The future of NXT is now!

The 36th TakeOver of NXT has come and gone, but what does it all mean for the brand? We find out tonight as another new chapter begins!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Ridge Holland w/ Pete Dunne VS Timothy Thatcher w/ Tommaso Ciampa; Holland wins.
• Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter VS Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne; Catanzaro & Carter win.
• Kay Lee Ray VS Valentina Feroz; KLR wins.
• NXT Breakout Tournament Finals: Carmelo Hayes VS Odyssey Jones; Hayes wins the tournament and has the right to challenge for an NXT title.
• Boa w/ Tian Sha VS Xyon Quinn; Quinn wins.
• Six Man Tag: Hit Row VS Legado del Fantasma; Legado wins.

MY REPORT

As Eric Bischoff’s theme technically says: I’m back. Sorry for being away, and I don’t want to worry you more, but I was at the hospital since last Monday cuz exhaustion and stress took me out completely. Given that, things have to change. “Mitchell the Machine” must go into “retirement” for a time. Though, I did have quite the run, all the way from January 2017 with the WWE UK Championship Tournament to basically a couple of weeks ago here in Aug 2021. But “Mitchell the Man” can still do some things.

Obviously starting here, all of my coverage articles (for however long it’ll take to get back to my old shape) will no longer have a huge Play By Play section. I will still title these the same, “Mitchell’s [something] Results & Report.” But that is all they will be: the show’s results and my report/opinion on them. I am the most devastated by this because I really loved sharing my own emotions in the moment with all of you. So let’s all just keep in mind that this is for now, and hope/pray/wish that I can one day return to the PBP Machine I was. And by the way, don’t expect things to be live as often as they used to.

So whether you found this article when it first went live or came back to it later, I hope you all still stick by me and The Chairshot as loyal… Huh, we don’t really have a nickname for our fans, do we? How about… Shooters, like “kayfabe VS shoot.” I’ll let others determine if that’s a good name or not. But for now, that’s the bottom line…! Cuz medical staff and my own body say so.

Firstly, I did get to watch the go-home NXT and TakeOver 36 sometime today to be caught up on that. Did last week feel like the most “cinematic” style NXT ever to anyone else? And even parts of TakeOver felt a bit too choreographed for a TakeOver. Namely, the Million Dollar Championship match (hooray for Grimes winning) seemed like it was more “All the references possible” than Grimes VS Knight. And also I wasn’t lost when it came to seeing that we were getting a great Six Man grudge match, Hayes VS Jones for a great Breakout Tournament finals, or the hard-hitting grudge match of Holland VS Thatcher for this aftermath episode.

As such, gotta love that tonight opens with Cameron Grimes and Ted DeBiase throwing a party! Well, sort of a party. The promos themselves were rather standard for a superstar and manager putting themselves over, and the air cannons shooting out Grimes greenbacks was rather goofy. Should’ve had a couple dozen champagne bottles popping and a big toast to punctuate it, but Grimes and DeBiase probably have plenty of time for that while NXT sorts out Grimes’ next million dollar challenger. And in a bit of a plot twist, Grimes still gets to hold onto the belt’s replica. Good ol’ Ted.

Holland VS Thatcher opening makes more sense in hindsight, give those guys plenty of time to just beat each other like sides o’ beef. At the same time, Holland showed great technical knowledge, to imply he’s “learning” from Dunne. Ciampa getting jumped by Oney and a returning Danny Burch was a good way to escalate and push the story forward, I can’t wait to see who Thatcher and Ciampa get as equally gritty allies. Dare I dream that it be Grizzled Young Veterans as Faces? They don’t like Dunne any better so enemies of enemies becoming friends, that sort of thing, could happen. Also great interview from #InDex after their “engagement.” 9/14/21 is gonna be wild.

Not sure how I feel about KC Squared, Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter, being dubbed the NXT TikTok team, but whatever they feel they need to do to get mainstream eyes on the brand is going to happen. KC Squared still has a good match against Gigi & Jacy, aka Mandy Rose’s chosen duo. Mandy showing up only now to “show them the way” is interesting timing, but I guess this new Mandy is going to lead a self-help group like Chad Gable- Wait! Could this be a weird way to expand the Alpha Academy? Well maybe not, that’d be too good to be true. KC Squared also getting attitude outta nowhere was both good and confusing. Raquel has a good celebratory interview promo, giving Dakota her due while also being ready for KLR.

Speaking of, of course KLR wins her debut, but boy they sure fed her a lower level rando. I will say, though, was Feroz given a gimmick that was mocking Aoife Valkyrie? I saw a lot of feathers on her shoulders… Raquel VS KLR is going to be great stuff, but Franky Monet stepping up was also good. The NXT Women’s Division is still going strong, even with the handful of jobbers we saw tonight. Naturally we hear from Samoa Joe on his title win, and him stating he will be a fighting champion is great. Dunne stepping to Joe is also great, but LA Knight thinking he can just go from losing Million Dollar to taking the NXT Championship is almost comedic in some ways.

Kyle O’Reilly, however, coming of that Three Stages of Hell is a great move, especially since he is the one that calls “LA Knight” “La Knight.” Then you throw in Duke Hudson to get on Kyle’s case, that was quite the surprise. This is either an early set-up for WarGames 2021, or some huge contender scramble type thing to make sure NXT stays bright and shiny. A good promo from Hayes, a very good promo from Jones, and a great Breakout Tournament finals. Hayes getting the win felt like a real surprise to me, especially with that quick ghost pin. I almost thought NXT was going to go the other way, making Jones the next big man to do big things a la Keith Lee, but I suppose whatever title Hayes doesn’t choose can be open for Jones. After all, Hayes is a Cruiserweight.

Boa entering the squash match to be the one jobbing was quite the shock. At the same time, I kinda hope this means Xyon Quinn joins Tian Sha to bolster their numbers. Regal talking with Gargano about #InDex wedding was great stuff. NXT’s first wedding segment is a bit odd, but if we get more of what we got with Regal, Gargano, The Way and Knight on the way to 9/14, I’m here for it. Why Diamond Mine only now has their own master class facility is because Nick Da Trick got rid of Rust, but Strong VS Kushida for the title is going to be great.

And then the Six Man Tag grudge match was fast and effective, especially since it started and ended as a scrap! Some good innovation in team moves, good character work in the animosity between the trios, and knowing Swerve VS Escobar is still coming, good choice momentum wise for Legado to win while adding their female member. You don’t wanna miss the North American Championship grudge match, or even B-Fab VS Elektra, those are gonna tear the house down!

My Score: 9.1/10