Hello everybody and welcome to another episode
of Finishes and Factions Does NXT. This week
we are in the Performance Center and on as normal
you have myself, Rich and my co -host Adam. Adam,
welcome in buddy. Yeet. Yeet. it's gonna be one
of those days yep right so but yeah I'm all good
buddy I'm all good and excited to get into NXT
this week as this is the first NXT that we have
had since roadblock in new I want to say New
York Madison Square Gardens yes I'm so glad you
remembered And while we're talking about roadblock,
that was the first item on the agenda this evening.
It was a case that we had a VT promo just recap
in all the action from roadblock. And as we said,
when we did our roadblock coverage, it's a case
that that PLE was just wow. Chef's case, it was
fantastic. Which again, leads us in very nicely
to the best. This is what I love about NXT every
week. We get a slight recap and then we get straight
into the first match. And this first match itself
was Chelsea Green and Sol Ruka for the Women's
United States Championship. And this was a banging
way to start off the NXT after roadblock. Definitely
a contention for match of the night already.
So yeah, no, I think. We should crack straight
in with this one, Adam. Yeah, definitely. I'm
all game for that. So yeah, Chelsea Green defending
her Women's United States Championship. Not a
title we see on NXT very often. So a nice change
to have somebody from main roster come down and
give a member of NXT at their... their first
glimpse at main roster, I suppose? Well, not
just first glimpse at main roster, but an opportunity
to have a go at another title belt that isn't
necessarily, like you said, an NXT title. So
it does give someone an opportunity to drag that
back and see where they can go with it within,
you know, NXT as well, considering that, yeah,
it's one of those titles that seems to be floating
or seems to be very kick -like. defended on every
bit of WWE programming so far. Yeah, very much
so. What a way to have a match, you know, a kickoff
match in a show like this, then to have someone
like Sol Ruka have an opportunity to walk away
with that United States Championship. Massive,
massive sort of opportunity for Sol Ruka there.
Yeah, very much so. And she was not squandering
one little bit of it um as you know what i know
i was gonna admit i was uh like massively impressed
with uh with how well she seemed to do with how
well she seemed to seem to do with this match
this is pretty much it's not it's labeled as
a women's united states championship match but
this is basically a three -on -one handicap for
the purposes of There's not only is Chelsea Green
in her match, but she came to the ring with her
secret hervist, which is Piper, which she had
at Elbephi with her this time, and Piper Neven
as well. So theoretically, not only does Sol
Ruka have to deal with Chelsea Green, but when
she's on the outside, she's got to deal with
the other two cross -eyed halfwits. Yeah, very
much so. And yeah, I mean, So many different
bits and pieces that went into that went into
this match. It was just one hell of a way to
start off I mean some of the spots that I had
were at one point Sol Rooker delivered a beautiful
missile top drop kick from the top rope onto
Chelsea Green and Then we had like a few a few
other bits as a couple of moons so Chelsea Green
hit quite a nice code breaker in there and you
saw a few attempts at the unprettier you saw
a couple of yeah there was a lot of near falls
a lot technical walks of counter wrestling if
you get me it was sort of like one move was being
counted into another move that was being recounted
into something else and it was just a very good
display of chain wrestling Yeah, very much which
I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I'm not mad about
I love seeing the technical stuff Don't get me
wrong. I love watching the luchadors as well
when the guys are flip around. I love watching
the big guys You know, I love Majority of the
aspects of professional wrestling. I'm not a
massive fan of the stupidly hardcore stuff. I
mean don't get me wrong It's nice to have that
sharp factor, but when you have Have it sort
of more often than not it kind of loses its it's
factor I suppose but yeah this match was it had
a little bit of everything to be fair and then
it kind of yeah even some moves that you don't
see a lot like Sol Rooker at one point used a
cartwheel DDT now that was well executed well
sold but just something different like normally
we've we've made references over the last few
episodes that this seems what last few weeks
worth of episodes that they have like a move
of the night or a move of the week so to speak
where they've told you know you've got to do
so many so many of these and we saw it with the
sunset flip a few weeks ago that but we don't
seem to have anything like that in this particular
match it was all very different very fresh and
it was yeah it was really nice to watch yeah
and that's part of what i like about nxt is that
they're not following the trend they're not they're
not following what the main roster are doing
it is something completely different it's that
breath of fresh air that comes in with um otherwise
if it was just a case that NXT was a follow -on
to Raw which was then a follow -on to Smackdown
and it just all sort of blended into one I think
you'd find it really difficult to stay sort of
engaged whereas NXT have all of their own storylines
it just happens in certain points to intersect
with everything else um do find though is that
and we've said this a few times that NXT used
to be the little brother it's no longer in that
category and it's definitely I feel Raw is definitely
one of the worst shows out of the three especially
more recently but it does seem to be the weaker
show it does seem to be but when you watch this
and then you look at what's happening at the
same time on Amazon Prime video with the AEW
stuff. So, AEW have got the more shocking factors.
They've got, I mean, they've got timeless Tony
Storm, but NXT, no matter what AEW seem to do,
have got them pinned every week on the ratings,
and it's been a real, real joy to watch. I'm
not here bashing AEW at all. Like I said, there's
some aspects of AEW I really enjoyed. I really
wish that we got to see timeless Tony Storm in
WWE, but she's just too non -PG for that programming.
Yeah, very much so. I mean, I'm not as familiar
with things that are currently going on in AW,
just because, yeah, like... I don't even know
what I've seen on social media, to be fair. But
some of the stuff that Tony Storm seems to be
putting out on social media or social media seems
to be feeding me. It's just absolutely incredible.
