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Showing posts with label Finn Balor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finn Balor. Show all posts

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.



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.




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. 




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. 

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NXT: New Year's Evil (Jan. 6, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts




NXT: New Year's Evil was a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. It took place on January 6, 2021 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and feature WWE's virtual fan viewing experience for their NXT brand division called the Capitol Wrestling Center. It was hosted by Dexter Lumis.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Finn Balor defeated Kyle O'Reilly to retain the NXT Championship. In other prominent matches, Santos Escobar defeated Gran Metalik to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, Raquel González defeated Rhea Ripley in a Last Woman Standing match, and in the opening bout, Karrion Kross defeated Damian Priest.

New Year's Evil is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE. It was last used for a special episode of WCW Monday Nitro on December 27, 1999.






If you watch this show on Hulu, they condensed this entire show down to a hour, so you only get to see Kross/Priest, Rhea/Raquel, and O'Reilly/Balor. Everything else in this show was cut out and rightfully so to be honest. 


Results:



Singles Match
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) def. Damian Priest


I understand that Karrion Kross had to go over in his first match back from injury, but I thought it was a questionable decision to have him going over Damian Priest. Priest already was in a nothing feud with Johnny Gargano and Leon Ruff to drop the North American Championship at the tail end of 2020. I'm guessing this was his way of doing the honors on the way out if the rumors are true about him being called up to the main roster, namely the SmackDown! brand. 

There were a few good bumps in this match, but the time it was all said and done, I can't say that I was really that impressed with this big man match. Much like his match with Keith Lee, I don't think that Kross excells against other big guys his size and stature. It was impressive that he was able to Kross out cold for the finish, so at least that point got across. 

I've seen far worse openers for NXT shows than this, so I can't knock this match too much in that regard. 

(Laughs) I have to ask though but why did Scarlett come out here dressed like she was managing The Ascension to the ring instead of her boy toy here? 


Singles Match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Santos Escobar (c) (with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) def. Gran Metalik (with Lince Dorado)

When I heard that this match was announced, I got really excited as I thought that we would have a sleeper hit on our hands if these two guys got enough time to showcase what they are made of. It's no secret that I enjoyed Escobar's work when he was in Lucha Underground as King Cuerno, but just haven't seen nothing from him here that makes me care in the least. It's the same thing with Gran Metalik. When I saw him in the Cruiserweight Classic, he was one of my top favorites in that tournament, along with Kota Ibushi (of course). Then WWE signed the guy and he's been booked like utter shit in this company. This match did neither one of these guys any favors. 

Every single one of these title defenses for Escobar goes the same way. Babyface works from underneath, with Escobar's goons getting involved at some point to make the excuse for a big dive into everyone huddled up at ringside (I'm getting to the point that I'm starting to loathe that spot in 2021 from how much it's been whored out lately), and Escobar sneaks the win to retain. Seriously, why the fuck should I goddamn care about Legado del Phantasma? NXT does absolutely nothing to make me care about those guys. Nine times out of ten, I change the channel when they come out here. Tonight was a special exception. The only solace here was that it wasn't the 2,000th match against Isisah "Swerve" Scott or Breezango. 



Singles Match
Xia Li (with Boa) def. Katrina Cortez


For the past few months of 2020, Xia Li and Bao have been part of some strange vignettes where they were forced for some bizarre martial arts training by the tutelage of mysterious, yet punishing master. For weeks, I was begging for them to get to the point of all of these violent torture-themed vignettes.  Tonight, we get to see the fruits of these labors - at least with Xia Li anyway. They set their master down in a throne on the entrance ramp where she can watch the match play out like Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat. I didn't get the sense of her presence here. Maybe they should have called Catrina and Mil Muertes to pull that feat off instead. That shit was fucking amazing at the start of Lucha Underground Season 2. 

All jokes aside though, I was fan of Xia Li's in-ring work since her debut in the Mae Young Classic. Her problem was always that she lacked any sort of gimmick or storyline. It's amazing that she has that degree of talent in WWE's developmental system, yet doesn't have many joshi women to work with outside of Io Shirai to practice it properly. Xia Li's strikes always looked devastating; I dare say hers are up there with Asuka's in terms of legitimatcy. 

