Three things WWE got right at NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 2

While the first night of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver reflected the heights the brand can reach when it’s firing on all cylinders, the second part of the event showed how much that potential can stall due to questionable booking decisions.

To be clear, NXT’s follow-up stanza on Thursday night was far from the worst wrestling show of the year — and still didn’t hit the depths many of the WWE main roster pay-per-views do — but given how good night one of Stand and Deliver was, night two felt like a bit of a letdown.

Still, there were positives to take away from the relatively mundane, so let’s look through what those positives were.

These were the three things WWE got right on night two of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver.

3. Santos Escobar and Jordan Devlin’s perfectly alright ladder match

In the opener, we saw linear NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin and interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar take part in a ladder match to determine the undisputed kingpin of the 205 Live roster.

If you went into this one thinking this would rank among the greatest ladder matches of all time, then you were probably disappointed by the time this match ended (though interpretations of matches are somewhat subjective), but these two still did more than enough to hold fans’ attention for over 18 minutes.

For many reasons, Escobar going over here was the right call (given his baggage, you could make a compelling argument that Devlin shouldn’t be featured on TV altogether, let alone in a prominent title match) and his win was a perfectly acceptable capper to this adequate match.

2. Johnny Gargano and Bronson Reed’s fine showing

By virtue of winning a gauntlet match on night one, Bronson Reed got a chance to face Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship on night two. Given the limited interaction the two have had with one another prior to this match, it was fair to wonder how much heat this one would generate.

Ultimately, that didn’t matter too much, as Reed and Gargano put together a good big man/little man match — which was a bit inverted with Gargano as the heel (unfortunately) and Reed as the babyface.

Yes, this was far from the best TakeOver match of Gargano’s career, but he did a great job making Reed look like a beast, and the challenger held up his end with his combination of agility and power.

With Gargano retaining, it will be interesting to see who challenges him for the North American Title next, as he’s starting to run short on credible babyface challengers.

1. Finn Balor and Karrion Kross’ NXT Championship match

Aside from the main event, no night two match reached the level of anticipation that the Finn Balor vs. Karrion Kross match did. Of course, these things tend to happen when you book the champion and the number one contender the way NXT mostly did for this program, but it’s still a pleasant thing to see in action.

It was also nice to see the match live up to those expectations, too. While Balor has had better matches — especially over the last few months — this was easily Kross’ best showing since signing with NXT.

Much like previous Balor NXT Title matches, this took a slight departure away from the usual WWE formula, as this one resembled more of a grungy, filthy fight than the other bouts on the show. It wasn’t flawless, but the two did more than enough to earn Match of the Night honors.