Keith Lee vs. Karrion Kross: What’s The Right Finish For NXT TakeOver XXX?

The Case For A Non-Finish

I mean I’ve basically explained it already. I don’t think beating either guy is a great idea right now, that’s sorta the whole point of this article even existing. But to look at it from a winner’s perspective, there’s also reasons against it for both.

If you’re Keith Lee, I think there’d be a lot more to gain from winning this match if it took place in November or even February or April, the other common TakeOver months. Kross had no shortage of other opponents he could’ve been tearing his way through before finally being stopped by the ultimate superhero champion. This would still be a great win for him as champion, but not as monumental as it would’ve been in a perfect world. If they did this feud right, it really could’ve set his reign apart from all that came before it.

As for Kross, there are admittedly much worse problems for a wrestler to be facing than winning a world title really early. I can’t even say outright that it wouldn’t work, for a character like him, coming in and immediately taking the title would fit. It’s likely meant to evoke some Brock Lesnar vibes since he had a very similar meteoric rise, and there’s NXT history here too. 

The story is very similar to Kevin Owens’ swift ascent. He debuted, immediately turned heel on Sami Zayn on the same night and outright cut in line to take the title from him at the very next TakeOver. The timespan is more or less identical here, and we even have the same story of Regal asserting that the challenger hasn’t earned his title shot only for the babyface to demand he make the match. When I lay it out like that, it’s actually fairly one-to-one with how this played out, just substitute shockingly attacking Sami Zayn at a TakeOver with shockingly destroying Tommaso Ciampa instead. It suggests this is much more out of the NXT playbook than any sorta main roster influence, so atleast that’s reassuring.

There is a pretty key difference between Kross and Owens though. For as great as his presentation is, it’s easy to forget that Karrion is largely unproven in this kind of role. He was a name with some buzz before he got to WWE, but he has significantly less experience than almost every NXT champ of the last six years, and he’s never really been a top champion anywhere. Granted that’s partly because he kept getting signed to a bigger promotion before that could happen, but still. Compare this to Owens who had been wrestling for fifteen years already, and had spent much of that time as the guy on top in both PWG and ROH. There was plenty of reason for them to have faith in Owens as a top guy right out of the gate. 

That’s not to say I’m a doubter of Kross per say, I think he’s very impressive, certainly in the short bursts we’ve seen of him. But after the last few years of epic Adam Cole/Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa title defenses, there’s a really high standard that comes with this championship. And the next match I see from Kross that reaches that level will be the first. He might pull it off, but it’s unproven. You could’ve certainly tested him a lot more in major matches before this point.

So honestly, even though it’d be extremely unpopular, a non-finish where neither man loses might be the best outcome. If they’re going to do this, they’ll need to make it something massive to compensate. Maybe a big debut. Perhaps a stunning high spot like the both of them flying off the stage. Somehow I feel like the most likely thing they might do is to have Lee pin Kross just as he’s passing out in the Kross Jacket, a controversial finish that they’d hope would spike the ratings for that next Wednesday.

There’s arguments to be made for either man winning, and for neither man winning. What do you think?