The first-ever two-day WWE NXT Takeover special is now official for WrestleMania 37 Week.
NXT General Manager William Regal opened last night’s NXT broadcast on the USA Network and announced that NXT “TakeOver: Stand and Deliver” will air on Wednesday, April 7 and Thursday, April 8.
Night 1 will air as the weekly NXT episode on the USA Network at 8pm ET. Night 2 will air exclusively on the WWE Network on Peacock for fans in the United States, and on the WWE Network internationally.
There’s no word yet on matches planned for “TakeOver: Stand and Deliver” but stay tuned as we will keep you updated.
The next WWE NXT Takeover special may be a two-night event during WrestleMania 37 Weekend.
Earlier this week, a WWE Network pop-up revealed that a NXT Takeover event was scheduled for Thursday, April 8, which is the Thursday before Night 1 of WrestleMania 37 on Saturday, April 10. PWInsider has since confirmed that the next planned Takeover special is scheduled for that Thursday before WrestleMania.
There has been talk of this being the first-ever two-night Takeover event. The idea is that Night 1 would air on the USA Network that Wednesday night as the weekly NXT TV episode, while Night 2 would air that Thursday on the WWE Network.
There is no word on if WWE will go ahead with the two-night Takeover event as the idea could change or evolve with more than a month to go.
There’s also no word on if both nights would take place from the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
NXT CHAMPIONSHIP Finn Balor (c) defeated Pete Dunne
After the match, Balor recovers as the music hits. We go to replays. We come back to Balor standing tall with the title. He poses in the corner as the crowd cheers him on. Dunne is down but recovering. Balor poses on the stage with the title around his waist until NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch run out, dropping Balor from behind. The boos get louder as Burch and Lorcan bring Balor into the ring for the double team. The referee tries to stop the attack but he gets knocked down, possibly by a recovering Dunne. Dunne joins in for the triple team until The Undisputed Era’s music hits for a big pop. Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong run down and hit the ring as Dunne, Burch and Lorcan retreat to the stage. O’Reilly checks on Balor and offers his hand. O’Reilly helps Balor to his feet and they shake as fans cheer them on. The Undisputed Era stands in the middle of the ring and does their pose as Balor stands with them, doing his own pose. Cole suddenly superkicks Balor out of nowhere. O’Reilly and Strong, especially O’Reilly, aren’t happy with this. O’Reilly has words with Cole while we hear Strong say he understands what Cole did. Cole superkicks O’Reilly out of nowhere and lays him out next to Balor on the mat. Strong looks a bit unsure about everything but he’s with Cole. The boos get louder now as Cole looks down at O’Reilly, who is barely moving. Cole made his exit from the ring while Balor and O’Reilly are still down. Strong acted conflicted between the two.
NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Io Shirai (c) defeated Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez
MEN’S DUSTY RHODES CLASSIC FINALS MSK defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans
NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP Johnny Gargano (c) defeated Kushida
WOMEN’S DUSTY RHODES CLASSIC FINALS Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez defeated Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon
Pre-show: The panel is interrupted by the former Eli Drake from Impact Wrestling and the NWA. He is now known as LA Knight. He puts the locker room on notice and warns that he has his eyes on any Superstar who is currently holding a title.
It’s now been announced that WWE NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano is out of action.
Austin Theory took to Twitter last night and revealed that Gargano won’t be facing Kushida at Sunday’s NXT “Takeover: Vengeance Day” event. He then challenged Kushida to a match on tonight’s NXT go-home show.
WWE has just confirmed Theory vs. Kushida for tonight’s show. They also noted that Gargano is out of action, but did not provide any further details.
They wrote, “With Gargano out of action, what will this mean for NXT Takeover and the future of the North American Championship?”
There’s no word yet on if a new match will be announced for Takeover. Below is the updated listing for tonight’s show:
NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP Damian Priest (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
Winner: Damian Priest
KUSHIDA vs. The Velveteen Dream
Winner: Kushida
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Santos Escobar (c) vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
Winner: Santos Escobar
NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice LaRae
Winner: Io Shirai
– After the match, the music hits as Shirai recovers. We go to replays. Shirai raises the title in the middle of the ring now. NXT UK Superstar Toni Storm suddenly appears on the big screen and congratulates Shirai. Storm also wants to make sure Shirai and everyone else has their head on a swivel because as of right now, Storm is back in NXT. She promises to turn NXT upside down and inside out, and reminds everyone that NXT has, and always will be, Toni Time. She will see us soon. Shirai nods her head and gives a thumbs up to end the segment.
