NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Thread

[Emperor Smeat]

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Night 1 card:
- NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Raquel González

– NXT UK Championship: WALTER (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa

– NXT Tag Team Championship: MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado Del Fantasma

– Gauntlet Eliminator Match: Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Leon Ruff vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs. LA Knight

– Kushida vs. Pete Dunne

Also on tonight's card is Toni Storm vs. Zoey Stark which is taking place during the pre-show that starts at 7PM EST.

Tonight's Night 1 show is on USA Network, NBC's Peacock in the US, and WWE Network elsewhere while tomorrow's Night 2 show is only on Peacock in the US and WWE Network elsewhere.

[GD]

MSK winning the straps was pretty cool

[Triple A]

Raquel Gonzalez is cool...

[GD]

She's weird on Instagram but very intimidating. Looks like Io is coming up.

[Emperor Smeat]

Only managed to watch the first couple of matches live before my internet started to act up too much to continue.

KUSHIDA vs. Pete Dunne was very good and figured NXT was going to do something really dumb for the Gauntlet match.

Why have Gargano & The Way feud with Dexter Lumis for as long as they did if it wasn't going to result in Gargano vs. Lumis for the NA title at TakeOver.

[Triple A]

Toni Storm losing to "Zoey Stark" on the pre-show... Feel like she has been jobbing a lot... wonder if she has "backstage heat" or something

[Emperor Smeat]

Probably just her getting lost in the shuffle since NXT's women's division is very packed and NXT didn't have any real plans for her return besides a quick throwaway feud with Io.

Outside of the Io vs. Raquel feud, none of WWE's women's feuds both on the main roster and in NXT have been that interesting during this years Road to Mania.

[erickman]

Probably just her getting lost in the shuffle since NXT's women's division is very packed and NXT didn't have any real plans for her return besides a quick throwaway feud with Io.

Outside of the Io vs. Raquel feud, none of WWE's women's feuds both on the main roster and in NXT have been that interesting during this years Road to Mania.

yeah and steph just showed a new signing tonight, i am still betting on a womens only show for peacock.

[DaveWadding]

Dunne / KUSHIDA was excellent. I feared for Pete's neck on that Top Rope Hoverboard Lock Slam.

Bronson Reed just won the Gauntlet match. I like him, but damn if I wasn't after Swerve / Gargano 2 tomorrow. Reed / Gargano will be good regardless.

[DaveWadding]

Ciampa vs. WALTER was a war. The most impressive part was Ciampa holding up his and WALTER's body weight on a neck bridge :eek:

[DaveWadding]

"Wes Lee" is a human highlight reel. Jesus.

[Emperor Smeat]

Currently watching the rest of Night 1 that I couldn't catch live earlier.

WALTER breaking part of the announcer's table with a chop was amazing. Going to be hard to top that for spot of the year in WWE and NXT.

NXT UK title match was amazing. Would put it below the match WALTER had with Ilja Dragunov in terms of greatness and brutality but still a strong contender for Match of the Year in WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

Is it wrong to be way more interested in Taya/Franky's dog than her upcoming debut in NXT?

Hope her dog actually sticks around and shows up in NXT and isn't just an afterthought since its way too adorable to not see on tv.

[DaveWadding]

Io Shirai is still the champion of my heart. :'(

[Emperor Smeat]

NXT Tag title match was terrific.

Only issue is why give the winners MSK the tv jobber entrance treatment since Legado Del Fantasmo & Grizzled Young Vets both got their entrances shown.

Also found it a bit funny that NXT pulled an Impact in the sense of new signing quickly shoots up the ladder and wins a title over others who have been in the brand longer.

[Emperor Smeat]

Io diving off the Giant Skull was crazy.

NXT Women's title match was very good although the booking of it felt off. Mostly in regards to Io dominating most of the match and feeling like she was the beast instead of Raquel and Raquel being like the face who had to scratch their way to victory.

Also a bit surprised Io lost since NXT could have squeezed a bit more juice out of her reign unless she's going to be a post-Mania call-up.

Night 1 was very entertaining overall and TakeOver Stand & Deliver currently on track towards being in the upper tier half for TakeOvers.

NXT UK title match was my favorite while the Gauntlet match had some head scratching booking decisions. LA Knight's run in NXT already starting to feel like a bust due to how poorly he's been handled since his debut.

