Opening the show is the new and first NXT Women’s North
American Champion Kelani Jordan. She enters the ring for a
monologue celebrating her title win on Sunday.


Jordan begins by saying the moment was surreal. She has won
championships in gymnastics, but nothing compares to being
the first North American champ. She put over the intensity
of the ladder match, and when she grabbed the belt is a
moment she will remember the rest of her life.

Jordan says there is no lineage or history of the title to
live up to, but Jordan says she will prove day in and out
that no one can do it like her. Jordan is soon interrupted
by Jaida Parker.

Out comes Parker to insult Jordan. Parker goes on to mention
Michin. Say her name, and Michin appears with an ambush on
Parker. Michin brawls with Parker at ringside, while Jordan
does a Toru Yano shrug. Jordan clears out of the ring, as
the opening bout is underway before the bell can even ring
to start the match.


Michin defeated Jaida Parker

Michin pinned Parker with an O’Connor Roll, after The Good
Brothers got involved to stop Parker from using a steel
chair.

They begin the match itself by continuing the brawl that
started at ringside. Parker looked strong as the show cuts
to a commercial break, with Parker talking trash after
delivering a sit-down splash. Parker is working over Michin
as the show returns from the break.

Michin keeps kicking out, and she soon begins a comeback.
Michin comes back with a tornado DDT for a two count. Parker
cuts off Michin, and Parker drops her with a gourdbuster.
Parker then delivers a hip attack that sends Michin sailing
out of the ring.

The O.C. – Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows – enter the ringside
era to help rally Michin. The Good Brothers back away from
Parker as she grabs a metal folding chair stashed underneath
the ring. Parkers gets in the ring with the chair, but
Anderson jumps on the apron and takes the chair away from
Parker. With Parker distracted with the chair and Anderson,
Michin rushes in to score a pinfall with an O’Connor Roll.


Clips of Gallus jumping Wes Lee on Sunday are followed by a
promo from Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate. The promo was first on
WWE’s social media ahead of the tag match tonight.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is shown arriving to the building,
while Cody greeted fans gathered outside hoping for an
autograph and a chance meeting.

Thea Hail storms into a classroom, where there is an
argument among Chase U. Andre Chase, Duke Hudson, Riley
Osborne, and Ridge Holland are all arguing when Hail screams
at them to shut up and sit down. They all do so. Hail the
cuts promos on all four of them, saying they have given
everyone a chance. Hail says they all need to get over it
and get on the same page.

Hail leaves, but not before declaring, “We are all Chase U,
and that is not a teachable moment. That is the truth!” The
rest of Chase U were speechless.

Wes Lee, Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate vs. Gallus (Mark Coffey,
Joe Coffey & Wolfgang) in a six-man tag team match

Joe Coffey pinned Wes Lee to win a good match. The trios
match itself went through a commercial break. The babyface
trio rally in the first half, and they are standing tall as
the show cuts to commercial. When the show returns from the
break, Gallus is under control and working over Bate.

Hot tag after Bate lands on his feet taking a backdrop. Lee
tags in and runs wild. Lee flew around and got a near fall.
More near falls would quickly follow. Dunne snaps the
fingers of Mark Coffey, and Coffey takes the signature wind
up punch from Bate. Dunne moonsaults off the apron, and Bate
follows with a flip dive. Lee then lands a meteroa for a
close near fall.

Lee follows up with another dive out of the ring, switching
directions to avoid being tripped up. Lee springboards into
the ring, and Joe Coffey dodges him. Coffey then delivers a
roaring clothesline, and Coffey covers him for a three
count.

Sol Ruca is featured in a vlog that shows her travels to
Battleground, and her preparing for her match in Las Vegas.
This video package was pretty good character development.

Wendy Choo defeated Brinley Reece (with Edris Enofe & Malik
Blade)

Gimmick makeover for Choo, as she is doing a more sinister
version of the sleeping persona. Choo has face paint with
stitching on her lips like she is a scarecrow. Choo is
ghoulish since awakening from her slumber. Choo won dominate
fashion, as she submitted Reece with a cobra clutch.

Oro Mensah and Ethan Page are in a program. Footage from
after the show went off the air last week showed them
brawling. Mensah has attacked Page in an angle. Likewise,
Mensah attacked Page in Vegas several times. Therefore, NXT
GM Ava had “no choice” but to ban Page from the building.

NXT Champion Trick Williams stars in a new ad for WWE’s
online merchandise store. Williams is also up “next”
according to a graphic. That is misleading, as several
things are really next. Those include commercial breaks, an
interview, and the top champion.

NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez is briefly interviewed
when Robert Stone interrupted Perez. Stone wants to known
what Perez will say tonight in her state of the union
segment. Perez says Stone and his boss (Ava) will have to
wait.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes enters the sound stage to a
superstar ovation. Rhodes is wearing a suit and carrying his
championship belt. On commentary, Vic Joseph notes today is
the anniversary of Dusty Rhodes’ passing nine years ago.

Cody addresses the audience and says it is magical here.
Cody says perhaps he needs to feel that magic ahead of his
title match at Clash at the Castle against AJ Styles. Cody
notes Styles was IWGP Heavyweight Champion, NWA World
Champion and WWE Champion, but Cody vows to make Styles say
“I quit” in Scotland.

Because seemingly no monologue in NXT can go uninterrupted,
out comes NXT Champion Trick Williams. Williams joins Rhodes
in the ring. Williams draw parallels between himself and
Rhodes. Williams talks about how different it feels to be on
the other side of the mountain as champion. Williams asks
Rhodes how he deals with that.

