Notable Superstars Missing from the Card
Note: This is not a full list of everyone on the roster who is not scheduled for the show. It excludes jobbers, injured talent, people who wouldn’t have normally been expected to appear on the show for some fashion, those who are unable to perform due to travel restrictions and so on. It also should be noted that much of the information regarding COVID-19 pandemic regulations and precautions is not public knowledge, so there’s no telling if anyone on this list or elsewhere is not going to be on the card due to those factors.
Adam Cole / Austin Theory = In recent weeks, Austin Theory has been getting on people’s bad sides and losing matches as a result of it. This past episode, he came under fire for his remarks against Kyle O’Reilly. Adam Cole didn’t take kindly to his friend being disparaged, so he beat Theory in a match. Is this the start of a feud, or just a one-off?
Cameron Grimes / Ridge Holland = Cameron Grimes hoped to get a series of easy victories in his invitational, which was ruined by Ridge Holland. Technically, Grimes beat Holland, too, by disqualification. That was only because Ridge refused to stop stomping Grimes into the ground and the referee counted past five. This definitely feels like the start of a feud, but not something worth dedicating a spot to on TakeOver. I’m okay with this playing out on regular TV episodes.
Breezango / Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch / Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong = The next No. 1 contenders to Breezango will be either Fish and Strong or Burch and Lorcan. That contenders’ match hasn’t happened yet, though. I think it might have been in the cards for this show, but the recent COVID spike might have taken some names off the shelf. That’s a shame. Then again, maybe WWE never intended for it to be a TakeOver match and I misread the intentions.
Jake Atlas / Tommaso Ciampa = To be fair, there’s not much of a feud here to go from. Ciampa’s wrecked Atlas, so what would we get? He beats him again?
Drake Maverick and Killian Dain = These two are a budding tag team in the works, but they have more time on TV that should develop this. Rushing to a TakeOver match right now would jump the gun.
Bronson Reed / Timothy Thatcher = Simply put, they lost their shot at becoming Finn Balor’s challenger. That’s as good of an excuse as any.
Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez / Rhea Ripley and Shotzi Blackheart = If another women’s match were to be featured on the card, it would probably include these four. That’s a stronger feud of more noteworthy names than the Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter versus Xia Li thing that is developing (note: no shot at those three, either, as I’m a fan of them and I’m so glad they’re finally being used). However, TakeOver matches usually have around 5 matches, rather than 6 necessarily. Sometimes, a pre-show match does take place. But if Kai and Gonzalez vs. Ripley and Blackheart were announced, do you think that would take anyone from “I don’t want to bother tuning in” to “OMG I can’t miss this” territory? I doubt it. It would just feel like filler, as there’s no hook for this to happen other than seeing these four women. That’s great for NXT TV, but pay-per-view matches should mean more.
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