Five things that need to happen at NXT TakeOver 36

The hype for NXT TaleOver 36 is gaining steam and very soon; it’s likely to blow the roof off of the Capitol Wrestling Center to boot. The drama is being laid out for fans as if it was a movie from the long-gone but hardly forgotten 80s. As we inch closer to the event, the action and tension are unfolding quickly. In this piece, we’ll take a look at the five things that need to happen at NXT TakeOver 36.

Legado Del Fantasma needs to establish dominance over Hit Row

I know it won’t be easy with Hit Row’s big man, Top Dolla (A.J. Francis), looming, but Legado Del Fantasma has been around for quite some time, and before the newer faction (Hit Row) can get over, I feel they need to pay a few more dues on NXT, and what better way to have them do that than to lose to LDF?

I say a three-on-three tag match would be appropriate, ultimately leading to a one-on-one match pitting Swerve and Santos Escobar against one another for the NXT North American Championship.

Dakota Kai needs to destroy Raquel Gonzalez

I spoke about these next two points briefly in a previous article where I mentioned that Samoa Joe needs to defeat Karrion Kross and why at TakeOver 36, but I believe in them so much that I needed to go into deeper detail about them here.

Dakota Kai, the 33-year-old from New Zealand, has been wrestling since 2007. A definite veteran in the sport, she made her way through a plethora of promotions before making her way to WWE, via NXT of course. That came in 2015 with a few appearances of note and, finally and officially, she became part of NXT in 2017.

Two of her championship wins — in fact, the only two times she held a title in WWE/NXT — were with Raquel Gonzalez: once for the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the second was when they became the very first-ever women’s NXT tag champs.

For her to hold the gold only with Gonzalez is a travesty worth bringing up, as a wrestler whose history and accomplishments are as decorated as Kai’s, she should have had the singles belt long ago and long before Gonzalez was even in the conversation.

Gonzalez still shows signs of being a little too green in her promos and in her performances in the ring. A few weeks back, she fell on Xia Li and injured her, in what can only be called one of the most thoughtless mess-ups to be seen on NXT in recent history; essentially, the most rookie mistake that can be made in pro wrestling, thus resulting in the injury of a fellow wrestler. She needs to work on her overall package and this belt needs to go to Kai at TakeOver 36.

O’Reilly needs to end the O’Reilly/Cole series 2-1

This here is professional wrestling 101 on how to get someone ‘over’. O’Reilly is arguably this generation’s Daniel Bryan, and he needs to move up the rankings soon. Before he can do that, though, it only makes sense that he faces the best to ever do it at NXT, in Adam Cole, for the third and final time.

Cole, whose contract ends after TakeOver 36 or thereabouts, may leave the company, or he may be headed to the main roster, which he richly deserves. The best way to end things at NXT would be for O’Reilly to go over. As I said: Classic wrestling lore.

NXT UK at TakeOver 36: Dragunov must defeat Walter

In what is shaping up to be a Rocky 4 type of scenario, only in the professional wrestling world, WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov was promoted this week on NXT to dramatic proportions. This feud comes to us from NXT UK and belongs on the main stage of the NXT brand for sure.

Triple H said as much in his promotion for the match, and these two left it all in the ring in their previous match. That match, which took place on Oct. 29, 2020, is heralded as being some of the best wrestling to be put on and recorded in the modern era by their peers, journalists like myself, and fans alike.

For a bout that’s been hyped as much as this one has, you need the underdog to win, and Dragunov is undoubtedly the underdog in this one.

See what I mean by a Rocky 4-type scenario? David vs. Goliath, Rocky vs. Ivan Drago…it works in pro wrestling, as it’s worked over and over and over…well, I’m sure you get the picture.

Cameron Grimes needs to get out from under LA Knight’s thumb

Cameron Grimes has been over big time with the NXT crowd since his debut, but ever since he entered into an angle with LA Knight for the Million Dollar Championship, he’s been red hot.

Cameron — the face in this story — was forced to be LA Knight’s butler after his loss to him in his rematch for the championship at The Great American Bash (Grimes had lost to Knight at TakeOver: In Your House, for the Million Dollar Championship in a ladder match).

Since then, the NXT audience has been privy to some comical scenes recently, involving the two, where Grimes has been fulfilling his duties as butler to Knight. Is he playing the part of Alfred to Knight’s Batman? According to the audience and Ted DiBiase, hardly.

For now, Grimes has been doing his duties, yes, but something is building friends, and I hope it erupts by the time we get to TakeOver 36, where Grimes can become the Million Dollar Champion, taking the belt to new heights and facing a bunch of new opponents.

As for LA Knight (formerly Eli Drake over at Impact) — a definitive genius in pro wrestling, as per this writer — after this is over, he most definitely belongs on the main roster, where he can liven up episodes of Raw.