NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver - Nights 1 & 2 (April 7 - 8, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver was a professional wrestling television special, pay-per-view, and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on April 7 and 8, 2021, and was broadcast from the Capitol Wrestling Center, hosted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

It was the 34th NXT TakeOver event and was the first to take place over the span of two nights. Both nights aired on the WWE Network, thus marking the first WWE in-ring event to air on Peacock's WWE Network channel in the United States following the shutdown of the aforementioned service's standalone American version on April 4. The first night aired in NXT's weekly Wednesday night timeslot on the USA Network, making it the first TakeOver to air on television and the final NXT broadcast on Wednesdays before moving to Tuesdays on April 13. The second night aired on traditional pay-per-view in addition to the WWE Network.

Six matches were contested on Night 1 at the event, including one match on the pre-show. In the main event for Night 1, Raquel González defeated Io Shirai to win the NXT Women's Championship. Other prominent matches included Walter defeating Tommaso Ciampa to retain the NXT United Kingdom Championship and MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) and Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) to win the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship.

Six matches were also contested on Night 2 of the event, including one match on the pre-show. Two matches were promoted as main event matches for Night 2. In what was the final match on the card, Kyle O'Reilly defeated Adam Cole in an unsanctioned match. In the penultimate match that was promoted as the other main event match, Karrion Kross defeated Finn Bálor to win the NXT Championship. In another prominent match on the undercard which opened the event, Santos Escobar defeated Jordan Devlin in a ladder match to determine the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion.

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Night 1 (April 7)

Match Results:

Kick-Off: Singles Match

Zoey Stark def. Toni Storm

While I think the world of Zoey Stark in terms of being an incredible worker and enhancement talent, I didn't think that she should have been beating Toni Storm without any build or storyline. It would have made more sense for her to beat Dakota Kai in this spot, given their last few matches on NXT programming. I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking with this decision. 

Despite that though? This was a fun match, so I can't complain too much about the ladies starting things off hot - in more ways than one. 

Singles Match

Pete Dunne def. Kushida

At this point, I'm convinced that NXT has absolutely no idea what to do with Kushida and I'm sure he has to be regretting his decision to leave New Japan to come to NXT. This company has done nothing but give him numerous start and stop pushes with little to no payoffs. That being said, this match was fine for what it was worth though, so I can't complain about this being a solid opener. 

Six-Man Gauntlet Eliminator match

Bronson Reed def. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Cameron Grimes, LA Knight, Dexter Lumis, and Leon Ruff

Winner received an NXT North American Championship match on Night 2

I honestly didn't care about majority of this, but was getting into the final moments between Swerve, Reed, and LA Knight. I was surprised that Dexter Lumis was eliminated though as I had him pegged to face Gargano in Night 2 to pick up where their feud from the last TakeOver event and the ongoing drama and angst within The Way. The MVP of that match was easily Bronson Reed by far. 

Singles Match for the NXT United Kingdom Championship

Walter (c) def. Tommaso Ciampa

This was easily the best match between both nights of TakeOver for WrestleMania week. If you don't watch anything else from Night 1 and 2, go out of your way to watch this match. That's the beauty of Walter's matches though. Only he can do these matches. If everyone else tried to work like this, it would come off fake and boring. With Walter you can buy into anything this MFer does could end a match. 

Excellent psychology in this match from bell to bell. The narrative for this match was that Walter was too reckless early on in his efforts to put Ciampa away and smashed his hand through the commentary table. That became the Achilles' heel that Ciampa sank his teeth into like a rabid animal for the duration of the match that gave the seemingly indestructible Walter a weak link in his armor. It ultimately wasn't enough to keep Walter down for good, but it made for a great recurring weak spot to target that gave Ciampa some convincing near-falls here. Ciampa definitely put up a great fight, but it ended just the way I figured it would. 

Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship

MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) and Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde)

I'm so sick and tired of GYV and Legado Del Fantasma's boys that I was pulling for MSK from bell to bell. This was a surprisingly good match - something that this dying tag team division on NXT desperately needed in the wake of its lack of interesting teams, outside of MSK. The right team won too with MSK going over, which was something that should have happened when they won the Dusty Tag Team Classic in the first place. I thought the winners of the Classic got a title shot in previous years or am I getting that mixed up with something else?

Singles Match for the NXT Women's Championship

Raquel González (with Dakota Kai) defeated Io Shirai (c)

Maybe it was just me, but Io Shirai got in far too much offense here and forced Raquel to work from underneath as if she was the babyface in this match, which came off pretty damn odd to me. There were a lot of great spots and moments in this match, but when Raquel finally hit that powerbomb on Io, there was no doubt in my mind that the title was changing hands tonight. 

