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: WarGames (Dec. 6, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: WarGames was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on December 6, 2020 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and featured NXT's virtual fan viewing experience called the Capitol Wrestling Center. It was the 32nd NXT TakeOver event and the fourth event under the WarGames chronology.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) defeated Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan) in a WarGames match while in the opening bout, Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel González, and Toni Storm) defeated Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai) in the women's WarGames match.

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Match Results:

Dark Match: Six-Man Tag Team Match

Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) def. Curt Stallion, Ashante "Thee" Adonis and August Grey

I personally didn't see this match, but I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't show up on NXT's TV tapings or 205 Live over the next few weeks, if it didn't air already. 

Women's WarGames Match

Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel González, and Toni Storm) def. Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai)

Team Candice...

Team Shotzi... riding her shiny new tank!

This match was rather odd to get started - which was complicated more by the asinine logic (or lack of thereof) of having the babyfaces bullying the heels for majority of this match. That was complicated even more by the babyfaces winning the advantage to start the match when the heels traditionally cheat to win that right. It was puzzling to me that the babyfaces were the ones bringing the weapons into the match as if they were fighting in some sort of disadvantage here. It (kinda, but not really) came together when it came time for the final member of Team Shotzi to enter the match, NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai, who was blocked at every turn to enter the ring by members of Team Candice, including an injured Indi Hartwell. She couldn't compete in the match, so it cool that she was able to contribute here in some limited capacity. Io ends up entering the match via non-conventional means as I'm sure you have seen the gif/screenshot of Io's Grouch impersonation as she dove from the top of the cage while inside a trash can.

I’m trash. 😈👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😹😹 https://t.co/kZUteqyq3g

— 紫雷イオ、Io Shirai (@shirai_io) December 7, 2020

As cool as that looked, I'm glad no one was hurt as that could have gone horribly wrong. Io would be involved with another trash can-related spot as Dakota Kai would perform a Diving Double Foot Stomp to her while she was still trapped within. Dakota Kai almost couldn't get her out of the crushed trash can afterwards since it warped around Io's petite frame so much. I thought they were going to take that thing off of her and she would have been a bloody mess. Unfortunately, she wasn't hurt but this match wasn't shy in brutal spots and bumps.

The spot where Candice LeRae broke her arm/wrist.

Candice LeRae would suffer a possible broken arm/wrist from the awkward landing during the impact of Shotzi Blackheart coming down off of the ladder onto LeRae's arm that was covered by a steel chair. It was already bad enough that Candice took a flat back bump off the ladder onto the two chairs, but to add the Diving Senton from Shotzi was pretty darn nuts. As of this posting (12/10/20), Dakota Kai had missed last night's NXT TV taping as she was still suffering from the abuse she took in this match. I wouldn't be surprised if that absolutely BRUTAL Eclipse that she took from Ember Moon over two chairs had anything to do with that. That was pure insanity to see executed. How in the hell did she not end up with a broken neck or broken collarbone is beyond me. 

I don't even know how to even explain how the hell Dakota Kai doesn't have a broken neck from that.

Much like Rhea Ripley's performance last year, this was a standout performance for Raquel González with her picking up the win for Team Candice with a vicious Avalanche Powerbomb to the NXT Women's Champion onto a ladder bridged between the two rings above that metal strip connecting them. I seriously thought that Io was possibly paralyzed after taking a bump like that. If she had kicked out I would have insanely pissed off - much like I was when Dakota Kai barely sold the two strikes from a goddamn sledgehammer from Rhea Ripley upon her arrival into this match. Fortunately, this was the finish of the match and I was fine with this as the opener. The ladies worked hard and came off as bad asses from all of the punishment that they put each other through here. It's just a darn shame that this match was riddled with piss poor booking for majority of this match to start it off. I saw people say that this match was a complete burial to the babyfaces on Team Shotzi. I honestly can't disagree, but the babyfaces were booked like shit from the start of this feud anyway, but the heels on Team Candice needed the win here even more. It was bigger slap to the face that the heels won clean over all else here though. That's the main issue I had with this match as a whole. 