Yeah. very much so. But if we sort of circle
back just to this match, the one thing that Sol
Ruka really seemed to struggle with during this
match was at one point she gets sort of like
knee blocked by Chelsea Green and that seems
to do a real number on Sol's knee and seems to
play a part in sort of the downfall of this match
for her. Yeah, and it did just then become a
target for Chelsea Green to keep kind of going
back towards that injured knee and I mean, that's
that's your typical heels Heel chicken shit move
there cause an injury keep attacking it and using
it to get the win which is Kind of it was really
difficult the way they were gonna be able to
do this because Chelsea Green's had a really
good run with the women's US championship so
Ruka is having a rate run in the tag division
at the moment with Zarya. But as much as I'd
love to see Sol Ruka take this championship,
I don't think she's ready for a singles title
at the moment. Plus it just wouldn't make sense
to have Sol Ruka do so well in tag division to
then thruster into a to then thrust her into
a, into a single brawl. Yeah, and to be fair,
it really fucked Zarya over as well because she'd
have done nothing to deserve what was basically
a massive kick in the cunt to her if they were
to put a singles title on her tag partner. Yeah,
exactly. She'd fall to the wayside, which would
be a real shame because they are doing some fantastic
character development with Zarya at the moment,
with all these little VTs that they keep dropping
in as they're sort of exploring their friendship
together. But yeah, we've got to wait and see
how all of that sort of pans out for her. But
yeah, essentially... Chelsea Green ends up coming
out of this match having retained her championship,
which again, I don't think anybody really wouldn't
have seen come in. And we move on, move on from
that match into a, I've got down here a backstage
promo as it goes with an intense looking. Sort
of trick Williams, which is a site We're all
sort of getting used to seeing at the moment
is that since he lost his championship at New
Year's Evil he has taken on a very sort of I'm
gonna call it a focused persona, but it's it's
more than that Yeah, and it's we're seeing trick
Williams go to a dark place here and I think
he's gonna he's going to use that to his to his
advantage at some point like he's fed up of being
the the nice guy trying to chase what he deserves
now we're going to get the trick Williams is
going to take what he fucking wants and I think
this is the trick Williams that is going to be
the one that pushes out towards you know once
he's finished with Eddie Thorpe he's going to
go back it over Femi for that title he's already
told us that's what his plan is I just think
he knows that he's not going to beat Oberfemi
in this current form, he needs to summon the
darker form of himself to pull that last little
bit he needs out of his arse to be able to do
it. Yeah and well unfortunately it's a case that
Javon Evans is the sort of sounding board for
a lot of Trick Williams aggression at the minute
is that he's just not willing to entertain the
Entertain the the twenty -something the twenty
-something upstart. He's just yeah, he's not
there for it I mean the original OG is trying
to push himself in a place where he ain't needed
Trick Williams knows he don't need Javon Evans
Javon Evans needs trick Smith trick Williams
a lot more than Trick Williams needs Javon Evans
and it's gonna be one of those that eventually
It all uh, I Don't know I don't I don't think
that That he's gonna be too enamored with whatever
Jovan Evans has got bring his way trick Williams
is pretty much Set his sights on finishing off
Eddie Thorpe and then heading off towards Oberfemme
Yeah, and this is sort of what trick Williams
comes into is the odd Yvonne Evans comes in with
rather He sort of talks about being jumped last
week by this mystery foursome that seems to pick
and choose that very much sort of pick and choose
their moments and Tricks basically just saying
tricks for trick is for trick at the minute.
He is solely focused on himself and It's not
like they're just wiping out champions or they're
wiping out number one contenders. They're just
wiping out everyone. Yeah, they're just going
for whomever takes their fancy at the time, I
think. Guys, don't discriminate. No, definitely
not. I think Trick Williams takes it a touch
too far with this though, I will be completely
honest. He says that when he's talking about
going back and taking the title back off over
to bring it back to himself, he talks about this
title and says about the fact that it's not a
title that Evans is ever going to win. I just
don't think there's any real need for that, especially
after Trick Williams Fox off Lexus King decides
he wants to come in and and poke the bear essentially
Yeah, the guy who has to get someone to spray
paint his beard on for him because he's not capable
of You know growing a real one Or what he can
grows needs to be dyed every week to make it
look And to be fair he tries his luck and he
eats a Giovanna Evans Cracked to the chin basically
just by saying, you know, he's Javon Evans is
lucky. He's able to eat solid food again but
uh Yeah, Javon Evans had had enough Alexis King
in his smart mouth and give him a bit of a slap
Which then moved us ironically into a VT for
backlash Which you know, like I say the irony
Lexus King got the backlash from Javon Evans
after his comments Yeah, so obviously backlash
being the next main roster pay -per -view after
After WrestleMania generally And yeah, I can't
quite remember where that one's take where they've
said that one's taking place this year the event
gimmick is it's the backlash of WrestleMania
So that basically Lines that one up backlash
2025 this year is in the Enterprise Center in
st. Louis, Missouri on Saturday the 10th of May,
so Yeah, we're gonna We're gonna have a bit of
fun there and it will be John Cena's first appearance
at backlash since 2009 That's presuming he's
that's presuming he will be making an appearance
at all Well, I'm guessing being it's you know,
the the last time is now he's not gonna be missing
any of the major PLEs He's gonna be missing more
of the Monday Night Raw's and stuff like that.
So Guarantee, you'll you'll have a match of some
kind of backlash Yeah, this is true We went from
there into a backstage promo with the D 'Angelo
family getting... I've got this down as them
basically getting hype for... Six -Man Tag Match.
Yeah, the Six -Man Tag Match. Pretty much. My
notes exactly here say NXT spotlight with D 'Angelo
family hyping themselves up for the Six -Man
Tag Match. Yeah, and this is when we find out
that Tony D 'Angelo, the Don, is not going to
be at ringside during their match. Yeah, that
is basically because Stax feels that it's not
safe to have the Don at ringside, especially
with some of the damage to his back. Stax is
still trying to work on this. Tony's got an injury
from that cage match with, I want to say, Ridge
Holland. But it's not it was with Sean Spears
No, it wasn't it was Rich Holland. You were right
the first time and then yeah Sean Spears interfered
at the end But yes, he did with the betrayal
from is he Dane? Yes, that's yeah. I've got it
didn't even have to check my notes Yes, basically
hyping themselves up for that match Tony's was
staying backstage so he doesn't get into any
more trouble with Shawn Spears in his back at
ringside and Yeah, we slowly move from there
to To an in -ring appearance But not much we've
got an in -ring promo next from our new NXT Women's
Champion And NXT Women's North American Champion,
Stephanie Baker. Yeah, this is NXT's very first
women's double champion. And to be fair, obviously
I've just spoiled it. If you haven't watched
last week's episode of NXT or listened to the
podcast episode, last week's main event between
Julia and Stephanie Baker was incredible, please.
