NXT Vengeance Day (2025)
| Vengeance Day | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | NXT Raw | ||
| Date | February 15, 2025 | ||
| City | Washington, D.C. | ||
| Venue | CareFirst Arena | ||
| Attendance | 3,849[1] | ||
| WWE Network event chronology | |||
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| Vengeance chronology | |||
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| NXT major events chronology | |||
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The 2025 Vengeance Day was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the fifth annual Vengeance Day event held for the promotion's developmental brand NXT, and the 13th Vengeance overall, and it featured some wrestlers from the Raw brand. The event aired via WWE's livestreaming platforms and took place on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. This was the first Vengeance, as well as NXT's first major event, to livestream on Netflix in most markets outside the United States.
Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Giulia defeated Bayley, Roxanne Perez, and Cora Jade in a fatal four-way match to retain the NXT Women's Championship. In other prominent matches, Ethan Page defeated Je'Von Evans, Eddy Thorpe defeated Trick Williams in a strap match and in the opening bout, Stephanie Vaquer defeated Fallon Henley to win the NXT Women's North American Championship. The event also marked the debut of DarkState, featuring Dion Lennox, Cutler James, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin, as well as Jordynne Grace's first appearance in NXT, now as an official member of the WWE roster, and a member of the NXT roster.
Production
[edit]Background
[edit]
Vengeance was originally established as a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event for WWE in 2001 and it was held annually until 2007, followed by a one-off event in 2011. Since its revival in 2021, it has been held annually in February for WWE's developmental brand NXT under the title Vengeance Day, a reference to the event taking place on or around Valentine's Day.[2] On January 7, 2025, NXT's fifth annual Vengeance Day event, and 13th Vengeance overall, was announced to be held on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C.;[3] the arena was formerly the Entertainment and Sports Arena until February 6, 2025.[4] In addition to Peacock in the United States, the event will also be available to livestream on Netflix in most international markets and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that have not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marks the first Vengeance to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas. Beginning with Halloween Havoc in 2024, all major NXT events are branded solely with the WWE logo instead of the NXT logo, marking the first Vengeance Day event to just use the promotion's logo, as well as the first event in the Vengeance chronology to do so since the 2011 event.[5][3]
Storylines
[edit]The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.[6][7]
On the January 28 episode of NXT, Raw's A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) hosted a special edition of The Grayson Waller Effect with the new NXT Champion Oba Femi as guest. Theory and Waller said they appeared to see if Femi was "worth the hype." Femi retaliated and said he has accomplished more in a shorter amount of time than both Theory and Waller combined. Afterwards, Femi declared that he would defend the title against either of the two at Vengeance Day. NXT General Manager Ava took issue with Femi declaring his opponents, but announced a triple threat match against both Theory and Waller for Vengeance Day.[8]
At New Year's Evil, Giulia defeated Roxanne Perez to win the NXT Women's Championship.[9] One week later, Perez addressed the fans, seemingly to announce her departure from NXT before being interrupted by SmackDown's Bayley, who tried giving Perez advice to no avail. A brawl ensued between the two women as the show went off the air.[10] During this time, Bayley had been transferred to the Raw brand as part of WWE's transfer window. Bayley appeared on NXT the following week to show gratitude to the fans before being interrupted by Giulia, who showed her respect to Bayley. Perez and her ally, Cora Jade, interrupted and insulted them as a brawl ensued between the two teams.[11] One week later, the two teams faced each other in a tag team match, which Giulia and Bayley won after the latter pinned Jade. Later that night, when NXT General Manager Ava was about to announce Giulia's Vengeance Day opponent, she was cut off by Perez and Jade, with Perez saying Bayley doesn't deserve a title shot since she didn’t get her title rematch yet, and stating that it was Jade's fault they lost the match earlier in the show. After that, Ava announced that Giulia would defend the title against both Bayley and Perez in a triple threat match at Vengeance Day, much to Jade's dismay.[8] A week later, Jade attacked both Giulia and Bayley, and tried to hit Perez. This led to a match between Bayley and Jade on the February 11 episode, where Jade defeated Bayley after interference from Perez, who wore Bayley's previous "hugger" gimmick from 2015 to 2019. After the match, Ava announced that the NXT Women's Championship match would now be a fatal four-way match between Giulia, Bayley, Perez, and Jade.[12]
