[5.0] "Fairly solid match all things considered, and a feel-good crowning moment for Ricky Saints. That said, we're unfortunately at a point in time where the Tornado DDT isn't particularly convincing as a finisher anymore, no matter how many times Ricky Saints hits it. I feel like that Powerbomb he hit on Oba Femi would've been more of an exclamation point, because I think a lot of people were shocked when the 4th Tornado DDT actually sealed it. With Oba Femi winning back the title shortly after, this match just feels extremely weird booking-wise."
[1.0] "I don't want to give a low rate to the match in which Oba Femi participated. But honestly, it was really terrible. When I found out that Ricky Saints won the match against Oba Femi, I thought it was a dirty victory. But the worst part is, Ricky Saints won clean and confidently. Oba Femi was as usual great in the ring, but every move he made became pointless because they tried to convince us that Ricky Saints, who is three times smaller than Oba Femi, could fight him on equal footing and beat him. In this regard, the match gives off a bad vibe similar to Shawn Michaels (who, by the way, is the one booking this match) vs Vader. We're made to believe that a guy with literally no chance to beat the brawling big guy confidently wins and looks stronger. And on top of that, the match also gives off a bad vibe similar to Swerve Strickland vs Bobby Lashley. In this case, the hot NXT star--Oba Femi, who is genuinely original and cool--loses to a signed AEW talent. Ricky Saints is one of the most third-tier wrestlers I've seen, just parodying Rock's gimmicks--like a wrestler with a La Knight vibe. And in the end, Ricky Saints held the title for a short time. So, the question is, what was the point of all this? What was it even meant to achieve?"
[8.0] "The match was a hard-hitting, back-and-forth main event. Femi used his power to dominate early with backbreakers, suplexes, and a Chokeslam, while Ricky relied on agility and strikes, hitting dropkicks, forearms, a Samoan Drop, enziguri, and a Spear. Both men traded nearfalls and big moves, including a Tornado DDT off the ropes and attempts on the commentary table. In the climax, Femi hit Fall From Grace, but Ricky countered, landed a final Tornado DDT off the ropes, and secured the pin. A fantastic, competitive main event with strong storytelling and pacing. Ricky's victory is a slight upset over the dominant Femi, making it feel meaningful and unpredictable. Both wrestlers delivered high-impact offense and nearfalls, and the finish worked well as a surprising, yet believable, title change. This sets up Femi for a rematch while elevating Ricky as a new top champion. ***3/4"
[7.0] "I like Ricky, I think he's really solid in pretty much every major singles match he gets, but despite this being his biggest crowning moment in this company so far, this is the Oba Femi Show. Oba is so put-together as a talent relative to his experience level, and both just manhandling Ricky in the first half and selling his comebacks in the second half comes off so well as this imposing physical champion. What Ricky brought to the table was pretty standard babyface comebacks all things considered which left a lot of the sequences feeling a little basic, with Oba's desire to put some extra pain via table instead of focusing in on the win giving Ricky the opening he needed, but I felt the finish here was SO flat. Two DDTs, Ricky gets bumped twice, and then two more DDTs, and he wins? Against a dude like Oba? I don't think Oba retaining would've made my thoughts on the match improve, but a better build to a title change certainly would have. ***1/4"
[7.0] "Good match. A shock result that I'm not sure we needed. Ricky is pretty good, but I wish Oba lost the title after a real underdog feud. Oba is great and when his call up comes there will be big pressure on the brass to not fumble it."
[6.0] "This match was boring and I'm surprised that was the case. Something about it just felt... off and I can't put my finger on exactly why that was the case but it just felt like square pegs were constantly trying to be put in round holes. Moves that under normal circumstances would have felt crisp and hit with a snap seemed to lack it for this one (the one exception being Oba's chest chop on the outside.) But yeah very dissapointing that Oba's run had to end in these circumstances considering some of the incredible matches he's been apart of during his run up to this point."
[8.0] "A good match. So we have a new champion. Oba had some good matches, but I think it's a shame that he didn't have the title rivalry. I wonder what Saints will give as a champion and who his challengers will be."
[8.0] "The match itself felt lacking in multiple spots when compared to Oba's other defenses through this reign, but the moments and spots felt huge enough that this surpassed all expectations and made the title change feel monumental. The crowd was ready for saints to overcome Oba and prove that it was his mistake to not view him as a credible threat, and the announcement of Invasion prior including the graphic and everything for the Title V Title match being Trick & Oba made it feel like they were just handing away the result only to swerve the audience in the match that looked most predictable on paper. This match cements Oba as the best NXT championship reign the company has ever seen, established Saints as the biggest babyface in the roster, and truly overcame any of the weirder moments in the match itself to create the biggest title change nobody saw coming in a good minute."
