The main event of the Aug. 19 edition of NXT, the go home show for TakeOver: XXX, turned into a chaotic mess.
The beneficiary of that mess was Velveteen Dream. After pinning Finn Bálor, he is the fifth and final entrant in TakeOver’s Ladder Match to crown a new North American champion.
Dream just returned to television a couple weeks ago after being out due to a car accident. He has also been the subject of much debate over how WWE handled accusations he behaved inappropriately with minors online. Triple H has indicated on two occasions that the company has moved on from the allegations, and tonight’s booking indicated that.
His match with Bálor was extremely competitive. The Prince targeted one of Velveteen’s legs and was in control for long stretches of the match.
Wolfpac in the house??? @DreamWWE is looking to punch his ticket to #NXTTakeOver: XXX in a battle with @FinnBalor on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/9wOcJJFU8P
— WWE (@WWE) August 20, 2020
He was fighting from underneath when a man who’d already qualified for Sat., Aug. 22’s ladder match, Cameron Grimes, arrived.
What is @CGrimesWWE doing out here? #WWENXT @FinnBalor @DreamWWE pic.twitter.com/RO1vPAehwn
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) August 20, 2020
Grimes distracted both men repeatedly. Johnny Gargano, who’d qualified in the opening match of tonight’s show, arrived to dump Grimes off a ladder he was sitting on, taking out referee Drake Wuertz in the process.
That allowed the two Ladder Match competitors Bronson Reed & Damian Priest to get involved. It also allowed Timothy Thatcher, who’d been eliminated from consideration for the NA title match when he took the decision loss in a Triple Threat qualifier with Finn and the now injured Dexter Lumis, to get revenge on Bálor.
EVERYBODY has their sights set on the NXT #NATitle!!
— WWE (@WWE) August 20, 2020
Will @FinnBalor or @DreamWWE punch their ticket to #NXTTakeOver: XXX???#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/4ivk4honTW
Thatcher attack left The Prince vulnerable to a Dream Valley Driver and a Purple Rainmaker. Wuertz recovered just in time to count three on Bálor.
The melee between Ladder Match participants continued after the bell, with Reed getting the last laugh. But that probably won’t be the focus of a lot of discussion about tonight’s main event.
Get a complete rundown of everything that happened on tonight’s show in our live blog here.