At New Year's Evil, Stephanie Vaquer won a fatal four-way match to become the #1 contender for the NXT Women's North American Championship, held by Fallon Henley. Later that night, however, Shotzi pinned Henley in a six-woman tag team match.[9] Shotzi and Vaquer argued over who should get the match first. A match between the two was scheduled for the following week, which Shotzi won after interference from Henley and her Fatal Influence stablemates, Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx.[10] Two weeks later, Henley defeated Shotzi to retain the title. After the match, Vaquer confronted Henley, and it was announced that Henley would defend the title against Vaquer at Vengeance Day.[8]
Ever since losing the NXT Championship and a NXT North American Championship match in 2024, Ethan Page went into an emotional turmoil and became depressed. On the December 17 episode of NXT, Page came to the ring stating that he deserved all the hate he was getting from the fans and that he had lost his smile. Afterwards, he was interrupted by Je'Von Evans, who praised him and said that Page deserved to be where he is now. Page said Evans was right and that he shouldn't worry about losing his smile, but rather take away Evans smile, prompting Page to attack Evans, crushing his jaw with a steel chair.[13] Two weeks later, Page defeated Evans' tag team partner Cedric Alexander and crushed Alexander's hand with a toolbox.[14] On the January 14 episode, Page defeated Dante Chen and crushed Chen's leg with the steel steps. Evans returned to attack Page but was knocked down by Page punching his injured jaw.[10] On the February 4 episode, NXT General Manager Ava decided to suspend Evans so that he wouldn't end up getting even more injured, but Page said that Evans should be "punished" by facing him. Ava then stated that they could face each other at Vengeance Day, but only if Evans was medically cleared.[15] On the next episode, Evans was cleared to compete, but Ava made him sign a waiver that WWE wouldn't be responsible for any damage to Evans. After signing the term, Ava reluctantly made the match official.[12]
In July 2024, it was announced that Josh Briggs would be one of two NXT representatives (the other being No Quarter Catch Crew's Tavion Heights) to enter Pro Wrestling Noah's N-1 Victory tournament.[16] After his excursion to Noah, Briggs formed a tag team with Noah's Yoshiki Inamura, who Briggs defeated during his time at Noah, and they set their sights on Axiom and Nathan Frazer's NXT Tag Team Championship. On the February 4 episode of NXT, Frazer told Briggs and Inamura to find someone to beat to prove they deserve a title shot. Briggs challenged Hank Waller and Tank Ledger while Inamura challenged No Quarter Catch Crew (Heights and Myles Borne), which prompted NXT General Manager Ava to schedule a triple threat tag team match for the next episode.[15] After Briggs and Inamura won the match, Axiom and Frazer announced that they would defend the title against Briggs and Inamura at Vengeance Day.[12]
On the December 3, 2024, episode of NXT, Eddy Thorpe won a fatal four-way last chance match to qualify for the Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline. However, he was later found attacked backstage[17] and was ruled out for Deadline.[18] Two days after Deadline on the December 10 episode of NXT, Thorpe confronted NXT Champion Trick Williams and demanded a title shot, which Williams agreed. Upon signing the title match contract, Thorpe revealed to NXT General Manager Ava that he staged his own attack to ease his way into an NXT Championship match, turning heel in the process.[19] The title match on the following week ended in a double pinfall and Williams retained his title.[13] At New Year's Evil on January 7, Williams defended his NXT Championship in a triple threat match against Thorpe and the Iron Survivor Challenge winner Oba Femi, where Femi won to become the new NXT Champion.[9] On the February 4 episode of NXT, Femi and Williams lost to Raw's A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) in a tag team match after Thorpe whipped Williams with a leather strap behind the referee's back. After the match, Thorpe continued to brutally whip Williams.[15] On the following week, Thorpe challenged Williams to a strap match at Vengeance Day, which was accepted by Williams.[12]
Event
[edit]| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Vic Joseph |
| Corey Graves | |
| Booker T | |
| Spanish commentators | Marcelo Rodríguez |
| Jerry Soto | |
| Ring announcer | Mike Rome |
| Referees | Adrian Butler |
| Chip Danning | |
| Dallas Irvin | |
| Derek Sanders | |
| Felix Fernandez | |
| Interviewer | Sarah Schreiber |
| Pre-show panel | Megan Morant |
| Sam Roberts |
Preliminary matches
