest, it looked like Legend had a chance to win only for all of the other five women to send her crashing onto a ladder on the outside. Ruca then delivered an amazing Sol Snatcher onto Jaida Parker before she hit an even better one on Fallon Henley (assisted by a ladder) before Michin sent Sol to the outside. However, despite all of The HBIC’s experience, she got dropped by Kelani Jordan followed by a Split-Legged Moonsault onto a ladder before Jordan unhooked the Title to become the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion. It’s funny because I expected this two months, but this honestly really surprised me, and that’s a good thing, and Kelani does deserve it because she’s been really impressive since she debuted on NXT last year.
Grade: B
NXT Tag Team Championships: Axiom and Nathan Frazer VS Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
The next match of the night saw Axiom and Nathan Frazer put their NXT Tag Team Championships on the line against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. What I liked about this match is you could’ve gone both ways in terms of the winners and I think it would’ve worked. In terms of the action itself, I thought it was good, Axiom and Frazer are a joy to watch whilst The Good Brothers looked the best they’ve looked in a long time here. There were also some decent near-falls for both teams, but in the end, a super-Spanish Fly from Axiom to Karl Anderson followed by a Nathan Frazer Phoenix Splash was enough for the Champions to retain after a proper challenge!
Grade: B-
Lola Vice VS Shayna Baszler: NXT Underground
To my surprise, the next contest saw Lola Vice and Shayna Baszler throw hands in NXT Underground! If you’ve read my articles for a while, you would know that I don’t really enjoy these style of matches, and the same can be said about this. Both Lola and Shayna are good enough pro wrestlers to not need to do this type of match. However, what I will say is this is the first NXT Underground Match that has felt like a big deal so that’s at least something. After a hard-fought tussle, it was Vice who scored the knockout victory following a vicious back fist to Baszler.
Grade: C+
NXT North American Championship: Oba Femi VS Wes Lee VS Joe Coffey
It was then Triple Threat time as Oba Femi looked to retain his NXT North American Championship against both Wes Lee and Joe Coffey. This was a fun match that continued to show that Oba Femi is a star. Everything Oba does feels big, and the fact he’s a really good wrestler only helps him further. I'm not kidding, but Femi caught Wes Lee three times during this match and it just looked effortless! Towards the latter stages, Gallus showed up to take out the Champion before Wes nailed Joe Coffey with the Kardiak Kick. However, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang pulled Lee out of the ring, costing Wes getting his Title back. All of this just angered Oba Femi who went and destroyed everyone before he pinned Coffey following a Powerbomb. Oba is great, and it was also very nice to see Wes Lee back in action!
Grade: B
NXT Women’s Championship: Roxanne Perez VS Jordynne Grace
The most anticipated match of the night came next as Roxanne Perez put her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against the TNA Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace. This for me was the match of the night, it felt big time, and the in-ring action backed it up. Roxanne Perez continues to prove why she really is The Prodigy and is one of the best female competitors in the world whilst Jordynne Grace proved why she is a World Champion in her own right. This was another evenly fought contest, but the tide changed when Tatum Paxley arrived and just stole the TNA Knockouts Championship. However, Ash by Elegance (fka Dana Brooke) made a surprise appearance and all of this ultimately distracted Grace enough for Perez to reverse brilliantly and hit Pop Rox to score the win! Roxy is definitely the Female Wrestler of the Year so far!
Grade: B
NXT Championship: Trick Williams VS Ethan Page
And in the Main Event, Trick Williams put his NXT Championship on the line against the debuting Ethan Page. This was my first time seeing Ethan Page in a wrestling match, and I thought he looked alright once the match got going. However, this also felt like a much slower contest than it needed to be and that really doesn’t make sense given the match itself felt pretty short! I also don’t think it helped that this was the Main Event as there were arguably at least 2, if not 3 matches more important than this one, but yeah, it was a little underwhelming unfortunately. In the end, All Ego got super annoyed with the official for some reason and this allowed Williams to deliver the Trick Shot to score the win and retain his NXT Title.
