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WWE NXT was ready with a strong episode on Tuesday night following the events of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. While WWE RAW failed to impress after WrestleMania, fans were hoping for NXT to deliver the following day.
The brand welcomed two new champions onto the brand after their victories at TakeOver. Both Karrion Kross and Raquel Gonzalez cut promos to hype their victories and begin their new journeys as champions.
Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Leon Ruff had a great match to light up the show. Scott delivered the JML Driver to pick up the victory over Ruff. However, the former NXT North American Champion attacked Scott backstage after the match to continue their rivalry.
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KUSHIDA picked up the biggest victory of his NXT career this week. Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa sent a warning to MSK.
The final match of the night saw eight superstars compete in a fun tag team match. Roderick Strong decided to resign from the NXT brand in one of the most shocking moments of the night. Let’s take a look at the five things NXT got right following TakeOver.
#5 Karrion Kross declared doomsday in WWE NXT
Karrion Kross picked up the biggest victory of his career at WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Kross defeated Finn Balor to win the NXT Championship for the second time in his short NXT career.
Kross and Scarlett made their way to the ring and The Herald of Doomsday acknowledged Finn Balor right away. Kross claimed that The Prince was almost invincible as the NXT Champion until he ran into Kross.
After putting himself over, The Herald of Doomsday vowed to be a fighting champion. He called out the NXT roster and told the men to step up and challenge him to a fight. He was ready to knock down anyone who dared to come his way.
The promo was effective and put Kross over once again. While it’s better watching him compete in the ring than talking for a long time, this promo showed that he certainly has good mic skills.
Kross has been built as a monster, and there aren’t many men in NXT who come to mind who can defeat him at this stage. Unlike the time when Keith Lee won the title, there aren’t too many pending rivalries for the new NXT Champion.
Who will be the first man to step up to Kross who has begun his second NXT Championship reign?
#4 MSK had an impressive first Tag Team title defense in WWE NXT
MSK won the WWE NXT Tag Team Championships on the first night of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. On the second night, Killian Dain and Drake Maverick became the #1 contenders to the titles.
MSK geared up for their first title defense in NXT. The duo targeted Maverick early on and isolated him just like every other tag team has done. Dain got his team back into the match and punished his opponents.
The Beast of Belfast saved his teammate from a pinfall and carried him to the corner. The former member of Sanity tagged in and tried to go on a rally, but he was hit with a Spiral Tap.
MSK tried to go for a tag-team maneuver, but Dain caught Lee and spiked him on top of Nash with a piledriver.
Dain and Maverick came close to victory before MSK made a comeback. Wes Lee and Nash Carter caught Maverick with the End Transmission to retain their NXT Tag Team Championships.
This was a good first title defense for MSK. Dain and Maverick managed to impress once again but fell short when it mattered. Imperium arrived after the match and laid out Dain and Maverick to make a statement of their own following the match.
#3 The women of WWE NXT showed off their gold on Tuesday Night
Dakota Kai introduced the new WWE NXT Women’s Champion, Raquel Gonzalez. Gonzalez had an incredible match against Io Shirai on the first night of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver and pinned her to win the title.
The new NXT Women’s Champion spoke about how every day before the night had been about building this moment. She claimed that Kai was responsible for her rise in NXT.
The lights went out, and Franky Monet finally arrived. With her dog in her hand, she claimed that she was the leader of the NXT women’s division now. While the newcomer and champion nearly came to blows, Monet decided to stand down.
Soon after, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair arrived in NXT. Belair competed in an incredible main event on the first night of WrestleMania and won the SmackDown Women’s title from Sasha Banks. Ripley defeated Asuka on the second night of WrestleMania to become the RAW Women’s Champion.
This was a big moment for the Black & Gold brand. It hasn’t been long since Ripley and Belair left the brand, but they have managed to establish themselves as the leaders of the RAW and SmackDown women’s division.
Gonzalez received the appreciation and respect that she deserved. The segment was good overall and helped WWE bring Monet to the NXT Universe.
#2 KUSHIDA shocked the WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion
After his incredible victory at WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Santos Escobar made his way out to the ring. Escobar became the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion after defeating Jordan Devlin in a Ladder Match.
Escobar cut a short promo and issued an Open Challenge that was answered by KUSHIDA. The Japanese Superstar has had many title matches in the past, but he’d failed in every single one of them.
KUSHIDA sent the champion out of the ring with a dropkick. Escobar sent Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde to the back as he was confident that he could take on KUSHIDA by himself.
It did not take long for Escobar to get the upper hand in the match. However, KUSHIDA made an incredible comeback and caught the NXT Cruiserweight Champion with a series of strikes and slams.
Escobar went for the Phantom Driver late in the match, but KUSHIDA reversed it. A series of pinfall attempts allowed KUSHIDA to stack up Escobar for the victory.
It was shocking to see Escobar become the one-and-only NXT Cruiserweight Champion at TakeOver only to lose his next match after being stacked up. KUSHIDA deserves a title reign in the company, and he now has a chance to make a name for himself.
William Regal congratulated KUSHIDA backstage, following which Devlin showed up. He made clear he would get his shot at the title soon.
#1 WWE NXT had a fun main event to close out Tuesday Night’s transmission
The Way had an interesting backstage segment on WWE NXT before their match in the main event. Indi Hartwell was looking forward to coming face to face with Dexter Lumis in the ring.
The Way competed against the team of Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Dexter Lumis and Bronson Reed in an eight-man tag team match. Hartwell was kept out of action whenever Lumis was nearby. There were many big spots throughout the match, and the women tried to take the men down to give fans something to cheer about.
Ember Moon delivered a suicide dive to Johnny Gargano, while Candice LeRae failed to knock down Reed but hit Lumis with a DDT on the floor. The Colossal threw Blackheart onto all of the superstars outside of the ring.
The Tortured Artist locked Gargano in the Silence, but Hartwell faked an injury and got Lumis to carry her backstage. Finally, Reed hit the Tsunami on Austin Theory to win the match for his team.
This was a fun way to end Tuesday Night’s proceedings. The match had some big spots and the ending matched the rivalry between The Way and the other four superstars even better. Will Lumis get his shot at the NXT North American Championship in the weeks to come?
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