[DaveWadding]

Think they're doing the right thing with LA Knight, he can talk enough to carry him and Lumis in a feud, and I feel like Lumis has been doing good work with others like Grimes and Reed, helping move them up the card. I don't think Knight is good enough to just hot shot a belt or a title match onto.

[erickman]

NXT Tag title match was terrific.

Only issue is why give the winners MSK the tv jobber entrance treatment since Legado Del Fantasmo & Grizzled Young Vets both got their entrances shown.

Also found it a bit funny that NXT pulled an Impact in the sense of new signing quickly shoots up the ladder and wins a title over others who have been in the brand longer.

yeah i don't get the msk push, those are reel flippy guys, i love it but not wwe. they may be moved to raw or smackdown sooner then expected then they will give vince a heart attack.

[erickman]

mikie james on pre show she one of the hosts guess that is what she will do for mania.

[Emperor Smeat]

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Full card for Night 2:

Breezango vs. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain to determine the top contenders for new WWE NXT Tag Team Champions MSK is set for tonight's NXT Takeover: Stand and Deliver Night Two Kickoff show.

*WWE NXT Champion Finnn Balor vs. Karrion Kross with Scarlett.

*WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar vs. NXT UK Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin - Ladder Match to unify titles.

*WWE NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano vs. Gauntlet Eliminator Winner Bronson Reed.

*WWE NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Candice LaRae & Indi Hartwell.

*Unsanctioned Match: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly.

[erickman]

breezangos hats they are still entertaining

[erickman]

spud and dain vs msk that should be fun

[Emperor Smeat]

Ouch at Escobar's back on that hard landing to the ladder.

[Emperor Smeat]

What match was it in WWE that started the craze of having the spot with a brawl on top of multiple ladders that WWE & NXT does with all of their ladder matches these days?

Curiserweight Ladder match was very good despite dragging near the end and the somewhat weak finish.

[Emperor Smeat]

Wait thought Peacock wasn't supposed to air ads during live WWE shows.

[Emperor Smeat]

Yikes, Shotzi almost brained herself on that suicide dive to the outside.

[Emperor Smeat]

NXT Women's Tag title match was pretty good despite getting a bit sloppy near the end.

Didn't really feel like a TakeOver worthy match but then again to be fair, I've barely been interested in The Way ever since they formed in NXT.

[Emperor Smeat]

Gargano might be the biggest dweeb or comics nerd in WWE when it comes to him always wearing super hero attires for his TakeOver entrances.

This time its him portraying War Machine for his attire.

[Emperor Smeat]

No wonder Gargano feels stale and/or well past his expiration date in NXT, Vic Jospeh just stated that this is his 16th TakeOver show in a row.

[erickman]

No wonder Gargano feels stale and/or well past his expiration date in NXT, Vic Jospeh just stated that this is his 16th TakeOver show in a row.

yeah he ether needs to move up or out

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at Gargano no selling getting Razor Edge'd into the ring.

North American title match has been good so far even though its also been mostly very slow in pacing and filler.

[Emperor Smeat]

NXT title match was mostly very good but something about it felt a bit off in terms of not really hitting that next gear needed.

I'd put it more towards the lower end in terms of Gargano TakeOver matches in terms of entertainment.

Right now I'd put Night 1 over Night 2 in terms of which show was better and WALTER vs. Ciampa as the best match so far.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at Scarlett almost having a wardrobe malfunction with the elaborate dance she does during Kross' entrance.

Lucky for her top only went down a wee bit and was very quick reacting to it.

[erickman]

kross is going to kill you good to hear the joe chant back

[Emperor Smeat]

Didn't watch the pre-show but find it a bit funny NXT is copying AEW's format with the unsanctioned match being last on the card.

Wonder if Cole is going to try to one up his girlfriend Britt Baker and go higher on the Muta scale for a crimson mask.

[erickman]

Didn't watch the pre-show but find it a bit funny NXT is copying AEW's format with the unsanctioned match being last on the card.

Wonder if Cole is going to try to one up his girlfriend Britt Baker and go higher on the Muta scale for a crimson mask.

yeah it should be a good one, an he would want to one up walter and britt.

[Triple A]

Watching... trying to not comment about Vic Joseph...

[Emperor Smeat]

NXT title match was very good and makes sense Kross was getting his belt back. Hopefully this time he came out of this match injury free.

Thought for a moment they were going to go with the lame pass out spot to do the title switch but instead went with the much better Kross pounding the shit out of Balor's head and nailing him with a sweet sounding KO punch to the back of his head.

