With NXT TakeOver XXV coming up, these are the wrestlers who could walk out of San Jose with a big win on the developmental brand’s supercard event.
If we viewed wrestling shows through the prism of comic book movies, Saturday’s NXT TakeOver XXV show feels like the Doctor Strange to Double or Nothing’s Avengers: Endgame (in case you were wondering, RAW, SmackDown, and next Friday’s Super Showdown are, respectively, all three Fantastic Four films in this scenario).
The show will probably, once again, leave the viewers who tune in satisfied, but following the high-anticipated and critically-adored debut pay-per-view produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the developmental brand’s 25th supercard feels more like a side dish after most fans engorged on last week’s smorgasbord of grappling excellence.
The tepid build hasn’t helped matters, either. That isn’t to say that Triple H and his band of merry writers have succumbed to the glaring booking gaffes that plague the main roster, but for a show with such historical significance, as arbitrary and contrived as it may be, Helmsley and company haven’t promoted this TakeOver as a momentous occasion.
Despite the lack of sizzle surrounding this show, all the ingredients are there to concoct a potential show of the year candidate. But which wrestlers will have their hands raised in victory by the end of the night? Hopefully, this piece will provide some accurate guesses to that question.
Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong
After Vince McMahon all but wiped out the NXT cupboards earlier this year, the NXT creative team has leaned heavily on the Undisputed Era to fill the gaps. For the most part, the decision has worked out, but papering over the depth issues with this talented quartet has dimmed the focus on other top stars.
Take this feud, for instance. In service of establishing fissures in the Undisputed Era, Matt Riddle has come across like little more than a plot device that’s only around to advance the main story the bookers are trying to tell.
Even when the writers tried to add some heat to this with Roderick Strong’s off-camera attack on Riddle — which was a well-produced angle with great attention to detail — it was framed as a gesture from Strong to curry favor with Undisputed Era leader Adam Cole. This isn’t a Riddle story; it’s an Undisputed Era story.
With that said, rumors suggest that Riddle is next in line to challenge for the NXT Championship. If that’s true, there’s absolutely no reason for “The King of Bros” to do a job of any kind in this match.
Given the talent of the men involved, this one should be a match of the night contender, but in the end, Riddle will get the strong (see what I did there?) win over Roddy, which will position Riddle for a title shot and sow further issues amongst NXT’s top faction.
Prediction: Matt Riddle defeats Roderick Strong via submission
The Forgotten Sons vs. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan vs. Stree Profits vs. Undisputed Era- Ladder Match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championships.
Did Vince McMahon secretly infiltrate a few of the NXT tapings and change the script for all the tag team segments/matches while Triple H wasn’t looking, just to screw over his son-in-law?
That’s the only explanation I have for the awful lead-in to what should be a fun ladder match.
For starters, all of these teams, in some form or fashion, come across as losers. The decision to have the Viking Raiders relinquish the NXT Tag Team Championships rather than doing the honors for one of these teams (or even putting them in the ladder match; it’s not like they’re doing anything on RAW right now) made these tandems look like goobers who weren’t good enough to take the title off of them, a move that the writers further cemented by having the Erik and Ivar virtually manhandle most of these duos a couple of weeks ago on NXT.
I hate to lean on a lazy sports cliche, but this is anyone’s match. As groan-inducing as it would be, I could see the writers giving the Forgotten Sons the win so the team could rub it in the fans faces for forgetting them, or something.
A surprise Burch and Lorcan win is also plausible, as is the Street Profits finally taking home the gold after a couple of close calls against the Viking Raiders.
But given the lack of credible heels in the tag division — and no, the Forgotten Sons don’t count — it makes sense to put the titles back on Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly and have the babyfaces chase them for a few months.
Prediction: Undisputed Era wins the NXT Tag Team Championships
Velveteen Dream (c) vs. Tyler Breeze- NXT North American Championship
Honestly, bringing back Tyler Breeze to put over a burgeoning NXT star in a 16-18 minute standout match is the perfect way to commemorate the 25th TakeOver event. And who better to put over than the Velveteen Dream, a man who could be the biggest star in the company, provided he isn’t typecast on the main roster (stop laughing!).