Raquel was the right one to dethrone Io and at the right time too. Io's had a great run as champion for over 300+ days, but I could easily see her sticking around on NXT for another year to work with the debuting Sarray (who was in the crowd with Stephanie McMahon) and few other noteworthy women in the NXT women's division. As much as I want to see Asuka versus Io Shirai in a WWE ring, I'm willing to wait a bit longer before Vince McMahon gets his hands on her and muddle up her character in the same capacity as so many joshi women before her.

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Night 2 (April 8)

Match Results:

Kick-Off: Tag Team Match

Killian Dain and Drake Maverick defeated Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango)

Winner receives a future NXT Tag Team Championship match.

You guys and gals know how I feel about both of these tag teams and I really didn't care about this match at all. I went and did everything else but watch this match while it was airing on the kick-off show. 

As of NXT on April 13, 2021, Dain and Drake got their match against the NXT Tag Team champs and came up short, only to get laid out by Imperium shortly thereafter. I personally think it's beneath Imperium to even entertain the thought of feuding with them, but it's whatever at this point if they want to feed Drake to the slaughterhouse that is Walter next. Now him against Dain could make for decent hoss fight though... 

Ladder Match to determine the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion

Santos Escobar (Interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion) defeated Jordan Devlin (NXT Cruiserweight Champion)

Despite liking Escobar during his days as King Cuerno in Lucha Underground, I can't say that I have been overly thrilled at his run in NXT so far. With the wealth of sexual allegations against him, I'm surprised that Jordan Devlin is even allowed on NXT programming period, especially when the Velveteen Dream has been completely removed off of the brand over the past year. I said it on Twitter during the show and I feel the same after the fact - it was going to be very telling for WWE with all of the media attention on them for WrestleMania week in terms of whether or not they were going to "award" Devlin in this match and continue parading him around as the Cruiserweight Champion. 

For their sakes, they made the wise decision and went with Escobar defeating him to unify the two titles. As for this match itself, they had a lot of wild spots that took me by surprise involving the two ladders and really went above and beyond to punish their bodies in this match. Not all of this was very good and not all of it was all bad either. I was pretty indifferent to majority of this match until they started turning the dial to eleven with crazy bumps.

The finish looked like Escobar killed Devlin off of that bump. Jesus F'N Christ, man. 

EDIT: I'm adding this after watching NXT (April 13, 2021) and I'm shocked that Kushida answered Escobar's open challenge and actually won. What was the point of having him lose on TakeOver then if he was going to get the title a few days later? I thought it would have made more sense that Pete Dunne answered the challenge instead in that case and Kushida got his win back down the road. 

Tag Team Match for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship

Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart (c) def. The Way (Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell)

I honestly didn't care for anyone in this match save for Indi Hartwell, who was doing well for her TakeOver debut. This match could have EASILY been on a typical NXT episode before or after this event. I don't know why they wasted a spot with this. 

I dare say that the Eclipse Ember Moon did on Candice and Indi for the finish was one of the worst I have ever seen her execute in NXT though. I hate to say it, but the more I see Ember Moon back on NXT, the more I am losing interest in her character. It's a darn shame too because I was initially excited to see her back to the brand when they weren't doing absolutely nothing with her on the main roster before she got injured, only to see her comeback to the NXT brand and just seems to be going through the motions. Where is that fire she had when she was first part of this brand? 

Singles Match for the NXT North American Championship

Johnny Gargano (c) (with Austin Theory) def. Bronson Reed

I'm not going to lie, but I was downright disgusted with this show after Gargano retained here. After all of these start and stop pushes with Bronson Reed and he really had a standout performance on Night 2, you would think that it was going to be a given that he would pick up the win here. Nope, Gargano retains, only to continue hogging air time on the weekly NXT shows with his bland heel gimmick and eye-rolling antics with his faction. God, I hope they split The Way up for we can see less of this fool every week after someone beats the tar out of him and takes that title from him. 

Y'know... Common sense booking would have had Reed win here and have him start a program with LA Knight in the weeks that followed. I'm just sayin'. Knight has lost clean to Reed since his debut and hasn't gotten any retaliation. 

Singles Match for the NXT Championship

Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Finn Bálor (c)

In hindsight, I think this match should have closed out the show. Much like the Walter/Ciampa match on Night 1, this match played out from bell to bell with great psychology and sheer brutality. Balor got his shots in Kross, but Kross wasn't taking that punishment laying down. He dished it back out tenfold and reclaimed the title that he never lost to begin with. This was easily the best match on Night 2 in my eyes. 