go back and listen to that section of the podcast
even if that's the only section you listen to
it was a fantastic fantastic match and uh and
she she comes to the ring um both of the titles
you know really kind of strutting her stuff but
and basically saying you know she she's going
to be a little bit honest with us because english
isn't her first language so this this is going
to be a little bit difficult for her but her
first language is wrestling and You know when
it comes to wrestling she says she could have
gone anywhere in the pro wrestling circuit But
she chose to come to NXT because she wanted to
make history in the best women's division in
professional wrestling and she stood there as
a History maker with the first double women's
champion NXT in NXT. Sorry And she's already
done what she said she wanted to do. You know,
she went one -on -one in Madison Square Gardens
the the place that all wrestlers You know that
that's they're like if they're not if you're
not going to WrestleMania you want a main event
Madison Square Gardens and she did it so that's
the you know Another massive bit there and she's
just gonna she proved she was number one last
week and she's the best of the best and she's
just waiting for her first opponent to kind of
come out and Kind of go. Well, let's let's see
how well you can you can be Defending both of
those titles And on cue from there, we had Jordan
Grace come out. Juggernaut. Yeah, 100%. She came
out to stake her claim, but even then that was
cut short because Jada Parker came out of absolutely
nowhere and decimated the Juggernaut. Yeah, I
was not expecting Jada Parker. to come out anyway
but I was not expecting Jada Parker to whoop
that ass like she not many people make Jordan
Grace look as though she shouldn't be in a ring
Jada Parker gave her a damn good run for his
money yeah very much so and then proceeded basically
to uh very loudly stake her claim instead and
yeah I don't really have much more after that
to be quite honest as we sort of went from that
promo leaving sort of leaving it very open as
to who the next basically who the next challenger
is going to be and which title it is that they're
actually challenging for Because that can be
the only problem with a double champion is that
yeah, somebody can go out stake a claim make
a challenge And then they've got to decide which
title they're challenging for Yeah, exactly But
like you said we we had that we then moved on
from there into a look backstage segment with
a team that We're starting to see a little bit
more of more recently and I'm actually quite
enjoying watching them wrestle so our team hank
and tank basically talking about how they got
some advice off the hardy boys uh the previous
week um and it was you know they needed to go
a little bit more extreme with their wrestling
and uh as they were hyping themselves up pretty
much for their for the next match Which is Hank
and Tank versus Joshua Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura
Yeah, the only thing I wasn't expecting Hank
and Tank to take so seriously away from the Hardys
Was an abuse of narcotics as they seemed like
they got way too much energy I mean, I'm not
saying that Jeff knows where Macho Man Randy
Savage's stash is hidden, but I'm pretty sure
Jeff knows where Macho Man Randy Savage's stash
was hidden. And I'm pretty sure that was also
some of the advice he gave to Hank and Tank,
but not on camera. Yeah, they just had a lot
of energy to expend. And I mean, it's probably
a good thing that their match was next, as yeah,
the next match is the men's... Your men's tag
team match which see as rich said sees Hank and
tank versus Briggs and Inamura now Briggs and
Inamura is a team that I'm actually they've grown
on me a little bit. They seem a bit odd couple
II It's it's not like it's not a coupling. I
would have made Also very similar because you've
got two completely different styles there that
seem to work really, really well. But Briggs
and Inamora also seem to work really, really
well. I just don't like Inamora. Is it Inamora
you're not a fan of? Yeah. He reminds me very
much of a young version of Rikishi with the sumo
style, but I just can't get behind it. I really
struggle. All right, okay No fair enough each
to their own and all that Again fair enough I
mean this sort of broke this mo match broke down
like seriously early doors This did this lost
all of its structure pretty much straight away
And I didn't get a huge amount in fact my notes
are fucking ridiculously short for this match
and I can never tell I can never tell if it's
because I've watched it more as a fan than a
more as a fan than a podcaster and forgotten
to take a note or if there really just wasn't
much to Take notes on see for me this match.
There wasn't a lot to take notes on I've got
over I've basically got that a brawl starts before
the bell and when they finally get into the ring
its Briggs and tank that start Whilst in a mora
and hanker on the outside There's a definitely
like your standard collar and collar and wrist
lockup and stuff like that I've got here that
Briggs hits a choke slam for a two count pretty
early on before they start just re -exchanging
between the collar and wrist ties. But apart
from a few big boots and a boss man slam, there
wasn't really a lot in it from both teams that
I've made note of that was like, oh, that was
amazing. a lot of it was all very basic simple
technical wrestling with a few sort of iffy spots
i suppose you could call them it felt very bland
yeah not sort of not the sort of thing that we've
grown to sort of get or we've gotten used to
um and i don't know if this is just because we're
coming off the hangover from Roadblock, but we've
been set that fantastically high standard of
what NXT matches can be as What that we saw at
roadblock and then we've come crashing back down
to earth this week because Yeah, it's it seems
to be a bit of a running theme is that on paper
the matches should be Fan -freaking -tastic.
Yeah but in In practice They're not so much and
I've noticed with NXT as well and I'm not sure
if this is just me but when you have a Fantastic
PLE bearing in mind not only if we just had roadblock,
which is phenomenal, but New Year's Evil as well
And Vengeance Day The first NXT after each PLE
is always I've noticed dogshit and it's not the
card that's bad it's just the production there's
either production issues or there's like the
matches just don't live up to what on paper they
should be or it just doesn't seem to gel yeah
it's there's always something and it's almost
as if At least one part of the NXT machine relaxes
after a PLE and they relax too much Whereas you
don't see that in the main roster presentation
Where they finish one PLE and they've already
started building to the next one and the one
after that So it's a case that we're not just
going from PLE to PLE. We are Getting that we
are Covering that ground essentially and making
sure that we're looking ahead to what comes next.
