BRM Reviews NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver: Night 2

Post Reply
User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

BRM Reviews NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver: Night 2

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 9th, '21, 17:17

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver: Night 2 (4/8/2021)- Orlando, FL

POPPY SINGS THE THEME SONG- I’m not sure if the issue is my TV, Peacock’s streaming, or an artistic choice on Poppy’s part, but the picture quality is not great.

TITLE UNIFICATION LATTER MATCH: Santos Escobar(NXT Cruiserweight Champion) vs. Jordan Devlin(NXT UK Cruiserweight Champion)- 8.5/10
This was an awesome ladder match with a good story of Devlin’s midsection getting worked over, and great babyface and heel performances (and one of the prettiest moonsaults you’ll ever see, too). That being said, I really hate the interference by Legado del Fantasma. You’re unifying championships! It’s okay for the heel to win cleanly here. Heels need to win cleanly every once in a while so that they don’t feel like total losers who succeed only by cheating that the promotion is completely ineffectual in stopping. And Escobar in particular just lost cleanly to Karrion Kross in a f*cking THREE-ON-ONE MATCH. He REALLY needed a clean win here.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS MSK- Apparently there was a pre-show for this, and now Drake Maverick and Killian Dain are somehow the #1 contenders. MSK pointed out that they beat them in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, so why should we think things will be any different this time?
They had different predictions for who would win the two main events. They were much less obnoxious than usual.

NXT WOMEN’S TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon(c) vs. The Way (Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell)- 6.75/10
Ember has added a ridiculous mask and giant dinosaur tail to this team’s already awful entrance. The Way jumped the supposed babyfaces before the bell, but the supposed babyfaces are so annoying that I popped for it. Stuff happened. The annoying people won. Shotzi almost killed herself on a dive.

NXT NORTH AMERICAN TITLE MATCH: Johnny Gargano(c) (w/Austin Theory) vs. Bronson Reed- 8.25/10
There were two stories here, Gargano working over Reed’s midsection and the story of the size difference between them, and I absolutely loved the way that they played into each other. Gargano won, but Reed felt like he was elevated by putting up such a great fight on such a big stage.

NXT TITLE MATCH: Finn Balor(c) vs. Karrion Kross (w/Scarlet)- 7.25/10
They did their stuff, but I found it relatively underwhelming. Kross is cool in hoss fights, but he rarely seems to click with a smaller opponent or without a gimmick.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS LEGADO DEL FANTASMA- fine

UNSANCTIONED MATCH: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 8.75/10
I’m a big mark for the “security forms a wall in the ring to ensure that they don’t start fighting until the bell” spot, but as much as I loved that, I HATED Kyle doing a normal “pro wrestling” entrance rather than feeling intense and determined.
This was as amazingly violent and brutal as it needed to be, but… for the love of G-d, did this match REALLY need a ref bump and Adam Cole getting a visual pinfall? It’s f*cking TAKEOVER! Let people win CLEAN! We got heel victories in matches with interference in both the Cruiserweight and North American Title matches? Why are we now muddying a babyface victory by having the heel get a visual pinfall? I know I should be focusing more on how creative and dramatic this match was, but that is really sticking in my craw.


My feelings on the main event are a microcosm of my feelings on the card as a whole. There was a lot of great stuff on here (although some underwhelming stuff, too), but the lack of clean finishes on what’s basically NXT’s WrestleMania is really bugging me. I liked the results of matches, but that mars them, and, as a result, mars the whole show.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Beth Phoenix told us that “the ladder doesn’t obey any physics; any rules.”
Oh yeah? Then when isn’t it just floating away? F*cking idiot. Why is this woman on commentary? She’s not inspiring little girls with her presence. She’s shaming them by representing her gender so poorly. This is the sort of comment that should be a firing offense.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests