NXT Stand & Deliver 2025: Sol Ruca Steals the Show + Who's Main Roster Ready?

Peter Klein

From ladder match chaos to breakout performances, NXT Stand & Deliver 2025 packed a punch! I break down every match, from Ricky Saints' fiery opener to Oba Femi’s title retention. Who's ready for the main roster? Did Hank and Tank arrive? And what was up with that ref pull? Let’s dive into all the standouts and surprises.  #NXTStandAndDeliver #SolRuca #NXTReview #WWEProspects #NXTRecap #couchpotatodiary   🔗 Stay Connected & Support the Show 🎧 Listen & Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189  Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM 🧠 Partners & Promos:  C of Dead Apparel → https://www.cofdead403.ca/  Swift Energy → https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  🎁 Use Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off! 📲 Follow Me:  Twitter (X) → https://x.com/primetimeklein  Instagram → https://instagram.com/primetimeklein  Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary  Twitch → https://twitch.tv/primetimepk 📬 Business Inquiries & Fan Mail:  Email → couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com

Transcript

00:00It was a kickoff show for WrestleMania weekend as Stand and Deliver goes down from Las Vegas,

00:12Nevada. A couple things to talk about coming out of this one. Let's just run through the

00:16cards, shall we? Ricky Saints against all-ego Ethan Page for the North American Championship.

00:20Ricky was so over with this crowd, he got them really fired up for like 10 in the morning in

00:25Las Vegas, which is not an easy task after everything going down late on Friday night.

00:31As a match, it was good. It wasn't anything special, but it was good, which is kind of,

00:35I think it'll be a bit of the theme of day one out at WrestleMania, but this one was good.

00:40Like, it's not your traditional kind of opener because it's not like a fast-paced,

00:44whoa, wow, look at these moves, this gets the crowd going. But I think the character Ricky

00:48Saints and him being there was enough to get that crowd fired up and be kind of the opener

00:53that you wanted that to be. And so, I mean, it's a testament to Ricky Saints and just how good he

00:58has been in his short time in WWE and how much of a connection he has with this audience. Eventually,

01:05Saints goes on to win this match, which I think was the right decision to be made. He's just getting

01:08going in this. He is perfect in the North American title picture right now. We had kind of talked on

01:13the preview show about how the main event picture is kind of lacking in NXT. Now, the result in the main

01:18event went a little bit differently than I thought. So, you're not losing a couple of guys,

01:23at least it doesn't seem like it right now. But still, it is a little bit on the weak side right

01:28now, the men's main event picture. And Ricky Saints certainly fits in there. So, I thought that

01:34maybe he loses this and gives the title picture a bit of a jumpstart, but instead he's going to

01:38continue on as the North American champion. Take team titles on the line. Fraxium against Hank and

01:43Tank. This match, this was the style of an opener that you were expecting from any kind of a

01:49wrestling show, right? Like, it's fast-paced. It is crazy. Like, Fraxium themselves, I think they

01:54have really found their style and really just a very entertaining group. And look, I said in the

01:59pre-show, I had made these guys my worst tag team of the year a couple of years ago because it was

02:03just like a randomly thrown together. There's no personality. It was just kind of blah. But they

02:07have really found themselves now in this tag team division and got a heck of a match here.

02:13And Hank and Tank were there for every step of the way, right? Like, that dive onto the announce

02:17table was wild. And then the dive back in to break up the pinfall. I think sometimes it's cool when

02:23you have just kind of that shot zoomed in and you don't realize the guy who you thought was dead

02:28has come back and broken it up. But I thought it was cool that they kind of framed it so that you

02:32could see that guy back there making the run in and diving and breaking everything up. So, I thought

02:37that was great. And this was where the crowd really gets into the match. I do think that Hank and Tank

02:42still have a little bit of refining to do. But they did take it to a whole new level in this

02:46match. They were great. This is easily the best performance of their career so far. And it's at

02:50the right time as they do win the NXT tag team titles. You have to think that this now means

02:55Fraxia makes their way to the main roster. We got the kind of dream match with the Hardys at some

03:00point. They don't really have a whole lot to do unless they are going to break them up and try a

03:05singles thing with both of them again. I think that this is the time that they move up and

03:09there's some very interesting tag team matchups you could have with these guys

03:13on both Raw or SmackDown. The Women's North American Championship ladder match. This match

03:20was incredible. I think every performer in this match put on an excellent show. And it's one of

03:25those ones, we talk about it specifically this time of year, where just being in this match

03:31elevated each performer. And now, based off of how they did, right? Like, everyone is now elevated

03:37coming out of this match. I thought they did a phenomenal job. I did think, at some point,

03:43we talked about it on the pre-show, I did think at some point it was going to come down to Zarya

03:47and Sol Ruka. I just thought that it would lead to then someone else winning. Instead,

03:52Sol does that. It looks like she's knocked down. Does that flip? Comes back up. Kicks Zarya.

