NXT comes to its past to redefine its future.
Samoa Joe returned to the ring TakeOver 36 and defeated Karrion Kross to become the new NXT champion. This was Joe’s first match since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than a year and a half ago, as well as the first on NXT since 2017. The match served as Take control headliner, Joe finished it off when he hit a muscular buster, giving Kross his first defeat at NXT.
Joe provides a legitimate presence to the brand, with his victory giving him the title of first three-time NXT champion. The decision also allows Kross to make the transition and establish himself completely on completely different ground Raw.
The show also included a physical masterpiece between WALTER and Ilya Dragunov for the UK Championship. Dragunov ended WALTER’s 870-day reign in a scandalously cruel battle. This was one of the best games of the year, in all of wrestling, and served to remind the obvious: if Vince McMahon and Co. want to improve the quality of Raw, then WALTER should be the top priority.
Photo courtesy of WWE
These are the results of TakeOver 36:
– Cameron Grimes defeated LA Knight to win the Million Dollar title
– NXT women’s champion Raquel González defeated Dakota Kai
– Ilya Dragunov defeated WALTER by submission to become the new UK champion
– Kyle O’Reilly defeated Adam Cole in a two-on-three fall game
– Samoa Joe defeated Karrion Kross to become the new NXT champion
The show opened with Cameron Grimes beating his rival, eventually defeating LA Knight. It seems that Grimes will improve every week, benefiting from the pairing with “The Million Dollar Man”, Ted DiBiase. He continues to show his endless charisma and athleticism, and his willingness to put his body in line. A product of Cameron, North Carolina, Grimes has mastered the style of mid-Atlantic wrestling. This is an old school craft approach, focused on psychology and precision, and his dedication to the craft caught the attention of Shawn Michaels.
“The key to this work is an emotional connection,” Michaels said Illustrated sports before TakeOver 36. “You need a genuine love of wrestling to connect like he does. Look at me. It’s no secret. I am a fan of wrestling. A long time ago, I always thought I would be the happiest if I had the chance to be a regional fighter. Man, being a Southwest Heavyweight Champion, I thought it would be great. I didn’t want anything else, that’s what I loved. It’s Cameron Grimes: all his life, that’s all he’s ever wanted. “
Only 27 years old, Grimes has industry-wide experience. However, despite his job posting, he never connected with the general public until this post on NXT.
“He was always a great worker, and now he shows a different side of his personality,” said Michaels, who works closely with Grimes (27-year-old Trevor Caddell) at the WWE Performance Center. “Even their promotions used to be more exaggerated. That’s what brought him to this point, but you need these reality pieces as a baby face, and that’s what he will do now. Once people take it, it will be even bigger, it will be huge ”.
He Take control The card was full of solid fights, which included female champion Raquel González defeating Dakota Kai in a convincing match. Kai deserves a career with the NXT title, but time has not yet played in his favor. She has been replaced as the top contender for the title by Kay Lee Ray, a former NXT champion in the United Kingdom who returned when Gonzalez was celebrating her victory. While González’s future as champion offers much more clarity, it will be very interesting to see the next program for Kai, and hopefully he will never be too far away from González or the title.
In a rematch last October, WALTER and Dragunov became involved again. For more than 22 minutes, it was a carnage, with Dragunov absorbing a lot of punishments. WALTER made another compelling argument that he is the best professional wrestler on the planet, and the chemistry he shares with Dragunov — who was also brilliant — is incredible. This was a beautiful form of non-stop violence and intensity, and the future is especially bright for both men.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole was another standout fight. That meant all three falls, with O’Reilly winning the decisive one for submission with a heel hook inside a steel cage despite being handcuffed to the ropes. While Cole’s future is unknown, this match was a great indicator of NXT’s belief in O’Reilly, who should be pushed into a title show against Joe. If Cole marches to AEW, it marks the end of his sensational career at NXT. It would bring immediate value to AEW, instantly becoming one of the top free agent acquisitions AEW has ever achieved.
NXT is in a period of change, but this post will be run by a very familiar face to Samoa Joe. And on a wrestling-filled weekend set with CM Punk’s debut at AEW, it was fitting that Joe, his former rival, could also share some of that focus.
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