Ricky Saints walked into NXT Stand & Deliver with the North American Championship around his waist and a target the size of AEW’s talent release list on his back. He walked out still champ, but not without limping through a war with Ethan Page that felt more like a personal payback than a wrestling match.
The two former AEW stars kicked off the NXT main show after the women’s fatal four-way tag lit up the pre-show—and Saints wasted no time trying to prove that his April 1st win over Shawn Spears was no April Fool’s fluke.
But Page wasn’t here to play nice. He opened the match with dominance, treating Saints like a training dummy in a Canadian anger management session. At one point, Saints dove from the middle rope to the outside and bounced off the announce desk like a tax refund check in Florida, immediately grabbing his knee in agony.
Back inside the ring, Saints climbed to the top, only to be met by Page in full “Nope” mode. The challenger tried to muscle the champ into oblivion, but Saints slid free and planted him with a powerbomb for a near fall that looked like it came from the very edge of probability.
Then came the Confidence Breaker and the Ego’s Edge—two finishers in a row that would’ve kept 90% of the NXT roster down. But Saints kicked out, because Saints has plot armor and maybe just a little divine intervention.
With the crowd rallying behind him, Saints rallied, hit a spear off the ropes, and then drove the point home—literally—with a Roshambo that could’ve knocked the gel out of Page’s hair.
1. 2. 3. Still champ.
This was Saints’ first title defense, and against a name like Page, it wasn’t just a win—it was a statement. AEW may have let him go, but in NXT, Saints is looking more and more like a main-event prophecy in the making.