As for this match, it was simply a squash to get the ball rolling on this new direction for Xia's gimmick/character. If this gets her closer towards the NXT Women's Championship then I'm all for it. It should be noted that Katrina Cortez is new trademarked name for Catalina Garcia. 

I still have no idea who is their master. Rumors floating around saying that it's Karen Q that they signed from Ring of Honor a while back since they were initially billed as a tag team before COVID-19 pretty much killed their house show loops. My guess is that they are saving that spot for Saree/Sari Fujimura (one of Kyoko Inoue's students) that they signed from Stardom/Sendai Girls, wherever COVID-19 settles down and she's allowed to travel outside of Japan and move to the Capitol Wrestling Center/Performance Center full-time.  



Last Woman Standing Match
Raquel González (with Dakota Kai) def. Rhea Ripley


It's no secret that I watch NXT and AEW Dynamite at the same time with both my tablet and TV going at the same time. It was borderline disrespectful that AEW put on Hiraku Shida's Women's title defense against Abadon at the same time as this match. In comparison to the powerhouse match that opened this show, this was definitely the better of the two, even though I have grown bored with this feud between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez over the last few weeks. If this match was truly Rhea's swansong to the NXT brand, then I tip my hat to her for this performance. This was the win that Raquel desperately needed to further establish her as another powerhouse female on that NXT Women's roster. 

Rhea and Raquel beat the hell out of each other from bell to bell, ending with what looked like a Riptide (Pumphandle Slam Powerbomb through the entrance ramp). If that wasn't enough, Rhea had already speared Raquel through the glass double doors backstage and stuffed Dakota Kai into a locker like it was high school gym class to pretend her from interfering. 

I don't know what these people are thinking if Raquel Gonzalez isn't the next person to challenge and possibly win that NXT Women's Championship from Io Shirai. Don't forget that she pinned Shirai during War Games to win the match for her team. 


Mixed Tag Team Match
Kushida and Shotzi Blackheart def. The Way (Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae) (with Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell)


I'm all for Kushida getting a proper push on NXT, especially for the North American Championship since Gargano sure as hell doesn't need it, but the addition of this match felt like filler just to waste time when it could have been given to the main event instead. I will admit that I'm slowly warming up to The Way's antics, but they didn't need to be shoehorned into this match. 

I know it had to suck for Austin Theory to get that airsoft projectile shot directly at his junk too. He deserves a kick to the balls if all of those accusations against him last year during #SpeakingOut hold any merit too. I like Shotzi Blackheart as a person, but I'm starting to get annoyed at how much her character is forced down our throats on this program from week to week. NXT books like they only have the same 3-5 women on that roster as part of their women's division. She's pretty average in the ring, especially when compared to the fact that they have a roster of so many talented women that they are barely using or not at all at the Performance Center. 

This last minute booking here made for an easily forgettable match. I could easily see why this match and the segment before it was cut out of the Hulu version this show. 



Singles Match for the NXT Championship
Finn Bálor (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly by submission

This was another hard-hitting affair between Balor and O'Reilly, but I didn't think this was as good as their previous match at TakeOver. They did have a few interesting spots here, such as O'Reilly using his mouth for the rope break and Balor immediately kicking the ropes to possibly break his jaw in the process. That proved to be the tale of the tape as this match went on as Balor continued working over O'Reilly's jaw until he was forced to submit. I didn't think their previous bout deserved to be named NXT Match of the Year either, but it was definitely in the Top 5. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov was easily the best thing to come out either NXT brand, but NXT had an angle to build off with O'Reilly winning one of those placques for Finn to hand to him personally face-to-face to setup this match. 

At this point, I'm starting to wonder whether or not Finn Balor is overstaying his welcome on this version of NXT when we have still been robbed of the Balor vs. WALTER match from WrestleMania weekend last year over on the NXT UK brand. Where does O'Reilly go from here? It seemed like they were setting him up for a possible run with the championship when Cole and Strong announced themselves as part of the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. As for Balor, I guess they want to do Balor against Pete Dunne next since they have been teasing that for a few weeks now since Pat McAfee is off the table for a few months. That's another match I'm not going to complain about seeing as I'm sure it's going to be great. 


