I don't watch a ton of modern wrestling, though I do still keep my eye out for important happenings in the business, and it's safe to say that the NXT brand that I grew to cherish in 2014 has been in a state of serious turmoil recently. A gutting of the roster, which featured the bizarre firing of recent North American Champion Bronson Reed, has led to a cascade of rumors of a complete rebranding of NXT, re-focusing the product to be more centered around the stars of the future, as opposed to the big name indie stars that have populated the main event scene for the past 5 years. I can't say I love this new direction, although it might be easier to swallow once we actually glimpse the final product, but no matter what the future holds for NXT, they almost always deliver when it comes time for TakeOver. The 36th edition of the event features the return of Samoa Joe, a rematch of one of the 2020's best contests between NXT UK Champion Walter and Ilja Dragunov, plus what is likely to be the final match in NXT for the undeniable Adam Cole. As always for NXT, the TakeOver card is stacked, as the brand prepares to enter a murky future with a jolt of momentum.
- NXT TakeOver 36 takes place inside the Capitol Wrestling Center, a set-up inside the WWE's Performance Center, which all NXT shows have taken place in since October of last year. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the continued use of bland numbers for TakeOvers, which just comes across as unimaginative, though I do understand that the naming system has been severely hampered by the lack of touring. Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, and Beth Phoenix are on the call, a trio who's work I've personally enjoyed whenever I've listened to them call NXT shows.
- The night kicks off with a bout for the Million Dollar Championship, as LA Knight (the former Eli Drake) defends against Cameron Grimes. This is the culmination of a highly entertaining midcard feud, which began in February when Grimes unexpectedly hit it rich after investing in GameStop. Grimes' newfound wealth saw him butt heads with a returning Ted DiBiase, and led to the revival of the Million Dollar belt, which the egotistical Knight swooped in to win in a ladder match, enforcing his heelish status by knocking DiBiase on his keister with a right hand, subsequently turning Grimes into his butler with a win later on. DiBiase, eager for revenge, has offered to take Grimes' place as Knight's butler in exchange for one more chance for Grimes to capture the gold, and after all three men had absolutely knocked it out of the park in the build, they deliver a fast-paced opening contest that provided the emotional high to get this show off to the right start. Grimes and Knight work extremely well together, fluidly moving from one sequence to another, and while nothing I saw in this match was jaw-dropping, almost every move looked good and the energy never diminished. The trade of near falls near the ending upped the drama, as Grimes kicked out of an inverted Death Valley Driver and almost won it with a fallaway moonsault slam, a move that can be so tricky to pull off properly, and these two made it look effortless. Grimes routinely attempts to force a submission with the Million Dollar Dream, in tribute to DiBiase, who's stationed at ringside, but Knight backs up his bravado with intellect, and won't let it be cinched in. What Knight can't expect, though, is the veteran poise of DiBiase, who proves to be the difference maker, distracting the referee for long enough to deck Knight with a right hand and apply the Million Dollar Dream, dazing the champion. Grimes delivering the highly impressive Cave-In (standing meteora) is as cathartic as any opening match triumph can be, as he finally gets one over on Knight. This match may not have been an all-out classic, but it hit all the story beats it needed to, cementing Grimes as a star for the future.