I do have to knock NXT for allowing Io Shirai to be still walking around like nothing happened on NXT (12/9/20) last night. C'mon it would not have killed you guys to have her take the week off to sell that finish.

Singles Match

Tommaso Ciampa def. Timothy Thatcher

This was a hard-hitting affair, but it was a tough match to call going in to predict who would walk away as the winner. Where the women of NXT started things off with a train wreck of sorts in terms of hardcore-oriented violence, Ciampa and Thatcher took things to a technical level with mat wrestling here. This was a great match in its own way, even though Thatcher's ear was rendered to a bloody mess by the time it was all said and done. In retrospect, that ended up adding to this match, showing Thatcher's toughness and endurance.

I think Thatcher owes Ciampa money.

Great fight. Both guys made everything mean something. #NXTTakeOver @BustedOpenRadio

— Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) December 7, 2020

I was a little bummed out that Thatcher couldn't pick up the win here after his string of losses on NXT programming as of late - such as his first submission loss to Kushida a few weeks ago, but Ciampa hasn't had a TakeOver victory in roughly two years, so he was LONG overdue at this point. I guess they could do a rematch in the Fight Pit down the road if they want to continue this program.

Strap Match

Dexter Lumis def. Cameron Grimes by submission

I honestly didn't fucking care about this feud nor this match at all. I went on a fast food run with the WWE Network app still playing the match on my phone as I waited in the drive-thru. There were some interesting spots in this match, but I couldn't get the irony of the fact that NXT has the two ex-IMPACT/TNA Wrestling guys tied together in a nonsensical feud as this when BOTH of them could be in much better spots on this card.

I don't want to knock either of these guys as I like them as wrestlers but I just don't care about this feud at all. From what I glanced at the match was fine, but I can't say that I have EVER been a fan of Strap Matches in WWE in any shape nor form. Thank God that this wasn't the type of strap match that required you to slap each of the four turnbuckles to win.

Triple Threat Match for the NXT North American Championship

Johnny Gargano def. Damian Priest and Leon Ruff (c)

It didn't hit me until I started writing this review, but I can easily see what NXT is trying to do with Leon Ruff. He's literally NXT's equivalent of Ring of Honor's Cheeseburger when he started getting "serious". Jot that down as another example of stuff that NXT is "borrowing" from ROH's booking over the last decade or so. As for this match, it was fine until the closing minutes as I didn't think that all of the run-ins were necessary. Only ONE of the Ghostface(s) were Austin Theory, so who were the rest?

Yeah I was wondering where all of our RETRIBUTION reinforcements went. I guess Gargano stole them to celebrate Halloween or whatever.

— T-BAR (@TBARRetribution) December 7, 2020

Oh, thanks for the clarification there, T-Bar. Now we know what the extra goons of RETRIBUTION do on their days off. 

Priest powerbombing Ruff through that barricade like Kevin Nash did to Rey Mysterio backstage on Nitro how Hernandez sent Gail Kim coast to coast with a Border Toss.

Someone must have handed Ruff a sensu bean and gave him a Guru power up before he came back out here. DBZ references FTW. #WarGames

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) December 7, 2020

The gang's all here..

We will lead the way. pic.twitter.com/lPSEwUISAK

— Johnny Gargano (@JohnnyGargano) December 7, 2020

Priest should have been able to wipe his ass with these two guys in dominating fashion, but no, he keeps allowing himself to get outwitted by the antics of Gargano. I like Johnny Gargano as an in-ring worker, even though I think some of his TakeOver performances have been EXTREMELY overrated and over-bloated in terms of content, but I'm sick and tired of this heel run for him and his wife. They aren't good heels at all. Just because they are annoying and people don't like them doesn't mean that they are great at being heels. That's the wrong type of heel heat and the Garganos are accumulating a lot of "go away" heat. I fear that's going to infect Indi Hartwell too. To be honest, I don't feel sorry for Austin Theory at all, especially when it seems like Triple H and the rest of the top brass in WWE are inclined to simply ignore the laundry list of sexual allegations against not just Theory, but with a lot of their male talent(s) that they are pushing. Taking guys off TV for a few months, expecting people to forget about those ongoing investigations, are not going to make fans simply forget about what's going on with these people. 