Whereas NXT don't seem to They they have a PLE
the next then the next NXT, which is It's just
a complete relaxed Steaming pile of shite normally
Then they have a production meeting they get
ripped a new one and then the next couple of
weeks is brilliant PLE is fantastic, and the
next episode is dogshit. But this is why I call
it a hangover, is that the price we pay for having
such a high quality PLE? Especially when some
of the PLEs that NXT produce are better than
the main roster PLEs. Yeah, this is it. Don't
get me wrong, the motion chamber is like a...
rule an unknown rule to that fact like it was
definitely a fantastic PLE but nine times out
of ten I will say NXT PLEs outshine main roster
PLEs by a country mile if you take the top four
out you take out Royal Rumble WrestleMania Elimination
Chamber and possibly SummerSlam like Yeah, NXT
will walk all over the PLEs. Yeah, it really...
Yeah, very much so. We went from that, so...
Can't remember if we covered... So, Briggs and
Inamora won this match. Yeah. I personally think
Hank and Tank did more for it. Most of my notes...
Revolve around Hank and Tank rather than Briggs
and Inamora But you know, I am just a guy that
I'm just a fan that makes a podcast. I'm not
a writer for WWE Even though I have spotted on
indeed. They are actually looking for Writers
I was tempted but we don't need our truth -winning
12 championships in 12 months You actually being
serious have you seen on indeed that they're
looking for writers I have seen a post on social
media that was advertising the fact that there
was an advert on Indeed looking for WWE recruiting
writers. Say that's not showing up in my Indeed
references. Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure I saw a
post about it on X. Anyway. We go from there
into a backstage promo from what I've got here,
which is Eddie thought going basically going
into the locker room and clearing it out like
he's just dropped his ass and Yeah, like it's
a case that everybody clears out as Eddie thought
walks in barring Ridge Holland Well, it didn't
occur to me until this point that Ridge Holland
and Eddie Thorpe have actually got a fair amount
in common in terms of like character arcs and
things like that Yeah, they have had very very
similar journeys throughout their Throughout
their wrestling careers So I have just found
the the post that I was talking about so to be
a WWE writer You need five years of writing for
TV or film experience. Producing and directing
experience is a plus. Professional TV or film
staff experience preferred. Experience in live
TV production. Previous experience working with
on -screen talent, creative writers and producers.
An understanding of WWE's audience demographic
and psychographic preferred. And then you need
a BA or a BS in film, TV, drama, media studies,
communications or a similar field of study or
validated experience in lieu of a degree preferred.
I'd still put my CV in. I've got none of that,
but I'd still put it in. I mean, I'd put it in
just for the email from WWE to say that we're
not, you know, thank you for the application,
but I'm not being considered at this moment.
Well. It's just gonna be a case of I'll also
put down the fact that we have this tip that
have this friggin podcast And say yeah, listen
to all these episodes and tell me I don't have
an understanding of the WWE universe I'm part
of that universe you bitch and I called and you
were in Jade Cargill six weeks before you put
it on TV Yeah, pretty much Sort of saying there
that they both need to take care both Ridge Holland
and Eddie Thorpe need to take care of business
Regarding the difference between the wrestlers
and sports entertainers both of these guys are
very much They are wrestlers. They're not there
to be clowning around. They're like Gunther They're
not they're not the J you shows of NXT these
guys they they're not eating the street and They're
for stupidity. They're there for titles and kicking
asses So It's important to realize Ridge Holland
both Ridge Holland and Eddie Thorpe have got
matches coming up Eddie Thorpe's in the main
event Which is an NXT underground match versus
trick Williams right at the end of the card and
we've also got Ridge Holland facing Ricky Saints
in his NXT singles debut. And I hope to hell
that Ricky Saints solo debut is better than that
tag match we had last week. If that is the case,
we've already watched it but for you guys. We
already know the answer to that and we'll get
into that in a second because we've still got
to cover. match three on the card which was the
six -person tag team match between the D 'Angelo
family and up to now we've been calling this
the Spears family or the Sean Spears family they've
actually designated themselves a name now calling
themselves the Culling which I think is quite
a cool little name I'm not gonna lie It's very
much in for in keeping with their sort of their
aesthetic as it goes And yeah, I mean Again,
this seems to be a bit of a running theme for
NXT for NXT this week is that or? For WWE in
general actually is that the action started before
the bell Yeah, I mean I'm all down for a jump
in the bow you know it kind of it shows that
these guys they're not that they're in just as
engrossed in what they're doing as we are and
when they can't wait to fight we can't wait to
watch and you say yeah it it went off without
a well the bell didn't even start when the bell
did eventually ring we ended up with stacks in
the ring with Nico Vance I'll be honest with
you for this match again. I know full well I
watch this as a fan and not a podcaster It is
a case that I struggle to keep up with like Different
competitors, although there was one that particularly
stood out and I'm really glad he stood out Which
one's up? Because up to now we've struggled to
we've struggled to know and retain his name That's
the one absolute Dark horse of the D 'Angelo
family that guy that guy put on an absolute clinic
on how to How to give a first impression in a
wrestling match We've not we haven't seen him
in singles action. We haven't really seen much
of him And yeah, he popped up and was like, yeah,
I've got this don't worry about it You guys take
a nap. Oh, I've got this done. I Say I have noted
here that this was confusing as fuck to make
notes on but it was a hell of a match and I really,
really did enjoy what was going on here. The
in -ring performance up to a certain point, and
I'm gonna mention the certain point and call
it the certain point for a few moments, but up
until the certain point happened, the in -ring
matches, yes, wasn't a lot to make a note of,
but there was a lot of fast tags, a lot of great
counter -wrestling that really just... Had you
engrossed if you weren't like Me and Adam say
we've watched these matches as fans over podcasters
like this match was one of them But you get so
sucked into what's going on and there is so much
going on in front of you Try to like make notes
as impossible. No, I shorthand as much as I possibly
can but Even then with this it was it was incredibly
difficult trying to shorten names And I've had
to stop doing that for certain wrestlers because
I've noticed that if I shorten CM Punk down It
becomes CP and I don't be looking through my
notes and it's talking about a small time with
CP Yeah, fair enough But no this this match was
really really good and then I said we got to
the point the point I was talking about is there
was a little section where we see Tony D 'Angelo
backstage in the same place that Stacks left
him earlier. He's watching the match, I'm guessing
on a TV screen at the back kind of seeing what's
going on. And then all of a sudden, we see the
four masked assailants again, come in and lay
a whooping on the former North American champion
Tony D 'Angelo backstage. This was being televised
into the arena on the Tytron. which obviously
then took the distraction or distracted the D
'Angelo family away from what the culling were
doing. This allowed Vance to basically power
slam Luca Crucifino in the centre of the ring
to pick up the three count for the culling. while
the rest of the family are sat reeling at the
fact that Tony D 'Angelo has just been done over
like a Well, that mob boss just got whacked pretty
hard by four Four rivals in the back. Let's put
it that way Yeah, somebody that shouldn't really
be classed as defenseless was rendered Utterly
defenseless backstage and the former North American
champion at Tony D 'Angelo well, I mean, I'm
not gonna say that he was recovering from injury
because he was Well enough to compete in a match
when you lost when he lost his lost his title,
so Yeah, well, he definitely gonna be feeling
a little bit sore tomorrow morning because he
went through that table pretty hard oh 100 %
obviously don't get me wrong we know those tables
are made to just to collapse very easily like
i'm well you say that that one that um ria ripley
tried Tossing both EO Sky and Bianca Belair did
not break yet Sometimes you see them where Xavier
Woods has gone past one and farted and it snapped
and he's had to throw himself into it That is
the difference between a standard table and a
gimmicked table Either that or Xavier Woods is
packing some farts could be part of it as well,
to be fair. But yeah, that distraction by the
masked foursome, that basically spelled the end
for the D 'Angelo family, and yeah, they pick
up another L. They pick up another last to the
culling, and I'm gonna be honest, I don't think
it's gonna be... Are we starting to see the decline
of the D 'Angelo family? I think we are. I think
this could be the beginning of the end for them.