We see the mystery figure arrive to the building on a motorcycle, with the same interface we’ve seen over the past few weeks in the teaser promos. Shirai is shown watching in the ring. The mystery person enters the arena and stands on the stage as the lights come up. They remove their helmet and it’s Ember Moon, making her return to TV. She stares back at the ring and acknowledges the crowd as Shirai looks on to end the segment.
NXT CHAMPIONSHIP Finn Balor (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
– After the match, the crowd gets louder as the music hits. Balor, with blood also coming from his mouth now, snatches the NXT Title belt from the referee and stands tall. Balor puts the belt around his waist as we go to replays with the referee raising his arm. We come back from replays and Balor is approaching O’Reilly, who is still down in the corner. Balor extends his arm to help O’Reilly up and O’Reilly lets him. They do a show of respect as the “NXT!” chant breaks out. O’Reilly raises Balor’s arm in victory as they stand together.
We suddenly see Ridge Holland standing on the other side of the barrier, staring at O’Reilly and Balor. He has a knocked out Adam Cole over his shoulder. Balor and O’Reilly turn and see Holland standing there with Cole. Holland drops Cole over the barrier, to the floor at ringside. A furious Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish run down to check on Cole but Holland has disappeared. The 31st Takeover event goes off the air with Balor and The Undisputed Era tending to Cole at ringside, furious at Holland getting away.
DATE: October 4, 2020 at 7:00 PM ET (Preshow at 6:30 PM ET) LOCATION: Full Sail, Winter Park, Florida AVAILABLE ON:WWE Network (first month free for new subscribers)
NXT CHAMPIONSHIP Finn Balor (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice LaRae
NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP Damian Priest (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Santos Escobar (c) vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
The matches originally planned for the nixed WWE NXT “Takeover: Tampa Bay” event will air during NXT TV episodes on the USA Network in the month of April, according to Sports Illustrated.
“Takeover: Tampa Bay” was cancelled when WWE pulled the plug on WrestleMania 36 Week due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was announced today that beginning on Wednesday, April 1, the planned Takeover matches will begin airing on the weekly NXT TV series.
Triple H will appear on this week’s NXT episode to give more details on the planned Takeover matches that will air. As noted, Triple H will also be on this week’s NXT episode to deal with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano after their recent brawl through the WWE Performance Center.
“Takeover: Tampa Bay” was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 4 at the Amalie Arena.
The only Takeover match made official before the cancellation was the Women’s Ladder Match to crown a new #1 contender to the NXT Women’s Champion, which would be the winner of the WrestleMania 36 match between champion Rhea Ripley and challenger Charlotte Flair. Tegan Nox, Chelsea Green and Mia Yim had already qualified for that match. Candice LeRae vs. Mercedes Martinez was scheduled to be the next qualifying match, but that match was nixed due to schedule changes related to the COVID-19 outbreak. SI notes that potential candidates for the remaining spots would be LeRae and Bianca Belair, or a returning Io Shirai.
Other potential matches to air during the month of April are Ciampa vs. Gargano, The Velveteen Dream vs. NXT Champion Adam Cole, and Finn Balor vs. NXT North American Champion Keith Lee. Dominik Dijakovic and Damian Priest are also potential challengers for Lee.
Stay tuned for updates on the NXT matches that will air in place of Takeover. Below is WWE’s announcement:
Triple H to appear on tomorrow night’s NXT on USA NetworkTriple H will appear on tomorrow night’s edition of NXT on USA Network, as first reported by Sports Illustrated.
Sports Illustrated also reported that several of the matches originally scheduled for NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay will instead take place over the next few weeks on NXT, starting with the April 1 edition of the weekly USA Network spectacular.
Could The Game’s appearance have anything to do with this news? Tune in to NXT tomorrow night at 8/7 C on USA Network to find out!
Charlotte Flair made a surprise appearance at NXT TakeOver: Portland, attacking Rhea Ripley aftyer she successfully defended her NXT Women’s championship against Bianca Belair. Flair said she thought about it and she will see Ripley at WrestleMania 36.
Wrestling News Blog 