NXT TakeOver: Portland is scheduled for this Sunday 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: Portland.
From the NXT and 205 Live Men’s Division
— Angel Garza: A match at TakeOver would have been good for Angel Garza, but if he were to just lose to Jordan Devlin, it wouldn’t push his career as far in comparison as a win on Monday Night Raw like he’s been doing lately.
— Ariya Daivari and The Brian Kendrick / Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan: Daivari and Kendrick have partnered up on 205 Live recently to feud with Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan.
— Arturo Ruas: Outside of that quick plug that he would be coming soon, despite how he already wrestled many times on NXT, WWE hasn’t followed up any promotion for him. Did they decide not to build him up? Is everyone just waiting a little longer? If we don’t see something soon, I’ll start to worry they stopped his push.
— Austin Theory: Give him time. He’s fresh to the roster and he already had a North American Championship shot. This guy has future star written all over him and is young enough that they don’t need to rush.
— Boa: Boa’s been out of action for a long while now due to an injury. I’m unaware of any timetable for his return.
— Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze): Fandango is still injured and Breeze has been wrestling more in the cruiserweight division.
— Bronson Reed: While NXT has taken major steps toward being an equal brand to Raw and SmackDown, its still also a developmental program. Reed is one of those guys still under the learning tree. Give him time to break out.
— Cameron Grimes: Grimes is in that same class as Reed, has no feud going on right now and didn’t need to be a priority.
— Cezar Bononi: For the life of me, I don’t understand how Bononi went from being a Future Star award winner to a guy that only wrestled twice on television last year (and lost both matches easily). Ouch. For that matter, he only wrestled 3 times in 2018 (and lost all) and 7 times in 2017 and lost all but one of those, too. Bononi has won 1 out of 12 televised matches in THREE YEARS. Good lord.
— Damian Priest: After the good showings he’s had over the winter, I’m shocked Priest isn’t in the North American Championship match. I was so sure they’d go with a multi-man match. Maybe that’s the plan for Tampa, though, and maybe Priest will get involved in Lee vs. Dijakovic.
— Dexter Lumis: It boggles my mind how Lumis was part of the breakout tournament and hasn’t wrestled a single match since then on television. I thought he was pretty damn impressive and had an interesting enough gimmick. What’s the hold up?
— Dorian Mak: Things aren’t looking good for Dorian Mak. The former Dan Matha’s run so far has been getting punked out by Samoa Joe, amounting to nothing in the Greatest Royal Rumble, losing alongside Riddick Moss on NXT UK and then losing that tag team partner to Raw. Will he be partnered back up with Kona Reeves? Is this Austin Theory tag team going to be a thing? Truthfully, does anybody care?
— The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker, Steve Cutler, & Wesley Blake): Insert typical joke about them being forgotten about. That never gets old.
— Gentleman Jack Gallagher: Gallagher has been struggling for months (if not years, if we’re honest) to find relevancy. After a few heel and face turns, this current absence has me questioning if he’s done and just waiting to move on outside of WWE. That’s just a hunch and not a scoop, though.
— Isaiah “Swerve” Scott: Swerve has been doing very well for himself since coming to NXT, but he’s not at the top of the totem pole yet. Simply put, there were bigger fish to fry this time. But he’ll get a spotlight soon enough, I’m sure.
— Joaquin Wilde: Wilde is in that limbo of NXT and 205 Live wherein he has lots of opportunities, but they aren’t amounting to too much quite yet. Even if there was a Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight Championship, I could think of people higher up on the ladder to book over him.
— Killian Dain: It seems Dain’s role in NXT went from a top potential to someone who failed on the main roster, came back with some renewed hype and then turned into a jobber to the stars. He’s lost enough important matches now that I don’t think anyone is questioning why he was overlooked in favor of Dominik Dijakovic and others.
— Kona Reeves: The Finest is a jobber who only managed to pop up a few times here and there over the past couple of months. Next!
— Kushida: Reforming The Time-Splitters was such a random one-shot deal. I don’t quite get why WWE wouldn’t bother signing Alex Shelley and why these two aren’t still working the tag team scene in NXT. However, their loss in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic warrants Kushida’s absence here.
— Lio Rush: Let’s be honest. If Lio Rush were facing Jordan Devlin for the Cruiserweight Championship at TakeOver instead of on TV, would you think he would win? I doubt it. The momentum isn’t on his side, right now. It’s best to just keep him off the card.
— Mansoor: This guy stops existing to WWE unless a Saudi Arabia show is around the corner. Funny enough, Super ShowDown IS around the corner, but no effort was made to give him any momentum on NXT recently. That’s so transparent and lame.
— Raul Mendoza: Mendoza has been featured more heavily the past few months than the first stretch of his WWE career, but still not in any capacity worth booking on this card.
— Roderick Strong / Velveteen Dream: I’m very surprised these two aren’t involved in something related to the North American Championship or elsewhere. However, Dream’s return happened so close to TakeOver that WWE might not have even known he would be ready to go and didn’t want to risk anything. That doesn’t explain Strong, though, who could have easily been in a Triple Threat with Lee and Dijakovic.
— Shane Thorne: It’s been a while since we’ve seen Thorne. I wonder why WWE hasn’t tried to use him on NXT UK or something in the meantime. If it were me, I’d have given him a tag team partner by now, most likely.
