2021-04-09

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver

 Night One

  • Pete Dunn vs. Kushida: 4/7. It was an ok match, but there was nothing particular about it to grab my attention.
  • #1 Contender Gauntlet Eliminator Match (Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah Scott vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs LA Knight): 5/7. Took a bit to get going, but once it did it was pretty good.
  • NXT UK Men's Championship (Walter vs. Tommaso Ciampa): 5/7. It seemed unlikely that Ciampa would move to NXT UK, or that the UK championship would move to NXT.
  • NXT Men's Tag Team Championship Triple Threat (MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma): 5/7. All three teams were legal at the same time! They got rid of the stupid rule where you have to be tagged in by your opponent!
  • NXT Women's Championship (Shirai Io vs. Raquel Gonzales): 5/7. Shirai jumped off a giant skull. She wasn't inside a garbage bin though.
Night One Rating: 5/7. It was all good, but nothing really stood out.

Night Two

  • Cruiserweight Championship Unification (Santos Escobar vs. Jordan Devlin): 2/7. Jordan Devlin.
  • NXT Women's Tag Team Championship (Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs. The Way): 5/7. I really like all of these wrestlers, but the match itself was a bit hard to care about because I didn't think there was any chance of Shotzi and Ember losing the titles so soon.
  • North American Championship (Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano): 6/7. I would have preferred a different outcome.
  • NXT Men's Championship (Finn Bálor vs. Karrion Kross): 5/7. I want to like Karrion Kross, but I don't feel like his heart's really in his gimmick. Scarlett is obviously 100% into it, but I'm not so sure about him.
  • Unsanctioned Match (Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly): 4/7. If it's unsanctioned, why is it happening in the CWC, in front of the NXT audience, broadcast on the WWE Network? If it's not a sanctioned wrestling match, why should it end with a pin? Why is advertised as part of the show? Nothing about this concept makes sense! Also, all the stuff with the chain was very dumb.
Night Two Rating: 4/7. Less consistent than the first night, with some higher highs and lower lows.

Overall Rating: 5/7. I don't think there was anything in this show that I'd actually been looking forward to, and nothing that really surprised me either. For a two-night, Wrestlemania-week event, I expected more.

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