I still have my fingers crossed that this loss frees Balor up to challenge Walter next for the NXT UK Championship. C'mon, we've been denied that match for over a year thanks to the pandemic. Everyone else may have forgotten, but I sure as hell haven't. 

Unsanctioned Match

Kyle O'Reilly defeated Adam Cole

As much as I love Kyle O'Reilly's in-ring work and the wars that him and Adam Cole have had outside of this company, it's with a heavy heart that I have to admit to myself that they did a bit too much here. There were some insanely creative spots with the chains and chairs that I won't think I have seen anywhere else (at least not mainstream), but ultimately, the 45+  minute runtime killed this match - along with the crowd too. You could tell the fans live in attendance at the CWC were completely burnt out at this point. By the time they even got to the 20-30 minute mark, I was constantly asking myself when is this going to be over? This is the same issue I had with the Cole vs. Gargano or Gargano vs. Ciampa matches that a lot of people fawn and rave over as the best TakeOver matches in history, they do too much stuff to the point that they are having the entire series of a feud in a single match and by the end of it, I honestly don't care anymore. For the record, I don't want to discredit the pure athleticism and in-ring ability of these two men, but my personal issue with matches like this is that you start doing so much in a single match for an excessive amount of time that you start to desensitize your audience of anything and everything you do before it's all said and done. 

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Closing Thoughts

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver was a fine show, but I didn't think this needed to be stretched out over two nights. Both nights were great, but Night 2 could have shaved off at least 2-3 matches, with a main event that went FAR too long for it's own good. At the same time, I feel that the talents involved all worked hard and didn't embarrass themselves. They put on some WrestleMania weekend worthy matches that I'm sure that will be the talk of the town, even when people start compiling their best matches of 2021 lists. 

NXT TakeOver XXX (Aug. 22, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

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.

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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.

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.

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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. 

NXT Great American Bash Night 1 & Night 2 (July 1 and 8, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

On June 24, 2020, WWE announced that the eighth Great American Bash under the WWE banner would take place as a special two-week event during the July 1 and July 8 episodes of NXT. Both episodes were taped on Wednesday July 1. One scheduled match for July 8 was a champion vs. champion match between Adam Cole and Keith Lee for the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship. The Bash went head to head against AEW's Fyter Fest, which was held on the same nights.

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Results:

Night 1 (July 1, 2020)

Fatal four-way elimination match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship
Tegan Nox def. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Mia Yim

I was a little surprised that Tegan Nox would win this when it seemed like they were going with Dakota Kai getting a shot at the title next. All four of these women are solid workers, but I have to be honest when I say have remotely no interest in any of them challenging nor holding the NXT Women's Championship. I enjoyed Mia Yim as Knockouts Champion when she was going by Jade in IMPACT Wrestling, but her current gimmick isn't doing anything for me in terms of gravitating towards her character. Candice LeRae has been a massive dud since her and her husband have turned heel. Tegan and Dakota's feud has had some highs and lows, but NXT needs to be careful not to beat a dead horse.

Singles Match
Timothy Thatcher def. Oney Lorcan by submission

This was the best "pure" wrestling match between both NXT and AEW on across both shows for the evening. I love this shoot fighter gimmick they have going with Thatcher as that fits him perfectly, especially if that means that he's going to end every single one of his feuds with a Fight Pit match in NXT.

Handicap match

Had Ripley lost, she would have joined the Robert Stone Brand.

Rhea Ripley def. Aliyah and Robert Stone by submission

I didn't understand why did this match drag out for so long. The former Robbie E from TNA/IMPACT Wrestling is entertaining in this role as Robert Stone, but homeboy needs to invest in some socks to go with his church shoes. On a side note, he might want to cover up his physique in the future as it's hard to buy him as some cowardly wimp when he's just as jacked and cut as most of the other guys on the NXT roster.

A win for Rhea here was good and all, but it does nothing for her since her momentum has been in a nosedive over a cliff since losing to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania. I still don't understand what was the long-term booking plan of having Charlotte Flair beat Rhea Ripley. Rhea went home crying like a baby after the loss and on top of that she wasn't able to reclaim said title in the triple threat with Io Shirai involved. Now Charlotte's back on the main roster, despite being written off on injury leave currently, with Rhea wandering around aimless and directionless. Feuding with Charlotte may have been good on paper but it was more damaging for Rhea Ripley in the long-term than blowing their loads on a match that WWE could have waited on, especially if they were going to call her up to the main roster sooner more than later.

The more I see of Aliyah, the more I ask myself how does she still have a job, especially after the wealth of talent releases over the last few months? She's not any better since when she was first starting NXT back on that Breaking Ground show.

