NXT TAKEOVER: STAND & DELIVER

 

Orlando, Florida

NIGHT 1

ZOEY STARK vs. TONI STORM (9:52): It's Wrestlemania week...which means a plethora of wrestling shows. Not as many as usual (Ring of Honor used to put on a big PPV before 'Mania), but the WWE is having 9 straight nights of shows...which is insane. RAW, the Hall of Fame, 2 NXT Takeovers, Smackdown, 2 Wrestlemania nights, RAW, then NXT on its new Tuesday night. Granted, none of this means anything since the most memorable thing of the week already occurred when Will Ospreay beat Ibushi on Sunday to win the IWGP championship. I gotta admit...I'm rarely surprised watching wrestling...but when Ospreay won I was surprised. And while that match was fantastic, this show did have a match of the year contender. This was night 1 of their 2 night Takeover: Stand & Deliver. Tonight it was the last Wednesday NXT show on USA and so the last night of the Wednesday night wars. They're moving to Tuesdays because of the NHL. I didn't even watch this on USA, though, because it was on Peacock commercial free. The show was pretty good though tomorrow night will probably be better since it has a ladder match and an Adam Cole match. This Stark vs. Storm match was on the pre-show. It was fast paced and short at least. The women's division in NXT is not the greatest these days. **

PETE DUNNE vs. KUSHIDA (10:39): Quite the dream match, no? Who would have ever thought these two would ever be wrestling? And for a 10 minute bout, it was pretty good. Though short on time and with no buildup or story, you kind of got what you paid for. Dunne is more a ground and pound, brutal wrestler...Kushida is the fast, high flyer. Since they're both so good it still worked. These two are too good to be in a forgotten opener, though. **1/2

BRONSON REED vs. ISAIAH "SWERVE" SCOTT vs. CAMERON GRIMES vs. LA KNIGHT vs. DEXTER LUMIS vs. LEON RUFF (23:14): This was a Gauntlet match, meaning 2 guys started and then after a few minutes another entered. It was elimination style and the winner is facing Gargano tomorrow night. The one guy that might not have a good match with Gargano ended up winning, which is kind of disappointing. Bronson Reed is fat and does all of the Yokozuna type of stuff. Isaiah Scott was kind of the star with his high flying and cockiness. LA Knight is kind of the prototypical wrestler that Vince loves (tall, muscled, good looks, a bore) so I was shocked he didn't win. This was a lot of fun, actually. A ton of action. Good match. ***

WALTER vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA (16:59): This match was phenomenal...but of course it was. Walter is probably WWE's best wrestler just for the fact that he's usually the only one who ends up in my top 10 matches of the year every year. Ciampa is so great that he refuses to leave NXT for the main roster. Usually, Walter matches are squashes, but they turned it around here and had Ciampa on offense for most of it. This was brutal, which sickening chops and kicks and slams. The story had Walter's hand damaged so he couldn't deliver his patented chops. There were a ton of near falls. The end was a bit anti-climatic, with the fading Walter just winning out of the blue. It was also kind of obvious Ciampa wasn't winning the UK title because, what, he's going to go live in England and wrestle now? But this will probably end up being the WWE's best match all year. ***1/2

MSK vs. GRIZZLED YOUNG VETERANS vs. LEGADO DEL FANTASMA (15:24): This had a lot of action, a lot of high flying, a lot of bodies all over the place. MSK won the tag titles here. They had a tough spot here trying to follow that classic...but it was entertaining. **1/2

RAQUEL GONZALEZ vs. IO SHIRAI (12:56): Both of these wrestlers are pretty boring for whatever reason, so this was just okay. Gonzalez won the women's title here. It's funny, but Io Shirai did like ten moonsaults in this match plus jumped off the big skull on the entranceway...but she's still a bore. I think it's because she's dating New Japan's Evil...and he's boring as well. Gonzalez is tall...but doesn't have much of an arsenal. This wasn't terrible or anything but for a main event title match you kind of want something longer, more dramatic, and more awesome. **

