Cook’s WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Gambling Picks

It’s WrestleMania Week, which means we got some NXT TakeOver action for ya! Just like WrestleMania, TakeOver needs two nights to get all its business done this year. One on USA, the other on Peacock/PPV.

You know I got all the lines for you via BetOnline, though I must remind you…it’s for entertainment purposes only.

Night One (“Stand”?)

Gauntlet Elimination Match
Dexter Lumis (-200) vs. LA Knight (+250) vs. Bronson Reed (+500) vs. Cameron Grimes (+1000) vs. Isaiah Scott (+4000) vs. Leon Ruff (+4000)

EXCLUSIVE: The past is the past. Let @LAKnightWWE talk to ya about his victory in tonight's #BattleRoyal on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/8ch2Tj0BqL

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) April 1, 2021

The winner here will face Johnny Gargano on the next night for the NXT North American Championship. Lumis has been feuding with Gargano for some time, and did score a victory over Johnny the last time they met, so he does seem like the smart choice here.

Who would I pick to make some money? Honestly, I’d stay away from Scott & Ruff, neither has much momentum at the moment. Cameron Grimes has an awesome character but I don’t think it’s time to turn him for the title shot. LA Knight’s an interesting character, but I don’t think he makes sense here. I see Bronson Reed there at +500 and that looks like a pretty good value to me. He was on quite the winning streak before losing to Grimes, and has yet to face Gargano in a singles match. I think I’d like to see that, certainly much more than creepy Dexter Lumis.

NXT Tag Team Championship Match
MSK (-175) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (+125) vs. Legado del Fantasma (+800)

Which team will become #WWENXT Tag Team Champions for the very first time on Night 1 of #NXTTakeOver: Stand & Deliver? pic.twitter.com/8vg8LtR0zX

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 6, 2021

MSK has been on quite the hot streak here. They have yet to lose a match since arriving in NXT, which tells me that now is the time for that to happen. Out of the other two teams, I think you have to go with Legado del Fantasma if you want to make some money. As it turns out, Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza are on a pretty good winning streak, winning four out of their last five matches. Nothing wrong with that.

Pete Dunne (-150) vs. Kushida (+110)

ok,Pete.I will face you next week #NXTTakeOver
Pete Dunne vs KUSHIDA
Let's do this‼️ pic.twitter.com/VraetzfcDG

— KUSHIDA (@KUSHIDA_0904) April 1, 2021

Gotta feel for Pete Dunne a bit. He was a King of NXT with his boys Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch & Pat McAfee. They were running things. He was going to beat Finn Balor for the NXT Championship. He lost to Balor, and he’s also lost his running buddies.

The one bright side? He gets to beat Kushida to try & re-establish himself as a contender.

NXT United Kingdom Championship Match
WALTER (-600) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (+350)

WALTER on his wrestling philosophy: “For me, it’s a dramatic competition. That’s what I want to portray. I want a competition. Everybody can understand physicality. That’s how I think wrestling should be done”https://t.co/FWPnFAkwMz

— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) March 31, 2021

Unless Ciampa plans on moving to Europe, this one seems pretty easy to call. I guess you could switch the title here if you really wanted to, but why would you waste WALTER’s big loss here? Dude has held the title just over two years now, the loss needs to go to somebody that can be made by it. Like that Ilja Dragunov kid or somebody like him. Ciampa winning or losing here makes no difference towards his status in the NXT Universe.

Walter wins, and people get hit really hard. Easy predictions here.

NXT Women’s Championship Match
Io Shirai (+150) vs. Raquel Gonzalez (-200)

Get an in-depth look at @RaquelWWE's training ahead of challenging @shirai_io for the #WWENXT #WomensTitle at this Wednesday #NXTTakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 1️⃣! pic.twitter.com/QUTcV55JSb

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 4, 2021

Raquel being favored is easy to understand. The last couple of big NXT shows have seen her score big victories, like the Last Woman Standing match against Rhea Ripley, or the Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic alongside Dakota Kai. Or even War Games, where she scored the winning pinfall over Io Shirai for her team. When the lights are on bright, Raquel delivers.

Io has been champion for over three hundred days now. She’s had some very good matches and is one of the best in-ring women in the company, but it feels like time for a change here. She’s run through everybody. NXT’s women’s division could use a refresh, and Raquel Gonzalez could be the right person to do that with.

Night 2 (“Deliver”?)