Strap match

Dexter Lumis def. Roderick Strong

This wasn't bad. It was boring and it dragged on and on and ON throughout multiple commercial breaks. Normally, Strong is able to get a great competitive match out of anyone on this roster, but it wasn't happening in the least with this slow, methodical demeanor that Lumis seems to be forced into working into his fighting style here in NXT. Back in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, I don't remember him being this slow at moving around when he was Samuel Shaw.

Singles match

Io Shirai def. Sasha Banks (with Bayley)

This was easily the best match of the night with a lot of great back and forth from Io and Sasha. This was a dream match-up for a reason and you can easily see why by the time it was all said and done. The right woman won though, thanks to an assist from RAW Women's Champion Asuka. I marked the hell out to see Io and Asuka standing in the ring together in a WWE ring. For the love of all things holy, I need an Asuka vs. Io match in WWE. Let's get Asuka vs. Io, Asuka vs. Kairi Sane, and Io vs. Kairi too while we're at before Io and Kairi head back to Japan if the rumors are true about their departures from the company once their current WWE contracts expire this year.

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Night 2 (July 8, 2020)

Singles Match

Tony Nese def. Leon Ruff 

I looked away from the television for what felt like a minute and this match was over faster than it had begun. Thanks for comin', kid. This would actually setup Nese's match later in the show.

Street Fight

Candice LeRae def. Mia Yim 

This feud isn't doing anything for me. I will be happy once both of these women move onto something else. I've seen far worse matches than this to be honest as it wasn't a bad match. It was just a pretty boring one. This was a far cry from Mia Yim's hardcore matches with Rosemary back in IMPACT Wrestling. That being said, the right woman won as Candice LeRae desperately needed the momentum for this heel turn.

Singles Match

Bronson Reed def. Tony Nese 

I really want to like Bronson Reed, but every single time I look at him and his work, he reminds me of Bull Dempsey and I remember how that turned out. They pushed him to an extent and cut him out of company like they were trimming off the fat on the Thanksgiving turkey. Tony Nese has been killing it since the Cruiserweight Classic and it baffles me that this guy is still a glorified enhancement talent more often than not, especially when he's not being stifled in the cruiserweight division over on 205 Live.

This match wasn't bad. It was just there on a show that was essentially a one match card as everyone is waiting to see the main event.

Singles Match
Johnny Gargano def. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott 

Both of these guys are great in the ring. Gargano has headlined several NXT TakeOver specials and Scott was a cornerstone in MLW rising to prominence over the past few years after he spent some time in Lucha Underground as Killshot. That being said, this was just an average match between these two and easily forgettable, especially if you're familiar with both men's body of work. Much like his wife's win, Gargano's win was much needed as Johnny Failure and his wife have been nothing but all talk since their heel turn started.

Six-Man Tag Team Match
Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza) def. Drake Maverick and Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) 

While I applaud NXT for trying to do something positive with Fandango and Tyler Breeze after the main roster has squandered their talents for years, I didn't give a damn about them in this match. I much rather see the original version of Tyler Breeze make a comeback on NXT without being paired up with Fandango. On the positive side, Escobar's group needed this win to get the wheel rolling forward as a show of force.

Singles Match

Mercedes Martinez def. Santana Garrett 

Even though I hate that Santana Garrett is a glorified enhancement talent here in NXT, I thought she was the right opponent for Mercedes Martinez's debut here. Mercedes came off like a killer - like she should be, especially given her history being aligned with Shayna Baszler. If NXT were smart, they would pair Shayna's cronies with her in the meantime since they are still green and need seasoning before they could be called up to the main roster with Shayna and allow them to get the rub from Mercedes in a similar manner. That way, when we do have Shayna and Mercedes reunite or butt heads in the future there could be this rift between them in terms of Jessamyn Duke and Marina Safir taking sides of who to follow. By that point, I think either Ronda Rousey would be back with the company or Nicole Savoy can quit dodging the inevitable and have a Trifecta reunion under WWE's banner.

My only issue with this debut is that it seems like NXT has too many heel women and not enough significant babyfaces to oppose them.

Winner Takes All singles match for the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship
Keith Lee (North American) def. Adam Cole (NXT) 

This is match definitely lived up to the anticipation and hype, despite the fact that the ending was spoiled a week prior to this airing. To be honest, it really didn't matter as it drew even more interest on NXT that night over AEW, who were running with Chris Jericho against Orange Cassidy in their main event in opposition. Cole tried everything in his bag of tricks to get the job done, but ultimately couldn't put Keith Lee away. The only thing that I was a little puzzled by was the lack of interference from the rest of The Undisputed Era, much like the rest of Cole's title defenses - not like it would have made a lick of difference anyway once Keith Lee fired up and started HULK SMASHing everything in his way. Putting away Adam Cole was no different. This win made for a great moment to top off this show and well worth the wait for two weeks.