[7.0] "This was a good match, but it felt like there was something missing from it. I don't know what it is, but I feel like this match could have been better. It did pick up a lot in the last couple of minutes, but also felt like Ricky should have done more at the end to put Oba away. I really thought Oba was going to kick out at the three-count. Overall, it was a good match that could have been better. Look forward to seeing where Oba goes from here and how Ricky's NXT title reign will go."
[10.0] "THOSE fans are upset but let's be honest, Ricky hit Oba with about 5 finishers and it FINALLY took him down. Oba looked like a beast while Ricky still looked like the vet that he is. Great match from these two. When Oba slapped Ricky on the chest and Ricky hit the mat I went wild lmao."
[7.0] "Congrats to Ricky for winning the NXT title but honestly this match was just okay at best. I get the idea of the DDT being Oba's krypotonite but everything regarding the closing stretch just fell flat"
[7.0] "First time I see Oba Femi. I don't really watch NXT but I know Ricky Saints/Starks from MLW and AEW. Just to paint a picture of how well I know the two guys in the ring. Based on this, Femi does his big guy thing fairly well. He's not the best worker though and not very smooth either. That's not an insult at all but Saints had to really work this match to get the most out of it. Saints has become a really good babyface performer, I must say. Both did their part and made this work as well as can be. Nice to see Saints finally get some spotlight."
[8.0] "Good main event, but maybe not the best for Oba's reign. They doing very slow start and only on the last minutes started a really great fight. Ricky doing a great job and from the middle he was like a equal opponent for Femi. And his win really shocked me, because I don't feel that now is the best moment to dethrone Oba. But it's not a bad desicion. In future we will see why they do that at No Mecy."
[7.0] "This was a very solid ending to No Mercy, as throughout the show, no title changes have happened until this point, and man, Ricky Saints, what a moment for him, as he deserves this. I wanted Je'Von Evans to be the one, but we have a whole decade to explore the story of Je'Von Evans and Oba Femi. But Ricky Saints has finally got a World Title, and he's on the King of the Mountain in NXT as he's now the new NXT World Champion. Now I expect Oba Femi to be pushed to the Main Roster soon, and I can see him dismantle Sami Zayn and become the WWE United States Champion."
[8.0] "This match between Oba Femi and Ricky Saints was intense, with Femi's power and aggression pitted against Saints' resilience and streak of counters. Femi looked dominant at times, setting up a Fall From Grace through the announce table, but Saints kept fighting, answered with four DDTs, and shocked everyone by pinning Femi to win the NXT Championship. The finish was surprising but believable, giving Saints a big moment while not making Femi look completely weak. Some moments were a little spotty or telegraphed, and I might've preferred even more dramatic urgency earlier, but overall it delivered across drama, action, and storytelling."
[7.0] "This was pretty good, but I'm still unconvinced that Ricky Saints was the right guy to beat Oba. It has hitherto seemed as though Je'Von Evans was being set up to topple the big guy, but evidently Ricky was chosen instead. And, given that the later is 35 and the former 21, there is some sense in going with Saints for the immediate future while bidding time with Evans. That being said, Saints did nothing in this match that persuaded me that he is ready for main event; his offense still looks as lacklustre as did in AEW, and nothing he did jumped out to me as truly must see action. Oba, despite how green he still is, was the more impressive prospect here. He knows how to accentuate his size and his offense is big and explosive. Just listen to that chop to Saints on the ring apron toward the end of the match. Speaking of which, the finish was fine I suppose. I like that Saints honed in on one body part using just the DDT, but the actual 1-2-3 felt unearned given how dominant Oba has otherwise been booked as. I also didn't like that the finish came just after Oba had hit the Fall from Grace for a nearfall; it was too abrupt and it undercut the struggle of Saints as the undersized underdog. Overall, a pretty good match that was let down by Saints' so-so performance and a finish that was both much too abrupt and much too soon. ***1/4"
[7.0] "Yeah, this was a good match. Nothing more, nothing less. A surprise winner and some back and forth, Oba obviously on the way up and Saints holding the fort while they build up the next guy. Won't be shocked to see him go full heel."