— Team ABSolute (Mike Kanellis & Tony Nese): This duo is being tested out on live events. It seems they could pop up on television any time soon, but until that happens, we should just keep them as sideliners in our minds.
— The Singh Brothers (Samir Singh & Sunil Singh): The Bollywood Boyz do get lots of screen time on 205 Live, but that isn’t the same as appearing regularly on NXT. It doesn’t translate the same, nor is there any room for them on this card.
— Tino Sabbatelli: Sabbatelli is still inactive from his torn pectoral injury.
From the NXT Women’s Division
— Aliyah & Vanessa Borne: Aliyah has been MIA since her nose surgery and Borne isn’t a top priority.
— Candice LeRae: Like many others on this list, LeRae’s spot as a babyface took her out of the running to be a viable candidate to face Rhea Ripley, who needed a heel to go up against.
— Chelsea Green: Green is just getting started, for the most part. She’s had her experience elsewhere, but she’s fresh for NXT and it will take some time for her to get up to the level of challenging Ripley.
— Deonna Purrazzo: Purrazzo is in the same boat as Green but with even less of a spotlight on her, right now, so she’s even further behind in this race. She’ll get there, though.
— Io Shirai: I maintain my prediction that Shirai didn’t get the match against Ripley because Belair is going up to Raw after WrestleMania, so WWE wanted to do that match first to get it out of the way. I think Shirai may face Ripley at Tampa or be the next challenger post-Mania.
— Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir: Without Shayna Baszler, there’s no need to have these two do anything.
— Kacy Catanzaro: Not only is Kacy a babyface, she’s also been gone for a while.
— Kayden Carter: Carter has only won once so far, if my memory serves correct. That’s not a record that asserts someone’s position on an event.
— Mercedes Martinez: Martinez just officially stepped into WWE a few weeks ago. At some point this year, she’ll be fighting for the championship, but not everyone can do that at all times.
— Mia Yim: Like LeRae, Yim is a babyface. There was no way she was going to face Ripley while they try to build her up for Charlotte Flair.
— Santana Garrett: Santana is in the new limbo spot of not being as regularly cycled into the mix as some others and can’t get a win yet.
— Shotzi Blackheart: While I’m very thankful WWE is giving Shotzi some focus and clearly building her up to be a big player for this division right out of the gate, I also agree with their decision not to shoehorn her into this show. There wasn’t a spot for her and it could have backfired if she was to challenge Ripley or something this fast.
— Taynara Conti: Supposedly, Taynara walked out of NXT due to a financial dispute. Who knows if that story is true or what details go along with it.
— Xia Li: Xia Li is one of those superstars to watch out for in 2020. The year is still young and I think she could have a big upgrade at some point in the next few months. Now is not the time, though.
Extra U.S. Performance Center Recruits & Live Event Crew
There isn’t much to say about these men and women. They’re not quite full members of the NXT roster yet in the sense that they are used on a semi-regular basis on television, so there’s literally no reason for them to be there on this card with limited spots. They still may show up from time to time on TV, but it is rare enough that their exception from this event isn’t remotely surprising.
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 Talent: Alexsandar Jaksic, Babatunde, Big Jordan Omogbehin, Brendan Vink, Cal Bloom, Daniel Vidot, Denzel Dejournette, Edgar López, EJ Nduka, Ever-Rise (Chase Parker and Matt Martel), Faisal Kurdi, Gurvinder Singh, Hussain Aldagal, Jeet Rama, Jorge Bolly, Laxmi Kant Rajpoot, Malcolm Bivens, Marcos Gomes, Mohamed Fahim, Nick Ogarelli, Omari Palmer, Rik Bugez, Rinku Singh, Rocky, Saurav Gurjar, Sukhwinder Grewal, Tehuti Miles
— Female Talent: Briana Brandy, Catalina Garcia, Emily Andzulis, Indi Hartwell, Jessi Kamea, Karen Q (injured), Kavita Devi, MJ Jenkins, Rachel Ellering (injured), Reina González, Rita Reis, Scarlett Bordeaux
From NXT UK
Unlike Worlds Collide, this event is not as focused on the NXT UK side of things. Outside of Jordan Devlin being the biggest crossover participant, as he’s the cruiserweight champion, all other men and women are well within what I’d call reasonable for not being on this card.
Once again, for the sake of being complete, though, here are the men and women from NXT UK not advertised for this event:
— Male Talent: A-Kid, Amir Jordan, Ashton Smith, Dave Mastiff, Eddie Dennis, Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang), Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson), The Hunt (Primate and Wild Boar), Ilja Dragunov, Imperium (Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel and WALTER), Jack Starz, Jordan Devlin, Joseph Conners, Kassius Ohno, Kenny Williams, Levi Muir, Ligero, Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate), Noam Dar, Oliver Carter, Pretty Deadly (Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker), Ridge Holland, Sam Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, South Wales Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews), Travis Bans and Tyson T-Bone
— Female Talent: Aoife Valkyrie, Candy Floss, Dani Luna, Isla Dawn, Jinny, Kay Lee Ray, Killer Kelly, Nina Samuels, Piper Niven, Toni Storm and Xia Brookside
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!