03:58And again, she hits a double Sol Snatcher. That move is just otherworldly. And to be able to pull

04:05that off as consistently as she does is really, really great. I think there's a lot of potential

04:09there. And I am loving that she is going to get this opportunity. And I do think that maybe this

04:13does eventually lead to a Zarya heel turn, which I think is probably the way to go. But I still think

04:19that there is high potential in this character, no matter what you do with her. And like, honestly,

04:25every one of these performers could be on the main roster tomorrow. And I think they would all fit

04:29right in. I think just everyone in this match really did themselves proud and put on a hell of

04:35a show and really elevated their status with wrestling fans based off of how well they did in

04:41this match. Dark State against the family. A solid match. Sorry, solid match. Dark State in a pretty

04:46good spot right now. Maybe we need to know a little bit more about the motivations or whatever. But still,

04:51everyone looked pretty impressive as far as like opening debut things or whatever. I thought they

04:56were great. I kind of feel like if at some point we find out that there is another person who is the

05:02leader of this group or anything, it kind of makes them all take a step back. Like right now,

05:06they do kind of feel like high level potential guys. And I think if you brought in like a lot of

05:12people anticipating that maybe Stacks is the one who is in charge of this group, or Trick Williams is

05:17the one who's kind of running things with this thing, then maybe like, okay, well now they have an

05:23established leader with them. But I do kind of feel like that almost puts a bit of a ceiling on

05:27what those guys can be. And like they all obviously have a look that they seem quite impressive in the

05:32ring anyway. So I think that that might be putting a ceiling on some of these guys and just kind of

05:36let a leader develop out of this whole thing. The story of the match does pay off. You have

05:41initially that Tony doesn't want to get into the ring because he's been frustrated with Stacks not

05:46going with the leader of the family lately. And then eventually Stacks turns on Tony and

05:53sign of things to come for the weekend. But I liked it. I thought it was well done. Stacks,

06:00I think, is ready for a bigger role. And I think developmentally has kind of hit a ceiling for what

06:05he is at right now in this role. And I think now being, whether it is in charge, like on his own or

06:10in charge of the family or whatever the decision is, I think that that is going to be really good to

06:15see how high he can really take it. And honestly, like Tony could go to the main roster tomorrow

06:19and I think he would fit right in. He has worked on that character well and the wrestling has

06:23certainly come along as well. NXT Women's Championship. I thought off the top, Corey

06:30Graves saying on commentary that Jordan Grace needs to do something big tonight. And I actually kind of

06:35agreed. Like she's awesome. I'm a huge, huge fan of Jordan Grace. But it does seem like she has been

06:42a touch overshadowed by Julia and Stephanie Vacker coming in all at the same time. And just to be

06:49perfectly honest with you, I don't know if she did enough in this one to kind of get that attention

06:55back on her a little bit more. But still some great moments in this match. Like the double

06:59blockbuster doomsday device was absolutely wild. You're thinking Tower of Doom spot. It's a cool spot.

07:06It's going to get a whoa every time. But it is a little overdone, I feel like at some points.

07:12And so you see that coming out. Okay, whatever. And then she walks away with both of them.

07:15Like, holy shit. Are you kidding me? And then to hit the blockbuster off of it, I thought was just,

07:22I thought it was great. I did like that Jada got her stuff in in this match. I don't think she

07:28really felt like an equal in this. And like, how could you? You have people who have been world

07:33champions all over the world in this match and her. And that's more dismissive of her than I

07:38want it to be. She is really talented and really good. And has a lot of pieces that if you fit them

07:44all together becomes a star. But it just felt like she was obviously the fourth in this particular

07:50match. But overall, this was a really, really good match. The crowd really got into it. And this match

07:55delivered. I thought the way that this all went, I thought you could have made this one the main event

08:01of the show. I think they really did deliver. Vakura getting the win is the good call. I did

08:05wonder about Julia getting the win because of the heel turn. And just kind of starting that one off

08:11with a big push with the championship. But Stephanie, and with the news of the day going into Saturday,

08:18that WWE has bought AAA. I do think that having her with a belt there also kind of helped things a

08:25little bit. So, like, between Julia and Stephanie, there is no wrong decision. I think that you can have

08:31a really long feud with both of them. Or if Julia is just up on the main roster on Monday,

08:35that works too. But either way, there's a lot of potential in the women's roster. Like I said

08:40before, I do think Jordan Grace needs a bit more of the spotlight now. But Stephanie, proving that she

08:45is one of the best in the world. Julia, ditto. Jordan Grace is there as well. I just don't know if