Closing Thoughts

One of the biggest tidbits of news to come out of this show was the announcement of a Women's Tag Team version of the Dusty Tag Team Classic. I don't see how WWE is going to pull that feat off when they barely know what to do with the Women's Tag Team titles as a whole and they barely have enough women to stretch for all three brands' women's divisions. NXT have a lot of women that they haven't even debuted on television or barely use at all, so I guess they will make half-assed teams out of those women. In either case, I can't say that I'm excited over the idea here. It just seems like a knee jerk reaction to IMPACT Wrestling bringing back their Knockout Tag Team Championships. The major difference between their women's division and NXT's is that they don't have their women in randomly paired teams. All of their pairings have been established for months or rather years on end from their various storylines. 

Out of the two shows that were going on live as part of these Wednesday Night Wars, AEW definitely put on the better of two shows. Even though this was a special episode of NXT on par with a TakeOver event in terms of the stacked card, I can't say that this show was on par with a TakeOver special. Most of these matches left me feeling either bored or causing me to go "That's it?" by the time it was all said and done. 

I don't know what's been going on with NXT since the tailend of 2019, but they really need to get their act together. I used to be excited to watch NXT every week, but now it feels like as much of a chore to watch as the other two brands of WWE programming and that's not good. 
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NXT TakeOver 31 (Oct. 4, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts




NXT TakeOver 31 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on October 4, 2020 at the remodeled WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, which housed the new “Capitol Wrestling Center”, NXT’s version of the “ThunderDome” used for Raw and SmackDown at the Amway Center - also in Orlando. As the name implies, it was the 31st NXT TakeOver event.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Finn Bálor defeated Kyle O'Reilly to retain the NXT Championship. On the undercard, Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae to retain the NXT Women's Championship and Damian Priest defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American Championship.




Match Results:


Singles match for the NXT North American Championship
Damian Priest (c) def. Johnny Gargano 


I can't speak for anyone else but you will never hear me complain when Johnny Failure shows up to play at these NXT TakeOver specials. Whether he's heel or face, Gargano can bump his ass off, but still can't get the job done. I would love to know what is his win/lose ratio at these NXT TakeOver specials though. 

As for this match as a whole, it was a solid opener, but my biggest knock against this match and this show as a whole is that this is NOT the match I would have started the night off with. I think Kushida and Velveteen Dream should have gone on first being that it's the only non-title match on this entire card. Don't get me wrong either as I don't think this was a bad match, just not one that I would have opened this show off with. This was a solid bout with some great spots, but Priest definitely dodged a bullet on that dive over the ropes and into the trainees/extras standing at ringside to catch him. If Priest was any further off on that landing he would've hit dead on the corner of that barricade or one of his limbs would have done the same as well - either way that would have been ugly. Someone needs to tell Priest that this isn't Ring of Honor anymore and he doesn't need to be diving out of the ring to make an impact. That's a bit much, especially when you're one of the bigger guys. That shit is going to catch up with you sooner more than later. 



The narrative here was that Gargano pulled every dirty trick in his playbook, only for the "Gargano Way" to be all for nothing as he still walked away with this match with another token loss in the L column of Johnny Failure's laundry list of defeats. This isn't a bad thing either as at this point of his NXT tenure, he should be putting over guys instead of beating people, despite the fact that I was scared going into this show that NXT would do something stupid like the main roster would and have Priest drop the title to Gargano just to give him heel heat and bragging rights for him and Candice (after beating Io later). 



Singles match
Kushida def. Velveteen Dream by submission 


It cannot be said enough about how much I adored that promotional package with Kushida talking about why he's here in NXT and his ongoing struggles to fit in on NXT and American soil, only to express that he's doing this not only for himself but for his family - namely his adorable baby girl. I cringe at the thought of what Vince would do to him on the main roster, but this was excellent for him here. This was the match that should have started off this show, especially after Kushida attacked Dream during his entrance. 

