NXT TakeOver: New York is scheduled for this Saturday night, and now that the go-home episode of NXT has aired, we have a firm grasp of which superstars will be participating in the pay-per-view and which men and women are being left out in the cold.
As always, cards are subject to change and there could be any number of alterations to this lineup with surprise appearances, impromptu matches and so on, so nothing is truly set in stone. However, as far as the event is currently being advertised, the following NXT talent is not being promoted as part of the program.
It’s your call to judge whether these missing stars are being left off the card for justifiable reasons or not, so let’s take a look at the superstars missing from NXT TakeOver: New York.
From the NXT Men’s Division
— The Brit-Am Bruisers (Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan): Oney Lorcan is now pulling double duty as part of 205 Live, triple duty if you count his and Danny Burch’s stints in NXT UK, but that’s still not enough to get onto this card. Not everybody can.
— Cezar Bononi: Bononi appeared alongside Adrian Jaoude to lose to War Raiders on the most recent episode of NXT. That’s the highlight for him, so far.
— Dominik Dijakovic / Keith Lee: Supposedly, Keith Lee has been out of action due to some sort of injury. I haven’t been able to find some solid information on what that injury is or how long he’s expected to be out for, but it had been advertised that he would face Dominik Dijakovic in a rematch after their last fight was a draw, yet that didn’t happen. The injury would make a lot of sense for why it was stalled and my thinking is that if Lee is ready to go, they’ll tape this match before TakeOver and air it the following week on NXT. If not, this is just on the backburner and both guys are waiting to pick up where they left off.
— European Union (Fabian Aichner and Marchel Barthel): Aichner and Barthel were part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. Since they failed to win, that explains their absence here.
— The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker, Steve Cutler, Wesley Blake): Likewise with European Union, The Forgotten Sons came up short in the tournament. Had they defeated Aleister Black and Ricochet, they would have been competing here against War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Championship.
— Kona Reeves: The Finest is certainly not what he claims to be and was most recently seen losing to Matt Riddle in a random exhibition.
— Raul Mendoza: For the most part, Raul Mendoza exists in NXT to be a utility player and a jobber.
— Riddick Moss: Since returning from injury Riddick Moss has yet to get fully back on track. It will take some time and might not happen until well after TakeOver: New York.
— Shane Thorne: After losing his tag team partner Nick Miller, Shane Thorne is searching for his new spot in the NXT regime, largely floating around here and there when they need someone to fill a random spot.
— The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford): This was supposed to be the year The Street Profits turned everything around, yet we’ve seen absolutely none of that so far. 2019 isn’t proving itself to be much better than 2018 and before long, it’s going to pass by, so Dawkins and Ford need to get their acts together and get some wins.
— Tino Sabbatelli: Sabbatelli is still inactive from his torn pectoral injury.
— Tommaso Ciampa: Ciampa will be out of action for the forseeable future after undergoing neck surgery back in March.
— The Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong): While three out of the four members of The Undisputed ERA are not currently scheduled to make any sort of appearance on this card, the fact that Adam Cole is competing in an NXT Championship match means there’s a 90-something percent chance the rest of the stable shows up to help him out in some way.
From the NXT Women’s Division
— Aliyah / Vanessa Borne: These two have started a partnership, but while that has gotten them more screen time recently than normal, they’re still being booked as nowhere near the same level as the four women competing in the NXT Women’s Championship match.
— Candice LeRae: Is Candice LeRae the most consistently overlooked and underutilized woman on the NXT roster? It sure seems like it to me, at least. She’s never really given anything to do that doesn’t involve Johnny Gargano, which is quite strange. Here’s hoping she gets more of a push after New York.
— Dakota Kai: The captain of Team Kick is incapacitated with a torn ACL injury.
— Deonna Purrazzo: If my memory serves correct, I don’t believe The Virtuosa has made a single appearance on NXT television so far in 2019 and was last seen on NXT UK, actually. She must be on the backburner until some kind of call-ups happen and the roster thins out a bit, allowing more room for others to step up.
— Jessamyn Duke / Marina Shafir: Technically, neither Duke nor Shafir are scheduled to compete on this card. However, it’s pretty much a guarantee that they will interfere in the NXT Women’s Championship Fatal 4-Way match at some point to help out Shayna Baszler.
— Mia Yim: The title hunt is already packed right now with three challengers. There simply isn’t enough room for Mia Yim at the moment to make it four people vying for the title. After TakeOver, though, she shoots up to the top of potential contenders, though, I think.
— Taynara Conti / Xia Li: These two have been paired up in similar fashion to Aliyah and Vanessa Borne. Again, it’s good for them to get more screen time, but it’s not leading anywhere substantial just yet.
U.S. Performance Center Recruits
There isn’t much to say about these men and women. They’re not regular members of the NXT roster yet, so there’s literally no reason for them to be there on this card with limited spots.
