wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NXT Stand And Deliver 2025 Review
Image Credit: WWE, Netflix
Loading...NXT Stand & Deliver
April 19th, 2025 | T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
WWE Women’s Tag Team Title #1 Contender’s Elimination Match: Cora Jade & Roxanne Perez vs. Fatal Influence vs. Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley vs. Meta-Four
Roxanne Perez should be in a match involving Bayley at Mania but instead she’s on the TakeOver pre-show. Lash Legend got to show off her power in the early stages, with Roxanne bumping and selling well for her. Fatal Influence spent the first few minutes outside, avoiding any tags. Things broke down into a big brawl, punctuated by a bunch of dives one after the other. The best was probably a corkscrew moonsault of the apron by Tatum. Lash was the first one eliminated when she fell to Pop Rox. The crowd seemed disappointed in that since Meta-Four impressed while they were out there. Then, when Roxanne was knocked outside at one point, she backed away and left to the back, leaving Cora alone to fall to a Tatum/Gigi tandem pin. Chemical X also busted out an interesting looking tandem submission on Fallon Henley. These teams had some solid back and forth before Chemical X won with the Cemetery Drive on Jacy in 12:52. That was a good way to start things. Lots of action, fun exchanges, and stuff moved along nicely. [***¼]
NXT North American Championship: Ricky Saints [c] vs. Ethan Page
This AEW opener. The action as pretty intense from the start, with both men fighting outside and the crowd being very into it from the opening bell. Page was the first one to gain something of an upper hand. Ricky made a huge mistake as he missed a springboard move and landed leg-first on the announce table. I’m surprised he was able to continue how he did. Page kept hitting Ricky with stuff but the champ survived it all. As Saints fought back, the crowd started their “Tony Fumbled” chant. They run that one a bit too much. Like, these two are fighting over a midcard title, which is kind of what they’d be doing in AEW too. Ricky survived the Ego’s Edge and then his comeback had fire in it. He’s a good babyface. Saints planted Page with Roshambo to retain the title after 12:43. Like the pre-show match, that was a pretty damn good match. [***¼]
NXT Tag Team Championship: Axiom and Nathan Frazer [c] vs. Hank and Tank
Hank and Tank are an interesting choice for a major TakeOver title match at this point. The teams had some solid exchanges early and I like the power that the challengers bring to combat the speed of the champions. Like Axiom got going and Hank just powered up and leveled him with a clothesline. Tank got the hot tag and came in firing. He was throwing people around and he moved along very smoothly for a dude of his size. It was impressive. Axiom took out both challengers with a pretty dope assisted rana spot. The challengers came close a handful of times but once Hank missed a tope suicida and crashed into the announce table, it felt like it was officially over. Tank nearly lost twice after but kicked out of one move and then had a pin broken up after the Phoenix Splash. The challengers won the crowd over as they went on a hot run from there and hit a slew of moves capped by a powerslam/Spear combo on Frazer to win in 14:00. That really picked up down the stretch and the crowd went from not really caring to being all in. [****]
NXT Women’s North American Championship Ladder Match: Izzi Dame vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Lola Vice vs. Sol Ruca vs. Thea Hail vs. Zaria
Very happy to have Thea Hail back though I still do miss Chase U. Sol and Zaria came out together and they kind of worked together instantly as Sol took out Izzi after she took down Zaria. Teamwork. Lots of moving parts in this one, with something always going on. I’ve said it before about these ladder matches but we get so many of them that they all kind of blend together. Like, they’re always good but they’re also something you don’t remember by the next 48 hours. We got a handful of notable spots, including one where you could hear Izzi shout “FUCKING PUTA.” Wild. Thea had some good spots dropping people onto ladders but the T-Bone on Kelani saw Kelani land awkwardly. Looked rough. The Culling came out when Izzi found herself in some trouble only to get taken out by a big cross body from Thea Hail. I liked the spot where Zaria climbed the ladder while Lola was on her back choking her out. It was a cool use of both of their strengths. A bit later, we ended up with Sol and Zaria climbing the ladder and facing off. They nodded at each other and Sol went to swing but Zaria stopped her and looked like she was going to kiss her. WWE is too scared to go that route though so they ended up trading shots. Both women seemed to fall but Sol held on and pulled herself back up in impressive fashion only for Izzi Dame to interrupt her, which set up a Sol Snatcher off the ladder. Sol then hit a double one on Thea and Lola who ran in. She climbed up and pulled down the title to win in 14:40. Like I expected, that was fun and really good. I won’t remember much besides the Sol Snatcher but I had a really good time. [***¾]
