NXT TakeOver: 36 (August 2021)

Original Airdate: August 22, 2021

 

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, and Beth Phoenix

 

Opening Million Dollar Belt v Servitude Match: LA Knight v Cameron Grimes: If Grimes loses, Ted DiBiase becomes Knight's butler. So, yes, they are actively stealing from Seinfeld now. Grimes wearing a bedazzled version of the Million Dollar Man's old gear makes him look more like '94 Nikolai Volkoff that '88 Ted DiBiase. Grimes dominates him to start, so Knight bails, but Grimes is on him with a kick from the apron. Grimes with a big boot on the way back in, but a trip to the top rope ends in him taking a dramatic bump to the floor when Grimes sweeps the leg. Knight with a catapult under the bottom rope and some mounted punches, but Grimes throws a bodypress for two during a criss cross. Rana, but Knight counters with a powerbomb for two, and he works a headvice. Grimes escapes, so Knight delivers a tilt-a-whirl slam, but he wastes time jawing at Ted, and ends up missing an elbowdrop. Knight tries recovering with a springboard flying moonsault, but Grimes dodges THAT as well, and starts making a comeback. Million Dollar Dream looks to finish, but Knight blocks, so Grimes uses a rana into a cradle for two instead. Clothesline rattles Knight, but the champ still manages a drop-toehold to avoid a charge, and he dives off the middle rope with a bulldog. Inverted death valley driver gets two, so Grimes comes back with a superkick, and he reverses a bodypress for two. Grimes unloads in the corner, but a trip to the top ends badly when Knight German superplexes him off for two. That was a nice spot. Stunner, but Grimes blocks, and manages to slap on the Dream. Knight kicks off the ropes for a cradle, but Grimes rolls through it at two, keeping the hold applied through it all. But then Knight drops him head-first into the turnbuckles, and that's enough to shake his challenger off. Knight grabs the belt to drill him with, but the referee cuts him off, allowing Grimes to kick it away. DiBiase gives him a big right hand for good measure, then puts the kid in the Dream himself, before rolling him in for Grimes to finish off at 16:32. This was okay, and felt like a good payoff to the storyline. **

 

NXT Women's Title Match: Raquel Gonzalez v Dakota Kai: 36 seems like such a weird number for them to focus on as the theme of the show, as opposed to some snappy tagline. At least usually they do that when it's a nice round number. Kai doesn't back down from the bigger champion, but her attempts at sticking and moving end in her getting abused in the corner. She manages to shake Gonzalez off long enough to bail to the outside for a breather, but she doesn't have the luxury of a countout, and she knows it. Gonzalez tries powering her back into the ring, but Kai counters to a cross-armbreaker. Gonzalez escapes, but Kai blocks a powerbomb, and bails to the outside to regroup again. Gonzalez forces her back in again, and hits a clothesline, followed by a pair of fallaway slams. Kai tries diving with a flying bodypress, but Gonzalez rolls through the cradle back to a vertical base, and press-drops her challenger across the top turnbuckle. Gonzalez with another fallaway slam from there, but an attempt at her own dive gets blocked, and Kai accidentally knocks her to the outside. Kai hustles to roll her back in to cover for two, and a kneeling facebuster is worth two. She hammers the champion, but Gonzalez powers up to chuck her across the ring, and a sidewalk slam sets up a pump-senton splash for two. Gonzalez tries a chokeslam, but Kai counters by grabbing a triangle choke, so Gonzalez bashes her into the buckles until she lets off. Gonzalez drills her with a sitout powerbomb for two, but Kai comes back with some educated feet, and a somersault cradle gets her two. Gonzalez goes for another powerbomb, but Kai starts to block, so Gonzalez dumps her over the top with it instead. Kai is able to roll in ahead of the count, and Gonzalez is visibly frustrated with this plucky challenger now. Kai lands a superkick, but Gonzalez no-sells, so Kai uses a Canadian backbreaker for two. Gonzalez tries a chokeslam, but Kai blocks, and the champ ends up falling out of the ring again. Kai hustles her back in for a flying double stomp, but it only gets two. Well, duh, Dakota's so small that she probably wouldn't even dent a mattress with that one. Gonzalez slams her into the buckles to set up a chokeslam off the middle, and Kai's efforts to counter fail this time, allowing the champ to retain at 12:25. Good work from both here, and I especially liked how they both paid attention to the ring logic, with stuff like understanding the countout rule, and incorporating that into the story, as opposed to just pretending that it isn't a thing at all. *** ¼

