NXT Takeover : Stand And Deliver Night One
04/07/2021
Pre Show : Zoey Stark vs. Toni Storm
A late addition to the card saw Stark take on Storm in the pre show. It was a solid match with Stark showing a little of what she has to offer. It did seem at times to not mesh well, almost as if Stark wasn’t sure of what to do next but it did have a few nicely done bigger moves. Stark with a roll up was a quick end to the match.
KUSHIDA vs. Pete Dunne
With hard hits, chops, and submission moves this was a great slower build technical match between these two. With a very solid ending, a nicely paced methodical match that made sense and not over doing it with a long match they both came off looking great out of this.
Gauntlet Eliminator: Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. LA Knight vs. Leon Ruff
Cluster type matches always have the potential to be either too much or too little due to the number of participants. This Gauntlet did well however, though it did have the misfortune of eliminating every person I though would win however. It was a solid match overall, most guys had their time to shine, just the ending / winner felt off, almost as if someone like Lumis would of benefited from it much more.
NXT United Kingdom Championship: WALTER vs. Tommaso Ciampa
A match of brutes. We were given great story telling here with Walter playing his hand injury great until the end when he needed to use it. Both men here took it all out on each other with Ciampa possibly shining his brightest since returning from injury. They also set it to where down the line both could fight again in a different style and still feel just as unique.
NXT Tag Team Championship: Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma vs. MSK
This was a fast moving spot fest, that somehow always had brief moments where it slowed to a drag it felt. Thankfully though the match did give all 3 teams time to shine and Legado especially had some good moments here. MSK winning makes sense as they are hot newer signees here and this will help propel them.
NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai [champion] vs. Raquel Gonzalez
What a match honestly. The story of Io giving it her all against a much larger Raquel worked great here. Raquel as well here showed just how great she is doing and gave vibes similar to Chyna. Towards the end of the match there was a brief moment where it was like they were moving from big spot to spot, but it picked back up at the end for a great finish for the match.
Overall Night one was great. No matches fell short and even what would be the weakest match was perfectly fine. With a solid run time too the PPV never felt too long and when it ended you had been given a great night of matches.
