NXT TakeOver XXX (originally NXT TakeOver: Boston) was a professional wrestling and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand division that took place on August 22, 2020 at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida and was the 30th NXT TakeOver event.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mayor Marty Walsh announced the suspension of all large-scale gatherings and that no permit would be issued for an event that could draw a large crowd before September 7 (Labor Day). As such, the event was moved to NXT's home base of Full Sail University.
Six matches were contested at the event, including one on the Pre-Show. In the main event, Karrion Kross defeated Keith Lee to win the NXT Championship. On the undercard, Io Shirai defeated Dakota Kai to retain the NXT Women's Championship, Damian Priest defeated Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano and Velveteen Dream in a Ladder match to win the vacant NXT North American Championship and Adam Cole defeated Pat McAfee.
Match Results:
Triple Threat Tag Team Match to determine the #1 contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) def. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch and Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza)
I didn't watch the pre-show since I was watching AEW Saturday Dynamite prior to tuning into the main show for this card, but I'm surprised to read that result when WWE tends to lean towards factions all having championship gold all at once. This just sounds like an easy title defense to fill time between shows until the next TakeOver special. I don't understand the point behind this Breezango push. Nobody cares - I hate to say it. I get those guys wanted some sort of "redemption" after being misused and mismanaged on the main roster, but don't do that at the detriment of getting other tag teams over on NXT. Nothing makes me hit the fast forward button or change the channel quicker than when I see this team show up on my television. It's a darn shame too, because I actually liked these guys when they were coming up as singles stars.
Singles Match
Finn Bálor def. Timothy Thatcher
This was a solid opener for this show, but my only knock against this match is the fact that Thatcher worked Finn's legs the entire match, only for Finn to no sell the damage to execute his Double Foot Stomps without any issues. Like c'mon, man. Plus I honestly don't agree with Thatcher losing like this when they are supposed to be getting his "shooter" gimmick over. One loss isn't going to hurt Finn at this stage of the game, especially when he should be moving back up to the main roster at this point. It's obvious that we're not going to get that Balor vs. WALTER match anytime soon that we were promised for the NXT UK TakeOver Dublin event that was set for earlier this year, but was cancelled due to the travel bans and quarantines due to COVID-19. Send Balor back to the main roster where he can do some more good there for some of the struggling brands with the lack of star power right now.
Ladder Match for the vacant NXT North American Championship
Damian Priest def. Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano, and Velveteen Dream
This was a stupid good ladder match with a lot of stupid, yet entertaining spots to boot. On top of that there were a lot of ugly bumps in this match where I'm sure that these guys will be feeling in the morning. I'm surprised Gargano took as much punishment as he did to say that he had that close call on the last set of TV tapings. That was a truly gnarly spot between him powerbombing Cameron Grimes on top of the ladder bridged between the ropes. Grimes' body only hit the corner of that before bumping onto part of the bottom rope. Man, that shit was scary to watch. Not to mention Candice LeRae holding onto Bronson Reed's back for dear life as he splashed Gargano from the top of the ladder. Jesus F'N Christ, man. I cracked up laughing at how Velveteen Dream was dumped off the top of the ladder and down out through the commentary tables at ringside.
Say what you will about Dream, but he - along with his fellow competitors in this match - definitely brought it in this match from bell to bell. I would love to see any combination of these five men go at it again in the future, stipulations or not. This was an all-round fun match from bell-to-bell.
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| I would've told Triple H to get lost while I was about to have my "celebration"... |
FYI, the women in the hot tub with Priest for his "celebration" were Brandi Lauren (formerly IMPACT's Ava Storie, who feuded with Shotzi Blackheart in EVOLVE and happens to be one of Jay Lethal's students) and Jayme Jameson, who appeared on RAW Underground the week prior. Jameson is the ex-wife of Gunner/Jaxson Ryker of the Forgotten Sons.
