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: 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.

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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. 

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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. 

NXT: Halloween Havoc (Oct. 28, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

 

NXT: Halloween Havoc was a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. It took place on October 28, 2020 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Five matches were contested during the event. In the main event, Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae in a Tables, Ladders and Scares match to retain the NXT Women's Championship. In other prominent matches, Dexter Lumis defeated Cameron Grimes in a Haunted House of Terror match and Johnny Gargano defeated Damian Priest to win the NXT North American Championship in a Devil's Playground Match in the opening bout. 

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Devil's Playground Match for the NXT North American Championship

Johnny Gargano def. Damian Priest (c)

Gargano defeating Priest with a ledge dive/drop bump that reminded me of something straight out of Lucha Underground. The majority of that match did absolutely nothing for me. I didn't think that they should have beaten Priest this early for the belt, especially not for Gargano's stupid heel gimmick.

After the opening match, Pat McAfee took to the ring with the new NXT Tag Team Champions, Danny Birch and Oney Lorcan, to shoot on the "internet wrestling fans" and the Undisputed Era as any good heel would and should do. This was a piece of good business. I just wasn't a fan of how much time this took. Even Ray Charles saw Pete Dunne's turn on Kyle O'Reilly. Like why the fuck would he align with the Undisputed Era when those guys have been at odds for years now? Not to mention, Roderick Strong was the one who turned on him during the Dusty Tag Team Classic about three agos to put this faction together Overall, I'm not really sold on this mash-up of guys aligned with McAfee. I need a few more weeks to see what they are going to do with them collectively before I'm buying into it completely. So far it just comes across as lumping guys together for the excuse to put UE in WarGames for like 3rd or 4th year in a row. I've seriously lost count at this point.

Singles Match

Santos Escobar def. Jake Atlas

Santos Escobar def. Tony Atlas. As much as I loved Escobar in Lucha Underground as King Cuerno and I like Tony Atlas as a ring talent too, NXT has done nothing to make me care about anyone who faces Escobar's stable. That's just an easy cue to go to the bathroom or the kitchen to make a sandwich in this case - not that this lasted very long anyway. 

Legado del Fantasma dressed for the occasion.

That being said, I did like Escobar's Mysterio Halloween Havok-inspired gear though.

Haunted House of Terror match

Dexter Lumis def. Cameron Grimes by submission

While the "zombies" in the House of Horrors match looked cool with the contortionists, I want them to scrap this whole pseudo/wannabe Undertaker/pseudo Sam Shaw character for Dexter Lumis. It's just not working - AT ALL. Ironic that they have the two ex-TNA/IMPACT Wrestling guys involved in a match like this too... 

Why did they feel like this needed to be split into two parts though? It just made this match feel like it overstayed it's welcome big time. I guess they might have wanted to get all of their investment on those extras they hired to play the zombies in the haunted house. (Shrugs) Who knows? I have to wonder where the hell 

Singles Match

Rhea Ripley def. Raquel González

Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Gonzales in another match that didn't do much for me. Giant vs. Giant matches or Powerhouse vs. Powerhouse matches can be really boring when both people aren't going to bump around like the people lighter than them normally would. It just makes for a lot of bland and stale action. I honestly found myself flipping the channel back and forth to the NWA Women's title match over on AEW over this instead. I had to laugh after Rhea won too as even in victory, this match did nothing for everyone involved.

I remember having to do a double take at first as I thought Shotzi was completely nude here, but quickly realized she was rocking a Bride of Frankenstein get-up for her first costume (of many) during this broadcast.

I will mention that while I thought Shotzi's costumes were cool, I still was disappointed that she didn't rock an Elvira look for one of her multiple costume changes for the night.

Tables, Ladders and Scares match for the NXT Women's Championship

Io Shirai (c) def. Candice LeRae

After the opener, I didn't have any high hopes for the main event between Io and Candice since I was half-expecting Io to drop the title to her for Candice and Gargano to have bragging rights next week. I was surprised to see Poppy (lipsync) sing Io to the ring to what sounded like a garbled mess instead of Io's normal music. The match wasn't really good nor was it god-awful, but I'm surprised that Candice doesn't have a crushed pelvis from how she landed on ladder during the finish. (Sighs) Lemme walk that comment back a bit... I felt the same way about this match as Candice and Io's TakeOver match less than a month ago. Both women gave their all, but I don't have any enthusiasm of seeing Io losing to Candice in any shape nor form in a one-on-one match. If this was a multi-person match, then go nuts with the title change, but just all kinds of no on Candice beating Io clean. 

Reports following this show said that Hartwell wasn't the one under the mask, but was taken off the show tonight as a precaution due to COVID concerns. 

I would bet the farm that the person in the hood/Scream mask is going to be revealed as Indi Hartwell though.  I was happy to see Shotzi run interference for we would be spared from the gloating from the Garganos next week too.

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Afterthoughts: 

This wasn't a bad show, but at the same time, I wouldn't say that it blew me away either. 

I was just glad that they didn't go with the predictable route of making both of the Garganos win their matches here, even though I'm still not too keen on the idea of having Damien Priest lose the North American title to Gargano so soon after winning it. Gargano doesn't need to be a champion to be successful on NXT, but Candice LaRae could use a NXT Women's title win to pad her resume before going up to the main roster. The problem with that is that I wouldn't have Io Shirai losing to her PERIOD, even if there was heel foul play involved with the finish. I heard that there's some talk about the individual wearing the Scream mask tonight being not just one person but two individuals aligned with the Garganos. I could see that being a possibility as well. Austin Theory has been suffering a string of losses on NXT over the last few months before uttering the words that he "quit" not too long ago. Gargano could have taken him under his wing, much like how Candice may have coaxed Indi Hartwell into doing her bidding. Don't forget that Indi handed Candice a pair of brass knuckles a few weeks ago to set up this match, so there's that possibility as well. 

The impromptu creation of Pat McAfee's faction seems to be reaching at the moment, but I'm willing to give them a few weeks to iron out the kinks out on this idea before I give a final verdict on whether I have warmed up to the concept or not. I can't say the same for anything involving Legado del Fantasma though. They have great matches, but I just don't care for them as characters on this show. Double goes for roughly everyone they have been feuding with over the last few months. I really want that to change, especially with Jordan Devlin returning to NXT UK. Hopefully, we'll get to see Escobar Santos and Jordan Devlin clash to see who is the REAL NXT Cruiserweight Champion in the coming months, sooner more than later.