NIGHT 2

KILLIAN DANE & DRAKE MAVERICK vs. BREEZANGO (8:38): Since it's Wrestlemania week ...remember when Fandango debuted and beat Jericho at 'Mania and then a few months later he disappeared forever? And remember the crowds would do that stupid dance to his entrance music? That seemed like it was ten years ago...and yet Fandango is still around. I'm not sure where he's been? Probably in the blackhole that's WWE Superstars, a TV show that exists but I'm not sure when it's on or what channel. It's strange, but the WWE keeps people around that just aren't on TV. Why do they still pay them? This baffles me. Well Fandango is back on TV, albeit on the Peacock app, albeit on the pre-show. This show was only on the Peacock app. The picture quality was good and they added the pause and rewind buttons. Hopefully come Saturday night the whole thing won't crash. Last night's Takeover was a better show, but this still had his moments. This forgettable match wasn't one of them. They still haven't figured out what to do with Drake Maverick and I think they've tried just about everything. 1/2*

SANTOS ESCOBAR vs. JORDAN DEVLIN "LADDER MATCH" (18:06): This was the match of the night. It was for the cruiserweight title...which I think used to be the 205Live title. There were 2 belts hanging above the ring so who the fuck knows what's going on...I'm not sure anyone watches 205Live anymore, especially considering it's not even live anymore even though it's called "live." These 2 did a bunch of crazy shit. Devlin did a moonsault off of the top of the ladder which was awesome. Escobar pushed Devlin off of the ladder and down onto another ladder and then grabbed the titles to win. Good match. ***

EMBER MOON & SHOTZI BLACKHEART vs. CANDICE LeRAE & INDI HARTWELL (10:35):

I've said it before, but Shotzi reminds me of Hiromu Takahashi. That's not entirely a good thing, as Hiromu broke his neck and is now less exciting as he once was. Shotzi did a dive through the ropes and Candice and Indi didn't even catch her and she almost landed right on her head. Alas, she's crazy and thrilling to watch, and perhaps the WWE's most exciting female wrestler now. This match wasn't very good, though, since Candice and Indi are kind of pedestrian and Ember Moon didn't do much of note. *1/2

JOHNNY GARGANO vs. BRONSON REED (16:23): They really should have had Isaiah "Swerve" Scott win the Gauntlet match last night instead of Bronson Reed. I think Reed is Samoan...so maybe he's related to The Rock or something and that's why he's been semi-pushed. Bronson is not a very good wrestler. He got really tired and slow too fast in this match and botched one particular top rope spot where he was supposed to hold on to Gargano but let him slip and fall to the mat. Gargano is awesome so at least half of this match was good. The announcers noted that this was Gargano's 16th straight Takeover show. Jesus. I guess he's never going to RAW or Smackdown. Granted, that's probably a good thing, as him and Adam Cole and Ciampa would probably die a slow death on the main roster. **1/2

KARRION KROSS vs. FINN BALOR (17:08): Kross won the title in August by defeating Keith Lee but he was injured so he had to give it up. He won the title here to make up for that. Kross is a Vince type; tall, muscular, boring. He'll never be in a good main event, so giving him the title is a mistake. By the end of this it was fairly entertaining, though nothing spectacular or anything. Kross just wrestles awkwardly whereas Balor is flawless. Maybe they'll finally kick Balor out of NXT. Why is he still there, anyway? They mentioned this was Balor's 16th Takeover show. The only great Takeover match I recall him having was that match years ago against Neville. **1/2

KYLE O'REILLY vs. ADAM COLE "UNSANCTIONED MATCH" (40:10): This was the longest WWE singles match in a really fucking long time, right? Walter had a 40 minute match in 2019 but that was in NXT:UK. This was too long, though, as some of it dragged. It was certainly memorable, and brutal, although a lot of the "hardcore" stuff didn't really work. After watching AEW doing exploding barbed wire and thumbtacks and buckets of blood...using a chain and chairs just kind of pales in comparison. They used the chain way too much and it always came across as kind of silly. They did a suplex on the announce table and it didn't break. They fell through the entrance walkway that collapsed. Cole hit O'Reilly with a tire iron and a TV. The ref was knocked out for awhile. O'Reilly wrapped a chain around his leg and jumped off the top rope to knee Cole in the head while Cole was draped over an upside down chair. Then O'Reilly pinned him for the win. I think if these two just had a regular wrestling match it would have been better. **1/2