WWE NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day Live Results

From very early on, this match felt like a legitimate contest.

Some great technical offence and defence from both and Dunne sprinkled in some cheeky heel shortcuts to make sure there was some heat there too.

Balor showed a lot of aggression though which is something he’d done really well throughout this latest NXT run, and something he was missing when he was on the main roster smiling all the time.

After a slow burn the tempo picked up but constantly went back to the mat-based submission style, and it really made for an intriguing edge-of-your-seat battle.

Balor kicked out of a Bitter End which was bound to happen at some point but did have me for a split second, and then Dunne did the same with a 1916.

Balor ripped the mouthguard out of Dunne’s mouth, nailed him with a dropkick to the face, landed a Coup de Grace, followed up with a big DDT, and got the pin to retain.

That was a really great match and I love that style so it was right up my street. Dunne looked good in defeat and Balor looked good in victory.

Oh hang on, Lorcan and Burch came out afterwards to attack Balor on the ramp, and then there was a three-on-one assault in the ring, until… the Undisputed ERA (minus the injured Bobby Fish) make the save.

O’Reilly helped Balor to his feet and all three UE guys showed him respect before standing together as a foursome in the ring… until ADAM COLE BLASTS HIM WITH A SUPERKICK.

O’Reilly and Strong have a go at him for it, but then he SUPERKICKS O’REILLY AS WELL. Strong just stands there looking very confused. What a way to finish things.

Well overall that was a good show with some great wrestling, as you’d have expected. Not the best TakeOver, but I think one of the best for a while actually.

It’s time for Finn Balor to defend the NXT Championship against Finn Balor!

While this match looks great on paper, the build hasn’t been great. Dunne has done nothing lately to be worthy of a title match.

Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan were gearing Dunne up backstage. I’ve been saying this for ages for Burch is so good in this heel role. Lorcan not so much.

Nonetheless, this should be a good one. There’s a clear babyface and heel, despite Balor’s recent fluidity, they’re both great in the ring, and it has a big fight feel.

Watching #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/xIOIZBtnLH

— Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) February 15, 2021

Well this was a bit naff because quite frankly it was just three women doing spots as you’d expect. All three women are good, but it’s a three-way. These matches are barely ever good.

There was an absolutely hilarious moment where Storm was clearing the table and it just collapsed as she was doing it without anyone actually going through it.

Wade Barrett on commentary actually did a decent job by explaining that it was weakened after a spot in the MSK match.

Shortly after Shirai had done a dive on the outside which presumably was supposed to be through the table, Martinez kicked out of a Storm Zero, which was a bit stupid.

Storm then landed a dive to follow up but Shirai broke up the pin with a moonsault and pinned Martinez to retain the title.

That gives Storm an out for a singles rematch which would be so much better than this was.

At least it was kept fairly short though because it was never gonna be a good match. Not because of the talent involved but it’s just the nature of three-ways.

Are yall ready to talk about @shirai_io having one of the greatest women’s title reigns of All-Time yet?omit_script=1 #WWENXT #VengeanceDay pic.twitter.com/fNCGSO4K0M

— FRAN¢ 🎤 (@AJFrancis410) February 15, 2021

After that match we got a music video from Josiah Williams for Cameron Grimes. It was the best thing in NXT history.

Up next we’ve got Io Shirai defending the NXT Women’s Title against Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm.

Martinez and Storm didn’t do anything to earn a title shot and three-ways are almost never good, but oh well.

They jump started the match before the ring announcements which does not bode well for how this match is going to go.

Is it Toni's Time?omit_script=1 #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/4MEHaych8x

— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2021

The Grizzled Young Veterans are such a good heel team. They can get heat but they’re technically proficient to pull off some great moves too.

They worked over Nash Carter for a while before he managed to tag in Wes Lee who had an amazing hot tag sequence that ended with a nearfall.

For some reason, Carter then came back in and forgot he’d been worked over for so long and decided to do a lackluster hot tag sequence of his own with no selling whatsoever.

The story of this match really was Wes Lee. He had the great hot tag and kicked out for some great nearfalls.

MSK’s push moonsault move is so stupid and makes no sense, but looks cool visually so people probably like it. They both did some acrobatics to get a nearfall on Drake.

GYV hit a diving Doomsday Device on Lee on the outside with Drake doing the dive. After taking him out, they hit double-teamed Carter for another nearfall, which was one too many.

Lee came back in to save Carter from the Ticket to Mayhem and then MSK hit their finish on Drake to get the win.

The underdogs with the surprising win works and the match was good enough. Wes Lee looks really good and GYV were great as usual. A true feel good moment.

2021 is the year of MSK! Congratulations to @NashCarterWWE & @WesLee_WWE on winning the Men’s #DustyClassic. 🏆 #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/ZRymfOYqfT

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 15, 2021

Up next is the final of the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as newcomers MSK take on last year’s runners-up the Grizzled Young Veterans!

It’ll be interesting to see how this match plays out given the clash of styles with the more traditional style of James Drake and Zack Gibson contrasting with the high-tempo and high-flying MSK.

Out of all the matches on this show this is the one I’ve been looking forward to for that very reason, so hopefully it lives up!

Gibson did one of his trademark promos before the match which was good as usual and got some heat on his team and instantly set out MSK as the babyface underdogs.

Pure adrenaline. #NXTTakeOver #DustyClassic @NashCarterWWE @WesLee_WWE pic.twitter.com/UPaz1U9hYO

— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2021

It won’t surprise you to hear that technically and athletically, this match was very good. But there was just no heat.

