SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
NXT LIVE EVENT REPORT
NOVEMBER 13 , 2025
ST. PAUL, MINN. AT ROY WILKINS AUDITORIUM
REPORT BY KELLY WELLS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
If you attend a live event, please send results with details on the matches, crowd reactions, and attendance to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
Estimated Attendance: 1,200 (venue holds around 4,000).
Kelly Kincaid handled hostess and ring announcing duties.
On Thursday night, Wade Keller and I attended the NXT house show in Saint Paul at Roy Wilkins Auditorium, which is the venue the brand always uses here (other than for Deadline last year). It’s in a large building connected to Grand Casino Arena (formerly known as Xcel Energy Center). The show centered around main roster talent, who appeared in six of the eight matches, and scored the victory in all six of those matches.
(1) NXT Women’s North American Champion Blake Monroe defeated Thea Hail in 9 minutes
Both women got strong reactions and there were a few dueling chants going. One particularly boisterous fan near us desperately wanted Monroe to hear him cheering for her. The two worked a nice enough half-speed house show match, and Hail remains somewhat spastic even far removed from her Chase U schtick. Hail got a lot of “We believe” chants ahead of her tag team match coming up where she’ll be teaming with Joe Hendry.
(2) Los Americanos defeated OTM in 10 minutes
Our babyface team got the victory after loading a mask and delivering a flying headbutt. As would become a theme throughout the night, the main roster talent brought a smoothness to the match and the show in general, giving this show an interesting hybrid feel, opposed to the usual developmental.
(3) Grayson Waller defeated Shiloh Hill in 7 minutes
Waller spent a lot of time on the mic before the open challenge, where he ran down the brand for being beneath him and put over New Day given main roster storylines. Shiloh Hill, who appeared in the first season of LFG before winning the second, answered the call. Hill has some pretty good raw talent, but has an interesting presentation, where he does a lot of bizarre shrieking in the style of a heel Brian Christopher, which is definitely a choice given that he’s a babyface. During the pre-match mic time, Hill said “No one sleeps on Shiloh Hill,” to which Waller replied “I know, no one sleeps with Shiloh Hill.” There was also a “Let’s go Toothless” chant for Hill, who’s missing a prominent tooth.
(4) Zaria & Sol Ruca defeated Jordynne Grace & Zena Sterling in 8 minutes
Sterling is another LFG alum. She acquitted herself well in the match, though there was no mistaking which of the four was earliest in her career. Sterling took the fall as Zaria scored the fall, in the thick of Zaria & Ruca having some onscreen tension that seems like it’s leading to a Ruca heel turn.
(5) Sheamus defeated Je’Von Evans in 12 minutes
Everything’s so restrained in a house show that it’s hard to say for sure, but this was potentially the match of the night. While Evans didn’t do any wild bounces to the outside, he still used as much of his aerial arsenal as he could in this safer environment. A video on the tron before the match featured Evans saying hello to St. Paul and saying he was going to get bouncy. After Sheamus finished off Evans, he got on the mic and really put him over. As Sheamus’ music played, he went out to a fan in the front row who was cheering loudly for him, and he finished the fan’s beer. This happened just a few feet in front of me:
INTERMISSION
(6) Lyra Valkyria & Tatum Paxley & Izzi Dame defeated Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne & Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid)
The match was a lot of Valkyria & Dame not really getting along, with Valkyria continually offering olive branches and Dame never quite taking the opportunity to shake hands. Henley was hilarious throughout this, trolling Valkyria’s bird taunt every time it even vaguely made sense. Valkyria finished off the promising Reid after maybe 12 minutes (I forgot to time the matches after the intermission).
(7) LWO (Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) defeated Chase U (Kale Dixon & Uriah Connors)
The two teams – both fighting for more TV time on their respective brands – put together a nice little match here as well, though the crowd grew a bit restless between the strong six-woman before this and the impending six-man main event. This match also felt around 10-12 minutes.
(8) Otis & Ricky Starks & Myles Borne defeated Oba Femi & Trick Williams & Ethan Page
Given how he’s just a dominating force with no major allegiances, it’s easy to forget that NXT sees Femi as a heel act until he’s thrust into a tag situation. He got his work in, but also acted irritated to have to team with the loud and obnoxious Page in particular. Otis, who has strong ties to Minnesota & Wisconsin, clearly had some friends in the audience, who he acknowledged before and after the match. The bizarre face trio beat the bizarre heel trio when Otis pinned Trick Williams after the Worm.
After the main event ended, the heels took off, and the faces all signed and took photos for quite a while for anyone who asked. Otis also hosted a worm-off between Starks and Borne, which Starks won pretty handily (as Starks is the face of NXT, Borne may have been dogging it on purpose so as not to steal focus). The Worm finishing Williams got the biggest WTF out of me of the entire show, by far. All in all, it was an enjoyable night of matches, and it was interesting to see such a heavy main roster presence working with the next generation of WWE.
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