I'm not going to lie. I think if this is the
way that's going to go, I think we're going to
end up with Stacks and D 'Angelo running a tag
on their own without Crucifino and I think Crucifino
will end up going on a really poor singles run.
Yeah, I've got a feeling they'll put him on a
really poor singles run and then they'll release
him in the next stage of releases. He was very,
very good in this match, but he has not done
enough in the time the D 'Angelo family have
been around that we've been doing this podcast
and watching NXT. That really makes me think
he deserves either a decent push or a stay in
the company. I don't think he's going to go too
much further before they get rid of him. possibly
not possibly not and it's a shame because what
he's demonstrated now could very well have been
demonstrated weeks ago yeah and I think it would
have built the hype around the D 'Angelo family
even more seeing how strong they are with that
extra person showing what he can do rather than
the fact he's just been used as a spare deck
in a pawn studio mate he's very rarely used he's
just put in stand here don't say nothing everyone
else is going to talk and then you can wander
off at the end and that's that's pretty much
how he's being used this is it uh we'll move
on from there anyway uh the next bit i've got
down here was a backstage uh promo between uh
nxt general manager ava and uh double champion
stephanie vacu it's got in there Match next week
before between the cure and Parker for the NXT
winnings title Yes, so they're busy trying to
work that one out when the mouthpiece of NXT
herself comes in After that conversation we get
to hear but what falan handy basically interrupts
going well wait a minute You know She's got her
much against Jada next week for the NXT title
when am I getting my rematch for the women's
North American title that I haven't had yet and
Ava's like well, it's not gonna be next week
because Stephanie's got a match and Fallon kind
of goes well that's a bit unfair at which point
Stephanie goes do you know what? Have your rematch.
I don't care. I will see you next week I will
do my double duties where she will be defending
both the NXT Women's title and the Women's North
American title next week. So she's definitely
starting off, hopefully, how she wants to continue.
In her second week as double champion, she's
defending both of those titles. One of them,
we are told a little bit later on, slight spoiler
incoming, but it's not too much of a spoiler.
We are told that the first match of next week's
NXT Stephanie will be in that one and then she
will and I believe that is for the Women's NXT
title against Jada Parker in the first match
and then the main event of next week's NXT will
be Fallon Henley versus Stephanie Vacar for the
Women's North American. Yeah, very much so. So
Fallon Henley's getting her rematch after long
last and Yeah, Jada Parker's getting a match
as well and Stephanie Vecchio is probably going
to be due to have a week off after that I would
imagine I'm just hoping they don't do a dirty
and don't have a drop one of those titles next
week because she's done She had a phenomenal
match at Madison Square Gardens and I will not
emphasize this enough like that match was absolutely
incredible For them to do a dirty and make a
drop on two weeks later would be a real disservice
to Stephanie Baker. Well, as it stands, multiple
championship runs don't generally tend to last
very long. And realistically, if she's going
to drop any of those titles, it stands to reason
that she will drop the North American title rather
than the NXT Women's Championship. And the reason
I say that is because that is the title she's
held the longest. Yes, and it's the one that
they know that they can give back to Fallon Henley
and not do it too much damage. Where if they
drop the women's NXT title from Julia to Stephanie
Vaker and then two weeks later drop it from Stephanie
to Jada Parker. they're not doing that title
that the service that you know that was given
that title the respect it deserves being the
main title for the women on that program No,
and I agree with that and Yeah, I don't think
that Ultimately, I think that this is gonna have
Stephanie vacua coming out of this looking so
much stronger than she was ever going to look
Previously yeah on the basis that she will end
up retaining both titles Simultaneously you think
she's gonna retain both I Don't think I think
if she had to drop one or the other She dropped
the North American title, but I just don't think
they would um Unlike you I am sort of hoping
that they don't do a dirty enough to have a drop
both titles And yeah, I'm just, I just don't
see it happening. No, really don't. So yeah,
that leads into what is going to be the start
of a really, really good episode of NXT next
week. And we move from there into a match between
Carmen Petrovich and JC Jane from Fallon Henley's
group of cronies. His name I can't remember off
the top of my head Michael influence. That's
the one Yeah Yeah, for some reason I just can't
seem to keep that one, but we see a lot of fun
and Henley We don't see a lot of the other guys.
