7 Ups & 1 Down From NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 2
Ups...
7. Opening With A Bang
Positives aplenty ahoy.
Ladder matches are up there with tag-team bouts as the perfect kind of match to open most wrestling cards. People know what they're gonna' get here - there will be speed, there will be some big bumps, and there will be a definitive winner. There's no other option, and that's why Santos Escobar vs. Jordan Devlin soared.
These lads set the tone for the rest of the night by working a bruising battle that didn't scrimp on high spots, but also didn't go too over-the-top (they had to know what was coming later on and respect that, basically). Nobody could've left disappointed here, especially when Devlin put his body through hell in some of the bigger moments.
At 18 minutes, this was also the second-longest match of the night. That's a nice show of faith in the Cruiserweight Title from NXT's decision-makers, and both Escobar and Devlin didn't let anyone down. In fact, it wouldn't suck to see them have a rematch somewhere down the line.