WWE has confirmed that the NXT women’s champion Io Shirai will be defending her championship against Raquel González in the main event of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night 1.

The news was first broken by the Muscle and Fitness magazine and commenting on her upcoming opportunity, González claimed that her opponent isn’t ready for a competitor like her:

“Io, you’re brave girl, but, I don’t think you’re ready for a competitor like me. The last powerhouse she faced was Rhea Ripley — and that was months ago.

I know she is the best in the world, and to be the best you have to beat the best. So I’m coming in with the most excited and anticipated mindset that I can.”

• Update On When NXT Is Moving To Tuesday Nights

Io Shirai, who has been a part of the NXT roster since 2018 has had a dominating reign as the women’s champion. She has held the title for almost 300 days since winning it at last June’s TakeOver: In Your House event.

Raquel González on the other hand, only joined the brand in 2020 after competing in the Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017 and 2018 but she has impressed everyone with her performance since then.

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Updated Card

The night 1 of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver will air on the USA Network on April 7 and the show will continue on the next night, airing on the WWE Network. After the latest announcement, here is the updated card for the event:

• NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Karrion Kross
• NXT Women’s Championship Match (Night 1): Io Shirai (c) vs. Raquel Gonzalez
• NXT Cruiserweight Championship Unification Match: Jordan Devlin vs. Santos Escobar

NXT Tag Team Champion Danny Burch was reportedly injured during last night’s episode of NXT. Burch and Oney Lorcan defended their tag titles against Karrion Kross and NXT Champion Finn Balor in the main event of the show.

Danny Burch was removed from the match just past the halfway point. Lorcan and Burch attempted a double suplex on Kross, but Kross reversed the move and it saw Burch take a bad landing on his neck/shoulder.

There is currently no official update on what injury Burch sustained. PWInsider have reported that the Englishman sustained a separated shoulder. Burch was reportedly still being evaluated as of late last night.

With no official statement coming from WWE, it’s unknown what will happen with the NXT Tag Team Championships. Burch and Lorcan are currently in an alliance with former WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne; WWE may opt to run with the ‘Freebird’ rule for the Tag Team Championships until Danny Burch is fit to return.

• WWE NXT Results (3/17): LA Knight’s Debut, Finn Balor Teams With Karrion Kross

Check out some of the highlights from the NXT main event last night below:

The WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver main event is now official.

WWE confirmed on Wednesday right before the NXT TV broadcast that Finn Balor will defend the NXT Title against Karrion Kross at this show. In the opening episode of the show, Balor and Kross exchanged words about the upcoming title match. 

Balor talked about everyone who he has beaten and now it’s time for Kross to suffer the same fate. Kross came out to the ring where he stated this whole situation wasn’t going to happen until they settled their separate affairs and at TakeOver, the real champion will emerge in front of the world.

Balor stated everyone wants to be champion until the real champion walks in the room, but while Kross walks and talks like a champion, he doesn’t have what it takes to beat him. Kross disagrees and says Balor will find out what it’s like to be choked out while Balor told him that he will soon find out what it feels like to choke in the main event. 

The next special for the NXT brand will be over the course of two nights with the first night being on April 7th on the USA Network while the second night will follow the next day on Peacock. 

Former WWE Executive Director of SmackDown and WCW President recently discussed the finishing ‘Wednesday Night War’ between NXT and All Elite Wrestling.

“I have a hard time when people talk about the Wednesday Night Wars, they’re not the Wednesday Night Wars” Bischoff stated on 83 Weeks. “Two shows head to head does not a war make. A good war is when all boats rise with a high tide, when it lifts the entire industry.”

Eric Bischoff on WCW vs WWF

Bischoff then discussed the comparisons between the 90’s war between WCW and the WWF. “That’s what we saw here, even though the WWF was suffering in some respects, their business was improving markedly so in other respects because of Nitro.”

