Hello and welcome to The Wrestling Brain’s ‘Stand and Deliver’ predictions. For the first time in history we have a two night Takeover to talk about, so let’s not waste anymore time and get started
Night One
WALTER (C) Vs Tommaso Ciampa
NXT UK Championship Match
This has the potential of being the best match over both nights on this Takeover. WALTER and Ciampa will tear the house down and it’s going to be a real treat.
WALTER marked his return to NXT a few weeks ago, and it was the first time we’ve seen the NXT UK Champion in America for over a year, and it felt a legitimate surprise.
Tommaso Ciampa has always been one of my favourites in NXT but it has felt he’s just been flipping between heel and face over the last 18 months without a great deal to get invested in. However clearly in this match he will be the face and somewhat of an underdog especially when the numbers game will be against him.
The result feels inevitable especially when you consider that this match is happening on night one on Wednesday, and on the next day on NXT UK WALTER is defending his title against Rampage Brown, therefore I’m taking the NXT UK Champion here.
Winner and still NXT UK Champion – WALTER
Grizzled Young Veterans Vs Legado Del Fantasma Vs MSK
NXT Tag Team Title Match
This Triple Threat Tag Team match is for the vacant NXT Tag Titles, which were relinquished by Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, due to the injury sustained to Burch a few weeks ago.
MSK should be the favourites heading into this one, they’ve not done a great deal since winning the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic however I do feel that they would’ve beaten Burch and Lorcan sooner rather than later.
GYV will be looking to get back to winning ways, following losing out in the final of the Dusty Rhodes Classic to Carter and Lee at NXT Takeover Vengeance Day, and honestly I wouldn’t complain if they become Tag Team Champions on Wednesday Night.
Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) feel like the rank outsiders here and most likely will be the team who takes the fall, as there’s no reason to why they should become champions.
I think MSK ought to win, I assume this was always the plan for this Takeover to crown them as champions, so I’d have them pin Legado Del Fantasma, which will protect GYV, and then in a few months we’ll get to see Carter and Lee take on Drake and Gibson once again.
Winners and new NXT Tag Team Champions – MSK
Pete Dunne Vs Kushida
I am absolutely buzzing for this one, Dunne and Kushida are two of the best wrestlers on NXT, and I’m really glad they’re getting an opportunity to have a singles match on this card, rather than being chucked in the Gauntlet, where neither would have won and neither would have been the focus.
Pete Dunne has claimed that he is the best technical wrestler in the world, however Kushida disagrees with that statement, and wants to prove that he is better than the Bruiserweight.
Kushida hasn’t really been featured on NXT for the best part of a month following defeat against Gargano at Takeover Vengeance Day, which always was my worry, so a concern could be another defeat here might keep him off TV again for another 6 weeks and push him further down the pecking order.
Dunne is also coming off a big loss at the hands of Finn Balor, so similarly to Kushida, how much of impact will a defeat for Pete have on his position on the roster.
I think because of he’s the one claiming he’s best technical wrestler, Dunne should be victorious, but he has to win through nefarious means which can extend the feud between the two.
Winner – Pete Dunne
Leon Ruff Vs Isaiah Scott Vs Bronson Reed Vs Cameron Grimes Vs Dexter Lumis Vs LA Knight
Gauntlet Match
(Winner faces Johnny Gargano for the North American Title on Night Two)
This feels painfully easy to predict, the only man who’s been feuding with Johnny Gargano is Dexter Lumis, and it only makes sense for him to win this gauntlet match. It’s not going to be Ruff or Scott, both are in a rivalry with one another so they cancel each other out. I don’t think it’ll be Bronson Reed, he’s not been built well enough to earn that opportunity. Cameron Grimes is a heel so it’s unlikely they’ll do him Vs Gargano. LA Knight is perhaps the only competitor other than Lumis that I could picture winning, but because he was able to be victorious in the Battle Royal, it makes it less likely for him to win the gauntlet as well. Then that just leaves Lumis, and there’s not much to say about him, it’s been signposted for the last few months that we’ll see him Vs Gargano at somepoint so I imagine this is the route that we’re taking.
Winner – Dexter Lumis
Io Shirai (C) Vs Raquel Gonzalez
NXT Women’s Championship
In the main event of night one, Io Shirai defends her NXT Women’s Championship against perhaps her fiercest opponent yet in Raquel Gonzalez.
Shirai has held the title since last June, and has pretty much gone through every member of the NXT roster besides Raquel.
Gonzalez has been booked incredibly strongly since her debut around a year ago, she even pinned Shirai to win her team the WarGames match last November.
I think it’s time for a new champion, I have Raquel winning this one and in pretty dominant fashion, reminiscent to Lesnar destroying Cena at Summerslam 2014, this can lead to her having a long title reign before being dethroned by her closest ally Dakota Kai.
Winner and new NXT Women’s Champion – Raquel Gonzalez
There are The Wrestling Brains predictions for Stand and Deliver Night One, but what are yours? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @SLTDWrestling.
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