NXT Battleground (2024)

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NXT Battleground: Las Vegas
Promotional poster featuring the lights of Las Vegas
PromotionWWE
Brand(s)NXT
DateJune 9, 2024
CityEnterprise, Nevada
VenueUFC Apex
WWE Network event chronology
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The 2024 NXT Battleground (marketed as NXT Battleground: Las Vegas), is an upcoming professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It will be the second annual Battleground held for the promotion's developmental brand NXT, and the seventh Battleground overall. In partnership with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), WWE's sister company under TKO Group Holdings, the event will take place on June 9, 2024, at the UFC Apex in the Las Vegas suburb of Enterprise, Nevada. It will be WWE's first event held at the venue and will air via the company's livestreaming platforms.

Production[edit]

Background[edit]

Battleground was previously an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event established by WWE in 2013. The inaugural 2013 event was held in October, but then moved to July from 2014 to 2017.[1][2] Battleground was then discontinued after the 2017 event as WWE ceased producing brand-exclusive PPVs for the main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown, resulting in less PPV events held per year.[3] However, in May 2023, the company revived the event for its developmental brand, NXT, which aired via WWE's livestreaming platforms.[4]

On January 26, 2024, WWE announced a second NXT Battleground, and seventh Battleground overall, thus establishing it as an annual livestreaming event for NXT. The event was originally scheduled for Memorial Day weekend on May 26 at the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia.[5] However, on April 22, 2024, the company announced that in partnership with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), WWE's sister company under TKO Group Holdings, the event would instead be held at the UFC Apex in the Las Vegas suburb of Enterprise, Nevada on June 9, with the event also promoted as NXT Battleground: Las Vegas.[6]

Storylines[edit]

The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT, and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up.[7][8]

At Stand & Deliver on April 6, NXT General Manager Ava announced a new championship title in NXT called the NXT Women's North American Championship. The title will be the equivalent to the men's counterpart title, marking it the first women's secondary championship in WWE.[9] At Week 2 of Spring Breakin', Ava announced that the inaugural champion will be crowned at Battleground in a six-woman ladder match, with the participants determined through qualifying matches and the participants in those qualifiers would come from the results of a NXT Women's Combine.[10] The combine evaluated the athletes' speed, power, strength, and conditioning with the top 12 moving on to the qualifiers. The top 12 from the combine in order were Sol Ruca, Chase University's Thea Hail, OTM's Jaida Parker, Brinley Reece, The O.C.'s Michin (from SmackDown), Fallon Henley, The Meta-Four's Lash Legend, Diamond Mine's Ivy Nile (from Raw), Izzi Dame, Kelani Jordan, Tatum Paxley, and Wren Sinclair.[11] The first two qualifying matches took place on the May 14 episode of NXT, where Ruca and Legend defeated Dame and Nile, respectively.[12] On the May 21 episode, Henley and Parker qualified by defeating Hail and Reece, respectively.[13]

At Stand & Deliver on April 6, Oba Femi retained the NXT North American Championship in a triple threat match also involving Josh Briggs.[9] On the following episode of NXT, when Femi celebrated his successful title defense, he was interrupted by Raw's Ivar, who wanted a title match. Femi accepted, and the match took place on Night 2 of Spring Breakin', where Femi retained the title. After the match, Wes Lee, who had been sidelined with a back injury since December 2023, made his return and stared down Femi.[10] On the May 14 episode, Lee, Ivar, and Briggs argued over who should get a title match. Femi decided to let the three fight amongst themselves, and a triple threat match between Lee, Ivar, and Briggs was scheduled for the following week, where the winner would face Femi for his title at NXT Battleground. Later that same night, Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang) made their return attacking the three competitors.[12] Ivar ended up injured and out of action for an indefinite period of time.[14] Later, NXT General Manager Ava announced that Joe would replace Ivar on the triple threat match.[15] The following week, both Lee and Joe pinned Briggs, and the two men were considered the winner. Later that night, NXT General Manager Ava set up a triple threat match between Femi, Lee, and Joe for the title.[13]

