NXT Battleground (2024)

Background 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. 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. However, in May 2023, the company revived the event for its developmental brand, NXT, which aired via WWE's livestreaming platforms. 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 Sunday, May 26 at the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. 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 Sunday, June 9, with the event also promoted as NXT Battleground: Las Vegas. Tickets went on sale on May 24. Storylines The event included matches that result from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT, and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up. At Stand & Deliver on April 6, NXT General Manager Ava announced a new secondary women's championship for NXT called the NXT Women's North American Championship, marking it the first women's secondary championship in WWE. During Week 2 of NXT: Spring Breakin', Ava announced that the inaugural champion would 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. 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. The first two qualifying matches took place on the May 14 episode of NXT, where Ruca and Legend defeated Dame and Nile, respectively. On the May 21 episode, Henley and Parker qualified by defeating Hail and Reece, respectively. The last two qualifying matches took place on the May 28 episode, where Michin and Jordan qualified by defeating Paxley and Sinclair, respectively. At Stand & Deliver on April 6, Oba Femi retained the NXT North American Championship in a triple threat match involving Josh Briggs and Dijak. Later, NXT General Manager Ava announced that Joe would replace Ivar in the triple threat match. 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 at Battleground. During Week 2 of Spring Breakin', Vice won the match. The two teams later entered a tournament for an NXT Tag Team Championship match at Stand & Deliver, which Axiom and Frazer won. On the May 21 episode of NXT, Gallows and Anderson attacked Axiom and Frazer after their successful title defense. ==Event==

Preliminary matches The event began with the ladder match to determine the inaugural NXT Women's North American Champion, featuring Sol Ruca, Jaida Parker, Michin, Fallon Henley, Lash Legend, and Kelani Jordan. In the closing moments, Ruca performed Sol Snatchers on Parker and Henley. After Michin disposed of Ruca, Parker performed a Pele Kick on Michin. Jordan then performed a split-legged moonsault on Michin and retrieved the belt to become the inaugural champion. In the second match, Nathan Frazer and Axiom defended the NXT Tag Team Championship against The O.C. (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson). In the climax, Gallows performed a chokeslam on Frazer on the ring apron followed by a Super TKO by Anderson for a nearfall. Axiom performed a Spanish Fly on Gallows and Frazer pinned Anderson with a Phoenix Splash to retain the title. After that, Shayna Baszler faced Lola Vice in an NXT Underground match. Baszler and Vice were able to escape the other's submission holds throughout the match. In the end, Vice performed a spinning backfist and struck Baszler with mounted strikes to win the match. In the fourth match, Oba Femi defended the NXT North American Championship against Wes Lee and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match. Lee performed a Cardiac Kick on Coffey, but Mark Coffey pulled the referee out of the ring. Lee then performed a suicide dive on Mark and Wolfgang. Inside the ring, Femi performed two powerbombs on Joe to retain the title. In the penultimate match, Roxanne Perez defended the NXT Women's Championship against TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace. Grace dominated most of the match. Grace performed a Kinniku Buster on Perez for a nearfall. As Perez applied a crossface, Grace countered it into a roll-up for a nearfall. In the end, Tatum Paxley tried to steal the TNA Knockouts World Championship, but Ash by Elegance (who previously wrestled in WWE as Dana Brooke) prevented that from happening, and Grace took them both out. Inside the ring, Grace performed a Death Valley Driver on Perez and attempted a Grace Driver, but Perez countered it into Pop Rox to retain the NXT Women's Championship. Main event In the main event, Trick Williams defended the NXT Championship against Ethan Page. In the climax, Page performed a Border Toss on Williams for a nearfall. After arguing with the referee, Page pummeled Williams in the corner until the referee pulled him away. Williams then performed the Trick Shot on Page to retain the title. After the match, Williams celebrated with host Sexyy Red. ==Results==