The name of this Takeover brings back memories of the WWE Vengeance Pay-Per-View from 2005 when Triple H and Batista had one of the bloodier matches of the century so far over the World Heavyweight Championship (which no longer exists as of 2013. Batista came out on top over the 10-time World Champion The Game at the time). Good ol’ JR called it from the beginning “This match will not be for the weak at heart. That’s the grandfather in me.”
Every match at the 33rd edition of NXT Takeover was unbelievable. This is a testament to the benefits AEW provides NXT by competing with the brand every week. Triple H is inspired each week to do absolutely everything in his power to make NXT as good of a product as it can possibly be. This is obviously the case anyway without any competition, however every business benefits significantly if it has some competition to make it, and its competitor, better. AEW and Tony Khan are motivated the same way by NXT: you take a few strategies from your competition that you like and implement them in your own unique way and throw out what you don’t like.
Finn Balor keeps a firm grip on the NXT Championship, and might set his sights next on feuding with Adam Cole for leadership of The Undisputed Era as subtle foreshadowing has been hinted on NXT TV over the past several weeks
Finn Balor is operating on a completely different playing field right now. Every movement in the ring is incredibly precise. It’s not super surprising that The Prince retained his NXT Championship against Pete Dunne – the more surprising term was that of Adam Cole. WWE is in the process of telling the story in which Balor is subtly forming a cautious alliance with The Undisputed Era – particularly Kyle O’Reilly, who has gained a great amount of respect for Finn over the past few months after engaging in a heated rivalry over the NXT title.
Adam Cole could most likely sense this, and maybe thought his leadership of The UE could potentially be in jeopardy a few months down the line, so the leader of the faction decided to let both O’Reilly and Balor know where he stood on the matter by superkicking them both. The night ended with a newly heel Cole at the top of the ramp and Kyle O’Reilly and Finn Balor in the ring confused over exactly what just happened.
A match for the NXT Championship could be orchestrated for the next Takeover between Adam Cole and Finn Balor for not only the title but also the undisputed leadership of the UE. This would be a rematch from the match on the September 8 in addition of NXT TV in which The Prince originally won the title.
In the meantime, Roderick Strong was caught in the middle and not sure whose side to take. Bobby Fish will also be caught in a similar predicament upon his return from injury (Fish is a great wrestler, but slightly injury prone. This makes sense considering he is the oldest member of The Undisputed Era. Unfortunately, this may mean that WWE might need to let Bobby Fish go in the not too distant future – not because of a lack of talent but because the company cannot afford to have him eating up a roster spot if he is constantly hurt and not helping better the product).
Pete Dunne delivered a great performance in his first NXT Championship match. Dunne may not have quite as much chemistry with Balor as he goofed with Tyler Bate in 2017, but it was still a great match. The addition of Pat McAfee to the presentation of Dunne, Oney Lorcan, and Danny Burch has significantly benefited all three men in the charisma department – even if it only lasted a couple months.
Pete Dunne is one of those smaller guys who has done an excellent job of honing his craft over the past number of years. This story is similar to that of a Daniel Bryan, so perhaps in the future Dunne could be called up to the main roster and Daniel Bryan could collaborate with the writing team on SmackDown –of which he is already a member – to give Dunne a rub and help get his career jumpstarted by hopefully getting him over with the WWE universe.
Io Shirai remains dominant as NXT Women’s Champion and will likely hold the title for at least a year, that being until June 2021
It was undoubtedly the right decision to keep the NXT Women’s Championship on Io Shirai. She is consistently excellent in the ring and has been for years. The Genius of the Sky is clearly head and shoulders above every other woman in NXT at the moment.
This stage felt somewhat big for Toni Storm. It seemed like a bit of a stretch at this stage of her career, however it was not too much of a stretch and it will still serve her on her career path. Mercedes Martinez, however, has been ready for a stage like this from a wrestling standpoint for probably at least several years. She has just not found herself from a character standpoint until recently.
Martinez was called to the main roster and put with RETRIBUTION on RAW. She was not necessarily resonating with the product she was putting out on a weekly basis, so she used this self-awareness to go back to NXT where she felt she would be happier and deliver a better television product for WWE. Martinez’ breakout moment so far was back in October in a steel cage match with Rhea Ripley right before she was called up to Monday Night Raw.
MSK could become a pivotal part of the tag team division in both NXT and the main roster in the future – winning the Dusty Cup just two months after being signed by WWE
The company decided to go with a pair of rookies to win the seventh edition of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. MSK debuted in NXT just a couple months ago and the first thing they do is win the Dusty Cup after having already made a name for themselves in Impact! Unfortunately, the Grizzled Young Veterans lost in the finals of the Dusty Cup for the second straight year. This team was off TV for months on end in 2020 because they were stuck in the UK because of travel restrictions due to the pandemic.
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is getting bigger by adding a women’s version this year for the first time as well as the men
The decision to have Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales come out on top in the first ever Women’s Dusty Rhoads Tag Team Classic was probably the most interesting decision of the night. Gonzales and Kai both appear to be on the path to becoming NXT Women’s Champions in the near future no matter if they got the victory. From this perspective, one could have developed the notion that it might have been more beneficial for all involved If Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart got the win.
Moon has been treading water since she returned to NXT in October 2020 after about 2 ½ years on Monday Night Raw (1.5 if you take away the time it took for her to heal from our Achilles injury). One could make the argument that a victory like this was exactly what she needed to get some momentum going again. Blackheart has done several different things in NXT and is still searching for a role that suits her best within the company.
It is hard to envision a scenario where Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales dethrone Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, but they make for interesting challengers that legitimately have a chance to win – maybe even on an episode of NXT TV.
Gargano retains the North American title but the Japanese Kushida impresses; Gargano once again proved why he is Johnny Takeover as this was far and away the best match of the night
Johnny Gargano’s current storyline in NXT may seem a bit childish and geared more toward the inner entertainment side of the company – therefore one could make the argument that he will be better suited on Monday Night Raw. But no one can argue that the three time North American Champion is fantastic between the ropes. The right call was made in terms of keeping the title on Gargano as he is more relatable right now due to the simple fact that he is American and Kushida is Japanese.
However, Kushida is working on this. He wrestled his best match to date as a member of NXT (after signing in April 2019). He is gradually developing more of a character and tailoring it from the very polite and respectful Japanese wrestling culture to the more outspoken American culture. He is not quite there yet, but Kushida has the potential to evolve into a champion within the next couple months – assuming he has done the work necessary to improve his English because this helps so much as far as relatability – because we all know it’s no question that he has the skills between the ropes.
The new draft class at the WWE Performance Center in 2021 is rather exciting, particularly two names. The first is LA Knight (Eli Drake). Personally, I have been hoping for the last couple years that WWE would get their hands on this guy because he fits the mold that Vince McMahon typically goes after perfectly. He has already made a name for himself in TNA/Impact! As a former World Champion as well as the NWA. He will be a massive star in WWE assuming he does not have attitude issues. Knight was with WWE previously from 2013 – 14 and Triple H has explicitly talked about how he was always a fan of LA Knight, but it just did not work out with WWE – no one’s fault.
The second star out of the 2021 draft class that is worthy of talking about is Taya Valkyrie, who has been wrestling for over 10 years and is a former Impact Knockouts Champion and is a current champion in AAA (in Mexico). The last part of the last sentence is a big deal because normally when superstars have signed with WWE, they have been required to drop the titles they hold in other promotions. It’s a good thing to see WWE relaxing a little on this policy, probably because they see AEW, WWE’s main competitor, working so much with other promotions and collaborating to get a better product.