NXT TakeOver 31
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NXT TakeOver 31 was the 31st
NXT TakeOver NXT TakeOver was a series of periodic professional wrestling events produced by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE for its NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand division. The first TakeOver was simply titled NX ...
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
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event produced by
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. Unlike all previous TakeOvers, which aired exclusively on the
WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...
, TakeOver 31 was the first TakeOver to air on traditional
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
(PPV) in addition to the WWE Network. The event took place on October 4, 2020, and was broadcast from the Capitol Wrestling Center, hosted at the
WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...
in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
—this was the first NXT event to feature the Capitol Wrestling Center, NXT's version of the WWE ThunderDome used for Raw and SmackDown and an homage to the
Capitol Wrestling Corporation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...
, the predecessor to WWE. There were five matches scheduled on the event's card, as well as two
dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...
es that occurred before the
live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
broadcast. In the main event,
Finn Bálor Fergal Devitt (born 25 July 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler. As of May 2014, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Finn Bálor (). He is a member of The Judgment Day stable. Devitt began his car ...
defeated
Kyle O'Reilly Kyle Richard Thomas Greenwood (born March 1, 1987), better known by his ring name Kyle O'Reilly, is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Paragon (professio ...
to retain the
NXT Championship The NXT Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defended as the top men's championship of NXT (WWE brand), NXT, the promotion's Farm team, de ...
. In the penultimate match, Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae to retain the NXT Women's Championship. Other prominent matches included Santos Escobar defeating Isaiah "Swerve" Scott to retain the
NXT Cruiserweight Championship The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. Before its retirement, it was defended across the NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live brand divisions, which wer ...
and
Damian Priest Luis Martínez (born September 26, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Damian Priest and is a former one-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is also know ...
defeating Johnny Gargano to retain the
NXT North American Championship The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended as the secondary men's championship of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champi ...
in the opening bout.


Production


Background

NXT TakeOver NXT TakeOver was a series of periodic professional wrestling events produced by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE for its NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand division. The first TakeOver was simply titled NX ...
was a series of
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
events Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...
that began in May 2014, as
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
's NXT
brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
held its second
WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...
-exclusive event, billed as
TakeOver In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...
. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of its major NXT events. Titled for being the 31st NXT TakeOver event and announced on August 11, 2020, TakeOver 31 was scheduled to be held on October 4, 2020. While NXT TakeOver events were originally exclusive to the WWE Network, TakeOver 31 was the first TakeOver to also be available on traditional
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
.


Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
that began affecting the industry in mid-March, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. NXT's programming was held at NXT's home base of
Full Sail University Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center f ...
in
Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...
. In October 2020, it was announced that beginning with TakeOver 31, NXT would be moving their events to the
WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...
in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, which would feature the new "Capitol Wrestling Center" setup, an homage to the
Capitol Wrestling Corporation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...
, the predecessor to WWE. Like the WWE ThunderDome utilized for Raw and SmackDown's programming, LED boards were placed around the Performance Center so that fans could attend virtually, while additionally, friends and family members of the wrestlers were in attendance, along with a limited number of actual live fans, divided from each other by plexiglass walls.