So it's nice the fact that now we're gonna see
JC Jane get an Opportunity to jump into the ring
against someone who's been on a bit of a run
recently actually Well, this is the second match
that we've seen JC Jane wrestle in since the
second singles match certainly since we started
doing finishes and factions and it's a case that
I I mean I'm not against like JC Jane in any
way shape or form very talented The one person
I would like to see, just to say that I've seen
her do something other than basically stand around
and look pretty, is Jasmine Nix. The other member
of Fatal... So you've got Fallon Henley, JC Jane,
and Jasmine Nix as the... as the three members
of Fatal Influence. And so far, we saw at the
very... towards the beginning of our tenure doing...
watching NXT and doing this podcast Jasmine nicks
used to come out with a facial mask on that used
to make dashing Cody Rhodes look good and She's
now stopped wearing this mask with no explanation
whatsoever and hasn't really done an awful lot
else other than make appearances and Back the
other two up to a certain degree Well, yeah,
and it's a little bit It's a little bit confusing
why they seem to be giving her not a lot of Time
and then they give her quite a big match doesn't
know doesn't quite work with me to be fair So
this was all born from I think they said it was
about a month ago and I forget what the... I
didn't make a note of what the run -up to it
was under the assumption that I'd remember and
I'd forgotten. So, yeah, that went well. But,
yeah, I mean, this match between Carmen Petrovic
and JC Jane, I got this, I've got to admit, I
got three notes out of this match. One of them
is that JC Jane sort of dominates early doors
Yeah from what I can remember of this match Carmen
Petrovic doesn't really get going at all No,
not really I definitely agree with you on that
one My notes are really really short for this
one I got at one point there was a really nice
double closed line which drops both of the competitors
in the ring, but up until that point there was
no high spots that I generally thought were worth
making a note of. I know that Carmen Petrovich
is one of those that I struggle with because
I feel like I should like her, but I'm not really...
There hasn't been enough character development
for me to have for her to be For me to be a fan
of her. I can root for her in a match But it's
very much a case that there isn't an awful lot
of character development there Now one of the
big turning points of this match for me was that
towards the end we see Ashanti Adonis Carmen
Petrovich is Boyfriend, on -screen boyfriend.
Are we talking about the chair? Yeah. Yeah, so
that was after the double clothesline. So when
they both hit each other with the clothesline
and both lying on the floor, Ashanti Theodonis
put the chair into the ring trying to get Carmen
Petrovic to hit JC Jane with it. He was basically
like, don't worry about the wind, just cause
as much damage as you can. JC Jane was like,
I'm sorry Carmen Petrovich was like, no, I'm
not doing it that way. I'm gonna win clean I'm
not taking a dirty win throws the chair back
out of the ring towards him and Goes to turn
around to carry on a match for when JC Jane hit
the rolling encore for a three count Which basically
meant that yes, JC Jane one and Ashanti theodonis
Cost is misses a rather large win. I did put
on the end of this that it wasn't You know, it
wasn't the greatest of matches. It wasn't particularly
long And the ending was probably the best part
about it Yeah, not the fuck that it ended was
a good thing It was just is it like I said, it
wasn't a great match. It wasn't a bad match,
but it wasn't a great match But the ending to
the match was actually quite good the way they
worked that out and the distraction Idea was
was good. I liked it. I just don't think and
it was implemented like reasonably well I just
don't think it was implemented As like the best
it could have been but I think if they did it
the best they could have done it It would have
been the only spot in what would have been quite
a poor match if that was the only decently like
part to it Yeah, it was really a sort of a nothing
match for me. I just feel like they could have
done possibly so much more with it. It's one
of those that when I wake up in the morning and
the first thing I'm going to think of is not
going to be the Carmen Petrovich versus JC Jane
match. Yeah, it's not the one that I'm racing
around to. To talk about although that isn't
the last time that we're going to mention that
but we'll come back to that in a second as moving
on from that match and We go into a another backstage
promo with Hank and tank. Yeah, so we went into
the changing rooms Yeah, they were they were
trying to work out more ways about how they could
improve and thinking about which other tag teams
they could ask for advice when Wesley and his
group of bitches make an entrance into the locker
room. Now, I only made a note of Wesley because
I didn't have enough time to make a note of all
three of them because I was on a bit of a time
limit watching the last little section of NXT
this week. But it is Wesley's standard group
of homies. which Adam is going to fill us in
on who they are because he's got it written down
for sure. We had Wesley, Tyson Dupont and Tyreek
Igwe. That is the ones. Yeah, always seem to
forget their names. They never really seem to
click with me, but we haven't really seen them
in a full, full premise yet. We've seen, we've
seen them all individually in matches, but some
of them haven't been particularly great. Yeah,
nothing Wesley was involved in that rather poor
tag match that Ricky Saints debuted in Yeah,
that's not I don't want to fall asleep on another
podcast episode Fine until that point nobody
knew but us Yeah, clever editing had taken that
bit out, but you dropped yourself in it there
Talk about dropping ourselves in it though So
we've got Hank and Tank backstage. Wesley comes
in and says they should stick to what they're
good at, which by the looks of it is eating.
Which was a bit of a below the belt comment from
Wesley. They're calling Hank and Tank fat, you
know, like to body shame people in 2025. Don't
really know what to say back to that because
we have a tendency to body shame one another.
We have a tendency to make jokes about my vastly
oversized nostrils and what they are attached
to. Yes. It could be worse though. At least we
haven't mentioned the fact that my ears look
like they could make Prince or King Charles my
father. I mean, I try not to mention things like
that, realistically. It's alright, I get free
Sky TV off these bad boys, it's fine. but yeah
we'll digress from one boring subject into another
one um our next match before we get too much
into it they nxt have got this really cool thing
going right cool this is the match here's a vt
here's another vt we're back to your match it
started before the vt's finished so you've missed
the first 10 minutes um so i've got next that
it was actually a backstage promo where we see
um It's basically a Jada Parker monologue. Yes,
it's Jada Parker is talking about her title match
with Stephanie. They could Because it's stand
and deliver season and Jordan grace fucked around
and filed out and basically Jada is going to
walk into Las Vegas as the WWE NXT world champion
or so she thinks and then we get into the Ricky
Saints Ridge Holland So before we get into that
The one thing that I've learned that you have
to do with NXT and their promos is Not just to
not just look where they want you to look You've
got to be able to look at what's going on in
the background at the same time So in the background
it's not much but I think we're starting to see
some some cracks in Carmen Petrovich and Ashanti
Adonis's relationship as they are seen in the
background looking to be having some form of
heated discussion or argument. I can only assume
that's off the back of Ashanti Adonis trying
to basically get Carmen to win the wrong way
or at least go against her... Good -natured good
-natured morals, I suppose No, which is an interesting
one, but have we seen a Shantae Adonis in a ring
yet? Not since we've done Not we've been doing
finishes and factions. No Maybe they're gonna
split those two lovebirds up and send a Shantae
Adonis out on the singles path No pun intended
there. Shantae Adonis is going to be on a singles
run soon. Let's be fair, we don't actually know
if he's capable of having a singles match. We
haven't seen him have any sort of interaction
apart from just being a manager, I suppose. Not
even that, he's just kind of a competitor. He's
just been a far light at this point, hasn't he?