Cody responds by gesturing towards his title belt, saying
there is another mountain to climb. That pops the crowd, but
Cody says he does not want to get ahead of himself. Rhodes
then announces that Williams’ next challenger will be
determined in a 25-man battle royal. They hinted at some of
the 25 wrestler being from other brands besides NXT. The
winner of the battle royal is the new number one contender.

Cody wishes Trick luck, but Trick was one more question to
ask Rhodes. With the Fourth of July approaching, Trick asks
Cody if he is coming to the cookout. The crowd cheers wildly
just before Cody says his is indeed coming to the cookout.

Dante Chen is interviewed backstage, and he threatens to
cane Lexis King in their match.

WWE’s NIL class of 2024 is shown sitting at ringside before
the next match. They then supposedly watch along as two pro
wrestler beat the heck out of each other with kendo sticks.

Lexis King defeated Dante Chen in a Singapore cane match

For those younger readers, some context to the Singapore
cane in American pop culture. In 1994, American student
Michael Fay was sentenced in Singapore to be lashed six
times by a cane for acts of vandalism. The incident and
punishment became national news in the United States. That
led to Paul Heyman using the idea of a Singapore cane for
gimmick matches in ECW, first with The Sandman and Tommy
Cairo. Later, a brutal angle with Tommy Dreamer being canned
by Sandman was a turning point in getting Dreamer over in
ECW. Sandman would bring the cane with him to the ring as
part of his gimmick, which was actually a kendo stick.

Here in NXT, the Singapore cane match is simply two guys
beating the crap out of each other with kendo sticks. They
were able to mix in a lot of high spots as well. Mostly
though, they brutalized each other with shots from kendo
sticks. Do they know this is supposed to be a work?

Chen does a suicide dive while holding a kendo stick. Chen
is whacking King with shot from the kendo stick when King
uses his walking cane to give Chen a low blow. Vic Joseph on
commentary called it a “cane,” while Booker T corrected him
by saying it was a “scepter.” Whatever you call it, King
used it was a weapon to strike Chen. King then used it to
help with delivering The Coronation, and King covered Chen
for a pinfall.

In a backstage skit, Cody Rhodes gives Jacy Jayne his old
face shield from a previous gimmick, since Jayne now has to
wear a face shield.

Eddy Thorpe is featured in another vignette ahead of his
return bout later on.

Michin exits Ava’s office in a backstage skit, and there to
meet her are The Good Brothers. Michin tells them that she
is officially the first challenger for Kelani Jordan’s North
American title. To celebrate, Michin and The Good Brothers
too sweet.

Someone off camera tries to accosts Vic Joseph at the
announce desk, and security appears to take him away. Joseph
looked mortified.

Eddy Thorpe defeated Tavion Heights

Although Thorpe is getting a big push, this was far from an
enhancement match. They had a competitive match, with
Heights getting to show some fire. Thorpe escapes a Dragon
sleeper, and Thorpe explodes with a flurry of strikes and
moves. Thorpe concludes with a German suplex, just before
the finisher. Thorpe executes an implant DDT, and Thorpe
scores the pinfall.

No Quarter Catch Crew are in a skit where Charlie Dempsey
wants to recruit Heights. Damon Kemp is skeptical, and
Dempsey cuts a promo on him. Dempsey then instructs Myles
Borne to find and recruit Heights.

Shawn Spears defeated Je’Von Evans

Spears pinned Evans after a C4. They had a heckuva match.
Evans to shine plenty with his aerial attacks, but it would
cost him in the end. Evans is able to block the C4 on
Spears’ first attempt. Evan also executes a big springboard
cutter on Spears, but Spears the ring veteran rolls out of
the ring before Evans can capitalize.

Evans continues to fly all over the place, jumping off the
barricades. After a parade of dive, Evans goes for a
springboard flying body press. However, Spears moves. Evans
crashes and burns, as he smashes the desk. Spears is able to
capitalize, and Spears delivers his finisher. From there,
Spears scores the deciding pinfall.

Later on, Spears runs into Cody Rhodes in a locker room
skit. Spears claims he will win the battle royal and go on
face Trick Williams, like Cody did at the Rumble before
winning his title. Cody wishes Spears good luck. Ethan Page
enters the scene, and wants to also be wished good luck by
Cody. In comes Lexis King to interject and vow he is winning
the battle royal.

“It seems like you guys are in a good place,” Cody says
before turning to leave.

NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez is in the ring for a
State of the Union speech, dubbed “The State of the Women’s
Division”. Perez is the ring with a fern plant in each
corner, which reminded me of the comedy series Between Two
Ferns. This was not that. Instead, it was a NXT monologue,
meaning someone else joined in. For once it was not an
interruption, as Perez called out Ava. An interruption would
still come moments later.

Perez wants Ava to thank her for keeping the title in NXT,
referencing a recent inter-brand match where Perez retained
the title. Ava does not thanks Perez, so Perez continues to
cut a promo on Ava and the roster. Perez says no woman can
take the title from her.

Out comes Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyz. Jayne is wearing Cody
Rhodes’s face shield over her own. Jayne is upset that Perez
is taking credit for the whole locker room. Jayne says Perez
lost her happy personality. Jayne claims before Perez came
along, Jayne was the reason everyone was watching NXT.

This is starting to remind me of media discourse over
Caitlin Clark and the WNBA roster, but before I can think
much about that, here comes Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson
with yet another interruption. It would not be the last.
Legend and Jackson proceed to cut promos on Perez.

Lola Vice enters for the final interruption. Vice is trying
to cut a promo when Jackson insults her with a comment about
twerking. Vice kicks Jackson, and a brawl erupts. A melee
ensues to close out the show.

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