[7.0] "I'm waiting to be proved wrong on my assessment of Ricky as someone who has potential, but at 35, the door is closing in on him to go from "good" to "great", and even though he goes over tonight... it still doesn't prove me wrong. Don't get me wrong, it's a good match -- Oba is just that good -- but, well, the finish just encapsulates the problem: he can't sell the tornado DDT as a finisher. And even though the DDT has the most famous fall from grace as a finisher, when one of the greatest finishes in the game right now is a short-arm lariat, it's evidently not impossible to make it look like death. But there's just no sauce to any of Ricky's offence, which makes him look like he's lucky to have knocked the Ruler from the top of the mountain than slain the Goliath."
[8.0] "An excellent match to finish an fantastic show. Ricky defeating Oba seemed like the right decision, and I hope the former champion quickly moves up to the main roster and is as well-booked there as he was in NXT. The men's roster is also quite limited right now, and honestly, if Starks/Saints lost today, I can't see anyone credible enough to take the title from Obafemi. Great match, but I didn't like the ending!"
[7.0] "Good match for the NXT title. This was a classic David and Goliath story. Oba beat the hell out of Saints, who had to find ways to keep fighting and bring down the monster. Some well done near falls where it looked like Oba had it won. The finish could have been more exciting. Saints hit a DDT followed by a tornado DDT and that was it. Even the crowd didn't really buy that finish, but they still cheered for the title change. Saints is a good choice to be the new champion. 7.5/10"
[6.0] "I love Oba and Ricky can have his moments but this match felt off. Oba had his moments but he is a lot better when facing guys who fly a lot better like Je'von. Ricky seemed to wrestle like he didn't really care which is annoying as this could have been better. I'd say Oba has a bright future with his performance at the least."
[5.0] "The first time I saw Ricky was in Championship Wrestling From Hollywood about 6 years ago. It was clear he had something then and was only awaiting his chance to be noticed. It's been a long journey to this point. That aside, the match itself. Oba Femi is interesting in that he has an incredible look but it very green and sometimes gets lost in his matches but overall usually does well enough. The opening segments do a good job to setup the size disparity between the two so the logic is there. Oba works slowly and powerfully as Saints struggles to deal with the size. Saints takes three lariats to knock down Femi at one point which is a great time to call back to my point in the opening match where Evans shouldn't have knocked Briggs down with one. An aside that isn't a commentary on the match itself, but they go to the top rope and and the first 9 people in camera view in the front row all have their phones out taking video instead of just enjoying what's in front of them this second they instead take a video they will unlikely ever watch again. They do some ok stuff after this but there's a reversal on fall from grace that gets a two count despite Femi's shoulders never being anywhere near the mat. Saints wins with a tornado DDT that looked a little lackluster. It felt sudden. This was ok. An average take on David vs Goliath. **1/2"
[4.0] "Honestly surprised at how bad I found this to be. I love Oba Femi and am generally indifferent on Ricky, but neither guy had an impressive performance here at all. Saints was wrestling like he didn't care at all, his work was similar to those Jey Uso performances that get clipped up on Twitter calling him a shitter with those terrible spears. Oba is usually really explosive but we don't really see any of that here and the dynamic between the two doesn't do anything for me. I knew the finish going in was several DDTs but wow that could not have been more flatly executed and produced, terrible finish and a bizarre booking decision when you literally have Je'Von Evans right there. I understand Oba is going up but there had to be a better option. Crowd really didn't care either, frustrating end to a pretty awesome title reign."
[8.0] "A really great match. The story of the match being Oba just beating the hell out of Ricky and Ricky having to in the moment find the weakness of one of the most dominant nxt wrestlers of all time was incredible. Loved every bit of it except for the ending feeling like it came out of no where as well as Ricky not really putting much into Oba all he did was really keep fighting and surviving what Oba was doing to him wasn't much offense or damage put on to Oba. (****)"
"8 Great match. I didn't know Ricky's finish was the tornado DDT so I was stunned that won it for him. 4 DDTs to finish a match in the year of our lord 2025 is weird to see, but I love it. Oba main roster now."
[7.0] "Who on earth is rating this higher than a 7? This was an okay match, Oba Femi is still green and Ricky Saints is the definition of mid in the ring. Saints took some noticeably rough bumps due to Femi's lack of experience. The finish came out of nowhere and not in a good way. The match never reached a higher gear that made it feel special or memorable in any way. As mentioned by others, the crowd was dead for majority of the match and and they barely woke up for the finishing stretch. Compare this to any black & gold era NXT main event and this match becomes even less impressive."