The show closed with the shot of Karrion Kross and Scarlett watching from above as it seems to hint at Kross is the next in line to challenge for the NXT Championship. I honestly don't think they should jump the gun on Kross in that title picture. The guy only had one appearance on TakeOver to date outside of a few squash matches.

---

Closing Thoughts

Simply put, Great American Bash Night 1 was a two match show, with Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan and Sasha Banks vs. Io Shirai being the highlights of that card above the rest while Night 2 was essentially an one match show, with the Winner Takes All title match between Keith Lee and Adam Cole was arguably the best thing on the entire show. I can't knock NXT too much as they don't do anything that's not completely insulting to the wrestling business as a whole, but they do have a few acts and numerous matches on these shows that are a total slogfest to sit through, especially when you're just waiting for the headliner for these cards. That is to NXT's detriment as well when they have some of the best finely tuned athletes in the sport today, but that doesn't help excuse the fact that a lot of these matches are just flat out boring. I applaud their efforts and hard work, but I can't deny that a wealth of the talent and matches on these cards bored me to no end.

I can see why AEW keeps their fans engaged. They always have some sort of a car wreck or insanely stupid spectacle going on their programming that keeps you engaged from bell to bell, whether it's good or bad.

NXT TakeOver: In Your House (June 7, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: In Your House was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on June 7, 2020 at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, however, the Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream Backlot Brawl was pre-recorded on May 28 in the parking lot of Full Sail University. It was the 29th NXT TakeOver event, which mark the 25th anniversary of the first In Your House pay-per-view. It was the first In Your House-branded event since St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House in February 1999. It was the first NXT TakeOver event to be held at Full Sail University since TakeOver: The End.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a Triple threat match to win the NXT Women's Championship. On the undercard, Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa by technical submission, Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American Championship, and Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream in a Last Chance Backlot Brawl to retain the NXT Championship.

---

Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez defeated Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox by pinfall.

You're going to hear me say this throughout the entirety of this write-up, but I felt that this was a match that should have been on NXT television either last week or this coming week. Candace LeRae and Mia Yim didn't really advance their feud as they merely walked off to the back for Shotzi and Tegan to continue their lackluster feud with Kai and Sonya Deville's big sister, err Raquel Gonzalez.

H🌸A🌸N🌸A pic.twitter.com/x63Z3CFR97

— ℭ𝔞𝔭 𝔎𝔬𝔱𝔞 (@DakotaKai_WWE) June 8, 2020

Shout out to Dakota Kai with the Hana Kimura tribute in her gear tonight though.

I just didn't think this was a great opener at all (especially by TakeOver standards), even though all of the girls tried to make this watchable and I have see FAR worse women's matches than this.

Finn Balor defeated Damian Priest by pinfall.

I was talking about this with a friend on Twitter last night during the show and I couldn't help be bored watching a Finn Balor match. I can't knock both guys either as I knock both of them are capable of knocking it out of the park. I can't put my finger on what it was, but the vast majority of this match I wasn't feeling until the finishing sequence.

Pride comes before the fall. #NXTTakeOver @FinnBalor @ArcherOfInfamy pic.twitter.com/oQUtz5UBm1

— WWE (@WWE) June 7, 2020

There's no way in hell I would have agreed to take that back bump onto the corner of the steel steps. Don't forget that's how HBK almost got permanently put on the shelf from back injuries. You can't take shit like that lightly.

I felt that Priest needed the win here more than Balor did. It just didn't feel right. I get that they are trying to carry Balor's momentum over until travels to and from the UK are allowed again for we can FINALLY get that match between him and WALTER, but I didn't think a loss here to Priest would have hurt him too much, especially when we don't have a date for whenever this global pandemic is going to die out completely. I guess they could have had Imperium come out and cost him the match, allowing Priest to pick up the win but it would have meant more if Priest beat Balor without any outside help/interference.

This one is a tough call period as Balor didn't need the win, but you couldn't give Priest a win from a screw job to Balor either. Either way, they booked themselves into a corner with this one.

Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano by pinfall to retain the NXT North American Championship.

Johnny Failure didn't let me down in this least with another losing effort. That being said, the right man won here. Keith Lee should not have lost the title tonight and nor did Gargano deserve to win it at this point of his new heel persona. The onslaught of no selling every big move and spot in this match - which has become a Gargano staple at this point in all of his TakeOver matches - really annoyed me to no end here. My boiling point was with the keys to Lee's eyes and that didn't end it there, only for Lee not to sell that at all, just like Gargano didn't sell the Shoulder Block through the plexiglass.