[Emperor Smeat]

Assuming this show actually ends at 10:15, going to be a somewhat short Unsanctioned match between Cole & O'Reilly.

Opening Cruiser title ladder match might end up being the longest match on tonight's show depending on when this match starts.

[Jordan]

If Balor lost his title they should send him back to the main roster. I could imagine Finn vs Roman would be a good post Mania title program, and I imagine he'd end up working with Edge and Bryan too.

[Emperor Smeat]

Was anyone else getting an annoying buzzing sound when NXT played the ominous pre-match music while the competitors are walking backstage?

Happened with the backstage walk before the NXT title match and now with the backstage walk before this Unsanctioned match.

Cole's new theme sounds like a bootleg and bad generic version of the UE theme.

[Evil Vito]

I’m a bit inconsistent with NXT, I usually just flip over during AEW ads to see what’s going on and seek out full matches later if I hear it’s good.

I get that he’s kinda owed a title run after getting hurt straight away last time, but Kross as champ certainly does not make me want to tune in on Tuesday.

[Triple A]

Was anyone else getting an annoying buzzing sound when NXT played the ominous pre-match music while the competitors are walking backstage?

Happened with the backstage walk before the NXT title match and now with the backstage walk before this Unsanctioned match.

Cole's new theme sounds like a bootleg and bad generic version of the UE theme.

Was only half paying attention but didn't notice that I don't think

[Emperor Smeat]

If Balor lost his title they should send him back to the main roster. I could imagine Finn vs Roman would be a good post Mania title program, and I imagine he'd end up working with Edge and Bryan too.

Balor actually mentioned in a recent interview that he wants to go to NXT UK next if he has to leave NXT.

His time on the main roster was that traumatizing that he doesn't want to go back there.

Plus Triple H only really cares about hogging and stockpiling as much talent in his NXT brand even if it hurting the main roster.

[Emperor Smeat]

Was only half paying attention but didn't notice that I don't think

Might be my laptop acting up again. Then again also could be the recent Windows update I installed that managed to mess up Firefox for streamed shows.

[Emperor Smeat]

So far this Unsanctioned match feels like just a slow paced regular hardcore match than a blood feud style war.

[Emperor Smeat]

O'Reilly running full steam into a stretch out chain rope was both crazy and stupid as hell.

He's lucky he didn't cut his throat or gash his head.

[Emperor Smeat]

WALTER's chop really is the strongest move in the WWE universe since the table didn't break from that suplex spot by O'Reilly.

[Emperor Smeat]

This match has gone on way too long so far.

NXT keeps taking the wrong lessons when it comes to wrestling in pandemic era. First it was doing extra long and drawn out cinematic matches and now its doing a show just as long as a regular Takeover despite the whole purposes of doing a two night show is so that they'd be shorter in length.

[Triple A]

The crowd atmosphere sounds good for a COVID-era show, with real chants and stuff... Have they had that many people in the first few rows on the camera side on regular NXT episodes for a while, or did it just start now (I know they had some real people, but seems like a lot more now)

[Emperor Smeat]

Thank god it finally ended. Unsanctioned match was very good but didn't need to go over 40 minutes long.

Didn't even really feel worthy of being an Unsanctioned match until the last few minutes.

I'd put AEW's Unsanctioned match with Britt Baker above this one for recent comparisons.

The crowd atmosphere sounds good for a COVID-era show, with real chants and stuff... Have they had that many people in the first few rows on the camera side on regular NXT episodes for a while, or did it just start now (I know they had some real people, but seems like a lot more now)

Yesterday was the first time. They basically gutted the pods and dividers to get more space for fans.

Not really a fan of them doing it considering the amount of times they've had outbreaks there.

[erickman]

yeah that was about 15 mins to long

[Emperor Smeat]

Now that Night 2's done, I'd put Night 1 over it and the NXT title match as the second best match from TakeOver.

Nothing tonight managed to really topple the greatness WALTER vs. Ciampa was.

In terms of TakeOvers, I'd still put this in the upper half but lower than what I felt coming in to tonight's show.

[slik]

I caught Balor/Kross and Cole/O'Reilly

Balor/Kross was good

Cole/O'Reilly had too many false finishes. Like a few is fine but not like 20. Good match otherwise.

[DaveWadding]

Devlin/Escobar was great, but tbh, I still think the ladder was unnecessary. I want to see them have an actual wrestling match. Absolutely incredible stuff.

[Volare]

Hey Xrod, two nights and two pages....what gives?