Singles Match
Adam Cole def. Pat McAfee
My anticipation for this match was low going in, so I wasn't really blown away (at least not until that fool busted out a Senton Bomb into the crowd at ringside) like most were at McAfee's in-ring ability. Jim Cornette pointed out on his podcast that Pat McAfee was trained by Rip Rogers, so he's definitely going to know at least how to work in some capacity. The story of this match has been saying that McAfeee has only had a mere TWO WEEKS to prepare for this match when in reality he has been training for wrestling for several YEARS now.
As good as McAfee looked in this match, I thought it was major disservice to Adam Cole to have McAfee last as long as he did. Cole has been the longest reigning NXT Champion in the history of that brand before losing that title a little more than a month ago to Keith Lee. This match had no business going on as long as it did, but I guess NXT was doing the same thing IMPACT Wrestling did a while ago with DeAngelo Williams to show off that McAfee could go with the best that NXT has to offer.
I'll admit that they had me doubting Cole was going to win for a second there off the punt kick for the near-fall. In the end, it was the Panama Sunrise (Canadian Destroyer) that sealed the deal. That made me happy to see a Canadian Destroyer finally win a match for once on this brand instead of being a fucking transition spot.
I have a question for people to think about though. Who actually benefited from this match and build? Pat McAfee pretty much solidified himself as the top heel for the NXT brand in the segment on the go-home episode prior to this PPV. Adam Cole and the rest of Undisputed Era were made to look like fools during that segment as well when they allowed McAfee to talk all of that shit for roughly ten minutes, only to do absolutely NOTHING and go home with their tails between their legs. Sure, Cole said that line that he would make McAfee his bitch at TakeOver, but I can't see any positives to this feud at all. Where does Cole and the Undisputed Era go from here? I guess they could have them feud with Legado del Fantasma, but that would be a step down for the longest reigning NXT Champion in history to be in a feud for the Cruiserweight Championship - not to mention that would highlight McAfee's comments about Cole's size or lack of thereof.
Singles Match for the NXT Women's Championship
Io Shirai (c) def. Dakota Kai (with Raquel González)
There was a scary moment early into the match where Io knocked herself loopy off a backflip of all moves while evading one of Dakota Kai's attacks. Forunately, it didn't seem to hinder Io's performance for the rest of the match though. I hope it doesn't come out that Io suffered some sort of a concussion from such a simple maneuver.
"King Kota" dominated a lot of this match to the point where I was starting to question whether or not Io really was going to retain here. I remember Dakota Kai from back when she was wrestling as "Evie" back in Shimmer and on the indies and it's great to see how far she has evolved her character and in-ring abilities. That being said, I don't see her as NXT Women's Champion - BUT I do see her ready to take on the main roster if they want to move the pairing of her and Raquel Gonzalez up with the upcoming WWE Draft right around the corner. I don't see why don't they call up Tegan Nox and Mia Yim up there too.
I felt the ending here fell flat when Raquel took FOREVER to come in and lay out Io following the referee bump for the near-fall. That just made it look silly when Io popped up hit her moonsault on Kai and Raquel at ringside, only to roll in Kai and hit the same move again for the win. It just came off bad in execution when it seemed like those events were done out of sequence or something. Maybe Raquel was in the wrong spot at the wrong time? I dunno. I just know that it didn't look good at all.
Seeing Raquel and Rhea Ripley of all people stare down was interesting. I'll say that much. I can't say that was a match that I was clamoring to see. I'm disappointed that we didn't get Rhea Ripley vs. Mercedes Martines one-on-one for this TakeOver event. If we don't get that on free TV over on WWE NXT on the USA Network in a few weeks, then that's going to be stupid booking in that regard. It seems like they are planting the seeds for Io and Rhea one-on-one down the road, but I don't know if I like the idea of her going for the NXT Women's Championship so soon, especially when they could go with an idea from one podcast/online comment I remember reading. The idea was to have Rhea and Shotzi as a tag team and would challenge for and win the Women's Tag Team Championships from Bayley and Sasha Banks. If you ask me, I like that idea much more than the makeshift team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler that was half-assed together on Monday Night RAW (8/24/20) following this event.