- Next up is the implosion of an alliance formed over a year and a half ago, as Dakota Kai challenges the dominant Raquel Gonzalez for the NXT Women's Championship. Gonzalez was an early-round exit in the first Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017, and there was little reason to view her as a potential champion at that time, but Triple H and the NXT team saw something in the Latina, bringing her back in early 2020 in a big way, as Gonzalez aligned with Kai in Dakota's war against former best friend Tegan Nox. Gonzalez built from strength to strength, rolling through the women's division in the year that followed, decimating former champion Rhea Ripley in early 2021 to really put her name on the map. Gonzalez bulldozed through Io Shirai to capture the gold, and after spending so long in the shadows, Kai decided that Gonzalez had gone as far as she should, blindsiding Gonzalez with a Yakuza Kick a few weeks ago to set up this grudge match. With Kai working main roster matches away from NXT, the writing was on the wall for how this one would go, and indeed, the best Kai could offer wasn't enough. Though the finish wasn't ever in doubt, the journey to get there was well told, with Kai needing to dig deep against the unstoppable ferocity of Gonzalez, doing a tremendous job to put the overwhelming power and danger of the champion over. Kai gets tossed around the ring and battered from pillar to post, but never stops fighting, and almost gets Raquel with a Kairopractor and a diving double foot stomp. NXT loves a good callback, and with the hype package heavily featuring that traitorous Yakuza Kick from Kai, they neatly tie it into the finish, as Kai tries to nail Gonzalez with it on the top rope, only for Raquel to snatch Dakota by the leg, delivering an emphatic diving single-armed powerbomb for the win. It's incredible to see just how far Gonzalez has come since aligning with Kai, NXT has protected her and allowed her to flourish in their style. Now she moves on to what should be a tremendous showdown with the former NXT UK Women's Champion, Kay Lee Ray. This is how you make stars.
- Speaking of making stars, there's no better way to do it than with a match that gets the entire business talking, which Walter and Ilja Dragunov accomplished in their absolute classic in October of last year. Walter is probably the best hoss in the industry today, possibly one of the best ever, but it's Dragunov that has seen his stock skyrocket as a result of that clash, an insane Russian bastard with fighting spirit spilling out of every pore of his body. Dragunov as the valiant babyface and Walter as the punishing champion is such a great combination, and what they accomplished in October might just pale in comparison to what they brought to the table last night. You could easily declare this WWE's Match of the Year without much fuss, but even that high of a praise doesn't feel like enough. For 22 minutes, Walter and Dragunov left every piece of their soul in that ring, as well as several sheets of their skin, hot damn the chops delivered in this match were next level vicious. Dragunov is a mess by the end, with red welts decorating his chest and back, but the punishment he took isn't what makes this match special, everyone gets punished by Walter, after all. What made this something truly transformative was the endless, unrelenting, and at times psychotic fight Dragunov brought to the proceedings, refusing to back down from the Austrian world-ender. Dragunov gets in a few skin-shattering chops of his own, slowly wearing down the head and neck of Walter with staggering power, driving a 300 pound man into the canvas with several jaw-dropping suplexes. Dragunov sacrifices his own safety to essentially just launch himself at Walter, nailing multiple sickening headbutts, which is accentuated when Walter counters one of those twisting headbutts into the damndest sleeper suplex I've ever seen. I'm torn as to how to react to moves like these, given the increased attention trauma to the head has gotten in the past decade, it's not something I feel comfortable supporting, but it's also so much fun to watch. The finishing stretch of this match is pure insanity, as Walter leaves his feet for a shotgun dropkick that Dragunov somehow survives, and the challenger finds that last gear to dethrone the 800+ day champion. Those final moments, where Dragunov unleashes brutal chops to the neck of Walter, before lifting the champion up into an air-tight sleeper hold, a callback to the finish of their first match, were breath-taking, and everything that I watch wrestling for.