“I think sometimes that gets lost in the gang warfare of wrestling relations” Bischoff continued. “Meaning if you’re a fan of WWF you couldn’t be a fan of WCW, if you’re a fan of WCW you hated WWF, if you’re a fan of AEW you can’t stand NXT, if you’re a fan of NXT you can’t stand AEW, that’s silly horse s–t that people subscribe too. It doesn’t necessarily make a war, what makes a war is when you’re competing against each other, forcing each other to improve your product and then you’re watching the audience grow in response. Therein lies a good war.”

credit 83 Weeks and a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

General Manager William Regal introduced the NXT women’s tag team championships during this week’s episode of the show and he also crowned the inaugural champions. However, reports from the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Live reveal that the original plans for the introduction of the title were different and it explains why the company had to change them.

According to the report, the original plan was to present the winners of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with the newly made titles. Though the company rushed the women’s tournament and it took place alongside the men’s version of the competition, which was not the initial plan.

The problem with this decision was that the title belts were not ready in time to be presented to the winners of the tournament Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez during the Takeover: Vengeance Day event in February. Kai and Gonzalez were then promised a shot at the women’s tag team titles held by Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler instead and the match took place at last week’s episode of NXT.

The officials then came up with the idea for the screwjob finish after receiving the belts before last week’s episode which saw Jax and Baszler retaining the titles. This set up the big reveal at this week’s episode of the Black and Yellow brand where William Regal presented Kai and Gonzalez with the championships.

• WWE Confirms Two-Night TakeOver Special, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Crowned

WWE confirmed on last night’s episode of NXT that there would be a two night Takeover event airing on television and on streaming services in April.

NXT General Manager William Regal confirmed NXT TakeOver: Stand And Deliver would take place over the course of two nights on April 7th and 8th. April 7th is a Wednesday, so the show will air on it’s usual timeslot on USA Network.

The next day’s show will be taking place on WWE Network. The event will air on Peacock for fans in the United States.

Jordan Devlin Returns To NXT

NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin was confirmed to return to the United States and join the NXT roster. Devlin appeared on camera and confirmed that he will be coming to the USA Network next week, he also mentioned the Takeover special and that the travel ban had been lifted and he could return to the US from Ireland.

Jordan Devlin initially won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship at World’s Collide, back in January 2020. Devlin was ‘stripped’ of the title a few months later as he could not defend it. The reasoning for this being that he could not leave Ireland due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; this includes the the travel restrictions that were incurred due to the pandemic.

NXT Takeover – Unification Bout

Devlin referred to himself as the ‘real’ Cruiserweight Champion. The Irish Superstar also noted that he was heading to the United States to prove that he is as such.

It is currently being reported that Santos Escobar will face Devlin in a unification bout. Santos Escobar is of course the current Cruiserweight Champion on NXT programming; however Devlin has claimed that he has been the real Champion since January last year.

This bout is currently expected to take place at the upcoming NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver.

Check out the promo from Devlin below:

Io Shirai has a new challenger for her NXT title. On tonight’s episode of NXT, we saw the introduction of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships, and the first-ever winners of the title were also crowned on the same night — Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai who came out on top after going through the gauntlet of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and winning the tournament.

The reign wouldn’t last much long however, as they got challenged for their first-ever title defense by Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart and ended up losing the titles to them on the same night. Not all is lost however as Gonzalez was offered something much bigger later.

Io Shirai retained her NXT Women’s Championship over Toni Storm with a Crossface submission to pick up the win. After the match, Shirai approached Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai in the locker room in a backstage segment where they were expressing their frustration over their loss in an interview.

Gonzalez said that it didn’t matter how long they held the titles, what matters is that they were the first ever competitors to win it. An interrupting Shirai approached Gonzales declared that she wants Gonzales to be her next challenger. “I want you next,” she said to the former NXT Tag Team Champion.

A Raquel Gonzalez vs. Io Shirai title match was teased a few months back, but it never took place. Now that it’s finally happening, it would be interesting to see if Gonzalez would be able to defeat Shirai, as the champion has taken down every challenger that’s come her way so far.

At the same time, her challenger has put out some great matches over the past year. Gonzalez defeating Shirai will usher in a new era in NXT’s women’s division, so this feud would definitely be worth investing in.

Also read: WWE NXT Results (3/10): Balor vs. Cole, Shirai vs. Storm, Two Announcements

There have been rumors of NXT moving to Tuesday nights after WrestleMania 37 and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently commented on the possibility.

The former world champion who has been one of the minds behind the success of the Black and Yellow brand and has mentored a number of NXT talents recently had an interview with Joseph Staszewski of The New York Post.

During the interview, Michaels was asked about the show possibly moving nights and how it might affect them. Replying to it, he said that nothing would change for them and they will still try to put the best show:

“It’s always clearly easier when your sort of destination programming, so to speak, Nothing would change certainly for us. We still try to put the best show out there that we can. Clearly, I know that’s everybody’s goal.

I think it would only be fair to say everyone knows that when you are not competing against another similar show that it makes it a little bit easier.” said Shawn Michaels, “It allows people to enjoy that. And then you think about the follow from Raw the next night. So, clearly, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.”

• Finn Balor Talks Working With Triple H & Shawn Michaels in NXT

The former DX member also commented on the possibility of introducing women’s tag team titles for NXT. He said that they certainly have the depth for it.

This interview of Shawn Michaels was published before tonight’s episode of NXT where General Manager William Regal not only confirmed the creation of the new titles but he crowned the inaugural champions as well.

Pat McAfee says professional wrestling and more specifically, WWE’s Attitude Era, made him into the man he is today.

The NFL star turned sports analyst and part-time WWE Superstar was a contestant on this week’s episode of 10 Questions with Kyle Brandt on Spotify.

During the show, McAfee commented on pro wrestling’s impact on his life, as well as whether or not we can expect to see him at WrestleMania 37.

“The Attitude era is where I lived,” McAfee said. “The Monday Night Wars was awesome. If you listen to me on any given day, you can hear inspiration from The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, HHH, a little bit of Flair…that whole era created me into the person I am…Attitude Era is not only my biggest inspiration when it comes to wrestling, but also when it comes to life.”

Pat McAfee got a chance to live his dream by wrestling for WWE last year. He made his in-ring debut last August at NXT Takeover XXX.

Pat McAfee’s Status for WrestleMania

McAfee would go on to make several more appearances for NXT. He received rave reviews for his WWE appearances, leading many to wonder when we will see him lace up the boots again. When asked by Kyle Brandt if he’ll be at WrestleMania in April, McAfee said he’s not sure if he’ll have enough time to train for WWE’s biggest show of the year.

“Now that I’ve gotten the chance to do it, the amount of work and buy-in you have to have to be successful, it’s a lot…I’m not 100% sure I can do what’s needed to allow for a run to WrestleMania.”

You can listen to the full episode on Spotify or in the player embedded below. The wrestling conversation begins around the 43-minute mark.

WWE has announced that the NXT GM William Regal will be making two ‘game-changing’ announcements during this week’s episode of the show.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated has now provided more details on the situation and he reveals the announcements the company is planning to make.

According to him, Regal’s first big announcement will be the creation of the of the NXT women’s tag team championships, which has been speculated recently.

The second big announcement from the general manager will be about the upcoming Takeover event during the WrestleMania 37 weekend.

It was revealed recently that an NXT Takeover event is currently scheduled for WWE Network on Thursday, April 8, two days before night 1 of WrestleMania 37.

Later reports suggested that the company officials have discussed the idea of holding the NXT event in two nights this year. Night 1 of the show is expected to air on the USA Network on its regular timeslot on Wednesday.

• WWE Reveals Details Of Move To Peacock

Night two of the event would then take place on Thursday and air exclusively on the WWE Network and the latest reports confirm that to be the plan.

There was also speculation about the company announcing NXT’s move to Tuesday nights but it appears that the announcement for that will be made at a later date.

WWE has confirmed that NXT General Manager William Regal will be making two ‘major’ announcements on this week’s episode of the show on USA Network.

WWE executive Triple H and NXT producer Shawn Michaels joined in on the hype. Triple H is touting them as “game-changing” announcements, which had led to some speculation that we’ll dig into below.

Reportedly, the two points addressed will be NXT’s move to Tuesday nights and the brand getting it’s own Women’s Tag Team Championships.

NXT Moving To Tuesdays

It was recently reported that NXT will be moving to Tuesday nights after WrestleMania 37 in April. This move signals the end of the ‘Wednesday Night Wars’ that have been ongoing since October 2019.

