Ricky Saints Closes NXT Run After April 28 Loss
ricky saints closed his NXT run on April 28 with a loss to Shiloh Hill, then used the post-show promo to thank the crowd for carrying him through a year-long stretch. The farewell came as he heads to SmackDown, ending a run that included multiple NXT titles.
Shiloh Hill Ends The Run
Saints’ last NXT match ended with Hill getting the win. The result mattered because it was the final checkpoint before the move to WWE’s main roster, and it came after Saints had already spent a year building his name in NXT.
He did not leave quietly. In the promo after the match, he framed the night as a thank-you rather than a finish line, and he pointed straight to Friday Night SmackDown as the next place fans could keep watching him.
Ricky Saints Recalls February 11
Saints tied the farewell back to his February 11, 2025 WWE NXT debut, saying the crowd welcomed him after he stood up there on February 7 and talked his stuff. He said fans chanted “Ricky Starks,” made sure he remembered who he was, and then watched him compete on the 11th.
A few months after that match, he won the North American Championship. Saints also said the run was not easy, but that he busted his a**, did what was needed for business, and kept moving through it.
“I should be thanking you. I should be thanking the people in the production truck. All of them. February 7, I stood up there, and I talked my stuff, and you guys welcomed me, and you chanted ‘Ricky Starks’, and you made sure I remembered who I was. On the 11th, I had my match, and then a few months after that, I won the North American Championship. I want you to understand something, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I came here, but you welcomed me,” he said.
SmackDown Awaits Saints
The farewell also underlined the move itself. Saints is 36 years old, a former NXT Champion and former NXT North American Champion, and the April 28 match closed out the NXT chapter that followed his WWE debut and multiple title wins.
“You guys repaid me with love, with stroke, with buying the shirts, with all of that. I don’t think that I would even get this far had it not been for the people here, and definitely for the people in the back,” he said. Saints ended by telling the crowd, “So, if this is the last time that you may see me in this NXT ring, then thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I would hope that this Friday on SmackDown, I would hope that you’d watch me there too.”