He's a... But, yeah, as... He's leaving for Spino
and being quiet in the background. Yeah. Hoping
not to be noticed. Yeah, but as Rich mentioned
earlier on, we go from that little promo into
match five, which is the Ricky Saints versus
Ridge Holland singles match. And I'm going to
pretty quickly as well. Well, I'm going to make
myself possibly really unpopular within WWE circles
here, especially within NXT and possibly the
larger wrestling community in general. Whatever
they're fucking paying Ricky Saints is too much.
Oh, yeah, no, of course. The hill that I will
die on, as far as NXT is concerned, is that it's
either incredibly bad creative, Ricky Saints
the fact that he's had now two matches which
honestly I could have slept through and not felt
like I missed anything Or he is a little bit
like You mentioned his name earlier on Can't
think of him Enzo Amore Yeah, I basically Ricky
Saints is great on a microphone cut some good
promos couldn't wrestle his cock out of his boxer
shorts just like Enzo Amore like yeah the last
two matches i've been really really unimpressed
with what we've been getting and yeah i will
probably stand on that hill next to you and uh
and yeah Ricky Saints is if they're paying him
it's too much because he does not He's not shown
that he deserves it so far All he's done is whinge
about everyone being really aggressive and loose
Yeah, I'm just I'm I'm very much not on the Ricky
Saints bandwagon and I'm not gonna lie. I was
sort of looking forward to this match With Ridge
Holland knowing that Ridge Holland can have a
good match in the hope that I would see something
that would change my mind about Ricky Saints.
You know why Ridge Holland always has a pretty
solid match, don't you? Why is that? Because
he's an English wrestler and we're always pretty
solid. This is true. Very, very true. Yeah, but
Ricky Saints didn't do me anything with this
one. There was a few opportunities where he had
a... there was one opportunity that i made a
note of where ridge holland shows him up massively
so ricky saints drop kicks ridge holland in the
chin right really nice missile drop kick ridge
holland is faking like looking around on the
floor for his tooth and then gets an absolute
hook in on ricky saints and i'm like yes get
him it's him again but yeah no Sort of hoping
Ridge Holland was hoping Ridge Holland was just
gonna make it a really short match and just squash
the hell out of him. It wasn't a huge match anyway
apart from the two spot, you know, the fact that
they got into it pretty quickly and that drop
kick. The only other two notes I've got is that
Ridge Holland slams Ricky Saints Like power slams
in twice For a two count and then tries Ricky
Saints tries to roll up Ridge Holland for a two
count which doesn't really work and then There
was a Yeah There wasn't a lot in this match and
I don't know why They've done what they've done,
but it's just not for me. No, I mean, Ricky Saints
does walk out of this with a win after... I've
got it down as a gut wrench powerbomb, but I
did also put down Roe Shambo, as I know that
commentary happened to refer to it in that way
as well. But yeah, I just... I feel like I need
to potentially go back and watch some of Ricky
Saint's pre -WWE matches to try and find out
if he is just a bad in -ring superstar that is
overhyped because of his un -mike ability or
if it is just... bad booking by wwe on this spot
on this case because we've seen that before as
well we have i put in my notes here that wiki
ricky saints won what i thought was a pretty
shit match and it felt like the same spot was
just being repeated for five minutes and then
they had him win it was ridge holland was all
over him was riding him from the start and then
just got screwed It should definitely have been
a Ridge Holland win this week. Ricky Saints didn't
really deserve the win that you got. I just don't
feel like it did any. It served a purpose for
story either. I don't mind an unobvious winner
if it serves a part in a story, but I'm just
not seeing the story angle for this either. All
I'm seeing is a really shit wrestler damaging
Ridge Holland's push. Yeah, pretty much Anyway,
we're not going to talk about Ricky Saints any
longer into a backstage recap of Tony D 'Angelo
getting his booty bashed by the mask for and
then we see the mask for leaving the Performance
Center through a side door into the car park
where we actually get a promo from them. Yeah.
So this gave them basically an, we, this was
them giving, being given an opportunity to basically
tell us why they've been doing what they've been
doing. And apart from a lot of like half -hearted
platitudes about, Oh yeah, we've seen what NXT
is about. We don't like it. We want to change
it. We're changing the landscape of NXT. Now,
the only sort of positive thing that I took out
of this promo from them was that we saw each
of their faces, which means absolutely fuck all
at this point. And we also got a name for the
group. The name for the group is Dark State.
It's pretty cool to be fair. Yeah. And it would
appear that Dark State have been attempting to
make a statement in NXT and they also revealed
towards the end of this promo that they are not
done with that tonight as they re -enter the
Performance Center to go and cause who knows
how much havoc. We then go from that promo into
another backstage promo where we see Kelly Kincaid
interviewing Ricky Saints talking about his win
and Ricky Saints talking about the fact that
it's stand -and -deliver season every result
matters and we see the culling actually come
in and crash the interview and All I put after
this was that it would appear that Sean Spears
and the Culling feel the same way about Ricky
Saints that I do. Right. Is that they sort of
mirrored a lot of the stuff that I've said about
Ricky Saints and yeah I don't think, like I've
said, I don't feel like I've said anything that
is unjustified in any way shape or form. Yeah
I don't see the hype myself. I'm actually kind
of glad that we don't have to deal with Ricky
Saints for the rest of this episode. We can just
get away with discussing the main event. Yeah,
so the main event this week was an NXT Underground
singles match with bit which saw Eddie Thorpe
versus trick Williams now Underground matches
are not something that we've seen in or it's
not something that certainly I've seen in WWE.
This is my first This was my first experience
of an egg of an underground singles match and
the basic premise is that it is a It's a hardcore.