The brand moving to Tuesday nights can easily be considered a win-win for both NXT and All Elite Wrestling. With the two brands now on different nights it will give both the opportunity to ‘breathe’ in terms of storylines and content. This will mean not having to compete against a similar product in the same timeframe.

NXT Women’s Tag Titles

The second announcement is again being touted as a confirmation of the new NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. The match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships ended in controversy; with Adam Pearce got and cost Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez a shot at winning the titles.

Due to the involvement of a WWE official; it is expected that NXT will be bringing in their own titles and giving them to Kai and Gonzalez.

The next NXT Takeover event is scheduled for the week of WrestleMania 37. This year’s WrestleMania will take place over two nights, April 10th and 11th.

If you are a WWE Network subscriber and attempt to cancel your membership, you’ll be prompted with the following screen (courtesy of HeelbyNature).

As seen below, WWE currently lists the next Takeover taking place on Thursday, April 8th:

There is some discussion that the next Takeover could be held over two nights. The first night would be a special Wednesday night episode of NXT on the USA Network and the second night would air the following evening on the WWE Network.

WrestleMania Week Schedule

WrestleMania week is always jam packed with WWE content and this year will be no exception. The following is a current look at the WWE events schedule:

• Monday, April 5th: WWE Raw
• Wednesday, April 7th: NXT on USA
• Thursday, April 8th: NXT Takeover
• Friday, April 9th: WWE SmackDown
• Saturday, April 10th: WWE Wrestlemania 37 (Night 1)
• Sunday, April 11th: WWE Wrestlemania 37 (Night 2)
• Monday, April 12th: WWE Raw

Looking at this schedule, one has to wonder when WWE will find time to air the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Tuesday, April 6th is currently open. WWE could also air the HOF ceremony online, similar to the recent Slammy Awards.

Finn Balor was accused by Roderick Strong of being the reason behind The Undisputed Era’s breakup on this week’s episode of NXT. Adam Cole has been going against all his former teammates, with Strong suffering an attack from his hands last week. Before that, it was Kyle O’Reilly that was knocked out by him. Tonight when Strong came out to the ring demanding to see Cole, he was instead greeted by Balor instead.

Read more: Undisputed Era No More After Adam Cole Turns On Roderick Strong

Roderick Strong blamed Finn Balor for the chaos and said that everything was fine until Balor showed up to NXT. Balor countered and said that it wasn’t him who turned Adam Cole to the dark side, but it was the gold on the champion’s shoulder. We then saw Balor challenge Cole for the NXT title for next week’s episode to get him out of hiding.

Finn Balor told Roderick Strong that he would never be a leader, he would always be a follower and until he gets a little more greedy and selfish like the prince, he would never… Balor couldn’t finish the statement as he got attacked by Strong. Balor got the better of it and then referees came out to break them up. The two then met in the ring in the main event on NXT in a non-title bout. Balor was able to get the upper hand and won the match. More importantly, though, Adam Cole has been challenged officially by Balor and the match would be a must-watch for NXT fans as both stars are on the top of their game currently.

After the match, Adam Cole came out and had a very heated confrontation with Finn Balor in the ring. The intense stare-down was broken up by the multiple referees present. You can check out the segment in the embedded video below:

WWE returns to the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida tonight for an all new episode of NXT.

WWE is advertising the following items for tonight’s broadcast of NXT on the USA Network:

• WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Bazsler return to NXT. They will put the belts on the line against Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez

• NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch will face Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher in a non-title match.

• Johnny Gargano is taking The Way to a therapy session.

Plus, we’ll see the fallout of Adam Cole turning on Roderick Strong and effectively ending the Undisputed Era faction.

Join us here later tonight for our weekly NXT Results and Takeaways feature.

One of the top headlines of the week is the news of NXT leaving Wednesday nights very soon. Check out the article below for more on this developing story:

• NXT Likely Moving To Tuesdays After WrestleMania

All Elite Wrestling returns to Jacksonville, FL tonight for a special edition of AEW Dynamite dubbed, The Crossroads. This is the ‘go home’ edition of Dynamite ahead of Sunday’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view.