 

NXT United Kingdom Title Match: WALTER v Ilja Dragunov: Ilja sticks and moves in the early going, but WALTER is able to grab hold of him, and take him down. Ilja actually manages to outwrestle him on the mat, however, and he barrels into him with a jumping shoulderblock. He goes for the leg, but WALTER is in the ropes, so Ilja takes him down again in a headlock. He sinks his teeth into that for a while, even holding onto it when WALTER side suplexes him, and then shifting to a short-armscissors to prevent WALTER from chopping. WALTER powers to a vertical base and sets Ilja in the corner to force a break, and then knocks him over the top with a right hand when Ilja lets off. WALTER quickly follows for a powerbomb onto the apron, and he grabs a sleeper on the way back inside, but Ilja makes the ropes. WALTER responds with a German suplex and a Boston crab, but Ilja inches towards the ropes, so WALTER shifts to a crossface. Slugfest is won by WALTER (duh), and he grabs another sleeper, but Ilja fights. WALTER decides to powerbomb him, but Ilja muscles through a backdrop to block, and he starts throwing clotheslines to make a comeback. WALTER cuts that off with a suplex for two, and poor Ilja is looking battered and bruised here. Dude looks like Florya at the end of Come and See. WALTER tries a fireman's carry, but the challenger summons a second wind, and fights him off with a series of strikes. WALTER responds with his own, even bigger strikes, knocking Ilja silly for two. But that just fires Ilja up even MORE, and he makes another comeback, dropping WALTER on his head with a German suplex of his own. Enzuigiri connects, and a suplex gets the challenger two! Flying seated dropkick and a flying senton splash both connect, but a big charge is caught in a sleeper! WALTER turns it into a suplex, but he's so battered that Ilja is able to attack before he can follow up. Ilja with a jumping backelbow for two, but a second one gets countered with a chop so big that Ilja gets turned inside out. It still only gets two, though. WALTER goes upstairs, but the challenger superplexes him off, and he dives with a flying dropkick. WALTER fires back with a dropkick of his own, and a powerbomb gets the champion two. Another powerbomb sets up the flying splash, but Ilja gets a shoulder up at two! Sleeper, but Ilja blocks, so WALTER plants a big boot. Ilja ignores it and springboards at him to buy time, and he pounds the champion with a series of elbowsmashes. Sleeper, but WALTER scales the ropes in the hold, and drops back to escape. Ilja pops up and beats him with more elbowsmashes, however, and he goes back to the sleeper. WALTER fights to a vertical base and tries dropping back to shake him off again, but Ilja sinks his teeth in - he refuses to lose! WALTER refuses to pass out either, so Ilja starts throwing vicious forearms to the neck, and then wrenches on another sleeper for the title at 22:01 - ending WALTER's epic 870 day reign! That was just relentless. Not quite as good as the October 2020 match, but another crazy brawl that pushes the envelope on how brutal scripted exchanges can get. And one of the things I liked most about this is that they didn't need to use a single weapon, and even almost never left the ring itself. *** ¾

 

Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Adam Cole v Kyle O'Reilly: First falls is a standard match, second fall is a Street Fight, and third fall (if needed) is a Cage match. O'Reilly knocks him to the outside with a series of kicks, and he dives from the apron with a knee out there. O'Reilly unloads on the outside, and delivers a vertical suplex on the floor. Inside, O'Reilly keeps hammering, and a right hand gets him two. Anklelock, but Cole fights free, and hits a knee strike for two. O'Reilly fights back with a discus clothesline for two, but a dive lands in a superkick, and Cole adds the Panama Sunrise - only for Kyle to reverse the cradle at 3:28. Okay, hopefully that means we're not in for some forty five minute deal with this, but if anything, it's just a red herring. To the outside, as they load up on weapons right away to take advantage of the Street Fight, and O'Reilly covers him over with a trashcan, then dives at him from the apron. O'Reilly heads to the top on the way back in, but Cole superkicks his leg, and Kyle takes a bump to the outside off of it. Inside, Cole abuses the injured ribs with a chair, and a corner whip ends in O'Reilly taking a bump into the post with the ribs. Cole works the ribs with a kendo stick, and he slaps on a rings of Saturn to try and finish, but no dice. Adam straight up kicks him in the face (in a stiff looking spot), but O'Reilly fights back with a German suplex, and he gives Cole a kneebreaker across a chair. Corkscrew legwhip follows, but a charge in the corner misses, and O'Reilly hits a chair. That allows Adam to fire off a big boot, but Kyle is thinking the same thing, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Each guy rolls to the outside and wraps his fist in a chain ahead of a slugfest – won by Cole with a superkick for two. Adam bails to the outside for some reason, but Kyle is on him, and tosses him into the barricade from the ramp. He wasn't why with that one. O'Reilly tries a suplex on the floor, but Cole counters with a swinging neckbreaker, and he brings a pair of chairs in - only for O'Reilly to reverse him into them. Kyle goes up to finish, but Cole slams him onto the chairs, and blasts him with the Last Shot at 16:58. The cage that comes down like a clamshell is pretty neat, and I've never seen that before. Unfortunately for O'Reilly, it isn't fast enough, and Cole is able to pull him to the outside for a powerbomb into the announce table first. Inside, the cage finishes lowering, and Cole starts tossing Kyle into it. He misses the Last Shot, however, allowing O'Reilly to deliver his own version for two. Adam tries escaping, but O'Reilly meets him at the top rope for a slugfest - ending in Kyle getting crotched. That is one short ass cage. They're lucky they're midgets. Sunrise gets two, so Cole handcuffs him to the ropes, and plants a superkick. Another one, but Cole catches the foot on a third, and gets him in a grapevine at 25:23. That finish sounds great on paper, but it fell really flat in practice. I've never been much a fan of either guy, and I thought this was pretty dull. * ¼   

 

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Karrion Kross v Samoa Joe: Big 'Joe' chant at the bell. Joe dominates him, and gets the Clutch on early, but Kross suplexes his way out of it, and knocks his challenger to the outside. Kross sends him into the barricade out there, and a suplex gets him two on the way back in. Anklelock, but Joe dumps him to the outside to escape, and he dives with a tope. Kross goes to the eyes on the way back in, however, and another suplex gets him two. Joe comes back with a powerslam for two, and a powerbomb is worth two. STF looks to finish, but Kross starts to escape, so Joe shifts to a crippler crossface instead. Kross makes the ropes, so Joe tries a corner charge, but misses. That allows Kross a kneelift for two, and he unloads with some (loose) mounted punches. DDT gets two, but he walks into an overhead suplex, and Joe makes a comeback. Senton splash gets two, so Joe gives him a second one, and slaps on the Clutch to finish, but Kross counters to a sleeper. Joe won't go out, so Kross looks for a knockout strike, but Joe blocks with a uranage. Enzuigiri leads to a muscle buster, and we have a new champion at 12:23. Well, that was certainly a rather abrupt finish. * ½

 

BUExperience: While not nearly at the level of some of the better specials, this was easily the best Takeover in a long while, and it served as a satisfying series finale, of sorts, for the last decade of NXT. And while it was a great run, and while I will miss many aspects of this era, the promotion had definitely seen better days, and a change of course feels welcome.

 

Until we meet again...

 

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