THIS was the Kushida I wanted to see since Day 1 after I heard he was signing with NXT. We've seen glimpses of it here and there but man, I'm glad to see Kushida kick it up a notch like during his New Japan days. I'm sorry, but Dream didn't have jack shit against this dude here. It felt absolutely one-sided at one point to me. The narrative for this match was simple - Kushida was fed up with Dream's bullshit and he was going to pay for it. Simple as that. Kushida systematically wore down and tore down Dream's arm until he forced to submit from the Hoverboard Lock. Kushida didn't stop there as he continued to attack the limb following Dream's submission while the referees rushed in to break it up. This "hardened" edge to Kushida was a much needed and welcome change for me. 

Triple H's comment about Dream's "immaturity" out of the ring was telling too as it seems like he's in the doghouse of sorts for those continued allegations against him, despite Triple H and WWE's claims of running their own investigation(s) on him and Austin Theory. I don't care how talented those guys are in-ring, but if the truth comes out and they are guilty as all sin, then NXT and Triple H need to be held accountable for glamorizing these individuals on their programming. That goes double for Matt Riddle too. 



Singles match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Santos Escobar (c) (with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) def. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott 


Even though I know that these two were Killshot and King Cuerno in Lucha Underground, I honestly cannot get into this feud. I thought NXT signing El Hijo del Fantasma was a great pick-up for the NXT brand, much like the signing of Shane Strictland, but this whole thing over the Cruiserweight Championship isn't doing not a damn thing for me. It's sad too because these guys are putting on some solid performances since their initial outing back in the Interim Cruiserweight title tournament, but it feels like that these two have been feuding forever with no ending in sight. The same can be said about Escobar's cohorts in Wilde and Mendoza feuding with the current NXT Tag Team Champions in Breezango, but to be fair, they've ran that program and the one with Imperium into the ground. I like the group - Legado del Fantasma - collectively, but man, NXT have been running these programs against guys who cannot get a break against them for shit for feels like months now. Move onto something else, please. I was hoping that maybe we could have gotten Undisputed Era against Legado del Fantasma for War Games in some capacity, but I doubt that is going to happen with Swerve getting a new ally in the form of Ashantee "Thee" Adonis. I watched this match twice and I didn't have an idea who the flying fuck that dude was until later in this show where they interviewed him backstage. Apparently, he was in Ring of Honor and a few other places before signing with WWE and competing primarily on 205 Live. (Laughs) No wonder I don't know who he is then...

Once again, this wasn't a bad match, even though there were some sloppy missteps upon execution. It didn't bore me to death, so that's a positive. I'm just sick of seeing these guys face off, especially when it seems like Swerve faces this dude to a losing effort at every opportunity for the Cruiserweight title. He's turning into the Apollo Crews of the Cruiserweight division, whereas if he keeps getting shot after shot against Escobar, eventually he's going to get lucky and get the title off of the guy. 



Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship
Io Shirai (c) def. Candice LeRae 


(Laughing) When Johnny Failure shows up to TakeOver, his wife Jenny Failure isn't far behind. I'm sorry, but after this match, I'm done with this current crop of opponents down in NXT's Women's Division for Io Shirai. It's painfully obvious that no one other than Rhea Ripley is a stand out in that division, especially when they aren't going to have Dakota Kai nor Raquel Gonzales beat her for it and Tegan Nox just got sidelined with an injury while anyone else in that division has seen much screen time on weekly TV episodes or if any at all (Ahem... Santana Garrett, who I have absolutely NO idea why they aren't pushing that woman to the moon...). Much like the opener between Gargano and Priest for the North American Championship, I had doubts going into this show that NXT would do some stupid main roster booking and have Candice and Gargano sweep the champions just to say that they are the first and only couple to hold NXT gold at the same time. It was the same thing on the main roster where they couldn't resist to put all of the belts on Sasha Banks and Bayley earlier this year. In my opinion, putting all of your championships on one person does nothing but highlight the fact of how much your division(s) are lacking in credible challengers and the lack of depth in that said division. If we're being honest with ourselves, WWE has a major problem with that across all three brands, including NXT as well. 