NXT North American Championship Match
Johnny Gargano vs. Gauntlet Eliminator Winner

NXT Officials asked me and the rest of The Way™ to partake in that press conference thing but I said all questions must be directed to our puplicist. pic.twitter.com/Zii33U2Km3

— Johnny Gargano (@JohnnyGargano) April 6, 2021

Shawn Michaels is one of the chief mentors of the NXT kids. Gargano is one of the people that has patterned himself after Michaels, and considers himself to be to TakeOver what Michaels was to WrestleMania. Indeed, Johnny TakeOver has had an incredible series of matches at the event, much like HBK did at Mania. However, much like HBK at Mania, Johnny’s TakeOver win-loss record leaves something to be desired. Gargano is 6-15 at TakeOver, among the wrestlers with the most wins, but the wrestler with the most losses by a wide margin.

This is me telling you that the Gauntlet Eliminator Winner, whoever it may be, is the smart pick here.

NXT Cruiserweight Championship Ladder Match
Jordan Devlin (-120) vs. Santos Escobar (-120)

PROVE. ME. WRONG. 👊🏽☠️🇲🇽 https://t.co/QiHs9ya1AK

— SANTOS ESCOBAR💀🇲🇽 (@EscobarWWE) April 6, 2021

It’s been a few weeks since NXT had a ladder match, so something like this was bound to happen. Devlin has been the official NXT Cruiserweight Champion since the Worlds Collide show back in January 2020. At the time, the fact that Devlin was based in NXT UK didn’t seem like such a big deal. The pandemic obviously changed that, and NXT needed an interim champion. Santos Escobar ended up winning that, so once Devlin was able to come to America, the title could be properly decided. It’ll be nice to get that taken care of.

It’s a tossup, as the line indicates. I tend to lean towards Santos Escobar. Don’t really have a reason why, other than I liked him in Lucha Underground. These men’s NXT work is basically even to me.

NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon (-200)  vs. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell (+150)

.@wwenxt @ShotziWWE
We have been ready for #nxttakeover #NXTTagTeamChampions #TCBWEL #WelcomeToTheFirePit pic.twitter.com/7JaT5uqaQp

— Ember NXT Moon Palmer (@WWEEmberMoon) April 2, 2021

The saga of the Women’s Tag Team Championship in WWE has been one of those “Be careful what you wish for” things. Many of us wanted this thing to happen. Unfortunately, the only time the title was interesting & relevant was when Bayley & Sasha Banks held it with the Raw & SmackDown individual championships. Before & since, the division has been clogged with acts with nothing else to do.

It’s such a logjam that NXT made a Women’s Tag Team Championship of their own, which was necessitated by the fact that the one time the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions defended in NXT, WWE official Adam Pearce inserted himself in the proceedings to make sure that the champions kept their titles. William Regal didn’t like this, and made his own title. The only problem? He decided to award it to Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez, who promptly lost the championship later in the evening. Talk about a convincing way to start a championship.

Fortunately, Shotzi Blackheart is one of the champions. So that at least has me interested in this. Can’t pick against the Blackheart/Moon team.

Unsanctioned Match
Kyle O’Reilly (-150) vs. Adam Cole (+110)

Prime Target takes a look at the deep, emotional and painful history between @AdamColePro & @KORCombat ahead of #NXTTakeOver: Stand & Deliver.#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/9M8gABFhFa

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 2, 2021

O’Reilly has a built in out for losing this match, as he’s not medically cleared in storyline, and only getting a shot at Cole here because WWE & NXT have washed their hands of the matter & aren’t sanctioning it. Losing to Adam Cole here would certainly be nothing to be ashamed of. However, defeating Adam Cole would be a big deal to his career, and set him on a higher track in NXT.

I say they don’t pull the trigger. I just got a bad feeling for Kyle here, as Adam Cole tends to get things done at big moments like this one. Plus, you throw the rules out the window and that boy won’t hold back.

NXT Championship Match
Finn Balor (+110) vs. Karrion Kross (-150)

You haven’t even seen my bad side yet… 😈#FallAndPray pic.twitter.com/UHOOqbFreH

— Scarlett Bordeaux (@Lady_Scarlett13) April 6, 2021

We talked about Johnny Gargano’s less than stellar TakeOver record earlier…Balor’s record is quite the opposite. 14-1 at TakeOver events. That alone is enough to tell you that he has a chance, even if he’s an underdog. Gotta tell you though, I think that 14-1 goes to 14-2 on Thursday night.

Kross has only had one defeat since arriving in NXT, and that was as Balor’s tag team partner against Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan. He never lost the NXT Championship, and now seems like the perfect time to get it back & take care of the business he didn’t get to start. A new champion for a new era of NXT. Karrion Kross is the pick here.