NXT

WWE released Velveteen Dream on Thursday as part of ongoing cuts within the NXT brand. 

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful confirmed the move with people inside the company.

Velveteen Dream, whose real name is Patrick Clark, was discovered by WWE at age 19 as part of the Tough Enough reality show. While he did not win the show, he signed a developmental contract after the taping ended and quickly became one of the company's biggest rising stars after debuting his Prince-inspired gimmick.

Velveteen Dream won the NXT North American Championship in January 2019 and held the title for a record 231 days before dropping it to Roderick Strong. Seemingly on the rise to competing for the NXT Championship, Velveteen Dream's run in the company came to an abrupt halt amid allegations of inappropriate contact with minors on social media.

Underage girls first accused Clark of sending them nude photographs on Instagram and asking for pictures in return. While Clark denied those allegations, independent wrestler Josh Fuller later said Clark tried to get him to send nude photographs under the guise of getting him a WWE contract. 

The teenagers posted screenshots of their interactions with Clark, though they were never verified or turned in to law enforcement. 

Velveteen Dream made only sporadic appearances on NXT throughout 2020, with Triple H attributing his absence to injuries suffered in a car accident.

"You know, in this day today, accusations are made and you take them all very seriously," Triple H told Brent Brookhouse of CBS Sports. "You look into them the best you can, and you find out what is there and what isn't. In this situation, [Clark] was also involved in a car accident. That's what took him off TV. In the moment, all this other stuff happens and you look into it and you find that there is a situation that people bring to everyone's attention, you look into it and find that it is what it is and there's nothing there."

Despite Triple H's assertation that the accusations had no impact on Clark's standing with the company, he did not make an appearance on WWE programming in 2021 before his release.

WWE has released several NXT talents this week, including referee Drake Wuertz, who had taken criticism within the company and from fans for pushing QAnon conspiracy theories, alleging wearing masks aids child sex trafficking and berating talent who were vaccinated for COVID-19, per Fightful. 

Karrion Kross remained undefeated in NXT singles matches Thursday and became NXT champion for the second time with a victory over Finn Balor at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.

Balor vs. Kross always felt inevitable, and it became clear several weeks ago that NXT fans would finally be treated to the rivalry they had been waiting for.

Kross beat Keith Lee for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver XXX in August, but he was forced to vacate it three days later due to injury. That resulted in NXT general manager William Regal giving four of the brand's all-time greats an opportunity to become champion again.

After Balor and Adam Cole tied in a Fatal 4-Way Iron Man match that also included Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, they had a singles contest for the title, and the Irishman prevailed.

Balor then went on a dominant run, retaining the NXT Championship against the likes of Kyle O'Reilly, Pete Dunne and Cole.

After The Prince beat Cole on the March 10 episode of NXT, Kross emerged as his next challenger when he appeared behind Balor, prompting the Irishman to say, "What took you so long?"

Kross made it clear the following week that he felt he deserved a title shot since he never actually lost it, and Balor agreed, which led to the contest being made official for NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.

Their moment was interrupted by Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, though, leading to an NXT Tag Team Championship match later in the night, pitting Balor and Kross against Lorcan and Burch.

Kross took advantage of the situation by savagely attacking his teammate during the bout and allowing Lorcan to pin him. The beatdown continued afterward, and Kross left Balor laying with a stiff forearm to the back of the head.

That incident made things personal between the two men and added even more heat and intrigue to a program that fans already wanted to see.

Kross managed to ascend to the top of the mountain in NXT once again, but given how impressive Balor was during his 200-plus-day title reign, a rematch may be in the cards.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Johnny Gargano defeated Bronson Reed on Night 2 of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on Thursday to retain the NXT North American Championship.

Gargano connected with One Final Beat not once but twice to finally put Reed down.

Gargano did not find out who his opponent would be until Wednesday night when Reed won a match on Night 1 of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to become the No. 1 contender for the North American title.

Reed took part in a six-man gauntlet match and was the third entrant in the contest after finishing fourth in a battle royal previously.

The gauntlet match also included LA Knight, Dexter Lumis, Cameron Grimes, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Leon Ruff, and it was Swerve who made it to the final two along with Reed.

While Scott gave up a ton of size and strength, he used his speed and athleticism to push Reed to the limit. It wasn't enough, however, as Reed ultimately hit Swerve with the big splash off the top rope and pinned him to become the No. 1 contender.

After the match, Gargano appeared on the ramp with his North American title in tow and talked some trash about his Night 2 opponent.

Johnny Wrestling and Reed have mixed it up in NXT before, but Thursday's match marked the first time they had a one-on-one bout.

Previously, Reed beat Gargano and Roderick Strong in a Triple Threat match back in July, and at NXT TakeOver XXX in August, both Gargano and Reed competed in a North American Championship ladder match that also included Grimes, Velveteen Dream and the winner, Damian Priest.