Men's WarGames Match

The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) def. Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan)

(Laughs) I'm glad someone took the time to tell Pete Dunne to lay off that horrible looking orange spray tanner that he's been using on the TV tapings lately for this event. He didn't come in looking that Hogan orange hot dog frank color that his skin tone looks like these days and actually was back to looking human again.

In comparison to the women's WarGames match, this was a massive improvement in terms of match psychology and how they booked this from start to finish. Just go out of your way to watch this match over anything else on this card - outside of Thatcher/Ciampa. You won't be disappointed. 

Both teams went out there and beat the holy hell out of each other. If I had any major complaint, I felt that Pat McAfee should have ate the pin for his team instead of the anti-climatic finish that they went with. He's the biggest chicken shit heel out of that bunch, so you knew he would have been able to talk it up about how he was "screwed" in the end and bounce back from the loss just fine. I do have to question the amount of weapons and foreign objects used in these NXT WarGames matches. It's turning more into IMPACT/TNA Wrestling's Lethal Lockdown more than the traditional WarGames match and that's not necessarily a good thing, despite the fact I actually liked both flavors of those matches over the years. 

Every part of our bodies hurt just from watching that. #NXTTakeOver #WarGames

— WWE Creative Humor (@WWECreative_ish) December 7, 2020

For anyone who is keeping count, Undisputed Era's WarGames record is 2-2 now. 

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Afterthoughts:

With another win in the books, it seems like The Undisputed Era is moving on from this feud with Pat McAfee's faction. Bobby Fish is injured anyway, requiring surgery, so he's going to be out for a while even if they wanted to continue this program. I know the higher ups in WWE has to think he's injury prone at this point as he hasn't had any luck in that department at all since joining this company. If The Undisputed Era were getting called up to the main roster, I wouldn't do it until all four men were healthy and ready anyway.

Raquel Gonzales is being positioned to challenge Io Shirai next for the NXT Women's Championship, but it seems like she still has a roadblock in the form of Rhea Ripley still standing in her way. If Rhea is getting called up for WrestleMania season, then giving Raquel "the rub" as she does the honors on the way out is the way to go. 

Thatcher and Ciampa seem to be continuing their feud, which I hope that means that they will have a rematch in the Fight Pit down the road.

Gargano's new faction, dubbed "The Way", consisting of himself, Candice LeRae, Austin Theory, and Indi Hartwell, seems to be the unit that will be Johnny's insurance policy of sorts to assist him in hanging onto the North American Championship. I hope they just don't throw Leon Ruff to the wayside as it seems like Kushida is going after him next. I would love to see Kushida challenge Finn Balor for any match in some capacity before he leaves NXT. 

As of this posting (12/11/20), Karrion Kross has made his return, putting his name into the conversation with Damien Priest, Pete Dunne, and Kyle O'Reilly concerning who will challenge Finn Balor for the NXT Championship at the next TV special for January 6, 2021 dubbed New Year's Evil that was teased during this show. I'm game for Kross to win back the title he never lost while Finn gets to head over to NXT UK and give us the match that we were denied this year between him and WALTER for the NXT UK Championship. 

This was a good show from start to finish in terms of action, but in terms of compelling storylines and/or angles to make me excited to see the weekly TV tapings, they are extremely lacking in that regard. This event did nothing to change how bland those shows are to watch on a week to week basis. 