It was a saving grace that they ended this match with not one but TWO new challengers making themselves known to the reigning champion - first with the returning Toni Storm (who I'm guessing is able to leave the United Kingdom now that the travel restrictions have eased up a bit) and second with the returning Ember Moon (revealing herself as the mystery former champion in the vignettes from the last few weeks) from the injury that nearly ended her career. 



I tweeted it during the show and I'll say it here too. If I could be selfish, I wish it would have been Ember Moon returning on the main roster to challenge Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship to revisit their old NXT rivalry that never got to be resolved properly, due to Asuka forfeiting the title and leaving the NXT brand following an injury of her own. Monday Night RAW is severely in need of new, strong opponents for Asuka and Ember Moon would be one hell of an opponent for Asuka if they were to play up their history from NXT. Alas, that think tank of chimps writing on the main roster probably didn't think of that, so Triple H got first dibs at Ember Moon making her return to the company on NXT instead. Io Shirai versus Ember Moon would easily be a dream match-up for many, as I'm not sure if they have faced each other in any capacity in the past outside of WWE. Io and Toni Storm on the other hand, have had a lot of encounters outside of WWE, namely for Stardom. That would be a pleasant treat to revisit some of those bouts for future TakeOver specials. Toni and Ember will definitely spice this women's division on NXT for the better, that's for sure. I wouldn't mind seeing Rhea Ripley face those two (again in some cases) as well. They definitely have to rehab her following her lost momentum following the lost to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania this year. Rhea's momentum fell off a cliff at that point and never came back. That has to be NXT's biggest blunder all year, especially when you look at how her star was on the rise this time a year ago. 

As for this match from bell to bell, it was alright, but I can't say that it was one of my favorite TakeOver outings for Io Shirai. Candice LeRae put up a better performance than I was expecting, but I don't have to see her competing for the NXT Women's Championship anytime soon. It was a bit much to even entertain that thought at this point. I honestly don't know what they should do with Candice really. She was set to be in a program with Tegan Nox until it was confirmed that her torn ACL injury was legitimate over the past week. Tegan Nox can't catch a break with these leg injuries at all. I hate that she has to miss time in the ring and nurse yet another leg injury, I think Tegan might have to consider hanging it up if she keeps getting put down like this. As for Candice LeRae, this heel gimmick with Candice's husband is generally hit or miss, with not just me, but most people watching NXT every week and I didn't think she was a very good babyface either. She's just really bland to me, but she's good worker in the ring though. I guess they could migrate her into a program with Shotzi Blackheart, but it seems like her and Rhea Ripley are still feuding with Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales off and on, so who knows. 

I loved the Spanish Fly that Io busted out towards the end here, but I have no idea why Tom Phillips made a point to keep saying that Io is a fan of Rey Mysterio afterwards when he doesn't have a reputation of using that move in his own arsenal. That was a minor gripe here that was quickly forgotten after Gargano's attempts to play the role of the referee backfired and ensured that the "Gargano Way" wasn't the way to victory here. 


Singles match for the NXT Championship
Finn Bálor (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly



This match made me really happy as a long-time Kyle O'Reilly fan, namely for the fact that more people have this chance to see exactly how good he is in the ring. 

Both Balor and O'Reilly suffered some legit injuries from this hard hitting affair. O'Reilly fractured Balor's jaw in two places after being on the receiving end of one of his brutal high knees while O'Reilly lost some teeth by the end of this match. Both of these guys brought it like they were wrestling in the main event in the Tokyo Dome. This is definitely a TakeOver match that shouldn't be missed. As an O'Reilly fan, I'm really happy to see him in this spot. It would have been even better if he won the match, but at the same time, I get why they didn't pull the trigger on that victory quite yet. It's up in the air on whether or not that they want to pull the trigger on splitting up the Undisputed Era too. I wouldn't do that as should be called up to the main roster collectively as an unit. Otherwise, Vince McMahon will just look at each individual member of that group as more "too small" guys to fill up 205 Live's roster. O'Reilly and Bobby Fish (together as reDRagon) are desperately needed to reinvigorate that dying tag team scene on the main roster, but I fear for Fish's long-term ability to avoid injuries when he has been plagued with them for the last few years. Strong will fit in easily as a "good hand" for the mid-card scene at the Intercontinental/United States title level, but I can't see him going beyond that level in WWE's environment. Adam Cole is the total package out of all four members of Undisputed Era, but his size will be the only thing that would have him looked over (by Vince mostly) in favor of bigger, imposing figures in WWE. 

