On the night before Christmas, WWE NXT will decide new Tag Team title number one contenders.
A Christmas Chaos fatal four-way tag match is taking place on tonight’s Christmas Eve edition of NXT. It will be Bronco Nima & Lucien Price vs. Myles Borne & Tavion Heights vs. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo & Luca Crusifino — with the winning team getting a future shot at NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazier & Axiom.
The Heritage Cup will be contested tonight as Lexis King continues his quest to win the trophy from Charlie Dempsey and prove that he’s worthy of everyone’s respect.
Main roster stars Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn are back in NXT tonight for a showdown against Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx of Fatal Influence. Plus, Stephanie Vaquer gets her hands on Cora Jade in a grudge match.
Tonight’s show has already been taped in advance. Spoilers can be found here.
Join us for coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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This taped episode of NXT was prerecorded from the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA. The show was taped after the live episode last Tuesday.
From the start, the vibe is that of a taped show. The atmosphere is dampened compared to the live episode from last week. The lighting in the background is festive for Christmas Eve, with red and green colors for this episode.
Santa Claus arrives to start this episode, as he enters the ringside area. Santa waves to the live crowd ahead of the opening match.
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Cora Jade
Vaquer pinned Jade after a package neckbreaker. Kelani Jordan runs in to jump Jade in a post-match attack.
The match goes through a commercial break. Jade with a rough backstabber just before the show cuts to a commercial break. The match continues after the break, with Vaquer making a comeback. Vaquer gets a near fall, and Jade tries to cut her off. Vaquer hits her with a forearm, and Vaquer picks up Jade for a package neckbacker. Vaquer then covers Jade for a three count.
Kelani Jordan ran in after the match with a kendo stick. Jordan ambushes Jade and repeatedly hits her with the kendo stick. Vaquer had left the ring, and she rushes back in to pull Jordan off Jade.
NXT North American Champion Tony D’Angelo is alongside The Family as they cut promos ahead of their match tonight. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo has beef with Santa Claus, because someone dressed as Santa apparently tried to steal presents from him as a kid. His mom ran the thief off with a broom, or something like that. Not sure what to make of that, except it may have something to do with the Santa seen earlier on the show. Anyway, Stacks also vows he and Luca Crusifino will win the tag titles.
William Regal talks with Lexis King in a backstage skit. Regal says he admires King, and Regal wants to be in his corner. Regal asks King if he is going to do it, and King responds by saying he is going to win the Heritage Cup tonight. KIng walks away, and Regal says that is not what is was asking, while Regal reveals he brass knux on his hand. This is a bit of foreshadowing ahead of the next match.
The situation with Regal, King and the knux relates to a story from a few months ago. In a previous match, King refused to use the knux after Regal tried to smuggle them into the ring. King would go to lose that match.
Lexis King (with William Regal) defeated NXT Heritage Cup Champion Charlie Dempsey (with Wren Sinclair) to win the trophy
Dempsey is disqualified in the fourth round, so King wins the match and the Cup. Regal gets involved in the match, and his involvement ends up costing Dempsey the match. There is a father-son dynamic there, but that is not part of the storyline so far.
No falls in the first round, and the bell awkwardly rand to end round one. The action was more intense in the second round, but still no falls. Dempsey stomps on King after the bell sounds to end round two. Round three supposedly all took place during a commercial break, and no falls.
They return from the commercial break with the start of round four. Dempsey and King collide and bonk heads. Double down as both are out on their feet. Wren Sinclair frantically tries to revive Dempsey. The referee is distracted by Sinclair getting into the ring, and Regal puts the brass knux in King’s hand. King revives and sees the knux. He gets to his feet and tries handing the knux back to Regal. Instead, Regal decks King with a left hand, and King drops like a stone.
The knux go bouncing around the mat. Dempsey picks them up and puts the knux on his hand. The ref turns around to see Dempsey with the knux, and King laid out on the mat. The ref disqualifies Dempsey just times runs out on the round. King wins via disqualification after having won 1-0. And new…
OTM (Bronco Nima & Lucien Price) cut a promo vowing to win tag team titles, after they first win the fatal four-way tag match later tonight.
Kelani Jordan is angry with Stephanie Vaquer and Lola Vice in a backstage skit. Jordan rants at them about Cora Jade.
Unholy Union (Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn) defeated Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx with NXT Women’s North American Champion Fallon Henley)
Dawn pinned Jayne to win the match, thanks in part to an assist from Gigi Dolan. There is also a distraction from another main card tag team that has returned to NXT.
The tag bout goes through a commercial break. Much to the chagrin of Fatal Influence, the trio of Gigi Dolan, Tatum Paxley and Shotzi enter the ringside area just before the show cuts to the break. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance also come down to ringside at some point.
Just before the match goes home, Nyz and Henley confront Carter and Chance at ringside. That left Jayne alone in the ring. Jayne is climbing the ropes when she is shoved off by Gigi Dolan. The Unholy Union then executes a tandem finisher on Jayne, and Dawn covers Jayne for the pinfall.
Tavion Heights and Myles Borne talk ahead of their fatal four-way.