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 TakeOver XXV -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: XXV was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on June 1, 2019, at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was the twenty-fifth event under the NXT TakeOver chronology.

Seven matches were contested at the event, incuding two taped for the following week's episode of NXT. In the main event, Adam Cole defeated Johnny Gargano to win the NXT Championship. The undercard saw NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream defeating Io Shirai and Tyler Breeze respectively to retain their titles, and Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) won the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship in a Fatal Four-Way Ladder match.

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Match Results: 

Matt Riddle defeated Roderick Strong

I felt that Riddle/Strong was a strong (no pun intended) opener for this show. I was completely fine with Riddle going over here. That one sequence of tons of strikes to the near-fall was what me and my best friend used to call Roddy's "ROH Special" to end matches back there on his comeback. I had little to no issues with this match, even though it got a little spot-fest heavily towards the end.

Ladder match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship

Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) defeated Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish), and The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler)

This tag team ladder match was good but over the the course of the match, I was getting more pissed off than being entertained by it from the sheer number of moronic spots. I get these guys have something to prove here, but it seemed like they were intentionally trying to injuring each other at one point. Kyle O'Reilly was dying for our sins in this match from the sheer amount of punishment that he was putting his body through here. I hope Bobby Fish is alright too because his arm was in a sling when he came back out later in the night to celebrate with Cole after his title win. 

I think everyone, including Ray Charles, could have seen that the Street Profits were going to win here (even though I would not have been opposed to putting the straps back on Undisputed Era). In terms of booking, they could have done that when the Street Profits "almost" beat the War Raiders/Viking Experience/Viking Raiders (or whatever the fuck Hanson and Rowe are calling themselves) a few weeks ago on NXT programming in the first place instead of vacating the titles and still did the tag team ladder match. 

NXT North American Championship

Velveteen Dream (c) defeated Tyler Breeze

I thought that Dream/Breeze wasn't anywhere as good as Dream's last few TakeOver matches, but it was a great reminder of how good Breeze is. I'm glad to hear that he's sticking around on the brand and not sticking around being wasted sitting in catering every week on the main roster. Dream being so extra got a ton of laughs from me here too. I guess they could do more with this feud, but I'm fine with it being a one and done. No need to drag this out further.

Prince Pretty was Velveteen Dream back when Patrick Clark was sitting in hot tubs on Tough Enough 😏

— Walmart (@Walmart) May 30, 2019

Shoutout to Jason Solomon (@solomonster) for pointing this out on his podcast and bringing it to my attention. That definitely got one hell of a laugh from me.

NXT Women's Championship

Shayna Baszler (c) defeated Io Shirai by submission

I definitely didn't care for Shayna going over Io here but it's obvious they are setting up another rematch. This was okay overall - I'm being generous here - but the same ol' shit from Shayna in terms of her title matches. It's starting to get stale really fast. Shayna does the same song and dance in almost all of these title defenses, only for her entourage to come out and save her ass in the end. You cannot tell me that they don't have other women in developmental that they can't be building this division around instead of Shayna and the rest of Ronda Rousey's friends. 

As much as I would hate to see the main roster misuse and mismanage Shayna, I think it would have been a good idea to call her up post-WrestleMania to feud with Becky Lynch since Ronda Rousey was going to be on the bench for a while with a broken hand. I mean really, anything is better than her feuding with Lacey Evans at this point. Like why the hell did they call up Lacey Evans of all people over Shayna anyway? Lacey was just getting into the groove of this Southern Belle character and they called her up to the main roster, yet people are surprised that she's under-performing in that position? C'mon, it's Dana Brooke all over again. 

Another travesty? Calling up Kairi Sane, teaming her up with Asuka with Paige as their manager, and not doing jackshit with them while the IIconics somehow still hold those Women's Tag Team titles. Seriously, who are those girls banging in the back to keep those titles without doing absolutely nothing of merit?