Gargano is known to many as Johnny TakeOver because of his penchant for putting on spectacular performances and winning on the TakeOver stage, but Reed presented a colossal challenge for him.

Reed had a huge size and strength advantage over the diminutive Gargano, but since Gargano is a heel, it allowed him to use some dirty tricks in an effort to even the odds.

That worked to Gargano's advantage, as he retained at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver and extended a North American title reign that has now exceeded four months.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Santos Escobar defeated Jordan Devlin in a Cruiserweight Championship unification ladder match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on Thursday.

As the two were battling atop a ladder, Escobar headbutted Devlin off and through another ladder that was wedged against the turnbuckle. That gave him a clear path to the two belts.

The unification match had been a long time coming, as both men entered TakeOver having held the title for over 300 days each.

Devlin was the first to win the belt when he beat Angel Garza, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Travis Banks in a Fatal 4-Way match at Worlds Collide in January 2020.

It wasn't long after that the COVID-19 pandemic forced some significant changes, including United Kingdom-based wrestlers going home and staying there. Also, with NXT UK not running for much of the pandemic, Devlin and many of its other stars had no exposure.

Because of that, the decision was made to hold a tournament to determine an interim cruiserweight champion in NXT. The tournament was won in June by El Hijo del Fantasma, who turned heel, unmasked and starting going by the name Santos Escobar thereafter.

With Devlin off television, Escobar firmly established himself as the titleholder, beating many talented challengers, including Drake Maverick, Swerve, Jake Atlas, Gran Metalik and Curt Stallion.

It wasn't until late last year that Devlin returned to TV, and he has since defended the cruiserweight title against the likes of Amir Jordan, Oliver Carter, Ben Carter and Trent Seven on NXT UK.

Once UK wrestlers received clearance to start appearing in the United States again, Devlin called out Escobar and said he would be returning to NXT to confront him.

That happened on March 17 and resulted in the Superstars agreeing to face each other at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to determine the one and only true cruiserweight champion.

There were huge expectations for the match given how long the story has been building beneath the surface, and both Escobar and Devlin delivered in that regard.

Ultimately, Escobar prevailed and ended Devlin's 400-plus-day reign, meaning the Cruiserweight Championship is likely to continue being defended primarily on NXT rather than NXT UK.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

On the final edition of the Wednesday night wrestling war, WWE NXT used Night 1 of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to defeat AEW Dynamite in the ratings battle.

According to Showbuzz Daily, NXT's two-hour show on USA Network averaged 768,000 viewers, while the two-hour episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 688,000 viewers.

The main event of Night 1 of TakeOver saw Io Shirai and Raquel Gonzalez do battle over the NXT Women's Championship in a highly entertaining match that changed the complexion of the NXT women's division in a big way.

After 304 days as champion, the third-longest reign in the history of the title behind Asuka and Shayna Baszler, The Joshi Judas dropped the NXT Women's Championship to Gonzalez, putting the dominant Texan atop the mountain.

There were also two other title matches on the show, one of which was a United Kingdom Championship match pitting Walter against Tommaso Ciampa.

Ciampa pushed Walter to the limit and showed signs of being his old self, but the leader of Imperium ultimately put Ciampa down with a devastating chop and extended his title reign of two-plus years.

The other title match was a Triple Threat for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championships. MSK accomplished their dreams by beating The Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado del Fantasma to become the new champs.

Also on TakeOver, Pete Dunne defeated Kushida in an excellent opening match, and Bronson Reed won a gauntlet that also included LA Knight, Dexter Lumis, Cameron Grimes, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Leon Ruff to earn a title match against North American champion Johnny Gargano on Night 2 of TakeOver.

Dynamite featured the return of boxing legend Mike Tyson several months after he tussled with Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle. This time around, Tyson and Jericho showed a sign of respect by shaking hands after Tyson punched Shawn Spears of The Pinnacle.

It was also announced that The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle will face each other in the first-ever Blood and Guts match on the May 5 Dynamite.

The main event of Dynamite featured AEW World champion Kenny Omega teaming with The Good Brothers against Jon Moxley and The Young Bucks.

In the latter stages of the match, The Young Bucks hit Moxley with double superkicks, allowing Omega and The Good Brothers to win. The Bucks then doubled down after the match and superkicked Mox again, cementing their heel turn.

Also on Dynamite, Hangman Adam Page beat Max Caster, Darby Allin retained the TNT Championship against JD Drake, Tay Conti defeated The Bunny, Sting had a promo segment with Lance Archer, and Taz offered Christian Cage a spot on Team Taz.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Walter defeated Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on Wednesday to retain the NXT United Kingdom Championship.

Walter entered TakeOver as the longest-reigning NXT UK champion of all time and the longest-reigning active champion in WWE with a title run of over 700 days, but he faced his toughest challenge yet in the form of Ciampa.

