Finn Balor is set to defend his NXT Championship against Karrion Kross at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, a match that fans have been waiting for ever since Kross had to vacate the title because of injury, giving Balor the opportunity to claim the title and keep it on lockdown ever since. After Kross returned from injury fans have been eager to see the two finally cross paths, and now it’s finally happening, though in a new interview with ITN Sports, Balor reveals that despite both stars’ previous history with the more supernatural elements, you won’t be seeing a return of The Demon.
“As soon as Karrion Kross came to NXT, people kinda had this idea of a dream scenario of Karrion Kross versus The Demon,” Balor said. “The Batte of the two entrances, and the battle of the two darker characters. But for me, in this moment of my career, I feel like The Demon would be a step back. I feel like right now with my ring work as the Prince, I feel very comfortable. I feel very controlled. And I feel that’s the direction I have to go at TakeOver.”
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“So I don’t wanna let anyone down. In the moments, there’s gonna be no Demon. But there’s gonna be the very dark side of the Prince that is gonna meticulously take apart Karrion Kross,” Balor said.
Balor has had a fantastic run since returning to NXT, and one of the best parts of heading to the black and gold brand was all the new talent he had the chance to work with.
“And I felt like there was such an incredible talent pool at NXT with such great performers like Gargano, Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole,” Balor said. “All these guys that, although I was very familiar with, I’d never had an opportunity to work with in the ring and get to challenge myself against. so that was really the genesis of the idea is I wanted to push myself harder and challenge myself against some of the best wrestlers in the world and I’m very happy with how it went over the last year and a half and hopefully it will remain to Continue that way.”
Here’s the full TakeOver: Stand & Deliver card.
Night 1
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Champion Io Shirai vs Raquel Gonzalez
NXT United Kingdom Championship Match: Champion Walter vs Tommaso Ciampa
NXT Tag Team Championship Match: MSK vs Grizzled Young Veterans vs Legado del Fantasma
Gauntlet Match for North American Championship Opportunity: Leon Ruff vs Isaiah Swerve Scott vs Bronson Reed vs Cameron Grimes vs Dexter Lumis vs LA Knight
Night 2
NXT Championship Match: Champion Finn Balor vs Karrion Kross
Unsanctioned Match: Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly
NXT North American Championship Match: Champion Johnny Gargano vs TBD
NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Champions Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs The Way
NXT Cruiserweight Championship Ladder Match: Champion Santos Escobar vs Champion Jordan Devlin
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver will kick off with Night 1 on Wednesday, April 7th, which airs on USA Network. Night 2 will air on Thursday, April 8th exclusively on Peacock.
Do you want to see The Demon return? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things NXT with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
