Allo, allo, allo! Davie Portman here requesting all of your feedback for tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Stand And Deliver Night 2 featuring Kyle O’Reilly vs Adam Cole in an Unsanctioned Match and Karrion Kross vs Finn Balor for the NXT Championship!
Braden and I are LIVE on Twitch with our WatchAlong and POST Show for tonight’s event and will be taking upNXT Patrons calls at the end of the show!
Zoom Details can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49806756
Join us on Twitch here: Twitch.TV/upNXTPodcast
Hiya!
Tonight’s episode of Takeover felt like a massive step down, especially compared to last night.
First off, the positives:
- The ladder match from a wrestling perspective was fine. Enjoyed seeing Lil’ Santos show up to celebrate afterwards.
- Reed/Gargano was a good match, even if I think Gargano’s reign is well past its expiration date.
- The women’s tag match was better than I expected, even if it wasn’t anything really to phone home about.
- The finish to the KOR/Cole match was innovative and neat.
Now the negatives:
- Karrion Kross as champion again does absolutely nothing for me.
- Cole/KOR went on for a bit too long and felt overindulgent at parts. They could have cut out probably 10 minutes of the match and it would have felt significantly better (for reference, it was 40:19 in length).
- Definitely in the minority here, but the audience harmed the show more than helped it.
I’ll be completely honest, tonight’s Takeover was a pretty huge step backwards from last night. And I’m mildly worried about the future of NXT after this as well, because the booking tonight felt really off. While it’s not as bad as some of the earliest Takeovers in history, it’s definitely still one of the weakest I can ever remember.
Said last night that Ciampa got the match he was in desperate need of and it felt like the same thing happened tonight for Kross. Wasn’t nearly of the same level, but Kross’ wrestling was better than his last title match and with the right opponents, the matches will be strong enough. I don’t ultimately see his stay in NXT lasting much longer either way, though. Was a bit surprised they actually went in that direction, so now i’m also wondering if Balor is moving on.
If Balor is moving on after this, he becomes the poster boy for NXT rehabilitation. There are few people in the sport that are working with the confidence and psychology he is now and he feels like a far bigger deal than when he arrived. Here’s hoping if he’s gone, Aleister Black is coming to replace him.
I have Night 1 just ahead of Night 2. The blistering pace of last night, along with my favorite match of the event - WALTER-Ciampa - put it over the top. Of course, tonight had Cole-O’Reilly that I think we’ll all be remembering for a while. Bronson Reed had a huge Takeover showing that he arguably should have won, but I’m always fine knowing more big Gargano Takeover matches are ahead of us. The right man did come out on top in the Cruiserweight unification - Escobar is a star in waiting and I’m ready for him to re-engage his feud with Kross as soon as possible to get him in the title picture.
Takeover was a good place setter. Ready for Mania this weekend.
G’Day guys, Hugh from Melbourne, finally able to write in since I don’t work Fridays, it was nice watching along with you guys too. Gotta say I overall enjoyed night 1 more but night 2 had its moments:
The ladder match was good fun, right man won and seeing El Hijo del Hijo del Fantasma celebrating with his dad was nice. The women’s tag match was just fine, I imagine Tian Sha will be built up by next Takeover to challenge them.
Bronson vs Johnny was great, I’ve been waiting for Bronson to bust out his moonsault, but that’s two Takeovers in a row where Johnny really could have dropped the title - but if I had to choose between Johnny and Dexter, let’s stick with Johnny.
The title match was probably Kross’ best outing, but he needs to get to the main roster fast. I’m guessing Kyle challenges him following his win, because Kushida, Bronson, Ciampa and Finn all lost the past two days - there’s really no other top babyfaces at the moment unless they want to go Demon Finn but I think we’re past that now.
All in all, I think any of tonight’s matches would make a good TV main event, but for a Takeover we expect more.
PS - NXT UK Prelude was great, Walter vs Rampage was a brutal hoss match, just as good as the Ciampa match to me!
Jesse from the 6
I think I’m probably in the minority, but I absolutely loved Reed vs Gargano. Maybe I’m just a Johnny Mark but, next to Ciampa vs WALTER, I think that was my favourite match of the two nights.
Last night I was disappointed that Shirai lost to Gonzalez, but in a good way. I love the character of Shirai and I’m invested in her success. Tonight, I’m disappointed that Kross defeated Balor in a bad way. Kross has consistently disappointed at the main event level and Balor was achieving something special as champ.
I’m not the biggest fan of the dramatic, 40-minute unsanctioned match, but I was entertained and I’m glad Cool Kyle won. I liked Kyle’s new music, too. but Cole’s was awful. Getting rid of the UE theme is a criminally poor decision. Just baffling.
All in all, not as good as Night 1, but I was entertained, even if I’m nervous about some of the booking decisions.
Take Care
Well, night 2 was okay. There was nothing bad, not even Balor-Kross, but it was called TakeOver, so the expectations were higher. The layout and dynamic of the ladder-match just didn’t worked with Devlin being more unlikeable than Sanstos. Still entertaining, but nothing more. Just like the tag match and Reed-Gargano. The Way is doing nothing for me, never has, never will be. Just makes Gargano and LaRae less exciting. O’Reilly-Cole was MOTN, but a little dragging and I’m not really into their feud, there’s still something missing. Kross is only smoke and mirrors. He’s just not good enough in the ring for NXT. The main roster seems like the better place for him and what he brings to the table. I don’t think NXT is benefiting him.
Yesterday was great and fast paced, today decent, but a little dragging. Good for tv, a bit dissapointing for a TakeOver, so I go with night 1.
Will from Toronto…
I’ve only returned to watching NXT since it’s move back to television in Canada so it feels like I’m behind on a lot of the character development.
Overall I enjoyed both shows with my main focus being KOR vs Cole which I thought was a solid match that was too drawn out and 10 minutes too long.
7.5/10 for both shows combined
I thought Night 2 was only ok.
Cole-O’Reilly really was wayyyyy too long and just wasn’t that great. You need more blood and I just don’t think the match reached the intensity level it should have. Some of the kickouts were laughable and the ref bump also pointless
On the other hand, Kross and Balor totally over delivered. Loved that entire match.
The rest of the the show was there
All the matches went the way they should have. Will be interesting to see where Balor goes now. Hopefully sticks around on NXT rather than being a guy that has abs and smiles on the main roster.