[edit]The event began with Fallon Henley (accompanied by Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx) defending the NXT Women's North American Championship against Stephanie Vaquer. In the climax, Vaquer performed an Implant Buster on Henley on the apron followed by a crossbody on Henley, Jayne, and Nyx outside the ring. Back inside, Vaquer performed a corkscrew moonsault on Henley to win the title.[20]
In the second match, Nathan Frazer and Axiom defended the NXT Tag Team Championship against Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura. Inamura performed a Death Valley Driver on Axiom onto Frazer for a nearfall. As Briggs had Frazer in a choke, Axiom broke it up with an Asai Moonsault. Frazer and Axiom then performed a modified Total Elimination on Inamura to retain the title. After the match, the teams shared respectful handshakes, but were attacked by Dion Lennox, Cutler James, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin, who would later be known as DarkState.[20]
After that, Trick Williams took on Eddy Thorpe in a strap match. In the climax, Thorpe rolled out of the ring to avoid getting pinned after the Trick Shot. Thorpe yanked the strap for a low blow on Williams before performing the Knee Plus on Williams to win the match.[20]
In the fourth match, Ethan Page took on Je'Von Evans. After an even match, Evans attempted a springboard, but Page knocked him out with a right hook and pinned him following the Twist of Fate to win the match.[20]
The penultimate match saw Oba Femi defend the NXT Championship against Austin Theory and Grayson Waller in a triple threat match. Throughout the match, Theory and Waller worked together in an attempt to defeat Femi. Waller performed an elbow drop on Femi through a table, and Theory pinned Femi inside the ring for a nearfall. In the climax, Theory had Femi pinned following a DDT and A-Town Down, but Waller pulled the referee out of the ring. Waller attempted a stunner on Femi, who moved out of the way so that Theory received the move. Femi then pinned Waller following Fall from Grace to retain the title. After the match, Dion Lennox, Cutler James, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin attacked Femi and laid him out with a powerbomb.[20]
Main event
[edit]In the main event, Giulia defended the NXT Women's Championship against Roxanne Perez, Bayley, and Cora Jade in a fatal four-way match. This was a back-and-forth match between the women. After Perez performed Pop Rox on Bayley twice, the first outside the ring and the second inside, Jade rolled up Perez for a nearfall. Jade performed a DDT on Perez, but Giulia performed a running knee strike on Jade. Giulia then performed a running knee strike and the Northern Lights Bomb on Perez to retain the title. After the match, NXT Women's North American Champion Stephanie Vaquer appeared and confronted Giulia. Jordynne Grace then joined the confrontation as the event ended.[20]
Aftermath
[edit]Following Stephanie Vaquer's successful NXT Women's North American Championship defense on the February 25 episode of NXT, she was confronted by NXT Women's Champion Giulia, who said that Vaquer called herself the best champion, but Giulia claimed that she was better. Giulia said that although she was Vaquer's friend, she wanted to challenge her to a Winner Takes All match for both titles, and it was subsequently scheduled for Roadblock.[21]
After more confrontations between Ethan Page and Je'Von Evans, they faced each other in a tag team match on the February 25 episode of NXT, where Evans's team won.[21] On March 4, it was announced that a New York City street fight between Evans and Page was scheduled for Roadblock.[22]
Following their confrontation at Vengeance Day and on the February 25 episode of NXT,[21] a match between Roxanne Perez and Jordynne Grace was scheduled for Roadblock.[23]
Results
[edit]| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[20] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephanie Vaquer defeated Fallon Henley (c) (with Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx) by pinfall | Singles match for the NXT Women's North American Championship[24] | 15:01 | ||
| 2 | Nathan Frazer and Axiom (c) defeated Josh Briggs and Yoshiki Inamura by pinfall | Tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship[24] | 10:24 | ||
| 3 | Eddy Thorpe defeated Trick Williams by pinfall | Strap match[24] | 10:58 | ||
| 4 | Ethan Page defeated Je'Von Evans by pinfall | Singles match[24] | 12:00 | ||
| 5 | Oba Femi (c) defeated Austin Theory and Grayson Waller by pinfall | Triple threat match for the NXT Championship[24] | 13:12 | ||
| 6 | Giulia (c) defeated Bayley, Roxanne Perez, and Cora Jade by pinfall | Fatal four-way match for the NXT Women's Championship[24] | 18:31 | ||
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References