08:49we've had an opportunity to prove it as much in this initial run here on NXT. And I think now that,

08:56because sometimes, and this was one of the things that I think kind of gets frustrating with how

09:02they handled Stand and Deliver this year, where everyone needs to get on this card. So it's only

09:07one match ends up being a singles match. It kind of takes away a little bit from some of them. And so

09:12instead of Jordan getting her own spotlight in a match with Jordan, with Jada Parker, sorry, then,

09:19okay, now she gets a chance to stand on her own and she gets her win or whatever. Then she just kind

09:23of gets lumped in with Stephanie and Julia. And instead of, okay, well, now she feels like she's

09:29on this level. It just kind of felt like she was a background piece a little bit in this. And so

09:33I do think coming out of this feud, and now that things kind of reset, we're done with Mania season,

09:39this is now a performer that I think should get a bit more of the spotlight down in NXT.

09:44And then we get to the main event for the NXT championship. And these guys brought it. I thought

09:50that the build to this was a little bit lacking, but I did really like a lot of parts of this match.

09:57You have at one point a double stack suplex, again, looking like it's going to be like that Tower of

10:01Doom type of a thing. But then you have Oma, sorry, Oba, who suplexes Trick, who also suplexes Jada,

10:08or sorry, Javon. Awesome, awesome spot. That was really, really cool. Javon, I mean, each guy had a

10:14spotlight on them to showcase themselves. And I thought Javon used his in a really entertaining

10:20way. There is no real ceiling to how good this kid really can be. Like, obviously, the athleticism

10:26is there. Obviously, like, you just see kind of how his game has developed in the last little bit.

10:31There is immense amount of potential in there, and he's obviously working hard at it as well.

10:36So there's something there with this kid, for sure. Oba getting his usual power moves over as well.

10:42So, um, the one part I didn't really love, Trick pulled the referee out of the ring in a way,

10:49like, it didn't make a ton of sense because there was a kickout that had already happened. So there's

10:52a, um, Oba, I can't remember if he hit a spine, but what move that it was that brought this along,

10:57but he hits a big move. He is going for a cover. Maybe it was Javon who hit it even. Either way,

11:01there was a cover, and it's one, two, and a kickout. And you can see Trick is kind of on the one side

11:08of the ring, and then you're kind of looking at him like, okay, is he going to get this guy? No,

11:12he's not. Oh, shit. Oh, and then there's a kickout of two. And then Trick pulls the referee

11:15out of the ring and docks him, which is, like, would be one thing, but it's a triple threat

11:19match. So it's not like there's any DQs or anything anyway. So it just, it didn't really,

11:26meh, it didn't make sense to me. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at all. Um,

11:31and I, it was to the point where I was wondering if someone was out of position,

11:36right? Like, if that, if that big move was supposed to happen on the one side where Trick

11:40was, and he just couldn't get there in time, so they, but they still had to do a couple of other

11:45spots with the referee out or something. So it, it really, it just, it seemed like something was

11:51off there to me, um, either way. But still, this match does hit off an extra gear, and it got really,

11:56really fun. The crowd was fired up, and at each moment, each guy looked like they were going to win

12:01the championship, and that's kind of all you want from a match out of this. Um, Oba retains,

12:05I was kind of wondering if this was going to be his swan song, and he moves up to the main roster,

12:09because he is main roster ready. Um, but it looks like he's gonna be sticking around for a little

12:14bit. I do wonder if this was it for Trick. Um, I, we talked about it on the pre-show. It feels like

12:19that momentum has cooled significantly, and I, I just, I feel like he has kind of accomplished

12:27everything that he can at NXT, and it is kind of starting to come across, like, he feels he's

12:33accomplished everything at NXT. It's still gonna be cool if he debuts on the main roster, and we

12:37get whooped that trick, um, right away. It's gonna be a whole lot of fun, but it does kind of feel

12:41like that this kind of treading water has taken a lot of the wind out of, uh, those sails. Overall,

12:46this was, it was a pretty good show. I, it didn't reach the level of a, a takeover, or anything like

12:52that. Like, where, where you would have takeover, and it's, okay, this was the best wrestling show

12:56on the weekend. This didn't have that. That this was a, this was an entertaining show.

13:01I am happy I watched it. I think if I would have gone to Vegas, um, I, I would have been happy if

13:06I would have bought a ticket and gotten to it. I don't think I would have been stoked that it was

13:09at 10 in the morning, but I, I think, like, I, it was an entertaining show, but it, it just does not

13:15reach the high levels that NXT used to have for shows like this. There, there was no dud, but there was

13:21nothing that really kind of jumped out to you or anything like that. So a good show, not a great

13:27show from NXT.

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