NXT Championship

Adam Cole defeated Johnny Gargano (c)

At one point in this match, I was beyond rolling my eyes at all of the near-falls and kickouts. I kept saying, "C'mon end this already. You've done enough spots for 3 matches." Gargano's awesome without a shadow of a doubt but that's what I cannot stand about his TakeOver matches. Dude does FAR too much.

For the main event, y'all saw my earlier tweet. I have nothing against Gargano's in-ring ability nor ability to tell a story with his matches but I just can't stand how he does a million and one things in these TakeOver matches. I didn't care for it when the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega did it last weekend either. I didn't care for it when Lucha Underground did that one main event where Pentagon Jr. "broke" both of Brian Cage's arms, performed a curb stomp through a stack of cinder blocks, did that Piledriver on top of 4 chairs spot, before ending it with a Pentagon Driver off the top rope or some shit. It's really getting to the point where people are doing far too much in these matches, not just in NXT but in modern wrestling as a whole. I truly think it's becoming a problem.

That being said, Gargano and Cole had a great match here. They could have done a FRACTION of what they did there and still it would have been a barn burner. All I'm saying is modern wrestling as a whole needs to be reminded that less is more in terms of matches

I want a screenshot of that disheveled look of Gargano looking sad at ringside during Cole's post-match celebration. Johnny FAILURE is back, BAYBAY.

Oh yeah, there's one more thing that I want to bring up. In my honest opinion, the biggest thing AEW needs to take notice of from NXT tonight is their presentation/production style. From the moment this show started, you knew it was NXT from the unique lightning & presentation. It instantly distinguishes itself from the rest of WWE's programming from it's mere presentation and lighting alone.

I love how they didn't have any of those random/rapid fire camera cuts like the main roster stuff. The lighting focused on the ring, NOT the goofs in the crowd. This makes what is going on in the ring much more special and intimate and plays a massive part of giving NXT their identity. That's what AEW needs - a visual identity.

NXT TakeOver: War Games II -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event that took place on November 17, 2018 in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The event was produced by WWE for the NXT brand that is streamed live on the WWE Network.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. In the penultimate match, Tommaso Ciampa defeated Velveteen Dream to retain the NXT Championship and Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano.

Note: Much like my Survivor Series 2018 write-up, I'm not covering this show in order that the matches played out.

WarGames Match
NXT Champion Ricochet, WWE U.K. Champion Pete Dunne & The War Raiders def. The Undisputed ERA

I don't remember much of the old WCW WarGames matches and I kick myself every year for not revisiting them with adult eyes, but I never was too crazy about this match type when TNA/Impact Wrestling did their own spin on it with their Lethal Lockdown annual matches in this format. Boy, did NXT make me a fan of this match type over the past two years though. Honorable mention goes to MLW doing a stellar WarGames match earlier this year too by the way.

Amazing - that's the best way to describe this match during it's final quarter. I hate the first part of these matches like this because you know nothing good is going to happen until all 4 members of each opposing team are in the match and the cliched gimmick to this match is that the heels always have the advantage until that point - not to mention that Pete Dunne was dealing with a real life injury but you couldn't tell that from too much as he was protected for the bulk of this affair. Despite all of that going on, everyone involved managed to keep things interesting.

This was the coming out party for the War Raiders. This was giving me flashbacks to their feuds with Fish and O'Reilly as reDRagon during their War Machine days in Ring of Honor. For a big guy, I find myself always surprised at how mobile and agile that Hanson is. If he wasn't above 205 lbs., I'm sure WWE would have found a way to push a guy like him with the cruiserweight title.

