NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Review - 2 nights, 3 title changes, brutal main event; Match ratings, analysis and more
I just finished watching NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 2. Across both nights, we saw phenomenal wrestling, title changes and more, and before we get to further overall thoughts, we gotta go through the matches first. So let's do this!
Night 1
Pete Dunne vs. Kushida
So in the preview I said that this match was going to be a technical masterpiece, and I'm extremely glad to tell you that I did not lie.
Fucking hell, man, from the word go these two just did not hold back, showcasing wonderful technical 'rasslin, with holds so intricate I would fuck 'em up before they even started. Incredible work from these two, and it just escalated with every passing move.
Dunne snapped Kushida's fingers early on, and used that to his advantage throughout the match. It took Kushida a while to lock in the Hoverboard Lock, and when he did, Dunne grabbed the bottom rope. So Kushida got him up and locked it again, and this time Dunne grabbed the top rope very quickly. But Kushida simply switched to the arm that Dunne used to grab the rope and locked the Hoverboard lock on that one, which was a very nice touch.
The match ended when, after repeatedly stomping on Kushida's hands and finally hitting the roundhouse kick, Dunne hit the Bitter End and covered Kushida for the 1-2-3. Wonderful, wonderful work here, and this match could've gone 20 more minutes and I wouldn't have minded.
Rating: 4.5★
Prediction score: 1-0
Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs. LA Knight - No. 1 Contender's Match for an NXT North American Championship Match on Night 2
This was the Gauntlet Eliminator Match to see who will face Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship on Night 2.
The match started with rivals Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Leon Ruff, only Scott attacked Ruff backstage before the match could begin, and these two brawled for a bit before the match officially started. The next entry was Bronson Reed, who immediately started wrecking everyone in sight, human flesh being to him like red to a bull. He dominated a LOT of the entire match, almost to the point of excess.
Next is my boy Cameron Grimes, who immediately hits a moonsault on Reed and gives Scott a stack of money to initiate a partnership in this match that lasts quite some time before it finally dissolves. Literally during the next entry, Dexter Lumis, Scott pins Ruff to eliminate him after some move that we don't even see because the camera was on Lumis.
Lumis, Scott, Grimes and Reed fight for some time until LA Knight enters the match. He starts berating everyone on the mic, kicking Reed, who's selling on the outside, in the process. That comes back to bite him in the ass, though, because Reed attacks him mid-promo and starts wrecking shop again.
Lumis locks in Silence on Grimes, but before Cameron could tap out Knight pins Lumis with a Jacknife cover to eliminate him. However, quickly after, everyone teams up on Knight to eliminate him and Lumis gets his revenge on the outside.
Scott, Grimes and Reed fight for a while and do so very nicely, until Grimes is eliminated by Scott. Reed and Swerve then go at it, with Reed suffering 3 consecutive House Calls and still kicking out, eventually pinning Scott with the Tsunami to get the win and the match against Johnny on Night 2.
This match was good, but it wasn't spectacular. There was a sense of everyone getting a little bit of time to get their schtick over but not a whole lot more, and I think Bronson dominated too much here.
Rating: 3.25★
Prediction score: 1-1
WALTER (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa - NXT United Kingdom Championship Match
Now this was a great match. Ciampa injured WALTER's hand early on, and that haunted Der Ring General throughout the entire bout. While WALTER dominated as usual, Ciampa gave him his best shot, leveling WALTER with endless clotheslines until he finally got the big man down. But WALTER didn't come without luggage to the Capitol Wrestling Center, he brought a whole briefcase of knife edge chops to fucking BATTER Ciampa with. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. Chops aplenty, chops for days, he who fights is he who pays. Endless chopping, chops galore, you're not done yet, there's more and more.
WALTER kicks out of the Fairy Tale Ending and an Air Raid Crash off the second rope, finally hitting a Sleeper Hold Suplex and one final chop to end this match and retain his NXT United Kingdom Champion. Despite the slightly abrupt finish, this match absolutely delivered, and WALTER continues to reign as the longest reigning champion in all the modern era, now at 735 goddamn days. Jeeeeeesus.