I'm surprised the match didn't end to both competitors being exposed to outside pathogens and bacteria after this spot. 

For all of Gargano's amazing in-ring talent and ability to tell a narrative with his matches, you would think that after all this time at the PC, he would learn the value of selling. Less can mean a lot more than trying to fit in 30-50 unnecessary spots in one match for cheap pops, dude.



I did laugh at the usage of the door cam when Gargano locked himself out of the "house" setup on the entrance tunnel. That got a good laugh out of me about halfway into this match.

#Respect. #BlackLivesMatter

I found myself rolling my eyes at Candace and Mia showing up a few minutes after that with a costume change.

How I imagined the convo between Mia & Candace to stop fighting backstage to do an outfit change:
"Homegurl. Let's stop. I wanna change mah clothes for my man's match up next."

"Me too! See you out there, boo!" #NXTTakeOver

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) June 8, 2020

C'mon now. We're starting to get to Brandi Rhodes level of silly with these mash-up appearances in the show with little to no continuity. Mia and Candace walked out during this match like this was their first time seeing each other tonight and we didn't get any update on their brawl backstage. It was like "welp, moving on..." after the opener stopped.

.@TripleH, @ShawnMichaels and @WWERoadDogg are experiencing some technical difficulties with the #NXTTakeOver: In Your House "AOL Chat" (????)

... We're looking into it. 🏠 pic.twitter.com/l6HUP9RHCp

— WWE (@WWE) June 8, 2020

We did get this gem of a segment backstage afterwards though. Where the hell did they dig up Todd Pettengill from anyway?

Backlot Brawl: Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream by pinfall to retain the NXT Championship.

Out of all of the "cinematic matches" that WWE and AEW have put out over the course of the last few months, I have to say that this one ranks as low as the Final Chapter between Ciampa and Gargano from a month or so ago. I just wasn't feeling this at all. I was thoroughly entertained at Dream's Negan attire though, despite the fact that he looked exactly like Ron "The Truth" Killings/R-Truth when he was in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling when he was gunning for the NWA-TNA World Championship.




That was a gnarly gash on Cole's arm from taking that bump onto the windshield of the car from off that ladder. After like two to three camera cuts, it was cleaned up though. That was another issue with this match - all of the unnecessary camera cuts. It made this match feel overproduced and it came the cost of holding my attention. Every time they would get something going, there would be a few camera cuts like they have to show the mock "crowd" of onlookers while everyone re-positions and clearly cooperates to setup the next spot. At this point, you took me completely out of the suspension of belief that this is any sort of a "brawl" or "street fight". Instead, it came across as poorly planned fight choreography.

Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa by submission.

THIS looks oddly familiar...

...To THIS.

I know I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, but Kross needs to be REALLY careful about not getting Marc Mero'd by Sable... errr Scarlett in his corner. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was eyeballing that outfit she was wearing more than actually caring about the bulk of this match.

Kross looks like James McAvoy from Split. More specifically, “The Beast.” #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/QW3nv8UG5b

— Ben Talks Wrestling (@BenTalksWWE) June 8, 2020

I read that tweet shortly after this match started and I CANNOT unsee that now.

As for this match, there's not much really to talk about. Ciampa talked up a good game, only to get squashed in less than six minutes. Kross definitely needed to win here, so I'm not going to argue that, but I was just a little underwhelmed that they put this match that far up on this card in terms of match order. I almost completely forgot that it was booked for tonight until it came up after the NXT Championship Match. Kross needed to win in a convincing, dominating fashion and I'm not going to argue that decision here in the least. I won't admit that I agreed with the execution though. I will admit that this match had me more interested than the actual build getting to it though.

Triple Threat Match: Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley by pinfall to win the NXT Women's Championship.

I'm not going to say that this was the best that I have seen from these women as I think we all can say that we've seen MUCH better outings from all three women involved. It didn't feel like they were telling a story here; instead, it felt like they were checking off the bullet points on the list of big spots that they wanted to hit. I had to laugh at one point when the referee had to stand in Io's way to get her to hit the brakes on offense as the cameras was playing catch up with the replays and what not. 

Io putting the IYH set to good use here.