[edit]- ^ WrestleTix (February 15, 2025). "WrestleTix: WWE NXT Vengeance Day Sat • Feb 15 CareFirst Arena at Washington, DC". Wrestlenomics. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ WWE.com Staff (January 6, 2021). "NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day set to take place Sunday, Feb. 14". WWE. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Lambert, Jeremy (January 7, 2025). "NXT Vengeance Day Announced For February 15". Fightful. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- ^ Rogers, Winston (February 6, 2025). "DC's Entertainment and Sports Arena gets new name in deal to develop St. Elizabeth's campus". WJLA-TV. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (January 23, 2024). "WWE Raw To Air On Netflix Beginning January 2025". Fightful. Archived from the original on January 23, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ a b c Moore, John (January 28, 2025). "NXT TV results (1/28): Moore's review of Bianca Belair and Naomi vs. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson for the WWE Women's Tag Titles, Trick Williams vs. Wes Lee, Fallon Henley vs. Shotzi for the NXT Women's NA Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ a b c Moore, John (January 7, 2025). "NXT TV results (1/7): Moore's review of The Rock's appearance, Trick Williams vs. Oba Femi vs. Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Title, Roxanne Perez vs. Giulia for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- ^ a b c Moore, John (January 14, 2025). "NXT TV results (1/14): Moore's review of Nathan Frazer and Axiom vs. OTM for the NXT Tag Titles, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Shotzi for a shot at the NXT Women's North American Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ Moore, John (January 21, 2025). "NXT TV results (1/21): Moore's review of Oba Femi vs. Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Championship, Tony D'Angelo vs. Ridge Holland for the NXT North American Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ a b c d Moore, John (February 11, 2025). "NXT TV results (2/11): Moore's review of Tony D'Angelo vs. Ridge Holland in a cage match for the NXT North American Title, Lexis King vs. JDC for the NXT Heritage Cup, Bayley vs. Cora Jade". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
- ^ a b Moore, John (December 17, 2024). "NXT TV results (12/17): Moore's review of Trick Williams vs. Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Championship, Nathan Frazer and Axiom vs. Mark Coffey and Wolfgang for the NXT Tag Titles, Oba Femi vs. Axiom". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
- ^ Wells, Kelly (December 31, 2024). "NXT TV results (12/31): Wells's live report on womens' triple threat tag, Lola Vice vs. Kelani Jordan, more". PWTorch. Archived from the original on January 14, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
- ^ a b c Wells, Kelly (February 4, 2025). "NXT TV results (2/4): Wells's live report on Oba Femi & Trick Williams vs. A-Town Down Under, Bayley-Giulia-Perez summit, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Jacy Jayne, more". PWTorch. Archived from the original on March 6, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
- ^ Flanagan, Neal (July 13, 2024). "NXT's Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights announced for Pro Wrestling NOAH's N-1 Victory tournament". POST Wrestling. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
- ^ Moore, John (December 3, 2024). "NXT TV results (12/3): Moore's review of Iron Survivor Challenge last chance qualifiers, Eric Bischoff and Sean "X-Pac" Waltman appearances, Battle Royal for a shot at the NXT Tag Titles at Deadline". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 7, 2024). "Eddy Thorpe Ruled Out Of Iron Survivor Challenge Match At NXT Deadline, Replacement To Be Named". Fightful. Archived from the original on December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 10, 2024). "NXT TV results (12/10): Powell's review of the Deadline fallout show featuring Je'Von Evans vs. Wes Lee, Iron Survivor Challenge winner Oba Femi, Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin vs. Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Moore, John (February 15, 2025). "NXT Vengeance Day results: Moore's live review of Oba Femi vs. Grayson Waller vs. Austin Theory for the NXT Championship, Giulia vs. Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez vs. Cora Jade for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on February 16, 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ^ a b c Wells, Kelly (February 25, 2025). "NXT TV results (2/25): Wells's live report on Hardy Boyz vs. No Quarter Catch Crew, Ricky Saints & Je'Von Evans vs. Ethan Page & Wes Lee, Moose, Stephanie Vaquer, more". PWTorch. Archived from the original on March 17, 2025. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (March 4, 2025). "Ethan Page To Face Je'Von Evans In A Street Fight At WWE NXT Roadblock". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 5, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
- ^ Wells, Kelly (March 4, 2025). "NXT TV results (3/4): Wells's live report on Tony D'Angelo vs. Shawn Spears, Kelani Jordan vs. Jaida Parker, Ruca & Zaria vs. Green & Niven, more". PWTorch. Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f "Vengeance Day 2025 results: Jordynne Grace returns to NXT to confront champions Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia". WWE. February 15, 2025. Archived from the original on February 17, 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.