Tonight is a big one, folks… NXT takes the spotlight this evening with WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland! We’ve got arguably one of the biggest NXT cards yet on our hands tonight! We’ll be seeing a street fight four months in the making between old friends and partners, when Tegan Nox goes after Dakota Kai! And that’s just the start of what we’ve got in store here tonight! My name is Jordan Huie, you are here at the Overtimer, and I’m ready to give you the full coverage of tonight’s event! That means a live recap of every match posted just moments after they conclude! And we’ll have a preview of all six bouts on the card! Let’s not waste any time here!
Street Fight: Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai
This one has been built up since the last TakeOver. After making her return to some fanfare last year, Dakota found herself going right back to underachieving and the frustration mounted quickly. When she saw her friend Tegan Nox get a spot in the WarGames team instead of her, even though she’d proven about as much, if not less than, Dakota herself, it seemed to be the tipping point. She took out Mia Yim that night so as to sub in, only to betray the team and destroy the leg of Nox in a brutal assault.
Nox since made her return and the two have had a unique feud that makes use of knee braces, both as weapons and as symbols of the fractured friendship. So basically, it’s an element lifted directly from Gargano-Ciampa, but hey, that’s a great feud to steal from! And I’m sure this will come into play here in this no-DQ match. It’s certain to be a physical war with the two of them going at it to put an end to this blood feud.
This TakeOver has six announced matches, which would seem to indicate that it’s gonna be longer than the normal five-match shows. WarGames was actually longer as well but due to the length of the two titular bouts, it still had the same amount of matches as usual, not counting the pre-show match. Nox/Kai is definitely the one that would’ve been left off a regular TakeOver card, but I’m glad they’re getting this chance.
Like Balor/Gargano, it’s hard to imagine the winner here wouldn’t be putting themselves in line for a title match. And I think it’s fair to say Dakota is the one being built to that, with the big heel turn and going out of their way to show a vicious side of her. Dakota Kai over, hopefully with a knee brace-assisted Gargano Escape!
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