We say this most weeks, but the card is pretty stacked. Dynamite will see the AEW in-ring debut of basketball legend Shaquille O’Neil, Paul White’s first AEW appearance, the finals of the AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator tournament and more.

The following items are scheduled for AEW Dynamite: The Crossroads:

• NBA legend Shaq & Jade Cargill vs. Cody Rhodes & Red Velvet. This match will open the show.

• We will hear from AEW’s newest signee, Paul Wight.

• Tully Blanchard comes out of retirement to team with FTR against The Jurassic Express.

• AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals: Nyla Rose vs. Ryo MIzunami. The winner of this bout challenges Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Revolution.

• The Dark Order vs. Matt Hardy & Private Party & Hybrid2

• Max Caster vs. 10 of the Dark Order (Preston Vance) to earn a spot in the Ladder Match at Revolution.

• Inner Circle leader Chris Jericho and MJF will hold a press conference ahead of their tag title match against the Young Bucks this Sunday.

Immediately after Dynamite goes off the air, AEW and TNT will present the Countdown to Revolution special.

Join us here tonight for our AEW Dynamite Results and Takeaways.

NXT is reportedly making a move to Tuesday nights on the USA Network starting April 13.

It was reported on Tuesday by the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast that WWE would move the broadcast of NXT to Tuesday nights according to their source. This will end the ongoing weekly Wednesday Night Wars for the Nielsen ratings that began on October 2, 2019 when AEW debuted Dynamite on TNT.

April 13 would be the first NXT show after WrestleMania 37. Dave Meltzer also confirmed the report regarding talks of the move, but wasn’t able to confirm if it is a done deal. At the very least, according to Meltzer, the talks may be in the last stages as it has been heavily discussed over the past week. Particularly, the topic was discussed in WWE on February 24.

Mat Men also added that they heard the same about the discussions on February 24, noting that NBC staff were told about the move this week. It was also mentioned in the Meltzer report that pretty much all key NXT staff haven’t been informed about the supposed move.

It was believed that when NBC announced the shutdown of NBC Sports Network later this year and the decision to move some of their content to USA, the National Hockey League could affect WWE programming on the USA Network as it also airs on Wednesdays. WWE president Nick Khan cleared any doubts about this as he revealed that the shutdown would not affect Raw or NXT.

NXT vs Dynamite is the first direct competition among two major wrestling promotion shows in 10 years when TNA moved Impact to Monday nights to compete with Raw back in 2010. It has been over 20 years since the original Monday Night Wars between Raw and WCW’s Monday Nitro that lasted from September 1995 to March 2001.

Conor McGregor, the former UFC Champion has expressed interest in pro wrestling and working with WWE over the years, with many wrestlers offering their takes on whether he would be a good fit at the company or how he would fare as a champion with some even expressing their desire to work with him in the squared circle. While it doesn’t appear that McGregor has any plans of walking away from MMA for pro wrestling yet, he teased another possible link-up with WWE involving none other than current NXT Champion Finn Balor.

On Friday, Finn Balor uploaded a photo on Twitter of action figures of himself with the NXT Championship, Conor McGregor with the UFC titles, and Triple H in the center of both inside a toy WWE ring. McGregor took notice of the post, and retweeted it with the quote, “No more mr. nice guy!”

This caught the attention of Triple H, who responded by saying, “Just say when.” Triple H has talked about Conor McGregor working with the company many times before.

Triple H has always been interested with the idea of Conor McGregor working with WWE. Speaking on how he would be a good fit with the company, Triple H said: “I think Conor McGregor versus Vince McMahon with the billion-dollar walk on the line, I think that’s a match made in heaven.” Triple H joked. “I think the nature of what we do — even being entertainment — it lends itself to combat sports. It lends itself to people like Conor McGregor or Ronda [Rousey], as it does with Tyson Fury. It did in the past with Mike Tyson and Floyd [Mayweather]. Entertaining people are what makes those fights, a lot of times.”

Back in 2016, Triple H said Conor McGregor could come to the WWE anytime he wants to, stating that one doesn’t need to be huge to be a big star anymore. “He could come over, he’s got it all, man — he’s got the personality, the skills, the talk. He’s an entertainer, for sure. What does he walk around at? 180lbs? I have smaller guys now in the WWE. We have 200lb guys who are stars. You don’t need to be 300lbs anymore,” The Game said of McGregor.

