{"id":138763,"date":"2025-07-24T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=138763"},"modified":"2025-07-24T00:10:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:10:32","slug":"will-santino-marella-actually-challenge-ethan-page-on-nxt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/07\/24\/will-santino-marella-actually-challenge-ethan-page-on-nxt\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Santino Marella Actually Challenge Ethan Page on WWE NXT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the July 22, 2025 episode of WWE NXT, Ethan Page unveiled a new look<\/a> for the NXT North American Championship. He told everyone in the audience that the championship should be representative of Canada\u2019s dominance over Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a heel and a real-life Canadian, his words aren\u2019t that surprising. Very quickly, the arena was filled with a chorus of boos. He lifted the cover to unveil the Canadian flag, where the brown leather had been.<\/p>\n

As he started to sing O Canada, the TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella came to the ring<\/a>. Berating him about his behavior, he decided that he had all the qualifications of a champion. Seeing Marella compete in a WWE ring again would be great. But is this a ploy for someone bigger to emerge and challenge for the title?<\/p>\n

Santino Marella Still Has Fight Left in Him<\/strong><\/h1>\n

As TNA Director of Authority, he is one of many authority figures in professional wrestling today. Most of them are either recently retired or have been retired for some time. It would make sense for him not to be wrestling for many years, given his role.<\/p>\n

However, those assumptions are correct. Yes, he\u2019s 51 years old and hasn\u2019t wrestled for WWE in nearly ten years. However, he has made several appearances on the independent circuit and has wrestled for TNA on multiple occasions since signing with them.<\/p>\n

Just in the past month and a half, he wrestled Robert Stone at TNA Against All Odds and teamed with Lola Vice against La Hiedra and Mr. Iguana at AAA Verano De Escandalo. He may be an authority figure, but there\u2019s no question he can still go. Marella facing Page will prove that he is still a reliable force in the ring.<\/p>\n

Could This Be a Set Up for Ethan Page?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the NXT and TNA partnership in full swing, there are surprises every week. At Slammiversary, the two top titles were retained and won by NXT wrestlers. Storyline-wise, it probably doesn\u2019t make TNA happy. There\u2019s also the talking point that a TNA wrestler has held no NXT championship.<\/p>\n

Given those facts, it would be reasonable to think that Marella\u2019s declaration is a setup. Page wants to fight Marella, instantly accepting it because he thinks it\u2019s an easy victory.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be preparing to face him next Tuesday, not thinking that something else is going to happen. Having a TNA wrestler come in at the last minute and win the NXT North American Championship will not only bruise Page\u2019s ego but give TNA a chance to hold NXT gold. A classic fake out would help TNA regain some momentum while making Page very frustrated.<\/p>\n

Either Option Will Create a Memorable Match<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are some match scenarios in wrestling where either option is the right call. Having a dominant champion win will make the underdog more determined. Choosing an overmatched challenger to shock everyone helps the champion move up the card or go to the main roster. This upcoming match also falls into that category.<\/p>\n

Even if Marella doesn\u2019t win the NXT North American Championship, getting him in the ring is a win. The TNA Director of Authority wrestling an NXT champion will bring new layers to their partnership. On the other hand, not wrestling would be good for Marella as well.<\/p>\n

The biggest complaint arising from Slammiversary was the victories of Jacy Jayne and Trick Williams. Having someone from TNA to take Page\u2019s title will offset some of those complaints. No matter who Page\u2019s opponent will be next Tuesday, the match will definitely be important to the NXT and TNA partnership.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Stay tuned to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on WWE NXT and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0Netflix<\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0The CW<\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0Tubi<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0A&E<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0Peacock<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (WWE Speed<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the July 22, 2025 episode of WWE NXT, Ethan Page unveiled a new look for the NXT North American Championship. He told everyone in the audience that the championship should be representative of Canada\u2019s dominance over Mexico and the United States. As a heel and a real-life Canadian, his words aren\u2019t that surprising. Very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":138789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,4,5,3],"tags":[157,2537,1079],"class_list":["post-138763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-ethan-page","tag-nxt-north-american-championship","tag-santino-marella"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138790,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138763\/revisions\/138790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}