[6.0] "Regular good Oba's title defence which ended with really disappointing result. Oba was very dominant on this match and he just lost to a damn tornado ddt? This was quite stupid and I didn't even think the reign of Oba should have already ended as he was doing very well as the face of NXT. Kinda similar situation to Ethan Page's title reign a year ago."
[2.0] "Most likely my least favorite Oba Femi title defense, and that is saying a lot considering some of the people he was forced to defend his title against. There are many who are upset that he dropped the title here but I do not mind, I imagine he is immediatly getting called up. However, this execution has been extremely flawed. Why not put the belt on a future star like Jevon? Why do it on No Mercy? A show that had little to no hype going in? And that's ignoring the fact that the match just was flat out bad to me. Anyway, excited to see Oba on the main roster. I hope he retires Cena."
[7.0] "If most people in the crowd are still seated at the finish, you shouldn't be able to rate matches "10" on here. It was a good bout, but the final sequence didnt hit like a major title change like this should. What got them there didnt connect in that way either."
[8.0] "This was a great main event. Oba and Ricky had a great match. The title change was sudden and random cause it felt out of nowhere but a good shocking moment. I feel like the way Ricky won it was weak cause he won it from a spinning DDT, I feel that's a weak way to win and beat Oba. Also, I feel like it ended as soon as it started to pick up some steam. It was still good, but it would've gotten higher if it was longer and Ricky won with his finisher."
[8.0] "Man Saints' finisher really does look weak. Other than that, this was a perfectly enjoyable small vs big man match but not good enough to end Oba's reign to me. ***3/4"
[7.0] "I was astonished by this match. For first half of this match, the crowd was almost completely dead and had the least heat for anything on the show. There was a chin lock during an NXT PLE title match main event during it. It did start to get better after the mid point of the match and they popped great for the finish, but I don't know. The match at Heatwave was so much better and it had so much more investment from the crowd, I think they missed their shot there. Happy for Ricky tho, hopefully he can have a good reign. Oba is a certified star and I'm sure he'll do great in the main roster"
[7.0] "good match but nothing special, the ending should be a lot better. Good that Saints won, he is a good choice for nxt champion and is time to Oba go to the main roster and maybe answer Zayn open challenge or do a feud with someone his size like Rusev."
[9.0] "An surprisingly underwhelming end to one of the best reigns in the titles history, but Sami Zayn, open challenge, Oba picks up, next main roster PLE, please book this Triple H, all sins will be forgiven."
[9.0] "A great main event. Not sure why they put the title on Ricky but I'm excited to see Oba hopefully go to the main roster and maybe answer Sami Zayns open challenge. The two had nice chemistry and put on some incredible and intense nearfalls"
[10.0] "So happy for Ricky Saints/Starks here, with much limited the men's roster is Oba Femi will surely be missed in that brand, really hope they bring some of the underused AEW wrestlers here (I'm seeing you Adam Priest) and notch it up a bit, but with much challenge from TNA roster, this could be a pretty good reign, Starks can be excellent as he was here."
[9.0] "This match served as a compelling narrative of Ricky Starks battling through adversity to prove his worth, a challenge he met definitively. While a slight over-reliance on the DDT was noticeable, the bout's overall structure was effective, culminating in a pivotal moment on a show that otherwise lacked major title changes. Furthermore, this outcome likely signals Oba Femi's impending transition to the main roster, a logical move given he has accomplished all there is to do within the NXT brand."
[10.0] "This was a truly outstanding main event, a back-and-forth battle where both competitors showcased their offensive arsenals, creating a palpable sense of unpredictability from bell to bell. Ricky's victory does register as a mild upset, considering Femi's dominant reign as champion, which suggests that WWE's long-term vision positioned Ricky as the necessary successor. The match-ending DDT from the ropes was a brilliant false-finish; many in the audience likely anticipated a kick-out, but it served as a definitive exclamation point, a signature maneuver that has sealed countless victories throughout Ricky's career. One has to speculate if this result signals an imminent main roster call-up for Oba Femi, making the title change a logical transitional step. Personally, I'm thrilled for Ricky as the new champion. The outcome successfully subverted my own prediction, so full credit to the NXT creative team for a genuinely surprising and satisfying conclusion."
[9.0] "The Revolution is here, Ricky Saints just dethroned the ruler of NXT Oba Femi by delivering like four tornado DDTs and becomes the new NXT Champion. Very well deserved for Ricky and seeing the battle scars above his peck was cool to see since shows that Oba definitely didn't make it easy for him."
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