Gargano is a good wrestler but he’s not a good heel wrestler. He’s too small and too technical to actually get hear and make you hate him and want the opponent to make a comeback. He was trying, but it wasn’t working.

He’s not got a decent enough heel personality (although sometimes it ends up in go-away heat not the good kind of heat) and he can be very smarmy, but his wrestling style doesn’t reflect it. Seth Rollins has the exact same problem.

Kushida is a good babyface and has good fire with his comebacks which made up for it a little bit, and the fact he’s actually smaller than Gargano helped, but it still wasn’t really enough to make the match interesting.

There were a lot of spots that were too contrived and rehearsed as well. Too much gymnastics, which sometimes works but with Gargano supposed to be heel, it didn’t.

Kushida and worked over Gargano’s arm so when he locked in the Gargano Escape he couldn’t lock it in enough to make Kushida tap, and he managed to turn it into his own Hoverboard lock, which he also couldn’t get in fully.

Kushida had the armbar locked in for ages on the outside, but Gargano managed to learn the One Final Beat on the elevated ramp and then again in the ring and got the pin to retain.

Technically speaking that was a good match but there was just nothing to really buy into or get invested in unfortunately.

𝑿 marks the spot of our retaining N𝑿T North American Champion, @JohnnyGargano! #NXTTakeOver #AndStill @KUSHIDA_0904 pic.twitter.com/Wkji1L93hF

— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2021

Coming up next is the NXT North American Title match with Johnny Gargano defending against Kushida!

Gargano’s heel run has been pretty awful as has the build to this match, but the technical ability of both men should still make it a good match.

Austin Theory has apparently been kidnapped by Dexter Lumis so he’s not at ringside, and Gargano sent Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell to the back too.

Get your head in the game, #JohnnyTakeOver. #NXTTakeOver @JohnnyGargano pic.twitter.com/hGNht1xJQb

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 15, 2021

At the start of this match the announcers played up the historic nature of the match and the continued growth of the equality between men and women in wrestling.

I’ve been saying this forever but Shotzi Blackheart has so much potential to be a star, but she seems to focus too much on doing cool wacky spots when she’s not even proficient at the basics yet, which is pretty frustrating to watch given she clearly has so much potential to offer.

The usual dynamic was actually switched in this one for a while because it was Moon and Blackheart working over Kai (babyfaces working over the heel) so she could look for the hot tag from Gonzalez who’s obviously much bigger than the rest of them. Gonzalez and Kai did use some heel tactics to get an advantage where possible to make the divide clear enough though.

Ember Moon fired up and had a comeback against Raquel Gonzalez which ended with an Eclipse, but Kai distracted the ref and by the time he realised the pin, Gonzalez had recovered, and then she had a couple more nearfalls after that too.

A perfect example of the Blackheart problem was sliced bread on Gonzalez which she almost landed right on the back of her neck, then almost immediately after did a suicide dive onto Kai and almost decapitated herself on the announce table.

The story was that Gonzalez was unbeatable and kept kicking out, and Kai was chipping in here and there with some heel tactics so the odds were always against the babyfaces even though they were on top for a lot of the match, which actually made it pretty interesting to watch.

Gonzalez catapulted Moon off the elevated ramp to take her out of the match, and halted an effort from Blackheart to dive onto her, landing the big chokeslam in the ring to get the win.

That was a pretty solid opener, just on the verge of going too far with the nearfalls, but managed to contain itself just enough. Kai and Gonzalez win the Dusty Cup and have a Women’s Tag Title shot!

WHAT A MATCH. @RaquelWWE & @DakotaKai_WWE just made HISTORY to become the first-ever Women's #DustyClassic WINNERS! #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/mwyHwAQSR9

— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2021

The show opens with a music video from Josiah Williams and the first in-ring action will be the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic final!

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez take on the team of Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart, with the winners earning a future WWE Women’s Tag Team Title shot.

Given the push of Gonzalez over the past few months you have to assume her and Kai are favorites, but NXT does love giving the mish-mash teams the Dusty Cup win.

.@ShotziWWE & @WWEEmberMoon vs. @RaquelWWE & @DakotaKai_WWE.

Only one team can make HER-story. #NXTTakeOver #DustyClassic pic.twitter.com/NRJYO4gPFy

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 15, 2021

Eli Drake has signed with WWE as part of NXT and he has a new name… LA Knight.

Who on earth comes up with these names?

He came in, insulted Roberts and the weird Brandon guy, kind of insulted Barrett, and then walked off.

Drake has good impetus with his promos and this was no different. The challenge will be hanging with NXT’s best in the ring.

Make sure you have your eyes open because LA KNIGHT is coming for #WWENXT! #NXTTakeOver @TheEliDrake pic.twitter.com/eCZwVrajuB

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 14, 2021

The pre-show is underway and our panel is Sam Roberts, Wade Barrett, and some bloke called Brandon Walker for some reason.

It’s unlikely that anything’s going to happen on the pre-show, so you can watch along below. Obviously if something does happen we’ll keep you updated.

Forget about love, kisses and whatever other soppy stuff happens on Valentine’s Day, because it’s time for TakeOver!

Admittedly as a TakeOver card this certainly is not the strongest, nor has it had a great build. It feels more like a special NXT TV episode than a TakeOver.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad and all the matches should deliver in their own rights – join us in finding out whether that’s the case by following along with our live coverage from 6:30pm ET at the start of the pre-show and 7pm for the main show!

Which champion faces the toughest challenge tonight at #NXTTakeOver: Vengeance Day?omit_script=1

📺 7 E/4 P on @WWENetwork! pic.twitter.com/xYgBu9Rkb9

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 14, 2021