The D’Angelo Family vs. DarkState
We got a brawl before the bell and thy kept up that level of intensity after it rang. Dion Lennox went in on Luca, ramming him into the table several times and looked like he was trying to kill him. Luca is not a small dude but was getting manhandled at every turn. The D’Angelo Family managed to get something going when Stacks got the tag but that didn’t last long as he was the next face in peril. DarkState used quick tags and cut the ring in half, preventing Tony D’Angelo from entering the fray. Tony’s eventual hot tag was actually really cool and his belly to belly off the top looked sick. Even Adrianna Rizzo got involved, taking out Cutler James with a cross body off the top. Stacks wanted to use a crowbar, causing an argument with Tony that allowed DarkState to get back in control. The D’Angelo Family eventually made up with a hug and fans thought Stacks was going to hit Tony with the crowbar but he handed it to the ref, only to then kick Tony low. That set up the win for DarkState in 13:10. Not really my cup of tea. The action was decent but nothing more and I’m not too invested on either side for the turn to mean much. Tony looked good out there though. [**½]
NXT Women’s Championship: Stephanie Vaquer [c] vs. Giulia vs. Jaida Parker vs. Jordynne Grace
All four women went at it as soon as the bell rang, setting the tone for a match filled with action. I liked Giulia and Vaquer working together almost out of habit only to then go after one another. It still feels like Giulia is a step behind on some spots. I don’t know if it’s a communication thing or what but she hasn’t clicked the way she should’ve and it’s taking some time. She’s much smoother in there with Stephanie, who she’s close to, rather than against Jordynne or Jaida. The biggest spot saw Jordynne lift both Stephanie and Giulia on her shoulders and then Jaida took them both out with a huge Blockbuster. There was also a cool spot where Jordynne hit a German suplex on Jaida who had Giulia hoisted up for a move as well. It looked really good. We got the Stephanie/Giulia face off that was kind of what the match was building to, which included them trading headbutts before Giulia countered Stephanie’s signature Skullfuck to a chorus of boos. Of course, Stephanie ended up hitting everyone with it, getting a major pop with each occurrence. Jaida nearly had it won but Stephanie broke up a pin with a Spiral Tap (she mostly missed) and then she hit Parker with the SVP to retain in 16:28. Not great as it had a few too many moving parts and Jaida feels out of place against the other three. Still fun though. [***¼]
NXT Championship: Oba Femi [c] vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Trick Williams
Evans used his quickness right off the bat, flying around and avoiding any big shots from his opponents. In fact, I’d say the first third or so of this match was something of an Evans showcase. Oba got to do his thing too, picking up both men for one double Samoan Drop at one point. Trick also showed off a flying cross body from the top though that had much less of an impact than the stuff Evans and Oba were doing. Maybe it’s because we saw several cross bodies off the top earlier. Evans’ moonsault off the bottom rope when they attempted to throw him inside was really cool, as was him bouncing up after the spot. Oba really got going late, busting out his usual brand of impressive offense. He’s ridiculous. The spot where Je’Von countered an Oba chokeslam into a cutter was great and it made for a damn good near fall, as did his Sliced Bread No. 2 right after. He kept trying high flying stuff but his double jump springboard saw Oba cut him down with a sick forearm. The close call on the leaping cutter was even better. The camera kind of missed it but Trick took out the referee as Je’Von got close to winning. In a huge moment, Trick put Oba through a table and that felt like it opened the door for a new champion. Trick Shot connected but the referee was still out and when he tried to get in, Oba managed to stop him. Je’Von hit a double leaping cutter and had this won but he took another Trick Show. Oba then powerbombed Trick onto Je’Von and added another powerbomb on Evans to win in 16:55. Outstanding match where everyone shined, they gave us some great drama, and it felt like a big deal. Yeah there was some inconsistent selling here but that’s kind of par for the course in 2025. [****½]