Rating: 4★
Prediction score: 2-1
MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) vs. Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) - Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship
This match determined the new NXT Tag Team Champions after Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch had to relinquish them due to Burch's injury, and hot damn, was this one a goodie.
Putting Legado Del Fantasma in this match was very smart, because they make the match more fast-pace and give some room to breathe between the interactions of MSK and GYV, which is obviously the bigger story. Some great action here, and the match only gets better as it goes on.
At one point, Zack Gibson has Wes Lee in an arm lock after Lee's arm had been severely hurt, and James Drake has Nash Carter in a hold of his own. Lee's about to tap, but Carter stops his hand from hitting the mat, which was a great callback to DIY vs. The Revival at NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2016.
Eventually, Joaquin Wilde is layed out with a Doomsday Device by Gibson and Drake and Raul Mendoza is taken care of by MSK, leaving the two teams that fought in the Dusty Cup to their own. Nash Carter hits a double cutter on both Gibson and Drake, and MSK hit their Blockbuster-Spinbuster combination finisher on Gibson to win the NXT Tag Team Championships. Great match here, and I'm very happy for Carter and Lee.
Rating: 4.25★
Prediction score: 3-1
Io Shirai (c) vs. Raquel González (with Dakota Kai) - NXT Women's Championship Match
And finally, we come to the main event of Night 1. The match I, personally, were most anticipated for, Io Shirai, the Best Women's Wrestler in the World, who has had an absolutely outstanding reign as NXT Women's Champion, and has held the belt for over 300 days, defending her title against the new dominant force of the NXT Women's division, Raquel Gonzalez.
Right from the get go, these two put it all on the line, with Io Shirai hitting two Asai Moonsaults in the first 3 minutes. Dakota Kai then interfered and was ejected by the official.
Raquel dominates the first part of the match, but Io keeps fighting back. Io counters a powerbomb into a frankensteiner followed up by a double footc stomp. She hits a Code Red for a two count. She goes for the Tiger Feint Kick, misses, goes for it again, misses but turns it into an arm drag, and finally hits it on the third attempt. She hits a moonsault to a standing Raquel on the outside, then runs all the way up the ramp for a Meteora, and right when Raquel gets back up, Shirai hits a ridiculous diving crossbody off of the giant skull decorating the stage, which was AWESOME.
Io gets Raquel back inside, and finally hits the moonsault in the middle of the ring, but Raquel kicks out, something nobody has done in NXT, and which shocks Io to the core. She hits a shote and tries to put Raquel down, but it's futile, and Gonzalez hits her with a One-Arm Powerbomb to pin Io and become the new NXT Women's Champion.
This match was everything you want in a main event. It was exciting, compelling, and has some unbelievable moments throughout. And in the end, it crowned a new star as champion to end the night. While this wasn't match of the night, I'd give that to the opener, it's right after that in quality. Great stuff.
Rating: 4.25★
Prediction score: 4-1
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Night 2
Jordan Devlin (NXT Cruiserweight Champion) vs. Santos Escobar (Interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion) (with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) - Unification Ladder Match to determine the Undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion
I was really excited for this one, and it kinda disappointed me, to be honest.
Now, don't get me wrong, there's some impressive stuff here. Devlin performs a fabulous moonsault off of the top rung of the ladder onto Escobar, and later on a Spanish Fly off the ladder. And we saw some more good spots, but something was missing. The pacing was all off, and it lacked that feeling of volatility that makes great ladder matches great. It shows that even ladder matches aren't just spots. Many things go into the making of a match.
In the end, after sending Devlin through a ladder, Escobar wins the match and becomes the Undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
Rating: 3.25★
Prediction score: 4-2
Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart (c) vs. The Way (Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell) - NXT Women's Tag Team Championship Match
This match was pretty good for what it was. Simple stuff here, but they keep it interesting throughout.
The Way attack before the bell and get the early advantage. Tower of Doom spot sees all four ladies fall down. Moon and Shotzi with some impressive dives to the outside, and Moon hits a Double Eclipse, followed by a diving senton from Shotzi for the champs to retain.