WWE has seen many MMA stars join the company in the past — namely Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler and Matt Riddle. Conor McGregor could also have a good stint at the company with someone like Finn Balor who has expressed interest in working with him before too.

Karrion Kross says he wants to fight WWE NXT Champion Finn Balor at WrestleMania 37 for the title. This was in response to Balor saying in an interview that Kross deserves a title shot.

Finn Balor proposed the idea of defending the NXT Championship against Karrion Kross while appearing on After The Bell. He said that a dream scenario for him would be to defend the title one night on TakeOver and the next night at WrestleMania.

“The Prince” empathized with Kross and said that he really feels for him, in regards to Kross having to relinquish his title. Balor said that Kross deserves a title shot, whether it’s at TakeOver or at WrestleMania. Karrion Kross was asked about Finn Balor’s comments and if he would be down to have this hypothetical match.

“100 percent. Yes, I would,” Karrion Kross told FOX Sports. “I don’t know where that began — whether it was online or if it was Finn’s suggestion through another interview — but people have been creating these pictures where they post the both of us with the WrestleMania background for weeks now. I hope the company is listening to that because there seems to be an interest and a demand for that.”

Karrion Kross added that he hoped fans get what they’re looking for as he would be more than happy to step up on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”

Karrion Kross In NXT

Karrion Kross joined NXT last year where he quickly rose to the top of the scene and defeated Keith Lee for the NXT Championship during just four months of his stint at the company. Unfortunately, Kross suffered a separated shoulder, forcing him to relinquish the title, making his championship reign the shortest at just 4 days.

Returning from injury in December, Karrion Kross would then go on to feud with Damian Priest and Santos Escobar. Meanwhile, the NXT Championship has been wrapped around Finn Balor’s waist who has defended the title against the likes of Kyle O’Reilly and Pete Dunne. When Kross was asked if Balor has been a worthy champion, he vehemently agreed.

“Absolutely. Yes, he has. He’s gone through virtually every single major name in NXT. He’s had killer matches. And that’s what this company is all about. When someone is not able to carry the ball for one reason or another, we’ve got the best guys in the world ready to step up, and he did that. If the situation were reversed, I would have done it as well, and I’m looking forward to eventually stepping into the ring to compete with him,” Karrion Kross said of Finn Balor.

Kyle O’Reilly felt the brunt of the attack by his former teammate Adam Cole on last week’s NXT, where Cole kicked O’Reilly in the face and threw him onto the steel steps. After the show, fans got concerned as photos of O’Reilly being stretchered out of the arena came out online. However, WWE clarified the situation, and we now know that O’Reilly is okay and is not seriously hurt.

On tonight’s episode of NXT, it was revealed during a report how long O’Reilly will be out of action. The company announced that he will not be medically cleared to return for 4 to 6 weeks, that at least a month from now or month-and-a-half due to the injuries suffered by Cole’s brainbuster on the steel steps.

Thankfully, it was nothing serious as what fans were initially believing, and it’s relieving to know that he’s doing okay and will be back to action soon. This is to add to the storyline between Adam Cole betraying The Undisputed Era. It would be interesting to see how Kyle O’Reilly would exact revenge on Cole for his actions, as the given timeframe is around WrestleMania so we could probably see him back to start a new program with Cole after Cole possibly wins the title at the event.

WWE NXT Results (2/24): Kross vs. Escobar, Adam Cole Speaks, Io Shirai In Action

Adam Cole apologized for his actions during the final moments of NXT, and addressed his questionable actions from TakeOver and last week. He admitted that what he did to Kyle O’Reilly was wrong and vowed to fix things any he can. Roderick Strong came out and asked him why he feels sorry now, and not during the ten days since he turned on them. Finn Balor also got involved, who attacked Cole. He was superkicked away by Cole with him and Strong remaining in the ring. Cole apologised and said he loved Strong like a brother, and hugged him. Only to hit him with a low blow and betraying Undisputed Era and making his stance clear for good. It seems like the faction is gone now, with Bobby Fish out with an injury and O’Reilly gone for a good month.

