Keith Lee Drops the NXT Championship to Karrion Kross
It’s a tough task to put a positive spin on Keith Lee losing the NXT Championship, but I’ll give it a go. Perhaps Lee dropped the title because Vince McMahon sees the “it” factor in him and has deemed that it’s time to test him now on the main roster by promoting Keith to either Raw or SmackDown and seeing how he will resonate with that fanbase. Maybe Lee could even show up on the main roster right after SummerSlam. Keith Lee has an energetic quality about him that is reminiscent of Roman Reigns, almost like a gravitational force that seems to pull people in to where they want to be a part of the experience he creates with his presence; I don’t know about anyone else, but I can feel off of him that Lee is very comfortable in his own skin and that energy has almost a magnetic quality.
Regarding NXT, there’s Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon (Vince still has a lot of input on the happenings in NXT). NXT is Triple H’s baby but Vince still runs the company) may have jumped the gun a little on the push of Karrion Kross. The NXT universe is just flat out not very familiar with him, so they have no reason yet to develop any sort of allegiance to this character.
Adam Cole gets another Victory as he should have, along with a Character Change; However, Pat McAfee Impresses
Two weeks ago, Adam Cole was still ridiculously over as a heel, so I would have told someone that I would have a really hard time ever seeing him in the light of a babyface. With the help of Pat McAfee, WWE has successfully turned Adam Cole from a cocky heel to a sympathetic babyface in the span of a couple weeks. This is a testament to how malleable people’s perceptions of reality in general are; it takes barely anything to completely shift the perception of the general public, and because of this reality can be molded into whatever someone desires.
McAfee has been around WWE often over the past couple years, but he has never actually been in a match before. At Takeover: XXX, Pat looked like he had spent most of the last decade with WWE as a performer rather than in the NFL. This guy is extremely talented and has a great feel in the ring. He is also a great heel and played his role to perfection as an outsider who does not respect the business. It was similar to what Jerry Lawler did back in the early 1980s with comedian Andy Kaufman. The difference is that Kaufman looked somewhat uncomfortable and timid in the ring whereas McAfee looked right at home and like he could easily do this for the next 10 years if he wanted to.
Io Shirai successfully defends the NXT Women’s Championship against Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez was confronted by Rhea Ripley signifying the Start of a Rivalry
The announce team at Takeover had its most lively period of the entire evening during the NXT Women’s Championship match. Speaking of the announce team, the fact that an indispensable announcer in Corey Graves returned to NXT to call the action at Takeover: XXX made the entire event feel bigger and much more important than usual; Mauro Ranallo has earned the right to take a night off every now and then.
Io Shirai is far too talented to drop the NXT Women’s Championship already; she’s only been champion for about two months (and unlike Keith Lee, she is not quite as ingrained in her character, as a result she is not yet ready for success on the main roster in WWE). She has made quite a name for herself in Japan, but she still needs a little more time to adequately cultivate her character in a new country – and develop better English skills.
Dakota Kai has the potential to be champion one day, but she also needs more time to cultivate her character. Kai has only been a legitimate threat in the NXT Women’s Division for about nine months since she turned on her “best friend” Tegan Nox in November 2019.
Damian Priest wins the NXT North American Championship – His first Championship in NXT in a Five – Man Ladder Match
First of all, it was an incredibly unselfish move by Keith Lee to relinquish the North American Title in order to give other superstars the opportunity to win a title rather than keeping all the gold for himself.
Each participant’s perspective:
New Champion Damian Priest: Priest has been performing in NXT under his current gimmick for a little over a year now, so he has built credibility in NXT – this just takes time because fans need a reason to care about a particular character, otherwise they will simply fade away with time. Priest has given fans a reason to become attached to his character; he also appears to have a high degree of maturity, integrity, and grounded-ness to his personality which are all intangibles that Vince McMahon looks for in a champion.
Johnny Gargano: Johnny Wrestling is absolutely a much better babyface than a heel; he is by no means a bad heel; it’s just not working quite as well for him. This is how people learn – if you never try, how will you know what works and what doesn’t? Gargano already has everything needed for his character to evolve in NXT. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he doesn’t get promoted to the main roster as soon as this heel run for him runs out of steam (Gargano might revert back to a babyface character on the main roster in order to adequately set him up for success.
The only reason Gargano is still in NXT is because his rivalry with Tommaso Ciampa resonated so deeply with the NXT universe. Now that the long-term story between them is finally over – which resulted in a Gargano heel turn and as a result a de facto Ciampa face turn – the company made the decision to keep them both in developmental to see if they could have any success on the opposite end of the heel/face dynamic. It is not working quite as well for Johnny, and Ciampa has not had a great opportunity yet to test the waters as a face.
Bronson Reed: NXT’s Resident Thicc Boi is experiencing a slow burn with his character in regards to getting over. He has been around for close to a year, and he is in the midst of slowly progressing into a character that resonates profoundly with wrestling fans – the key he is just patience, because it will happen.
Velveteen Dream: I had a feeling Dream would be in developmental for a while because he was so young when he started (this guy started wrestling when he was about the same age as Randy Orton); Randy was not ready at all at such a young age. It makes perfect sense that WWE would be careful with Dream and let him take his time to develop the maturity necessary to be a champion that is equipped to with the tools necessary to represent the company well.
Cameron Grimes: Too new, loudmouth, somewhat annoying. He’s there not to be the center of attention all the time but to provide a small comedic distraction in the middle of shows to make fans say to themselves “Oh my Lord, I hope that guy doesn’t win.” That may not necessarily be his role forever with WWE, but it is at the moment and he’s doing an effective job.
Finn Balor defeats Timothy Thacher
This was a beautiful way to kick off the evening – just WWE quietly reminding fans that there is still excellent wrestling in the company. Thatcher is still a little new to the company, so it makes sense that he would lose to a veteran like Balor; he did an effective job, however, displaying his rugged wrestling style. That DDT Balor does for his finish makes me cringe every time because it looks like a borderline piledriver; I guess I should be used to it since AEW does those on a regular basis.
This was a very smart opening match that set the tone for the rest of the night and furthered the evolution of both characters – particularly Thatcher. I was not resonating with his character that much prior to the match, but I appreciate his wrestling style.