I'm sure this is a minor gripe for everyone else, but I groaned in disgust watching Rhea and Charlotte roll around the ring to reposition themselves for the best camera angle at that point too. I know WWE loves their dynamic camera angles and shots, but some of these TakeOver matches would benefit with a static/fixed camera angle and only change cameras for ringside action and/or dives. All of this diving and/or rolling out of the ring (watch Rhea do this on several occasions in this match) to hide out of the field of vision on the current camera to setup the next spot is more distracting than anything. Every time that happens in one of these multi-person matches, I'm always asking myself when and where is the other opponent who has been "hiding" going to reappear from "out of nowhere." I like that stuff used sparingly, not in every one of these matches. 

SHIIIIIDDDD. That bump looked it like it sucked royally. How Rhea isn't concussed off of that is a nothing short of a miracle.

Looking at that bump in slow motion, I have to say that both Io and Rhea are at fault there. Io for misjudging the distance and Rhea for sitting up to prep and tense her torso up for the impact far too early. Just yikes... That being said, I'm glad that Io FINALLY won the NXT Women's Championship, but NXT are dirty at how they did this finish. Charlotte Flair won AND lost the title without being pinned or submitted to any of the NXT Women on their current roster. Her reputation is untarnished. She didn't give not a single rub to the women in that division. I still don't understand what was was the point of having Charlotte chop Rhea Ripley's legs off when she was red hot on momentum following 2019. The only way I can see Rhea redeeming herself is going up to the main roster and beating Charlotte on a PPV AFTER Charlotte has won back the Women's Championship from either RAW or SmackDown! There's no reason to take that belt right off of Io after she just won it. I'm still pissed off that Io didn't beat Shayna Baszler for it in that fateful Steel Cage Match that I ranted about last year. Charlotte Flair gets off scotch free from coming back to NXT and putting that women's division through the ringer with not a single woman on that roster besting her while she was there. That's just really fucked up to say that NXT had such a strong outing at Survivor Series last year.

(Shudders) I really hope that she's not going back to take back the RAW Women's Championship from Asuka. Charlotte ending Asuka's winning streak is still another travesty that should not have transpired either. In either case, good riddance to Charlotte on the black and yellow brand. She didn't do a goddamn thing to boost or elevate that women's division while she was parading around on all three shows every week. I won't deny nor undermine Charlotte Flair's abilities in the least, but it's long overdue for her to be giving back to these divisions and helping elevate them instead of ruling with an iron fist. The number of promising potential threats and competitors for her in the coming years is looking smaller and smaller by the day from the way how WWE booking treats almost anyone who is matched up to face The Queen.

I have to wonder though. Who are they going to match up against Io in the meantime?


Overall, I didn't think this wasn't a bad show. Just not a show that holds up to the high standard that the NXT TakeOver specials are known for. That much can't be helped without the raging fans at Full Sail University or any other venue they could have held this show at unfortunately due to the global pandemic.

NXT TakeOver: Toronto (Aug. 10, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: Toronto (2019) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on August 10, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including two taped for the following week's episode of NXT. In the main event, Adam Cole defeated Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the NXT Championship. The undercard saw NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream and NXT Tag Team Champion Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) retain their titles.

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Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) def. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) Tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship

This was easily the best match that I have seen the Street Profits compete in their entire NXT careers to date. Going into this show, I was convinced that they were dropping the titles to the Undisputed Era since they have been seen hanging around on the main roster backstage for the last few weeks now. They haven't been wrestling any matches, so I guess WWE figures that they can juggle both roles without any problems for the time being.

Montez Ford might want to look into wearing a singlet for his gear as his "odd" looking nipples are a red flag for possible steroid usage. So yeah, he might want to hide that. He's got that same look going on that Jinder Mahal had a while back. Dude's got a bigger chest than his damn wife (Bianca Belair FYI). That being said, he's easily the star of this act. The Street Profits could split up tomorrow and Ford could be EASILY pushed to the moon as a singles act with his charisma and in-ring ability. Angelo Dawkins isn't bad - it just seems like that dude is moving in slow-mo half of the time. Besides, I would like to see these guys against teams who don't have a record of excellent performances under their belt for I can truly determine whether or not they are that damn good or the former members of reDRagon along with other noteworthy NXT tag teams have been making them look better than they actually are.

There was a brawl between Matt Riddle and Killian Dane at one point of this show, but it didn't result into a full blown match between the two. Riddle got the jump on Dane for once and it ended after Dane jumped off the stage with Riddle still latched on his back with a sleeper hold applied while performing a STO on one of the poor unfortunate security guards in his wake.

Io Shirai def. Candice LeRae by technical submission

Throughout this match, I couldn't buy into the beating that Candice LeRae was on the receiving end for, especially when I have seen her take FAR worse punishment from opponents of the opposite sex. At the same time, I was not ready to see her "hulk up" like Cena or Hogan and turn around to win this thing either. Her husband does enough of that bullshit where he's kicking out of a million and one finishers and getting up for more. I don't want to see them rehash the same thing for her. I'm sure the Full Sail crowd doesn't want to either.

