Gold Rush, Week One - NXT recap for November 18, 2025

"All Ego" Ethan Page and Chelsea Green retain the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championships against Joe Hendry and Thea Hail after Ethan shoves Hendry into Thea as she has Chelsea in a Kimura Lock, allowing Chelsea to hit the Un-Pretty-Her to retain.

Backstage, Lola Vice is talking with Jordynne Grace, unhappy that Ethan Page and Chelsea Green are still champions. Meanwhile, Jordynne Grace is not happy with Kelani Jordan, who soon shows up and chews Lola out for kicking her out of the locker room. She also says jealousy does not look good on Jordynne when Jordynne says that Kelani is crashing out because this is her last week with the title, and that she will be champion for a long time as she tells Jordynne she will see her next week.

Backstage, we hear from General Manager Ava, who announces that the Iron Survivor Challenges for both the men and the women will return at Deadline this year. This year, instead of holding qualifying matches to see who enters the matches, one individual will select the competitors for both matches, and will make their decision next week. That individual will be none other than John Cena.

Rapper Lil Yachty is seen in the crowd.

Sarah Schreiber interviews Tavion Heights in the crowd. Tavion says 2025 has been a wild ride, but he does not regret being in the No Quarter Catch Crew (Charlie Dempsey, Wren Sinclair, Kendal Grey) as he learned a lot from them. He hopes that John Cena picks him for the Iron Survivor Challenge. All of a sudden, he is attacked by Josh Briggs. Briggs and Tavion brawl their way to the merchandise table, and referees have to restore order.

Backstage, Zaria asks Sol Ruca if she is sure that she wants to face Blake Monroe. Sol Ruca says she is sure and that she is the only person who can get the NXT Women's North American title back from Blake.

NASCAR driver and 2025 Xfinity Series Champion Jesse Love is seen in the crowd.

Blake Monroe retains the NXT Women's North American Championship against Sol Ruca after ripping Sol Ruca's knee brace off and putting her in a single leg crab, which causes Zaria to throw in the towel to keep Sol Ruca from being injured again.

Backstage, Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, Lainey Reid) look forward to their title matches. Jacy Jayne says that Gold Rush is their event and that it all starts tonight, and soon they will all be draped in gold.

Ricky Saints heads to the ring. Before he can speak, Oba Femi also heads to the ring. Saints admits he knew that Oba Femi would return sooner or later after he beat him to become NXT Champion, and that while Oba left to recollect himself, the train kept rolling, and now, Oba Femi cannot just walk up and take the title from him. Oba says that Saints is still the same person as he left him, and that he took his time to come back as he did not want to get involved in NXT and Total Nonstop Action's rivalry and competing for "best dressed" with Saints, stating that it is all beneath him. He says he has come back the best that he can be, and now "The Absolute Era" is over and he is back to end it and become NXT Champion again. Saints gives Oba Femi his title rematch at Deadline, then Trick Williams shows up and says it is not over until he wins back the NXT Championship. All of a sudden, Trick is attacked with a chair from behind by Myles Borne, who tells him that he is done and that payback is a bitch before stating that he will be the men's Iron Survivor and that he will see either Saints or Oba at New Year's Evil.

Backstage, General Manager Ava confronts Myles Borne for his actions earlier, and gets his match with Trick Williams next week. As this goes on, Ava finds out that Tavion Heights and Josh Briggs are still brawling backstage. Referees show up just before Briggs choke slams Tavion through a table.

DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) retains the NXT Tag Team Championships against Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater.

Backstage, Wren Sinclair and Kendal Grey have a conversation. Kendal Grey says she is locked in and ready to retain the Evolve Women's Champonship. They also talk about Charlie Dempsey suddenly showing up in Total Nonstop Action before refocusing on Kendal's match.

We hear from Shiloh Hill, who is at his computer. He talks about his backgrounds in college football and electronics, then talks about how he would shirk off school as a kid before getting into online classes in high school and completing them in one week while also dabbling in conspiracy theories and the Dark Web. He then found his love for football (and got suspended in the first week for suplexing the starting tight end) and ended up playing for Stanford.

We see a video package for "Super" Sean Legacy vs. Jackson Drake for the Evolve Championship.

Backstage, Sol Ruca is upset that she is not champion. Sol Ruca says she had Blake Monroe, but Zaria says she did not want Sol Ruca to be re-injured over her pride. Sol Ruca says her pride made her a double champion, but Sol Ruca still is not happy.

Jacy Jayne beats Tatum Paxley to become NXT Women's Champion after The Culling (Shawn Spears, Niko Vance, Izzi Dame) turn on Tatum, with Spears and Vance keeping Tatum from getting into the ring so that Izzi can attack her from the side. Jacy then hits the Rolling Encore to win the match and the title.

Here are the highlights from tonight's show!

Here are the top ten moments from tonight's show!