Storylines

The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, ''NXT''. On the September 23 episode of ''NXT'',
Kyle O'Reilly Kyle Richard Thomas Greenwood (born March 1, 1987), better known by his ring name Kyle O'Reilly, is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Paragon (professio ...
won a gauntlet eliminator match, defeating Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Kushida, and Timothy Thatcher to face NXT Champion
Finn Bálor Fergal Devitt (born 25 July 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler. As of May 2014, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Finn Bálor (). He is a member of The Judgment Day stable. Devitt began his car ...
for the title at TakeOver 31. On the September 23 episode of ''NXT'', Candice LeRae won a
battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...
to become the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship against Io Shirai at TakeOver 31. On September 23, NXT general manager
William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for ...
announced that
Damian Priest Luis Martínez (born September 26, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Damian Priest and is a former one-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is also know ...
would defend the
NXT North American Championship The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended as the secondary men's championship of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champi ...
against Johnny Gargano at TakeOver 31. On the August 12 episode of ''NXT'', Kushida and the returning Velveteen Dream competed in a triple threat match to determine who would qualify for the ladder match at TakeOver XXX. After the match, Dream attacked Kushida. At Night 2 of NXT Super Tuesday on September 8, Kushida returned and attacked Dream. On September 26, a match between the two was scheduled for TakeOver 31. On the April 29 episode of ''NXT'', Isaiah "Swerve" Scott defeated El Hijo del Fantasma in a tournament for the vacant
NXT Cruiserweight Championship The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. Before its retirement, it was defended across the NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live brand divisions, which wer ...
, which Fantasma subsequently won and was later known as Santos Escobar. On the August 12 episode of ''NXT'', after Escobar defeated Tyler Breeze, Escobar and his Legado del Fantasma stablemates,
Joaquin Wilde Michael Paris (born October 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, under the ring name Joaquin Wilde. He is a member of the Latino World Order. He was a former founding member o ...
and Raul Mendoza, attacked Breeze until Scott cleared them from the ring. The following week, Scott teamed with Breezango (Breeze and
Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...
) against Legado del Fantasma. As Scott had Escobar pinned, he inadvertently tagged in Breeze, who was subsequently pinned. On the August 26 episode, Escobar retained the Cruiserweight Championship against Scott after using a luchador mask to hit him with a headbutt. At Night 1 of NXT Super Tuesday on September 1, Scott and Breezango defeated Legado del Fantasma in a street fight with Scott pinning Escobar. On the September 23 episode of ''NXT'', Scott announced his intentions to go after the title, and on September 29, the match was made official for TakeOver 31.


Event


Preliminary matches

The pay-per-view opened with Johnny Gargano challenging Damian Priest for Priest's NXT North American Championship. A spot in the match saw Damian Priest use a suicide dive but Johnny Gargano moved out of the way and Priest landed on a cameraman. At the conclusion of a competitive match, Priest managed to reverse Gargano's attempt at his slingshot DDT finisher (known as "One Final Beat") into his own rolling cutter finisher (known as "The Reckoning") which secured him the victory. Next, Kushida faced the Velveteen Dream. Kushida was the aggressor for the majority of the match, with Dream only getting brief flurries of offense in. At the match's climax, Kushida locked in his "Hoverboard Lock" submission finisher and Dream tried to escape from it. He managed to hoist Kushida on his shoulders to deliver his own "Dream Valley Driver" maneuver, but still, Kushida did not release the hold, and Dream eventually submitted. Kushida continued to attack Dream after the bell, having to be pulled away by officials. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott then challenged Santos Escobar for his NXT Cruiserweight Championship. This marked the first occasion that the cruiserweight championship was defended during the main card of a TakeOver event. The match was competitive, and both men kicked out of their opponent's finisher (the first instance in which Escobar's "Phantom Driver" did not secure him a victory). At the match's conclusion, Escobar's Legado del Fantasma stablemates Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza ran in to distract Scott, but were chased off by Ashante "Thee" Adonis, entering to help Swerve. In the confusion, Escobar hit Swerve with a lifting, kneeling double-underhook facebreaker (which later came to be known as "Legado") and earned the pinfall. The penultimate match of the night was for the NXT Women's Championship, Io Shirai defending against Candice LeRae. The two traded high-impact and high-flying maneuvers for many minutes, until LeRae locked in her husband's signature "Garga-No Escape" submission hold. When Shirai reached the ropes to force the break, LeRae inadvertently elbowed the official. Gargano then ran in with a referee's shirt on to try to fast-count the win for his wife, unsuccessfully. He then grabbed the championship belt and gave it to LeRae to use as a weapon, which she did, but Shirai still survived. Following a top-rope Spanish Fly and her signature finishing moonsault, Shirai won the match to retain the championship. Afterward, the mystery biker who had been advertised to make their appearance at TakeOver 31 came out to confront Shirai and was revealed to be
Ember Moon Adrienne Palmer (née Reese; born August 31, 1988) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Athena. She primarily appears in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where she is the ...
.
Toni Storm Toni Rossall (born 19 October 1995), better known by the ring name Toni Storm, is a New Zealand-Australian professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the epithet "Timeless" Toni Storm and is the reigning AEW Women' ...
also confronted Shirai via satellite and confirmed that she has returned to NXT.