Heel Io going over was the right decision and I'm glad that NXT went that way, even though I thought her turn was stupid to begin with. Too bad Asuka isn't around for we could have seen that feud in NXT.

This was arguably the best match on this entire card to be quite honest.

Velveteen Dream (c) def. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong Triple threat match for the NXT North American Championship

I popped for that trip down nostalgia lane for The Mountie's theme before this transitioned into a performance by the Toronto Raptors' dance crew to see Velveteen Dream down to the ring. We better enjoy these elaborate entrances for him now because we know that they are going to neuter that the second he gets called up. Just look at what they did to Aleister Black's entrance and Finn Balor's. I can count how many times we have seen the Demon on the main roster on one hand.

This match was a lot of fun, but ultimately, it felt like it was missing something before you could regard it as something truly phenomenal. Without a shadow of a doubt, we all know that these three men are amazing individually, but sue me for expecting a little more here. Plus, they really lost me during the finish where they telegraphed that someone was going to screw the other out of the pinfall. That was my biggest knock against this match.

Shayna Baszler (c) defeated Mia Yim by submission Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the weakest match on this card. From her tenure in Impact Wrestling as Knockouts Champion and various bouts in the indies, I know that Mia Yim possesses the ability to be a threat for Shayna's NXT Women's Championship, but she hasn't been built up as such in NXT thus far. This whole story seemed hastily put together and this match suffers as a result as Yim is setup as the one with everything to lose here.

To be fair though, I did enjoy the psychology of this match with Yim systematically wearing down Shayna's arms so she couldn't use the Clutch, but Shayna's technical savvy and experience led her to improvise by using her legs to secure the win regardless.

After another successful defense for the Queen of Spades, I pose this question - who is left for Shayna to beat or beat her? She's gone through just about every big name that they have on that roster and then some. They have to be ready to call her up to the main roster at this point. She can remain undefeated too if they want to sweeten the deal.

Adam Cole (c) defeated Johnny Gargano 2–1 Two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Championship

I feel like a broken record when I bring up my issue with these Johnny Gargano main events on these TakeOver specials. He does FAR too much in his matches. In this case, he and Cole took the cake and then some in that regard. We already seen Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano do a Best of Three Falls match in the past and they are just recycling the same concept with different stipulations for each fall. I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking in the first fall when they blew through most of their big moves and near-falls right off the bat and turned the match into a bunch of nothing until Gargano got himself disqualified like a moron. That played into the next fall being into his favor with it being a Street Fight, but it just came off stupid to me since they kept doing more and more spots and not trying to get any pinfalls off of it. When a babyface gets himself/herself disqualified in multi-fall matches like this, it's to quickly get the next fall and even things up. Nope, that wasn't in the playbook at all here. The match quickly spiraled into doing shit just to do it until FINALLY Gargano got the fall to tie things up.

When I saw the barbwire steel cage, I honestly busted out laughing as they had it decorated like the last round/finale of Impact Wrestling's Lethal Lockdown Match, save for the Hell in a Cell style roof on the top. (Laughs) NXT ran out of early 2000s (and some current) Ring of Honor stuff to rip off and now they are moving onto Impact Wrestling's catalog. Can't say that I blame 'em at this point. Just when you thought this match was going to probably end soon, it didn't. This dragged on for what felt like an eternity as Cole and Gargano scaled the cage walls gingerly to each bring down each of the marquee weapons hanging up on display on the side of the cage walls until Gargano thought it was a wise idea to cut off a piece of barbwire (using the wire cutters that were in a bag that I'm sure the crowd was fooled into thinking had thumbtacks, broken glass, or something vile to use within). For some reason, this scared Cole up onto the platform setup on top of the cage with Gargano in pursuit. The two then shoved each other off the top and through the two tables that were setup below. Unfortunately, they only hit one of the tables (barely at that...) and Cole was the one fortunate enough to roll over onto Gargano to get the pin and retain the title.

(Laughs) I guess Johnny Failure came out to play after all.

I'm sorry, but this whole match from start to finish gets a huge "Meh" from me. After all of that and it ends with essentially a draw to (hopefully) close out this feud? In the post-match video that WWE shared on social media, Regal was raising Gargano's arm and the crowd was cheering as if this is the last time that we would see him on the black and yellow brand. If this match was his swansong, then whatever I guess, but he's got more than enough "good" to "great" performances to hold his head high about on his resume as he heads up to the main roster.