Corey Graves never shies away from the opportunity to offer WWE some constructive criticism on his podcast, “After The Bell.”

During the latest episode of the show, Graves discussed the current product over on WWE NXT, and what he believes it’s lacking. Graves pointed out that the program contains, possibly, the greatest in-ring work going at the moment within the business. However, he doesn’t feel like fans know who this current crop of NXT stars actually are. Graves went on to compare how stars of NXT’s past; such as Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bayley, and more had established characters during their respective runs on the show.

“A lot of people just watch NXT for in-ring action, and if that’s your vibe, if that’s your flavor of ice cream, cool. I understand it. I’m just saying, for Corey Graves, the wrestling fan, knowing what I know and knowing the way my mind works obviously with RAW and SmackDown that I’m focused on now, I think we need to know who these people are a little bit more,” Graves said (via NoDq.com).

“When I compare everything to NXT, I think back to my time there. You knew who Bayley was. You knew what made Seth Rollins tick. You knew what The Wyatt Family were about. Adam Rose, for goodness sake, he was this party animal. It didn’t translate, obviously, to major success on RAW or SmackDown, but you knew who these people were.

“I regularly watch NXT, but I don’t study it like I used to. I don’t follow every bit of it. So, when I sit down and watch TakeOver, I look at it thinking, as a general wrestling fan who may not know who all these people are, in this case, it was me, what could they show me to make me care a little bit more and to hook me a little bit deeper?”

Graves himself was one of the Superstars who was with NXT during its inception after it evolved from Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in 2012. His run with the brand as an in-ring talent was short-lived, however, as he was forced to retire due to concussion complications in December of 2014. Since, Graves has established himself as a tremendous broadcaster for the company, currently working on SmackDown Live.

• Corey Graves On The Problems With WWE’s Women’s Tag Team Division

Rhea Ripley is officially headed for WWE’s main roster. A vignette aired on Monday’s WWE Raw announcing she is headed to the red brand soon.

Fans last saw Rhea Ripley in January at NXT New Year’s Evil. She lost to Raquel Gonzalez on the show in a Last Woman Standing Match.

WWE has not announced exactly when Rhea Ripley will join Raw, but you can see the promo video below:

Rhea Ripley In WWE

Rhea Ripley is a former NXT Women’s Champion and NXT UK Women’s Champion. She competed in the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble. She eliminated the most competitors (7) and lasted an impressive 39 minutes in the match.

Ripley appeared on WWE Raw last year when she was NXT Women’s Champion. She feuded with Charlotte Flair and is the first woman to defend the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. She wrestled on Raw last February and defeated Sarah Logan in singles action.

Rhea Ripley participated in 2017 in the Mae Young Classic and was later signed to a contract for NXT. She appeared on the second Mae Young Classic, as well. She was later moved to NXT UK where she became the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion.

She then moved to NXT where she won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Shayna Baszler in December 2019. Ripley has been a woman of many firsts in WWE. It will be interesting to see how she makes her name known WWE’s main roster.

• “WWE Should’ve Done More With Rhea Ripley By Now” – Jim Cornette

Mick Foley on Rhea Ripley

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley commented on the news, pleading the WWE to “not mess around” in regards to pushing Ripley.

“It’s vital that @WWE not mess around when it comes to pushing @RheaRipley_WWE. PLEASE don’t allow her to suffer a 50/50 fate. Strap that rocket to her back, and see how far she can fly.”

WWE fans in Canada will soon be able to watch NXT live Wednesday nights.

Up until this week, WWE fans in Canada had not been able to see NXT until a 1-hour version of the show aired on Fridays. They could also wait until the show was posted on the WWE Network. Sportsnet and WWE have reached a new agreement that will see NXT air live on Sportsnet starting this Wednesday.

Triple H, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development, commented on this new pact.

“Our fans in Canada have been all in on NXT since day one,” said Triple H. “We’re thrilled about this expanded partnership with Sportsnet which will help us grow NXT’s reach throughout the country and introduce even more fans to the newest generation of WWE Superstars.”

