NXT TAKEOVER STAND AND DELIVER NIGHT 2 HITS & MISSES: Balor vs. Kross, O’Reilly vs. Cole, Gargano vs. Reed, Blackheart & Moon vs. Hartwell & LaRae, Escobar vs. Devlin.

POPPY OPENS THE SHOW

My 15 year old self is screaming at my 33 year old self right now. “When did you get OLD?!” I feel like this is exactly the thing I would have listened to back then, today I’m asking myself “Wow, doesn’t that screaming hurt her voice?”

I don’t dislike Poppy, and I don’t think that it was a poor performance. But that just was not for me.

Verdict: MISS

UNDISPUTED NXT CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – JORDAN DEVLIN VS. SANTOS ESCOBAR

Both Devlin and Escobar had a claim to the championship to start the match, with this ladder match made to end the question of who the real champion is. With two physical titles, a ladder match with both hanging overhead was perfect for this angle.

Going into the match, I felt like Escobar had more or less faced everyone to face in the division and that Devlin as the undisputed champion would be refreshing for the division.  Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza were wildcards and ultimately did play a part in the match, costing Devlin a chance to finish climbing the ladder and tipped the match in their leader’s favor.

After an incredible match where Devlin specifically took a few bumps that had me verbally praying to excrement, Escobar threw Devlin off of the ladder through another ladder, climbed to the top and grabbed both belts for the win.

While part of me is definitely happy to see Escobar retain and continue his reign, I’m really not sure who he’ll be facing next. It feels like he’s faced everyone of importance in the division.

Verdict: HIT

NXT WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – SHOTZI BLACKHEART & EMBER MOON vs. THE WAY 

Shotzi and Ember just won the tag team titles weeks ago on the very same day that they were awarded to the winners of the Dusty Classic, Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez. I really did not want to see the titles get swapped around from team to team shortly after their inception.

The babyfaces retained their titles somewhat predictably in a well wrestled match. Nothing spectacular but entertaining nonetheless.

Verdict: HIT

NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP – JOHNNY GARGANO vs. BRONSON REED

If there was a time to pull the trigger on Bronson Reed, this was it. Johnny Gargano is one of the biggest stars in NXT and dethroning him as North American champion would be a nice defining moment for the rising Reed.

Reed has been pushed to the moon (copyright, Cameron Grimes) as of late and looks about as strong as he ever has in NXT. On more than one occasion, Reed had Gargano put away only for Austin Theory to sneakily interfere and save Gargano from defeat. Now, Reed can claim that he had really beaten Gargano twice and claim a rematch. Perhaps maybe even bringing home the gold.

Verdict: HIT

NXT CHAMPIONSHIP – FINN BALOR vs. KARRION KROSS

While I do like the juxtaposition of both men’s stories of winning championships and immediately surrendering them to injury, the build to this match hasn’t felt overly important compared to some of the other matches on the card. It’s felt almost secondary to the Undisputed Era breakup angle.

Kross does has an awesome entrance for a big fight feel, and Balor may not have the demon entrance anymore but showing pictures of all 16 takeover appearances was a great touch to accompany him to the ring.

I was actually a little surprised with Kross’ win tonight. While they put on a great match, better than I expected, I was thinking that Kross was main roster bound sooner rather than later. Finn Balor was injured for such a stretch of his reign that it still felt fresh enough though his list of challengers was getting short. A new men and women’s champion is certainly a bit of a reset for the brand and I’ll be cautiously optimistic that we’re on the right track.

Verdict: HIT

UNSANCTIONED MATCH – ADAM COLE VS. KYLE O’REILLY

If this match is technically not sanctioned by the powers that be in the WWE, why did they ring the bell to kick things off? Why did they give them entrances. Why was there commentary? This seemed completely sanctioned by the company, no matter how you spin it. KOR was storyline injured, so this was the only way he could get his hands on Cole. Removing liability from the company.

Is that what we’ve come to in wrestling. Liability angles to avoid lawsuits? I say that half sarcastically, because this is not the first time that’s happened in wrestling. But nothing screams “extreme” like liability! Ah, I apologize. If you’ve listened to PWT Talks NXT you’ll know my jokes are usually “humor adjacent” rather than actually funny.

I’m kind of stalling here because… Peacock sucks. I missed a good chunk of this match because I couldn’t pause and had to tend to something a bit more important than big sweaty men for a few moments. I’m also not sure how to go back and watch this before posting this in the morning (legally, kids), so I’m kind of stuck!

I came back to it as KOR had Cole in a figure four, wrapped in a chain. I can’t wait to actually go back and see how they got there. Thanks NBC and WWE for blessing us with the greatest technology that 2010 had to offer!

The rest of the match was pretty brutal and ugly, just as we had hoped for this matchup. Tools, chains, chairs, holes in the set. They tore it up for what seemed like nearly 45 minutes or so.

Unless it happened during the part of the match I missed, the rest of the match took place inside the arena where I had a feeling they’d at least brawl through the arena. I questioned the decision not to at first until it dawned on me. There is actually a relatively large crowd there for the COVID era. They wanted to keep the action in front of the fans who haven’t been able to see any live wrestling for over a year now.

KOR needed this win to be taken seriously as far as I’m concerned. His losses to Balor made him feel less than Cole. If he was to show so much heart and then lose, it would have been hard to come back from.

Verdict: HIT