At week 1 of Spring Breakin', Raw's Shayna Baszler returned to NXT to accompany Lola Vice in her NXT Underground match against also Raw's Natalya, who was accompanied by Karmen Petrovic.[16] At Week 2 of Spring Breakin', Vice won the match.[10] After that, the rivalry between the two teams continued, and on the May 14 episode of NXT, Natalya and Petrovic challenged Baszler and Vice to a tag team match on next week's episode, which was made official.[12] There, Natalya and Petrovic won the match. After that, Vice turned on Baszler, and a brawl started between the two. NXT General Manager Ava then announced a match between the two at NXT Battleground, where Baszler proposed a NXT Underground match, which was made official.[13]

Matches[edit]

No.Matches*Stipulations
1Sol Ruca vs. Lash Legend vs. Fallon Henley vs. Jaida Parker vs. 2 TBDLadder match for the inaugural NXT Women's North American Championship[17]
2Oba Femi (c) vs. Wes Lee vs. Joe CoffeyTriple threat match for the NXT North American Championship[18]
3Shayna Baszler vs. Lola ViceNXT Underground match[19]
4Roxanne Perez (c) vs. TBDSingles match for the NXT Women's Championship
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
*Card subject to change

References[edit]

  1. ^ Salgado, Sebastian (July 30, 2013). "WWE officially announces the Battleground PPV". Super Luchas. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  2. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 24, 2017). "WWE Battleground 2017 tickets available now". WWE. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  3. ^ WWE.com Staff (February 17, 2018). "WWE pay-per-views just got bigger for 2018!". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  4. ^ Defelice, Robert (March 30, 2023). "Shawn Michaels Announces NXT Battleground 2023 Will Emanate From Lowell, Massachusetts". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  5. ^ Russell, Skylar (January 26, 2024). "NXT Battleground To Take Place In Savannah, GA On Sunday, May 26; WWE Announces Additional 2024 Dates". Fightful. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  6. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 22, 2024). "NXT Battleground To Be Held At UFC APEX On June 9". Fightful. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  7. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  8. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Moore, John (April 6, 2024). "NXT Stand & Deliver results: Moore's live review of Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov vs. Tony D'Angelo for the NXT Title, Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Moore, John (April 30, 2024). "NXT TV results (4/30): Moore's review of Spring Breakin' Night Two with Oba Femi vs. Ivar for the NXT North American Title, Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs. AOP for the NXT Tag Team Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  11. ^ Moore, John (May 7, 2024). "NXT TV results (5/7): Moore's review of Roxanne Perez vs. Chelsea Green for the NXT Women's Title, Wes Lee vs. Josh Briggs, Karmen Petrovic vs. Shayna Baszler, Mia Yim vs. Arianna Grace". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Moore, John (May 14, 2024). "NXT TV results (5/14): Moore's review of Sol Ruca vs. Izzi Dame, and Ivy Nile vs. Lash Legend in NXT Women's NA Title qualifiers, Charlie Dempsey vs. Tony D'Angelo for the NXT Heritage Cup, Je'Von Evans vs. Noam Dar". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  13. ^ a b c Moore, John (May 21, 2024). "NXT TV results (5/21): Moore's review of Joe Coffey vs. Wes Lee vs. Josh Briggs for a shot at the NXT NA Title, Thea Hail vs. Fallon Henley, and Brinley Reece vs. Jaida Parker in NXT Women's NA Title qualifiers". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  14. ^ Russell, Skylar (May 16, 2024). "Ivar Injured, Out Of Action Indefinitely After Gallus Attack On 5/14 WWE NXT". Fightful. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  15. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (May 20, 2024). "Joe Coffey Replaces Ivar In Triple Threat Match On 5/21 NXT". Fightful. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  16. ^ Moore, John (April 23, 2024). "NXT TV results (4/23): Moore's review of Spring Breakin' Night One with Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship, Roxanne Perez vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Tatum Paxley for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  17. ^ "NXT Women's North American Title Six-Pack Ladder Match". WWE. May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  18. ^ WWE.com Staff (May 21, 2024). "NXT North American Champion Oba Femi vs. Wes Lee vs. Joe Coffey – Triple Threat Match". WWE. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  19. ^ WWE.com Staff (May 21, 2024). "Shayna Baszler vs. Lola Vice – NXT Underground". WWE. Retrieved May 21, 2024.

External links[edit]