SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
TOP TIER FEUDS
(1) Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Finn Balor
New Developments: With Kross relinquishing the NXT Championship due to injury, big changes had to be made on short notice. The Four-Way Iron Man Match for the NXT Championship takes place next Tuesday.
Highs & Lows: This should be an incredible, Takover-worthy match. While there wasn’t any build between these four leading up to the match, most of them have long histories over the last few years in NXT.
Start of Feud: August 26, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: Ciampa’s revamped brutal persona is the most in line with what NXT would have been with Kross as the champion, so it could be a relatively easy swap to put Ciampia into that role on short notice. Balor would also be a good choice for the champion, as his return to NXT seems to be building toward another great title reign. Whoever walks away with the title will probably have to deal with the three losers in the near future until Kross eventually returns to try and take back the title.
(2) Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez
New Developments: Excellent tag match between these two teams on NXT. Everyone looked strong, with Ripley continuing her rebuilding phase through the roster as Gonzalez got the pin on Ripley after Ripley had been attacked by Mercedes Martinez during the match. While not a true tag team feud, it continued many plot threads that have been established over the summer across so many players in the Women’s Division.
Highs & Lows: The match was great and laid the groundwork for the next few months of feuds at the top of the Women’s Division. This match helped push Io, Ripley, and Gonzalez forward to their next chapters, but it seemed to leave Dakota as the odd woman out.
Start of Feuds: August 5, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: This match set up feuds between a combination of the five women involved. While this will most likely lead to a Takeover match between Io and Ripley, we will most likely move toward Io vs Gonzalez and Ripley vs Martinez first.
MIDDLE TIER FEUDS
(1) Breezango vs. Legado del Fantasma
New Developments: Breezango captured the NXT Tag Team Titles from Imperium to start off the August 26 NXT. Later in the evening they helped stop Wilde and Mendoza from interfering in the Cruiserweight Championship match between Escobar and Swerve Scott. A six-man street fight was announced for next week’s NXT with Breezango and Swerve taking on the three members of Legado del Fantasma.
Highs & Lows: This has been a good feud to establish the credibility of Breezango within the NXT Tag Team scene. Both Breeze and Fandango have shown fire and intensity throughout their battles with Legado del Fantasma.
Start of Feud: July 8, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: While it’s been nice to see Breezango become a serious team in NXT, it feels like they were made champions just to eventually lose to Wilde and Mendoza in order to continue to build up Legado del Fantasma.
(3) Damian Priest vs. Timothy Thatcher
New Developments: During an attempted backstage interview, Priest said that the celebration was still going on. Thatcher approached Priest and said that he was an embarrassment of a champion, but Priest didn’t seem to care.
Highs & Lows: This seemed like a weird way to start the feud, as there didn’t seem to be any real tension between Priest or Thatcher. I wish there was more of an angle than Thatcher being upset that Priest was still partying and celebrating four days later.
Start of Feud: August 26, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: This should be a quickly resolved first feud for Priest to establish his reign as North American champion. Once he finishes with Thatcher, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of his previous opponents from the ladder match show up to challenge him one on one.
(3) Candice LeRae vs. Tegan Nox
New Developments: A video package highlighted the history and friendship between LeRae and Nox. The narration was given entirely by LeRae, allowing her to start to justify her frustration at Nox’s unwillingness to do “whatever is necessary” to win.
Highs & Lows: Good start to the feud with enough old footage and photographs that shows the history that the two women have together through NXT and the Indies.
Start of Feud: August 26, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: This will most likely end up playing out over a few weeks on NXT TV, due to the fact that there is no title on the line and NXT rarely features women’s matches on Takeovers that don’t involve the Women’s Championship. I’m excited to see what these two can bring to the feud, as they are both incredibly talented and LeRae hasn’t been involved in a serious feud in quite some time.
LOWER TIER FEUDS
(1) Undisputed Era vs. Drake Maverick (and Killian Dain?)
New Developments: Good match between O’Reilly and Drake where Drake ultimately tapped out clean. Fish and Strong joined O’Reilly in the ring after the match to engage in a beat down of Drake. Killian came out seemingly to stop the attack and cleared UE out of the ring before he clotheslined a thankful Drake
Highs & Lows: This feud feels like it’s below Undisputed Era, mostly because it started with UE stopping a match between Drake and Killian and threw them out of the ring like it was nothing. The match between O’Reilly and Drake was good and could be used to help establish O’Reilly as a singles star, but it could also lessen UE’s overall status within NXT by being involved in lower tier feuds.
Start of Feud: August 12, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: This might eventually lead to a team-up between Drake and Killian or it might just lead to a match between the two without interruption. If Undisputed Era is going to eventually turn on Cole, establishing O’Reilly as a credible singles threat now is a good move.
(2) Bronson Reed vs. Austin Theory
New Developments: First interaction between these two happened during a backstage interview with Reed. Reed started to build his case that he should be the Priest’s first challenger for the North American Title when he was interrupted by Austin Theory. Theory bragged about being on Wrestlemania at 23 and said that Reed wouldn’t be on WrestleMania until he was in his 50s, which earned him a hard slap in the face from Reed.
Highs & Lows: Theory was unlikable in his bragging, especially after having not been on tv for a while. Reed didn’t really do much to continue his momentum after really standing out during the ladder match at Takeover.
Start of Feud: August 26, 2020
Forecast & Prediction: This will probably conclude with a TV match in a week or two. A win over Theory can help build Reed back up after the loss at Takeover to a point where he can eventually challenge Priest for the North American Title in a one-on-one match.
CONCLUDED, DORMANT, & FORGOTTEN FEUDS
- Keith Lee vs. Karrion Kross – CONCLUDED
- Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee – CONCLUDED
- Finn Balor vs. Timothy Thatcher – CONCLUDED
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