Several weeks ago, Imperium members Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel and Alexander Wolfe seemingly attempted to recruit Ciampa's tag team partner, Timothy Thatcher, into their group.

They said they would be willing to take Ciampa as well if Thatcher agreed, but Ciampa turned down the opportunity and said he was more intrigued about the possibility of facing Imperium's leader, Walter, for the NXT UK Championship.

The budding rivalry between Ciampa and Imperium took another step the following week when Ciampa accused Aichner and Barthel of attacking Thatcher. In retaliation, he claimed that he took out Wolfe.

That led to a match between Ciampa and Barthel on the March 17 edition of NXT, which Ciampa won. After the match, Walter made his long-awaited return to NXT and dropped Ciampa with a massive chop followed by a powerbomb.

The following week, Ciampa vs. Walter for the NXT UK Championship was made official for NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, marking the first time the title would be defended on a non-NXT UK pay-per-view since Walter won it from Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New York in 2019.

While Walter had a massive size and strength advantage over Ciampa, there was reason to believe Ciampa had a legitimate chance to end Walter's dominant reign.

Ciampa is a former NXT champion who held the title for 237 days in 2018 and 2019 before having to vacate it because of injury.

He is one of the most successful NXT Superstars of all time, and although he has struggled to get back to the top of the mountain, he seemingly viewed Walter as a potential stepping stone there.

Despite the legitimacy of Ciampa, Walter walked out of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver with his title reign intact, which casts doubt on whether anyone will be able to beat him.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

WWE announced Tuesday that NXT programming will move from Wednesdays to Tuesdays beginning on April 13 and continue airing on USA Network.

It was noted that the move is part of a multiyear extension of NXT airing on USA Network and that it "furthers WWE and USA's nearly three decade-long relationship."

NXT aired weekly on WWE Network from 2014-19 before officially debuting on USA Network on Sept. 18, 2019.

NXT's debut on USA Network occurred just two weeks before AEW Dynamite made its debut on TNT, sparking the beginning of what some fans have dubbed the "Wednesday Night Wrestling War."

Harkening back to when WWE Raw and WCW Nitro went head-to-head on Monday nights from 1995 to 2001, it marked the first true competition between WWE and a rival wrestling company in nearly two decades.

While NXT scored some ratings wins here and there, All Elite Wrestling consistently won the battle for total viewers as well as viewers within the 18- to 49-year-old demographic on the strength of well-known stars such as Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Sting.

NXT often stayed within 100,000 in total viewers, however, and it can be argued that it effectively capped AEW's viewership potential, as Dynamite hasn't reached the 1 million viewer mark since September 2020.

Some might argue that AEW's success forced NXT to change nights, but in reality, the change has been expected for quite some time and has nothing to do with wrestling.

NBCUniversal announced in January that it would be shutting down NBCSN at the end of 2021, leaving Wednesday Night Hockey without a home for 2022 and beyond.

USA Network is the most logical landing spot for Wednesday Night Hockey, and by moving NXT to Tuesday nights, USA has essentially created a vacancy on Wednesdays that the NHL will be able to fill.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding why NXT is moving, it could prove to be a positive thing for both NXT and AEW Dynamite in the long run, as the shows won't siphon viewers from each other and will now have the opportunity to grow at a greater rate.

NXT's final Wednesday show on USA Network will air April 7, and it will be a big one as the first part of the two-night NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver event will take place.

Several huge matches are being advertised for the show, including the main event pitting NXT women's champion Io Shirai against Raquel Gonzalez.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

WWE NXT general manager William Regal announced Wednesday that TakeOver: Stand & Deliver will take place over a two-day period on Wednesday, April 7 and Thursday, April 8.

USA Network will air the first day of action. Peacock will be the home for the event's conclusion in the United States, and WWE Network will air the event internationally.

Regal opened Wednesday's edition of WWE NXT with the news and also announced Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez as the brand's first-ever women's tag team champions:

Per PWMania, there is no word as of yet regarding the matches on the Takeover: Stand & Deliver card.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez were crowned the first-ever NXT women's tag team champions.

NXT general manager William Regal made the announcement Wednesday night:

Kai and Gonzalez defeated Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart in the final of the Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day in February. That put them in line for a shot against WWE women's tag champions Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax.

Baszler and Jax retained their belts in somewhat controversial fashion during the March 3 edition of NXT. With the match referee down, WWE official Adam Pearce brought out another ref who called for the bell as Kai was locked in the Kirifuda Clutch.

Adding tag titles to the women's division is a natural extension for NXT. The division has always been a hallmark of the show. The WWE Performance Center just welcomed in a class that included former Impact Wrestling star Taya Valkyrie, adding to what was already a deep well of talent.

Naming Kai and Gonzalez the inaugural champions made sense, too, given their triumph in the Dusty Rhodes Classic.