Maybe it's just me, but to me, it looked like Finn Balor completely no sold O'Reilly working his limbs over the entire match just to merely hit the Coup de Grace twice - both standing and diving without showing any signs of the abuse making a difference in the finish. I doubt that was intentional, especially for a seasoned professional like Balor, but damn that didn't sit right with me watching this finish live Sunday night. 



The post-match with Richard Holland tossing a battered and bruised Adam Cole like a piece of meat at the feet of the members of Undisputed Era at ringside felt a little flat to me. Holland is a monstrosity to behold, but at the same time, I hope they don't fast track this dude to the top at the same manner that they did with Karrion Kross earlier this year or even Brock Lesnar back in 2002. Hell, Holland looks JUST like a young Brock Lesnar and I'm sure that Vince McMahon would lose his mind if he saw that guy right now. I wouldn't even hold that match where Johnny Gargano suffered that scary stinger by being dropped onto his head by Holland against him either. Both of them were to blame in that freak incident where Gargano jumped a little too late and at the same time, Holland didn't spin around with the Powerslam in time before landing on the mat. Accidents happen, but I do think it wouldn't hurt to slow his ascent though. It's not going to kill them to take their time with that guy. They took months with Lars Sullivan when they were building him up as a credible monster. I think most people were expecting the Undisputed Era to fall out following the decision of this match, but I think the long game is to pull the swerve that Cole staged the entire incident and has Holland as his hired muscle. 



As of this posting (10/8/20), Ridge Holland suffered a pretty gnarly knee injury during a match with Danny Burch on WWE NXT last night (10/7/20). I don't know what the full scope of that injury is, but man, that has to suck for Holland as it was abundantly clear that NXT had big plans for that guy. People who saw the match live on social media said that you could literally see his knee explode during the spot in question. It looks like a pretty bad as you just know that your knee and/or ankle isn't supposed to bend that way. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for the guy. 




Afterthoughts:


The change in scenery for the Performance Center was needed desperately months ago when this pandemic first started. I thought when WWE started running shows in there full-time that they would spice the venue up a bit, but NXT keep getting more and more boring to watch visually as the weeks played out. Changing the venue to look like a modified version of the Thunderdome set that WWE has been using for RAW and SmackDown! for the past few months was a nice touch, along with the fans and trainees behind the fences/Plexi glass. I hope someone gets a good screenshot online of the side of the venue across from the hard camera where you can clearly see Shotzi Blackheart and several others in attendance not wearing any masks, but Triple H assured everyone on his post-show conference call that all safety and health guidelines were being followed. Yeah, right...

I did think it was in good taste that they formally renamed the WWE Performance Center to the “Capitol Wrestling Center”, as an homage to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the predecessor to WWE that was founded by Jess McMahon in 1953. They even adopted the old logo to boot. This new look will definitely made the boring, bland Performance Center stand out more akin to the shady fight club feel that it should have, similar to a blend between Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor's visual presentation. I mention the latter mainly because that is what a lot of NXT storylines and matches are heavily influenced by. My only concern is how long is this layout going to stay fresh until viewers are bored with this visual presentation too? Even AEW are struggling in that regard week-to-week when they were leading the charge on how to present wrestling during this pandemic at first, so only time will tell in the long run. 

This wasn't a bad show at all, but I think it was a far cry from being one of the best TakeOver specials of the year. It's just hard to top the stand out performances from TakeOver XXX a few months prior to this, but the talent here put in their best efforts to try though. There's no doubt about that. The best thing for me was that this show didn't overstay it's welcome either as it was over well before 10PM Eastern Standard Time and didn't try to clock in towards midnight like AEW or the main roster PPVs. 
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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.



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.


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.



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.



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.



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.

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