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With the Wednesday Night rating wars getting more and more intense every week, NXT is heading towards its next big PPV - NXT TakeOver XXX. As the name suggests, the event will be the thirtieth edition of NXT's highly successful TakeOver shows and will take place on August 22, one night before WWE SummerSlam.
NXT General Manager William Regal has already announced a huge match for the show after NXT Double Champion Keith Lee relinquished the North American Championship. As announced, NXT TakeOver XXX will have a multi-men ladder match for the vacant North American Championship. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen triple-threat qualifiers for the ladder match with Bronson Reed and Dexter Lumis qualifying for the match.
Let's take a look at five more matches that could take place at NXT TakeOver XXX. How excited are you for the show?
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#5 Keith Lee vs Karrion Kross - NXT Championship
At NXT Great American Bash, Keith Lee defeated Adam Cole to win the NXT Championship and became the first Superstar in NXT history to hold both the NXT and the North American titles at the same time. As mentioned above, the Limitless One relinquished his North American title, but he still proudly holds the NXT Championship.
Ever since his victory, he has a huge target on his back as several Superstars want to get a shot at his title, but none have gone to the limits of Karrion Kross. After mercilessly taking out Dominik Dijakovic last week on NXT while looking straight into the eyes of Keith Lee, Karrion Kross was called-out this week by the NXT Champion.
After some distraction and mind games, Kross made it clear that he wants a title shot, or else everyone will suffer just like Dijakovic. Being the fighting champion that he is, Keith Lee agreed and asked him to just pick a time and place.
All the signs point towards a huge match between the two at NXT TakeOver XXX. The NXT General Manager was adamant at title matches having to be earned, and it will be interesting how Karrion Kross "earns" his shot. I won't be surprised to see him go as far as to attack William Regal out of anger.
My only concern with this match is that neither of the two is in a position to take a loss. Keith Lee has just won the NXT Championship and he deserves a decent run. Karrion Kross, on the other hand, is getting a monster push and a loss here would derail his momentum. Who do you think will come out victorious?
#4 Io Shirai vs Dakota Kai - NXT Women's Championship
The NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai was attacked by Dakota Kai a couple of weeks ago. This week, Shirai teamed up with Tegan Nox to defeat Candice LeRae and Dakota Kai on NXT. Interestingly, she was again blindsided by Dakota Kai during her entrance.
Backstage, former NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley confronted Dakota Kai, and now the two will compete in a #1 Contender's match next week on NXT. The winner will likely challenge Io Shirai for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver XXX.
From the looks of it, it would be Dakota Kai who will win the match and face Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver XXX. While a triple threat is also possible, we already saw that at In Your House. Rhea Ripley has had her chances to win the title, and it's time for Dakota to shine.
The rivalry should be action-packed but as far as the results go, I don't see Io Shirai dropping the NXT Women's title to Dakota Kai, who has been a great heel recently but might still not be at the Championship level yet.
#3 Santos Escobar vs Isaiah "Swerve" Scott - NXT Cruiserweight Championship
The NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Santos Escobar (formerly known as El Hijo Del Fantasma) mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he is building his empire on NXT. Alongside Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde, the NXT Cruiserweight Champion has been highly impressive.
But one man who has his eyes set on ruining all these huge plans of Legado Del Fantasma is Isaiah "Swerve" Scott. This week on NXT, Scott took on Jake Atlas in a breathtaking back-and-forth match and came out victorious. With this victory, I believe we will see him challenge Santos Escobar for the Cruiserweight Championship, likely at NXT TakeOver XXX.
An interesting thing to note would be how does he handle the 3-on-1 disadvantage? I can certainly see Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) joining hands with Isaiah "Swerve" Scott in this feud. Legado Del Fantasma has been upset with Breezango for making fun of their Lucha culture. We might even see a 3-on-3 tag team match between the faces and the heels in the next couple of weeks!
#2 The Imperium vs The Undisputed Era - NXT Tag Team Championship
This past week on NXT, the NXT Tag Team Champions, Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) made their return the Black & Gold brand and took on Ever-Rise (Matt Martel & Chase Parker). The champions mostly dominated the match and came out victorious.
After the match, the two called themselves the standard-bearers of the tag team division of NXT. This led to all the four members of the Undisputed Era running down to the ring, who then took out the NXT Tag Team Champions. After being absent from NXT for a couple of weeks, The Undisputed Era returned and made it clear that it is still them who run NXT.
With that, the NXT Tag Team Champions are set to defend their titles against Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly. Now, there are so many ways this can end. Maybe the champs retain, or maybe the Undisputed Era wins the titles yet again, or maybe the match never begins properly.
With that in mind, I think we will see both the teams square-off at NXT TakeOver XXX with the titles on the line. Although, Adam Cole might have some other business to deal with!
#1 Adam Cole vs Pat McAfee
Last week, former NXT Champion Adam Cole (Bay Bay) appeared on Pat McAfee's radio show where he lost his cool after Pat took several shots on him about the Undisputed Era protecting him and even about his size. An angered Adam Cole went on to drop the F-bomb on the former NFL star's face and even pushed a crew guy who came in to calm things down between the two.
This led to the NXT Universe debating whether it was a real dispute or a work. A few days ago, Adam Cole released a statement, apologizing for his reactions. He mentioned that he should have acted like a professional as he represents a brand that commands respect. Triple H later appeared on the Pat McAfee show and called Pat a "professional button pusher".
This week on NXT, the highlights of Adam Cole's incident on the above show were played and from the looks of it, we might be in for an unexpected match between the two. I won't be surprised to see Pat McAfee appear on NXT in the coming weeks to talk it out with the former NXT Champion, only to start a brawl. This could ultimately lead to a match between the two at NXT TakeOver XXX.