- The unenviable task of following that up fell to Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole, the former members of the Undisputed Era, who have since engaged in a blood feud after Cole shockingly laid O'Reilly out with a superkick to end TakeOver: Vengeance Day earlier in the year. Their first two matches hadn't quite achieved universal acclaim, as the two tried their best to follow in the violent footsteps of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. O'Reilly won their first clash, an Unsanctioned match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, leaving Cole to settle the score at The Great American Bash in a straight wrestling match, which led to one final bout here, a 2 out of 3 falls match, with each fall getting a unique stipulation. It starts with wrestling, a normal singles bout, which wrapped up in a hurry, as O'Reilly avoided a Panama Sunrise, gaining leverage to score a three count. The pacing gets all out of whack in the second fall, a Street Fight, where the two men punish each other with weapons in a drawn-out affair. The work was solid, I love the way O'Reilly sold the pain of his ribs and midsection, which Cole effectively worked over, and there was a great moment where Cole faked out O'Reilly, sizing up a Last Shot, which caused O'Reilly to cover his head, and allowed Cole a free shot with a kendo stick. Had Cole proceeded to win it right then and there, I would've been psyched for the match entering the final fall, a Steel Cage, but instead, the two men drag it out before Cole finally gets a pinfall with the Last Shot. They do add in a great bump from O'Reilly, who gets tossed onto the edge of two chairs, but it wasn't worth dramatically slowing the pace down for several minutes to get to that point. The cage portion at the end was largely underwhelming, as each man gets knocked into the steel mesh a few times, and Kyle kicks out of the Panama Sunrise. Cole has the wise plan of handcuffing O'Reilly to a rope, allowing him to get in a few uncontested superkicks while talking some trash, but the confidence of Cole backfires, as O'Reilly stops a kick, taking Cole down and forcing a tap with a kneebar. Personally, I would've preferred a more conclusive finish, especially with Cole likely to depart NXT with his contract expired, but the chants of bull sh** from the crowd seemed a bit excessive, it wasn't that bad.
- Main event time, as Samoa Joe returns to NXT in an attempt to wrest the top prize away from Karrion Kross. Like almost everything about NXT right now, the build has been overshadowed by tumultuous backstage scuttlebutt, as rumors of a power struggle between Triple H, the head of NXT, and the other assorted top brass in WWE led to what might be construed as a punishment for the brand's top champion, as Kross did the job for the aging Jeff Hardy in a short match that badly damaged the perception of Kross and NXT at large. Personally, Kross bores me, his style is too slow, his offense looks unconvincing, and while his manipulative character is written well, his actual promo skills are mediocre at best. But even if I don't care for Kross, I feel horribly for Hunter and everyone else involved creatively in NXT, as they clearly wanted to build a mystique around Kross that was irrevocably punctured by the Hardy loss. To their credit, NXT has done everything possible to rebuild their monster, positioning Kross in a compelling conflict with General Manager William Regal and Samoa Joe, who was brought in by Regal to contain the chaos of the brand, with Kross in particular being a focal point. Joe returning to the ring after a year and a half on the sideline that saw him get released by the WWE and re-hired by Triple H, coming back home to NXT as the conquering hero that finally ends the Kross threat should've been an emotional spectacle, but it's difficult to take Kross seriously anymore. It doesn't help that Joe is rusty, which would be expected after such a long layoff, and Kross simply doesn't posses the skillset to make a match interesting on his own. The two men trade suplexes and strikes, with Joe gassing out after hitting his suicide dive forearm smash, though he does have enough left in the tank for a few running sentons and some submission work on the mat. Kross goes down to a Muscle Buster, the first time Joe has brought out that move since the unfortunate Tyson Kidd injury, taking one more hit to his deflated aura with a clean loss to a man that last wrestled in the pre-pandemic era, which honestly feels like it could be a century ago. Don't get me wrong, no matter what criticism I've had of him in this paragraph, I remain a massive Samoa Joe fan, and even at 42, I think he's a definite upgrade from Kross, but nothing is going to change how underwhelming this main event was.
8/10
After so much drama in the months heading in, TakeOver 36 was an entertaining swansong for this era of NXT, which now moves into an uncertain future. The brand likely bids farewell to Karrion Kross, Adam Cole, and Dakota Kai, but perhaps the biggest loss was the setting of Full Sail University. For half a decade, Full Sail had provided an excellent host site for NXT, drawing in hot and respectful crowds that constantly enhanced the product and the roster. The atmosphere in the CWC can't measure up, and the tumultuous status of the brand is doing little to lure in potential new fans. It's sad to see NXT slowly lose everything that made it great, but at least TakeOver 36 provided a memorable night of action, with one more all-time classic for the brand to hang it's hat on. See you soon.
- Henry
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