However, if you’re a completionist and you wish to know who these people are, here is the list of current members of the Performance Center and NXT live event crew:
MALE SUPERSTARS: Albert Hardie, Adrian Jaoude, Babatunde, Boa, Brennan Williams, Cal Bloom, Court Moore, Dan Matha, Daniel Vidot, Denzel Dejournette, Elliot Sexton, Eric Bugenhagen, Jeet Rama, Jermaine Haley, Mansoor, Mars Wang, Mohamed Abdelfattah, Nasser Alruwayeh, Nick Comoroto, Omari Palmer, Punishment Martinez, Ricardo Miller, Rinku Singh, Robert Strauss, Rocky, Samuel Shaw, Saurav Gurjar, Scott Parker, Shane Matthews, Stacey Ervin Jr, Tomu, and Trevor Lee
FEMALE SUPERSTARS: Chelsea Green, Jessie Elaban, Kacy Catanzaro, Karen Q, Kavita Devi, Lacey Lane, MJ Jenkins, Rachael Evers, Reina Gonzalez, Shadia Bseiso, and Tegan Nox
From the NXT UK Men’s Division
— Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams / Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson): Jordan and Williams are the next in line for a shot at the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, so there is a match in the works against Grizzled Young Veterans. Stay tuned for that on a future episode of NXT UK, rather than here at TakeOver.
— Ashton Smith / Kassius Ohno / Travis Banks: Ohno defeated Smith and took it upon himself to humiliate him afterward. Banks came to make the save and it seems Ohno and Banks are now in a feud. However, that is a television feud and not something worth putting on this limited card.
— Dave Mastiff: A video package to remind us that he exists is all Mastiff has been part of recently.
— Eddie Dennis / Ligero: Right now, it seems these two are involved in a feud that boils down to “I don’t know, put those two guys together or something” and not much more.
— Flash Morgan Webster: With Mark Andrews out of action, Webster has lost his tag team partner and will probably focus on singles competition for the next set of tapings at Worlds Collide and onward.
— Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang): After coming up short against Pete Dunne and company, the trio of Gallus have specifically said they need to get back on track to prove how dominant they are.
— Ilja Dragunov: Dragunov is a member of the UK Performance Center recruits and not a full-fledged member of the NXT UK roster quite yet.
— Jack Starz: Starz is a member of the UK Performance Center recruits and not a full-fledged member of the NXT UK roster quite yet.
— Jordan Devlin: There’s no doubt WWE values Devlin as someone they want to keep in prominence, but WALTER takes priority and since the feud with Travis Banks is over, Devlin’s searching for a new story to sink his teeth in.
— Joseph Conners: To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember
— Josh Morrell: Morrell is a member of the UK Performance Center recruits and not a full-fledged member of the NXT UK roster quite yet.
— Luke Menzies: Menzies is a member of the UK Performance Center recruits and not a full-fledged member of the NXT UK roster quite yet.
— Mark Andrews / Noam Dar: Mandrews and Dar are currently in a feud, but both were stretchered out during the taping of their match together and are possibly injured. Even if that weren’t the case, their feud is too far down on the totem pole of importance to have made it onto this card. It will play out on NXT UK episodes to come.
— Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate): Only one match from NXT UK fit on this card and it needed to be the United Kingdom Championship match, leaving these two fan favorites out, but they’ll find their way into the spotlight again, for sure.
— Oliver Carter: Carter is a member of the UK Performance Center recruits and not a full-fledged member of the NXT UK roster quite yet.
— Sam Gradwell / Saxon Huxley / Tyson T-Bone: To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember the last thing that went on with these three. Gradwell was injured and subsequently replaced on the team with Huxley. Then poof…I lost track of anything noteworthy they’ve done. That must mean they haven’t done anything noteworthy.
— The Hunt (Wild Boar Mike Hitchman and Primate Jay Melrose): The Hunt is just starting to establish themselves. Give them time.
From the NXT UK Women’s Division
— Charlie Morgan: Charlie Morgan may not actually be 100% officially on the roster
— Isla Dawn / Kay Lee Ray: These two just wrestled each other, largely for Dawn to be a stepping stone to establish KLR as she’s the newbie on the roster.
— Jazzy Gabert: Gabert has yet to actually make her debut for the brand.
— Jinny / Toni Storm: These two are currently in a feud over the NXT UK Women’s Championship, which will play out in a match on next week’s episode.
— Killer Kelly / Millie McKenzie / Nina Samuels: These three just don’t have anything super substantial going on right now.
— Piper Niven / Rhea Ripley / Xia Brookside: Ripley recently disposed of Brookside in a short feud that led to the introduction of Piper Niven joining the roster. Going forward, Niven and Ripley will be in a storyline together, while Brookside will likely move on to something else.
Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
