NXT TakeOver set the bar, Will WrestleMania 37 clear it?
It's fair to say that both nights of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver ended up living up to the hype. Some might even say the two-night format was a resounding success.
In the eyes of this writer, night one was the better of the two outings. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Walter so far has been the best match of WrestleMania week, with these two hard-hitters putting on a clinic in physicality. Everything about the match felt just right: the bout didn't overstay its welcome and had some of the best ring psychology I've seen on an NXT show in some time. Walter hurting his hand chopping the announce table and selling it in every little thing that he did throughout the rest of the bout was a thing of beauty.
Night one also featured an absolutely outstanding main event, with the (one would assume) main roster bound Io Shirai dropping the NXT Women's Championship after a 304 day reign to rising star Raquel Gonzalez. In a company that has sometimes been gun-shy to strap the rocket to the back of a new star in recent years, they spared no expense in making Gonzalez look like a million bucks with her title win. Gonzalez kicking out of Shirai's top rope moonsault established the new NXT Women's Champion as a dominant force.
Sandwiched between these two matches was another excellent outing, with MSK capturing the NXT Tag Team Championships by defeating the Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado Del Fantasma. Ironically, these were the two teams that MSK defeated in the finals and semi-finals of last year's Dusty Classic, the team's coming out party with NXT.
These were the three matches in succession that closed night one, a tough-to-beat trifecta that have so far made it the best night of the week so far. Night two wasn't a bad show by any means, though it never seemed to top what we saw 24 hours earlier. For me, the highlight was Karrion Kross defeating Finn Balor in an NXT Championship bout that really had that often referred to "big fight feel" to it.
I enjoyed the Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole Unsanctioned Match that closed NXT TakeOver night two, though the match could have benefitted by shaving off about 10 minutes. Plus, that theme music just isn't going to cut it for either of them. But what a finish! Thankfully this one went on last because as good as Balor/Kross was, it's tough to follow a broken stage and a chain-wrapped knee driving an opponent through a chair.
Johnny Gargano and Bronson Reed had a great outing after a shaky start, with Gargano continuing to live up to the "Johnny TakeOver" name. While I still prefer Gargano as a babyface, they're going all-in on "The Way" and Gargano's time as NXT North American Champion still has some fuel left.
The NXT Women's Tag Team Championship Match suffered from a few botches (thankfully, Shotzi Blackheart is okay), but it also served as a reminder that the dynamics of the women's tag division at NXT already feels so better than what we have seen with the women's tag division on the main roster. Blackheart and Ember Moon actually feel like they belong together as a team rather than a forced-together team, which is so often the case on Raw and SmackDown.
I wasn't as high on the opening matches of both nights as others have been. Kushida vs. Dunne featured two of my favorite performers to watch in NXT but felt like it was missing something. It was a good match, nothing spectacular.
I felt similar about the ladder match between Santos Escobar and Jordan Devlin. While my Twitter timeline (@ryandroste) was popping for all of the big moves and rightfully so (a Spanish Fly and a Moonault off of the ladder?!), I felt like the match left a lot to be desired from a psychology standpoint. If someone sells a hurt knee from ladder shots at the beginning of the match, I want to see them continue to sell that injury throughout and not completely drop it. If you need an example, look at new NXT Champion Karrion Kross' outstanding work at selling his abdomen injury from Finn Balor all the way through, even in his post-match victory celebration.
In all, both nights of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver got better as the shows went on, and you would be hard pressed to be disappointed by what we saw on Wednesday and Thursday nights, collectively.
Will WrestleMania live up to NXT TakeOver's standard?
So now we find ourselves in a similar position as in year's past. NXT TakeOver has set a high bar, one that might be hard for WrestleMania to live up to. This year already feels like one of the more under-hyped WrestleManias in history from a creative standpoint, and the task of having to follow two very good nights of action from your own company (NXT) is not an easy one.
Of course, the main roster is loaded with talent and both nights of WrestleMania 37 definitely have potential to top what we have already seen this week from NXT. No matter what we see when it comes to the creative build towards a PPV event in WWE (good or bad), the roster usually delivers in the ring when the lights come on. I expect no different this Saturday and Sunday night.
While the greater issue at WWE remains a creative one (long-term storytelling), their PPV events usually deliver great in-ring action that can be enjoyed by nearly anyone when looked at on their own. Over on my podcast, Top Rope Nation, I often say that WWE PPVs are almost always great when looked at in a vacuum (you're virtually guaranteed great matches and an entertaining night). It's that bigger picture, with the exciting build that has the fan base anticipating seeing these matches for weeks, that has been missing and preventing WWE PPVs from going from good to great.
That's not to say that NXT creative has been blowing us away in recent months either. However, the brand does feel like it is turning a corner and heading in the right direction once again. WrestleMania 37 has a chance to do that for Raw and SmackDown.
Will WWE follow NXT's lead? We'll know by the end of Sunday evening. Enjoy WrestleMania 37!