It's It's like a hardcore lumberjack match. The
difference is, is that they completely remove
the ring ropes. The ring remains up, the corner
posts remain up, but there are no ring ropes.
So there's no running the ropes. There's no springboard
maneuvers. It is just... It's a bare ring. And
no count -outs or pinfalls. The only way to win
is via... knockout or submission. Which is a
decent way of winning a match to be fair. It's
very decisive. You either go to sleep or you
quit. I mean yeah and in terms of like the history
of the two people who are in this match this
is actually Eddie Thorpe's third underground
match for which he is up to this point undefeated
so the previous two underground matches he has
had he won which is whereas trick williams this
is his first career underground match so he is
very much popping a cherry tonight well let's
just hope he doesn't get his cherry popped Well
in all fairness the match itself was actually
quite short It wasn't like it didn't get a tremendous
amount of minutes to it I think I was only about
10 I think even that's rounding up but yeah Got
a few more notes for this match admittedly if
you cut out all the cut out the notes from the
the history of the match and And the match rules
it's still a fair fair chunk of bits and pieces
to go through and My favorite one was I'm not
gonna lie was Eddie thought putting trick Williams
through the announce table Yeah, I saw that and
I saw Eddie Thorpe trying to lock in a triangle
choke hold on Trick Williams, which Trick Williams
just powers out of. Good old homage to the one
man that we know can pull off a very beautiful
triangle choke hold by the name of Hell's Gates.
Yes, the Undertaker. And yeah, I mean, this match...
actually ends up as I said it's only a very short
one and I think it was just the right move at
the right time that caught it as trick Williams
catches Eddie Thorpe with a trick shot and wins
via TKO yeah and Eddie Thorpe was not the fuck
out oh 100 % he was out like a bitch Yeah, he
was sleeping with the fishes today. Very much
so. Now, Trick Williams isn't done here. He uses
the time left in the show and the time left in
the ring to call out the one person up until
this point I hadn't realised we hadn't seen.
Yeah, it wasn't until he came running out that
I realized that he'd be yet no matches no promos
no nothing Yeah, he hadn't even appeared in the
background of any of them and I think that is
because he was on TNA this week So they might
have been trying to keep him fresh for whatever
match that he had at TNA I can't remember what
it was, but I'm sure he was there He was quite
possibly or he was booked to be there And Yeah,
basically we all know trick Williams's main goal
at the moment is to get the NXT men's title back
Which is currently sat quite comfortably around
the waist of Oba Femi Wasn't a punk ass bitch
Huh, you cause him a punk ass. It's like yeah
Excuse it he goes Trick Williams takes the mic
and he says he needs to learn how to not scrub
all this bit when I and calls it over Calls over
Femi out and calls him a punk ass and tells him
to bring his title with him Which in all fairness
over Femi does exactly as he's told and they
end up they end up in the middle of the I don't
know if you can still call it a ring technically.
The raised square on the floor. Yeah, they are
squaring off against one another when all of
a sudden we just lose the lights. Yeah, and we
get a visual of one of the members of the dark
state in the crowd with the crowd. Obviously
we saw them. at the end of their little segment
earlier saying that they weren't quite finished
and all ran back into the building so this says
to me that they've come to have a little conversation
with trick williams but this is the point is
that they don't move any so all four of them
are there although on screen you only ever see
two of them i have to assume the other two are
Behind the camera that they're choosing to use
to broadcast. Yeah and Yeah, they just stand
in the crowd. They make very much make their
presence known and It's at this point that Jevon
Evans comes into the ring now, we know he was
talking earlier on about the fact that He was
jumped a week or two ago by this very same foursome,
by the Dark State, and basically comes into plead
with both Oberfemi and Tripp Williams, but Tripp
Williams basically palms off Evans, and by palms
off I mean treats... treats Jevon Evans like...
treats Jevon Evans like... Bianca Belair treats
EO Sky hand to the face. Palms him off well and
truly. This basically sparks a fight between
Femi, Williams and Evans. This turns into a clusterfuck
at the end. Yeah, as the evolved lumberjacks
that have been stationed around the ring up to
this point, they basically all dive into the
ring to try and split up the three that are there.
Although the one thing that I remember sending
you a voice note about, and it's made me giggle
no end throughout the last few nights, is that...
I've seen a few memes making the rounds and my
favorite one has to be that Javon Evans, Trick
Williams and Ober Femi are different stages of
a Pokemon evolution Yep, with Javon Evans being
your basic stage your first stage Pokemon the
Trick Williams being the next level up and then
Ober Femi being the final form which yeah I find
it un -totally hilarious. No, according to the
final boss himself, Ava is the final boss of
NXT. Yeah, that was very true. But yeah, this
was a great ending to it, I will say. Yeah, so
one of the last few bits that we see of NXT this
week was... Evans coming out of nowhere and hitting
a cutter on fat on over family wouldn't look
like he needs the ropes to hit that cutter But
there were no ropes. He got some hella height
if he came off the floor Well, you've got to
remember Japan Evans is bouncy He certainly is
and We are left with an image of Oba Femi laid
out on the floor after this cutter and Javon
Evans and Trick Williams squaring off in the
ring. Oh yeah, it was a hell of an ending. The
way they left this was just like, I cannot fucking
wait until next week's NXT. Yeah, for what was
a very... I'm going to call it underwhelming
card. Uh, sort of the vast majority of the program
could have been improved. Um, it's, that was
a really well put together ending in my view.
Yeah. The main event this week saved NXT. Very
much so. Whereas normally we see the main event
enhancing NXT. Yeah. this week like we say it
was a bit of a poor quality programming but it
is the week after a PLE so we can't expect everything
from a multi -billion dollar company no definitely
not um but yeah i mean that takes me very much
to the end of uh at the end of my note my notes
my notes were done with the with the cutter to
be fair But um But I think as always we'll finish
this episode by thanking you all for listening
to it If you want to get in contact with us and
have your say you can do so on finishes and factions
at gmail .com Or you can get hold of us in X.
It's Finn and fact pod so at Finn and fact pod
and Yeah We will catch up with you in our next
episode which would be finishes and factions
does smackdown yeah so um thank you all for listening
and see you all really soon see you soon