NXT Championship Match
Tommaso Ciampa (c) def. Velveteen Dream to retain the title

I felt sorry that these two had to follow Black and Gargano on this card, but to my surprise, this match delivered big time as well. They had me fooled, just like everyone else, with the near fall after the Macho Man Elbow Drop. I thought they were going to have Ciampa drop the title to Dream there for sure. Then they did the "injury" finish and that moment of excitement went completely out of the window. I guess they really are keeping the NXT title on Ciampa until WrestleMania weekend. I honestly don't see anyone dethroning NXT's top heel anytime soon, especially while Gargano is doing this "crazy" gimmick for a while. He should look at what Eddie Edwards did in Impact over the past year and take notes of the mistakes of running that angle too long - people are going to stop caring and start tuning out. I'm anxious to see where they go with Velveteen Dream from here because it's not like a loss here is going to hurt his stock value. The fans still dig him and I'm sure Triple H and the rest of his NXT staff are fully behind the guy. I'm hoping a North American Championship run/title shot in the cards soon. His first encounter with Ricochet may have been in a loss but it wouldn't hurt to have his rematch result in a win. If I were to suggest a match, how about a triple threat between him, Adam Cole, and Ricochet with the gold on the line if you don't want to keep Dream in the NXT title conversation.

Aleister Black def. Johnny Gargano

Black and Gargano put on a masterclass showcase here as they showed off how to make your strikes look as vicious and stiff as possible without legit injuring your opponent. I hope Nia Jax took notes. Great storytelling here from start to finish and I thought the right man won here. Black was robbed of his opportunity to regain the title that he lost mistakenly to Tommaso Ciampa, thanks to Gargano's obsession, and he got his payback here.

As it currently stands on NXT programming, they are set to have a rematch at the next TakeOver special during Royal Rumble weekend, but I honestly don't see a point. Black beat the piss out of Gargano here. Doing a rematch in a steel cage isn't going to make me to expect any other different result. I'll give Gargano credit where it's due though - every match that he's had at TakeOver events for 2018 have been nothing short of amazing from bell to bell. The only downside is that as great as those matches are, he never wins when it matters. He keeps this up and people really are going to be calling him Johnny Failure. The one I think back to fondly is the one against Ciampa where he came out decked out in the Captain America Avengers: Infinity War gear and flat out lost. I just found that to be comical given to the events of that film.

NXT Women’s Championship 2-out-of-3 Falls Match
Shayna Baszler (c) def. Kairi Sane to retain the title

While I enjoyed this match, my biggest issue with it was the feeling like they were rushing for time. The first two falls went by extremely too fast for my taste, but they made up for it on the third. I marked the hell out watching this live when Io Shirai showed up to make the save and honestly rolled my eyes into the back of my head at Dakota Kai coming out to even the odds against Marina Safir and Jessamyn Duke helping out Shayna. I get why they put Kai in there as payback for all of her months of getting bullied and jobbed out to get Shayna over as a heel, but I felt that they could've added Mia Yim for that last bang that this faction needed.Then again, Dakota Kai needs something to sink her teeth into too and it wouldn't hurt to have her into a high profile program like this to erase the stigma of her being merely enhancement talent and finally ascend to a prominent role on the NXT brand instead of just being filler air time on both the NXT TV tapings and even the recent NXT UK episodes that aired to boot.

As for Shayna's title reign, I don't see anyone beating her for that title before WrestleMania weekend, unless they really plan on fast tracking a suitable challenger for the title by then. I read the spoilers and I'm already aware that Bianca Belair is going to challenger her next at the next TakeOver special, so that should be interesting there. Much like the Velveteen Dream, Belair is really talented, but I personally feel like she's missing something before moving up as NXT's face of that division. I just can't put my finger on what it is.

Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno

This was an impromptu match to kick off the show following a promo from Riddle calling out Ohno. As soon as the bell rung, Ohno did the job here, getting KO'd literally for Riddle to pick up the win. To say that Ohno's current gimmick is him being upset that he's welcoming mat for the newest NXT signees, he sure didn't do anything here to argue that point. Great way to introduce Riddle, but did absolutely nothing for Ohno here. So much for his moniker as a "Knockout Artist" when he's the one who got knocked out (laughs).