Zaria is talking with Sol Ruca when they are interrupted by Izzi Dame. She is then interrupted by Shawn Spears, who is trying to recruit her into his faction. Dame is repulsed by Spears. I was repulsed by how they have dropped the ball with Zaria. She is just a regular character in silly skits, after debuting with a monster push.
Ashante “Thee” Adonis defeated Dion Lennox
Adonis pinned Lennox after reversing an O’Connor roll. This match played off a skit from the prior episode. The match was not long, but it also somehow took forever.
Nikkita Lyons comes to ringside during the match, playing into an ongoing love triangle. And so are the days of our lives, as the world turns. Lyons interferes late in the match, as she puts Adonis’ foot on the rope to break a count. Lennox had delivered a powerslam and went for the cover when Lyons put Adonis’ foot on the bottom rope.
For the finish, Lennox catches Adonis with an O’Connor roll. Adonis counters the roll-up, and Adonis bridges backwards to cover Lennox for a three count.
Hank Walker & Tank Ledger cut a silly promo ahead of the fatal four-way later on. I have seen far more serious promos from The Bushwhackers.
Gigi, Shotzi, &Tatum get into an argument backstage with Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson. They all try yelling over each other.
A promotional tie-in with an insurance company features a video package highlighting NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez. This hype video also builds interest in the next title match for Perez, when she defends against Giulia at New Year’s Evil.
Sarah Schreiber interviews Lexis King, and King boasts about winning the Heritage Cup by being a man of integrity. King says he did not short-cuts to win. There is indeed an irony there.
In a vignette, Ethan Page cuts a sinister promo on Je’Von Evans.
OTM (Bronco Nima & Lucien Price) defeated The D’Angelo Family (Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo & Luca Crusifino) and No Quarter Catch Crew (Myles Borne & Tavion Heights) and Hank Walker & Tank Ledger in a Christmas Chaos fatal four-way tag team match to determine number one contenders
Price pinned Stacks to win the match. Santa Claus causes a distraction at ringside by giving Tony D’Angelo a DDT on the floor. Santa Claus then reveals himself to be Ridge Holland.
Tornado rules with lots of weapons and gimmicks. Some of the gimmicks relate to the holiday, like a Christmas tree and large ornaments hanging from the ropes. Plenty of comedy spots that are lighthearted, yet still violent. Likewise, Tank takes a low blow when an ornament is used like a bowling ball.
Stacks takes a bump through a table set up at ringside. Just before the show cuts to commercial break, Borne executes a cool cutter out of nowhere on Price. After the they return from the break, kendo sticks wrapped up like candy canes come into play.
Metal folding chairs are not exactly festive, but they also come into play often in the match. The chairs are used as weapons, along with them taking bumps on the chairs. Borne takes a nasty bump on the chair with a spinebuster. OTM then hip-tosses Borne through a table set up in a corner.
Hank & Tank run wild, until they are attacked at ringside by Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe. The two teams brawl their way down the aisle and through the curtain.
NXT North American Champion Tony D’Angelo gifts his guys presents, which includes crowbars wrapped like candy canes. They use the crowbars to hit their opponents. Then, Stacks & Crusifino execute a Shatter Machine on Price. Nima has to make a save to break up a pin.
Suddenly at ringside, Santa Clause gets up from his seat. Santa ambushes “The Don”, and Santa gives D’Aneglo an implant DDT on the floor. Santa would soon reveal himself as Ridge Holland, who is in a title program with D’Angelo) OTM capitalizes in the ring, as they neutralize Crusifino. Stacks takes an assisted spinebuster, and Price cradles Stacks for the deciding pinfall. OTM are the new number one contenders to the tag titles, and they earn a shot for the titles at New Year’s Evil.
NXT Champon Trick Williams is heading to the ring to close out the show with a monologue. Of course, Trick is soon interrupted, since there is hardly ever a monologue in NXT without an interruption. This time the interruption was abrupt, as Trick barely spoke when Oba Femi enters to confront the champion. Before Femi can say much, out comes Eddy Thorpe. They could likely have been pressed for time, as this all seemed to rush through much of this.
Thorpe gets in the ring alongside Femi and the champion. Thorpe cuts a promo on Trick, and Trick is responding until Femi interjects. Femi and Thorpe bicker over who deserves a title match. Trick tells them both to shut up. Trick then books himself in a triple threat match for New Year’s Evil, where he will defend against both challengers. Terrible logic here, but such is life. One guess which guy is dropping the fall, and it is probably not the champion, nor is he the guy getting a monster push.
Out comes NXT General Manager Ava, who says she signs off on the triple threat match. That makes the title bout official for New Year’s Evil. Thorpe jumps Femi with a sucker punch, and a melee ensues. Femi knocks down both Trick and Thorpe. Femi in runs wild with a series of elbows smashes. Femi follows up by giving Trick a pop-up powerbomb, and Femi tries doing the same with Thorpe. However, Thorpe counters to escape. Thorpe powders. Femi then grabs the NXT title belt and poses with it as the credits roll.
So, a triple threat match. How original. Also, a reminder that Trick Williams is the brand’s top star, since that might be hard to determine after watching this episode.