Singles Match for the NXT Championship
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Keith Lee (c)
From the moment I saw how elaborate Kross' entrance was for this match, I uttered out "This dude is fucking winning this match" to my friends that I was chatting it up with over Discord. There was no doubt in my mind that they would go through all of that for one guy's entrance as the challenger no less and NOT have him win the title here. That shit was fucking incredible. Then Keith Lee comes out to pretty much nothing added to usual banger of an entrance theme he normally has. That was the tale of the tape right there.
Then the bell rung and Lee showed that he was ALL business, knocking Kross across the ring. I like this no nonsense Keith Lee more than the gentle giant that he is normally portrayed by. This is the change in demeanor that I crave to see from Big E whenever he decides to kick the New Day to the curve and go all in on a singles push. I'm not talking about that silent, just stand there and look tough bullshit he was doing with AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler either. I'm talking about this strictly business (shout out to Nick Aldis in NWA), Hulk Smash attitude that Keith Lee brought to this match.
Lee's rage got the better of him as he smashed his arm against the plexiglass at ringside and trapped his arm between the barricade, which allowed Kross to smash it between those two surfaces. From here on out, Kross systemically tore down Lee's defenses as he continued to target that limb - from Lee's wrist to his elbow and up to his shoulder. The irony of that is that Kross suffered a legitimate shoulder injury (separated shoulder) during this match, but continued on and powered through the rest of this match regardless.
The story of the match was that no matter how hard Keith Lee powered through, Kross' sheer brutality and ruthlessness was too much to overcome for the Limitless One. In fact, Kross proved that Lee DID have limits as he succumbed to the Doomsday Saito from off the top rope. I thought the finish was rather anti-climatic, especially given the build-up to this match. That being said, NXT got where they wanted to go with this mega-push for Karrion Kross, even though I don't necessarily agree with pushing the guy so fast at this point.
The following night, Keith Lee was announced to be the newest addition to the Monday Night RAW roster, so we see why NXT was so dead set him to drop those two titles so fast over the past two months. (Crosses fingers) I'm praying that they don't fuck this up. I honestly see him being Apollo Crews' "back-up" to deal with the Hurt Business, but I wouldn't go that route with him. I would debut him as a part of the Hurt Business and naturally have him split away from the faction to go on his own down the road, much like The Rock with the Nation of Domination. You want this guy to go in as a wrecking machine and that's definitely the group you would want him to be a part of and learn from in terms of veterans in the business.
As for Karrion Kross, I hope his shoulder separation isn't too serious as I would hate to see that his monster push was all for nothing if he has to open NXT on Wednesday night by forfeiting the title.
Afterthoughts:
As of this posting (8/26/20), Keith Lee has officially debuted on Monday Night RAW and is set to face Randy Orton at Sunday's WWE Payback PPV while the verdict is still out on how serious is Karrion Kross' separated shoulder injury. Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley are set to face against Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez, making me wonder what the hell are they thinking not booking the one-on-one match against Rhea Ripley and Mercedes Martinez following what happened on NXT last week. Has Triple H finally ran out of good ideas for this thing or it's becoming painfully apparent that the same shitty booking from the main roster is starting to infect NXT just the same? If we can all be honest with ourselves for a minute, but NXT has been "borrowing" ideas from early to mid-2000s Ring of Honor, Shimmer, and New Japan for a while now. Sooner or later, we should have all seen it coming with the well running dry eventually. That just means that NXT is going to have to start getting creative or actually cook up their own original ideas.
If Kross' injury doesn't require surgery and he can work around it, I suggest opening tonight's (8/26/20) NXT with him and Scarlett laying dominion over NXT and just sit out on the stage watching matches from a pair of thrones like Mil Muertes did at the start of Season Two of Lucha Underground, Shao Khan-style like this is Mortal Kombat as he surveys the landscape of potential challengers worthy of his time.
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