Main event

Kyle O'Reilly challenged Finn Bálor for the NXT Championship. The match was physically intense, with the two men trading stiff shots at one another for the bulk of it. Late on a kick by Bálor to the face of O'Reilly knocked him off his feet and he sustained legitimate injury. A knee to the gut of Bálor injured him and he started bleeding from the mouth. O'Reilly also sustained a notable shot to his liver, which was referenced in-storyline in the following days. The end featured Bálor using his "Coup de Grâce" finisher (a top rope diving double foot-stomp) on O'Reilly to retain. He offered a handshake to O'Reilly as a sign of respect after the brutal match. After the match, as the show was about to go off the air, Ridge Holland suddenly appeared behind the barricade. He held over one shoulder a badly-beaten
Adam Cole Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989), known by the ring name Adam Cole, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Paragon (professional wrestling), ...
(O'Reilly's Undisputed Era stablemate). Holland said nothing, dropped Cole at ringside, and left. The show closed with O'Reilly,
Roderick Strong Christopher Lindsey (born July 26, 1983), better known by his ring name Roderick Strong, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Paragon stable and is a former one-time AEW I ...
, and Bobby Fish checking on Cole. Both Bálor and O'Reilly sustained legitimate injuries in the match with Bálor suffering a hairline jaw fracture while O'Reilly had broken teeth and other unspecified injuries. Both missed the subsequent episode of ''NXT'' as a result.


Reception

NXT TakeOver 31 received positive reviews from fans and insiders, with the NXT Championship Match garnering the most praise. Kevin Pantoja of ''411Mania'' gave the show a score of 9 out of 10 stating: "The COVID era TakeOvers have been good but not great. Well, this one gets back to classic TakeOver levels. The worst thing was a good KUSHIDA/Dream match. Then, you get a heck of an opener and two **** title matches before an all-time banger of a main event. To top it off, the show runs under two and a half hours, which is great." Adam Silverstein of ''
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
'' called TakeOver 31 one of the best shows of the year. He gave the NXT North American Championship match a grade of A−, Kushida vs. Velveteen Dream a grade of B, the Cruiserweight Championship match a grade of A−, the Women's Championship match a grade of B+ and the NXT Championship match a grade of A.
Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...
of the ''
Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...
'' gave 3.75 stars to the NXT North American, Cruiserweight and Women's Championship matches while giving 3.25 stars to Kushida vs. Velveteen Dream and 4.5 stars to the NXT Championship match.


Aftermath

Ridge Holland was seriously injured on the October 7 episode of ''NXT'', putting him out of action for an extended period. As announced during TakeOver, NXT was set to revive
Halloween Havoc Halloween Havoc is a professional wrestling List of NWA/WCW closed-circuit events and pay-per-view events, event currently produced by WWE. Since 2020, it has been held annually for the company's WWE brand extension, developmental brand, NXT (WWE ...
as a special episode of ''NXT'' on October 28, hosted by Shotzi Blackheart. On the October 14 episode of the program, Candice LeRae defeated Blackheart to earn another opportunity to challenge Io Shirai for the NXT Women's Championship. Johnny Gargano was also given a return bout with Damian Priest for the NXT North American Championship, and both title matches were announced to be "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal" matches (a reference to the 1992 Halloween Havoc and just such a match between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Sting). Kyle O'Reilly returned to ''NXT'' on the October 14 episode, cutting a promo before stablemates Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish won a match to become number one contenders to the
NXT Tag Team Championship The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's Professional wrestling championship, professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE. It is defended on NXT ...
, saying he would be medically cleared to wrestle again the following week and that if Ridge Holland were not already laid up in hospital, The Undisputed Era would have put him there. Finn Bálor's injuries were more severe than first thought, and he underwent surgery on October 9 to repair his jaw fracture, with expected recovery time of six weeks. He returned to ''NXT'' on November 18 to announce his return, being interrupted by Pat McAfee and his "Kings of NXT" faction (of which Holland was meant to be a member prior to his injury), who then brawled with the also-returning Undisputed Era in advance of a
WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of four or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not have a roof, de ...
between the two sides at the next TakeOver event.


Results


Notes


References


External links

* {{WWEPPV, NXT TakeOver 2020 WWE Network events October 2020 in the United States NXT TakeOver 2020 in professional wrestling in Florida Professional wrestling shows in Orlando, Florida Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television 2020 in Orlando, Florida