Rating: 3.5★
Prediction score: 5-2
Johnny Gargano (c) vs. Bronson Reed - NXT North American Championship Match
I was a bit skeptical of this match before it happened, because I think Bronson Reed, while good and unique, is a bit overpushed at the moment. But lo and behold, Johnny TakeOver brought us another banger.
This match is just really, really well-paced. It never gets boring, never feels like they're selling for too long, and gets more and more interesting as it progresses. Reed is dominant as usual, but Johnny finds way to fight back, including a beautiful superkick right on the mush. Austin Theory gets involved, putting Johnny's foot on the bottom rope, and suffers a Reed suicide dive for his troubles.
Reed goes for the Tsunami repeatedly, but never connects, and after the final attempt Johnny hits him with two One Final Beats to put the big man to rest. Just great stuff in this one.
Rating: 4.25★
Prediction score: 6-2
Finn Bálor (c) vs. Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) - NXT Championship Match
And here is the match I was most anticipated for after Io-Raquel. The big one, the match for the NXT Championship. Was surprised it wasn't the main event, but so it was.
This match was hyped heavily, as you'd imazgine, and it absolutely banged. Great action here, and phenomenal storytelling, too. Finn trying to exploit Kross's emotions like he said he would, targeting his arm. There was even a callback to TakeOver 31 when Finn hit a spinning back kick right to the liver area of Kross, just like he did to O'Reilly.
At one point, Kross kicks out of the Coup de Grace straight into a Kross Jacket, which was awesome, and after endless forearms to the back of the neck, a Doomsday Saito and one final blow Kross wins and regains the NXT Championship he never lost, still undefeated in NXT. Amazing.
Rating: 4.75★
Prediction score: 7-2
Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly - Unsanctioned Match
And there it is. The main event of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. I was ambivalent about this going on last, but let's see how it all turned out.
This match was just INSANE. Right from the first bell, these two beat the ever-living Undisputed shit out of each other. Endless chair shots, chain attacks, moves with the chain wrapped around one's leg, so fucking much. O'Reilly hits Cole with a brainbuster on the announce table, which didn't break, somehow making it look even more brutal. Cole hit O'Reilly with a TV monitor, and I think you could hear that shot from the other side of Orlando.
But this match wasn't crazy spots. There was some amazing storytelling here, as well. O'Reilly has the opportunity to hit Cole with the same brainbuster onto the steel steps that Cole used to injure him, but he's conflicted, and Cole takes advantage. Cole sets up two chairs with their backs against each other, which is a callback to his match with Aleister Black at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. So much storytelling in this one.
Cole tries to pilmanize O'Reilly's neck, and the ref tries to tell him not to do so, so Cole hits him. That bites him in the ass when that same ref can't make the cover off the Panama Sunrise. O'Reilly has Cole in the Guillotine, and Cole counters by driving himself and O'Reilly through the frickin' ramp, then he breaks the side of the ramp to get O'Reilly back up!
Cole hits the brainbuster on the steel steps, just like he did all those weeks ago. He gets O'Reilly back inside and covers, but Kyle juuuuust about gets his shoulder slightly off the mat, without moving past that at all. Cole goes for the Last Shot, but O'Reilly just collapses. He goes for the Last Shot again, but this time O'Reilly purposefully ducks and takes control. He then hits Cole with the Ushigoroshi and the Last Shot, but Cole refuses to succumb to his own finishing move and kicks out.
Eventually, after everything, O'Reilly hits a knee drop off the top rope with his knee wrapped in chain, onto a set-up steel chair to finally, FINALLY put Cole away and win this one.
After this match was over, I was just lost for words. These two put it all on the line here, putting their bodies through immeasurable, unrelenting pain, beating the flesh off of each other. This going on last was the right choice. Match of the night, match of two nights.
Rating: 5★
Prediction score: 8-2
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Conclusion
I expected NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to be the two best nights of wrestling all year, and while the year isn't over, that prediction turned out to be a smart investment. While some matches weren't as good as I hoped, nothing was truly "bad", and so much was just fantastic. A 5★ match, a 4.75★ and 5 other 4 and above matches. What an absolutely marvelous wrestling show. N-X-T!