Given how hastily the writers had to put this feud together — this was supposed to be Dominik Dijakovic’s spot before his knee injury — they effectively eschewed the obvious “your gimmick is kinda like mine” gimmick to present Dream as the LeBron James to Tyler Breeze’s Kwame Brown.
Dream is the cocky, young upstart destined for greatness while Breeze experienced the same accolades in developmental only to bomb on the main roster (through no fault of his own).
Our own Joe Anthony Myrick offered a compelling argument for Breeze winning the North American Championship, noting that Dream’s dismissal of Breeze as a viable challenger means that he has to beat Dream lest he affirms everything Dream said about him.
While there’s definitely a compelling case for Breeze winning here — it would be a nice payoff to all of the high-profile losses Breeze compiled during his first NXT run — it isn’t necessary, at least not yet.
The tenor of the story certainly calls for Breeze to get the big win at some point, but with the NXT roster thin on big names, the writers could stretch this out for a little while. A competitive outing by Breeze followed by Dream recognizing that Breeze wasn’t as washed as Dream thought he was should be enough to position Breeze as the versatile upper midcard gatekeeper he was the first time around, especially since he’s sticking around Full Sail full-time now.
That said, Breeze will likely get some sort of phantom pin-fall to plant the seeds for a rematch.
Prediction: Velveteen Dream pins Tyler Breeze, retains North American Championship
Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Io Shirai- NXT Women’s Championship
This feud peaked during the aftermath of Shayna Baszler’s title defense against Kairi Sane on the April 17 episode of NXT, in which Baszler’s flunkies Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir restrained Sane’s tag team partner, Io Shirai, and forced Shirai to watch Baszler send Sane to SmackDown Live with an injured elbow (which Sane, of course, didn’t sell because the main roster doesn’t care about continuity).
Since then, the bookers have kept this feud alive with camera phone footage and the occasional backstage interview, but it’s safe to assume that fans would’ve expected more out of a Baszler/Shirai program.
Still, the match should be really good, though it may only vaguely resemble their pre-WWE outings because 1.) they may not get as much time to tell their story, 2.) the WWE style may restrict their movesets, and 3.) doing a bunch of chain wrestling, as pretty as it would be, wouldn’t match the tone of the feud.
Candice LeRae will accompany Shirai to the ring to help combat Duke and Shafir’s shenanigans, but even with the playing field a bit more even, the time doesn’t feel right for a title change.
The writers could recycle the Baszler/Sane template and have Shirai score a surprise pin to set up a rematch, but with a potential feud with Mia Yim seemingly on the horizon, Baszler appears the be the safer choice, again.
Prediction: Shayna Baszler pins Io Shirai, retains the NXT Women’s Championship
Johnny Gargano (c) vs. Adam Cole- NXT Championship
In-storyline, why is Adam Cole getting another NXT Championship match? I realize that the NXT writers didn’t have many other options besides Cole to work with, but they could’ve at least gotten him some wins to justify his return to title contention.
Instead, Cole’s getting another crack at Johnny Gargano because Cole pinned him in their Best-of-3-falls match at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Look, that may work when Cole’s cutting a narcissistic promo, but the lack of logic that went into booking this rematch is something fans expect from the main roster, not NXT.
Like the Roderick Strong/Matt Riddle feud — if you want to call it that — Gargano is merely orbiting around this larger Undisputed Era story and that afterthought status could spell the end of his maiden championship voyage.
Even with the slightly depleted roster, the NXT ranks have enough babyface names to line up as future opponents for Cole, so him potentially winning the title at TakeOver seems like the logical route to take.
However, it feels a bit too soon to take the title off of Gargano. Plus, NXT doesn’t shy away from booking babyface/babyface matchups as much as the main roster does, so Gargano could face that same list of wrestlers.
Besides, if, say, Strong comes through and botches another interference attempt to cost Cole the match, that could further play into the seemingly inevitable schism the Undisputed Era is headed towards.
Prediction: Johnny Gargano defeats Adam Cole via submission, retains the NXT Championship