5 Things NXT got right on the episode after TakeOver: Portland

NXT delivered an extremely strong event in Portland and returned to Full Sail to continue the impact that had been made during the event.

The men’s and women’s NXT Championships were defended at the event in matches that both ended quite unexpectedly. However, no title except for the NXT Tag Team Championships changed hands at the event.

Last night, the new Champions made an impact while the reigning NXT North American Champion continued his dominance.

The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was also defended during the night as the Man of the Hour tried to win it back.

In this article, we will look at the 5 things NXT got right on this week’s episode.

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#5 Dijakovic’s persistence

At TakeOver: Portland, Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic battled in an epic clash that lifted the entire heavyweight division of the company.

Three days later, Lee was up for a fight once again and he took on one of NXT’s finest heels, Kona Reeves. At a time when Lee wanted to talk about his victory against Dijakovic, Reeves interrupted to fight the big man.

Lee hit the Pounce on Reeves as he was not too happy with the interruption. He allowed the referee to hit the opening bell before he could hit the Big Bang Catastrophe to score a quick victory.

Right afterward, Dijakovic appeared to challenge Lee again for the title once again, claiming he could win it this time. Lee did not hesitate before accepting the challenge.

This was interesting and unexpected as Dijakovic had just lost the match against Lee and the two men had embraced in the ring. This has signs of a heel turn coming as Dijakovic seems hell-bent on taking the title away from Lee.

The Limitless One won’t be losing the title any time soon so it will be interesting to see when these two men will collide again and how NXT will book this match.

#4 The BroserWeights continue their streak

The BroserWeights continued their victory run at TakeOver: Portland and defeated Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly to win the NXT Tag Team Championships.

This week, Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne came out to continue their celebrations and were certainly missing their Dusty Rhodes Classic trophy in all of it.

Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan arrived to take on the Champions and make a mark. The two men continued their golden run by delivering side-by-side knee strikes on their competitors to pick up the victory.

While The BroserWeights do not need to prove much to the NXT Universe, scoring a victory over another major established tag team is always welcomed. As the brand is rebuilding the tag team division, and the new Tag Team Champions with The King of Bros as the mouthpiece will probably take the division in the right direction.

Just before this match, The Grizzled Young Veterans scored a victory and vowed to become the best tag team on the brand. It will be interesting to see how the two teams will take this story forward.

#3 Ciampa’s Theory

Austin Theory came out for a scheduled match but the fan-favorite babyface was interrupted by Tommaso Ciampa. The Blackheart demanded that Theory stays out of it and went on to address the events of TakeOver: Portland and Johnny Gargano’s betrayal.

He did not just question Gargano, but also questioned himself for being blind to Gargano and what he did. He went on to claim that he would remove Johnny Wrestling from the brand completely, just like Finn Balor had claimed, just so that The Psychokiller could get his life back.

Theory got desperate and tried to attack the former NXT Champion but ended up suffering his wrath and was taken out by him instead. This was a good way to bring Theory to notice after keeping him away from the top for weeks after his strong performance during the Christmas show against Roderick Strong.

It seems like the two might get in a feud before Ciampa can get his hands on Gargano which could be beneficial for the newcomer. In the meantime, it will be interesting to watch what the brand cooks up before the former members of DIY.

#2 The Irish Ace

Jordan Devlin has proven to be one of NXT UK’s finest wrestlers, and he showed just that in his title defense against Lio Rush this week.

Rush showed that he was desperate to get his hands on the NXT Cruiserweight Championship again and pushed Devlin to his limits right after the opening bell.

After Devlin gained back the momentum, he hit Rush with a series of suplexes and then applied the Crossface to try and get a submission victory. However, The Man of the Hour wasn’t ready to give up and he got back in the match with a submission maneuver of his own.

After several near falls, Devlin took the match with a Devlin Slide that took Rush out of the game as he retained his NXT Cruiserweight Championship.

The match was not only fun and fast-paced but it also showed the technical prowess of both the competitors. Devlin had been waiting for an opportunity to shine for several months now, and he has been rewarded with a title that he can use to put several other Superstars over.

#1 The Dream reigns supreme

The night began with the Undisputed Era coming out and congratulating their leader Adam Cole regarding his success against Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Portland.

Afterward, Roderick Strong prepared for his match against his arch-rival, the Velveteen Dream. Strong then made it clear to Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly to leave him alone and that he would take on Dream on his own.

Dream continued to play mind games on Strong and did not let him rest from the opening bell. While Strong tried his best to wriggle out of Dream’s attacks, he was unable to break free from the returning Superstar.

The Messiah of the Backbreaker got the upper hand in the middle of the match, but Dream was too focused to pick up the victory. He was cruising before the rest of the Undisputed Era decided to make their presence felt and help their friend pick up the victory. Dream managed to take them all out and then hit the Dream Valley Driver on Strong to pick up a big return victory.

After the match, Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly took out the former NXT North American Champion. This was a good return match for Dream and the return was one many fans were looking forward to.

Their rivalry feels genuine and Dream is always able to get the best out of Strong. The Messiah of the Backbreaker asking his friends to stay back and then their interference could result in Strong breaking away from the faction soon.