Last year, WWE tried something new when they presented the show of shows as the shows of shows, holding a two-night WrestleMania for the first time in company history. Tonight, on NXT, William Regal announced that the black-and-yellow brand would be joining in the multi-night festivities as this year’s NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver will be a two-night event. The first night will air live on the USA Network with the second night set for Peacock, WWE’s new streaming platform.
The news comes in the midst of a huge growth period for NXT, one that recently saw the brand ink its largest and most diverse class of new Performance Center recruits ever. Excluding this group and other PC recruits who have yet to debut on TV, NXT’s roster is nearly 70 wrestlers strong. The increased size necessitated NXT receiving the second hour of television when they debuted on USA Network in order to facilitate so many wrestlers deserving of TV time. And now, that roster is even larger with the 50+ wrestlers from 205 Live and NXT UK considered part of the brand. To fit even a fraction of these wrestlers on a four-or-so-hour card would have been all but impossible but now NXT doesn’t have to as they will have two nights to showcase the best of the best in WWE. The extra night will no doubt see more names added to the card than usual, will likely give a larger presence to wrestlers from 205 Live and NXT UK, and will give tons of rising wrestlers the opportunity to take the stage during the biggest week in wrestling. NXT’s storylines have already been building toward many matches, enough that require multiple nights of shows so this is a great decision by WWE to expand TakeOver.
TWO-NIGHT TAKEOVER. #NXTTakeOver: Stand & Deliver
Night 1: Wednesday, April 7 LIVE at 8/7c on @USA_Network.
Night 2: Thursday, April 8 LIVE at 8/7c on @peacockTV!#WeAreNXT #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/d9qv3g95II— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 11, 2021
It is likely the two world champs will main event both nights of the shows, with Finn Balor and Io Shirai the respective faces of their divisions. Following Wednesday’s episode of NXT, it appears at least one of those champs has found his challenger as Balor is being primed for the much anticipated and long overdue clash with Killer Kross. Also likely to be in action is NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Santos Escobar, the tag team championship match of Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners, MSK, if they are able to return from injury, or the Grizzled Young Veterans, the showdown between Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, who returned with a vengeance on Wednesday night, Johnny Gargano vs Dexter Lumis, and more. With the added night, WALTER and Kay Lee Ray could even defend their NXT UK titles, even if the matches have to be taped in the UK in advance. Then there is also, of course, the new women’s tag team champions. After Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai were crowned in the night’s first big announcement, they also defended the titles, losing to Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon. Perhaps a rematch will be in order during TakeOver.
No matter how WWE and NXT opt to use the two nights, this year’s TakeOver: Stand and Deliver, should be one for the history books. NXT always shines the brightest under the big lights and this year should be no different.
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