Sportsnet VP of Programming Greg Sansone said, “WWE provides some of the most electrifying entertainment in all of sports, and the passion of their fanbase in Canada is second to none. Reinforcing our already robust slate of live WWE programming with NXT was an easy choice and one our audiences have been asking for. We can’t wait to see the newest generation of Superstars live in action every Wednesday night.”

For more on WWE’s partnership with Sportsnet, visit Corporate.WWE.com.

Wednesday’s NXT will see Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar and Xia Li vs. Kacy Catanzaro.

• WWE NXT Results (2/17): Pat McAfee Appears, Six-Man Tag

It has been revealed that former Love Island contestant and World of Sport star Adam ‘Flex’ Maxted has been signed to WWE. The powerhouse star is reportedly being sent to the NXT UK brand, alongside other new signing Millie McKenzie.

As mentioned, Adam Maxted was previously a featured name on the WOS program. World of Sport aired on ITV’s main broadcast channel, with Love Island being a stable of sister channel ITV2. It was hoped that the crossover appeal of Maxted would help the brand gain traction, however after just one season (due to a number of reasons) World of Sport was cancelled by ITV.

Love Island’s Adam ‘Flex’ Maxted

Maxted previously had a tryout with WWE back in 2017. Adam Maxted has wrestled for the likes of OTT Wrestling, IPW:UK, 5 Star and Preston City Wrestling.

Having worked on the UK independent scene for a long time, Maxsted had worked with some of the bigger names on the scene. These include legend Doug Williams, Nathan Cruz, Noam Dar, Pete Dunne and Grado.

• Cesaro On If He Has Ever Thought About Leaving WWE

Check out some matches from the former Love Island contestant below:

NXT Champion Finn Balor was this week’s guest on the WWE After The Bell podcast.

Balor discussed his current run in NXT and revealed he initially thought he’d be there for just a few months. “I didn’t know what to expect,” Balor said of his time in NXT. “I was kind of under the impression that it was going to be a 3 month deal. Reboot Finn, reset and go back to RAW or go back to SmackDown, go back to things as normal.”

He added that things just evolved into something nobody expected, similar to how NXT has evolved as a brand. Sometimes, you have to know when to move from one chapter of your career to the next. Balor did this with his time wrestling in Europe, in Japan and in WWE.

“I don’t know what to expect going forward, I don’t know how long it’s going to last but I have to say, I’m super happy in NXT and there’s no reason for me to want to move anywhere in my career at this point.”

Randy Orton In NXT

Finn Balor was also asked which WWE Superstars he’d like to see in NXT. He said some fans might expect him to say Kevin Owens or Ricochet. However, he’d like to see Randy Orton on WWE’s black and gold brand.

“I feel like Randy could really bring NXT to the next level, with regards to the effect he’d have on the people around him in the locker room and in the ring, with his professionalism and his experience.”

Balor spoke fondly of his time working with Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe, noting that he leaerned a lot from both of them during his first NXT run.

• Adam Cole Says NXT Is The Main Roster, “No Debate. End Of Story.”

Watch Finn Balor’s comments about Randy Orton in NXT:

Austin Theory is missing. There is concern about his well-being. He was last seen walking to the ring with other members of The Way as they accompanied Johnny Gargano for his NXT North American title match against KUSHIDA. It appeared Dexter Lumis rendered him unconscious after placing a towel over his mouth and nose.

Indi Hartwell has been broken up about her brother-figure’s disappearance. She posted the following to Twitter recently.

Ever since Austin Theory went missing, his Twitter account has begun posting some suspicious content. First, the profile pic associated with the account was changed.

Then a new Gargano family portrait was posted.

Gargano successfully defended his title against KUSHIDA at TakeOver: Vengeance Day on Sunday. It seems likely that he will eventually have to face Lumis with the title on the line, however. Gargano recently regained the NXT North American title for the 3rd time when he won a triple threat against Leon Ruff and Damian Priest at War Games IV.

Gargano recently spoke about what his remaining goals in NXT are in an interview with Sportskeeda.

“For me, being the underdog ‘Johnny Wrestling’ character, I was always more about the chase than the actual title and holding it and defending it,” Gargano explained. “So now I feel like that’s the one blemish on my legacy is not being able to hold the title, not being able to defend it, not being able to have a run with it. So, I feel like that is the number one goal on my mind right now.”