NXT Stand & Deliver (2022)

The 2022 NXT Stand & Deliver was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the second annual Stand & Deliver held for the promotion's developmental brand NXT. The event took place on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event was held as a part of WrestleMania Weekend, being held the same day as WrestleMania 38 Night 1 with a special start time of 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Unlike the previous year's event, which also aired on pay-per-view (PPV), the 2022 event was only available via livestreaming, as beginning with this event, NXT's major events no longer air on pay-per-view. Although this was the second Stand & Deliver, it was the first to not be held as an NXT TakeOver event, as that event series was discontinued in September 2021 when NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand. This was also the first NXT event to be held outside of Florida since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Raw roster member Dolph Ziggler defeated Bron Breakker to retain the NXT Championship. In other prominent matches, MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) defeated defending champions Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) and The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) in a triple threat tag team match to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, and in the opening bout, Cameron Grimes defeated defending champion Carmelo Hayes, Santos Escobar, Solo Sikoa, and Grayson Waller in a five-way ladder match to win the NXT North American Championship.

Production

Background

In April 2021 during WrestleMania 37 week, WWE held a two-night NXT TakeOver event titled Stand & Deliver for the NXT brand. In September 2021, the NXT brand went through a restructuring, reverting to a developmental brand for WWE. The NXT TakeOver series was subsequently discontinued.

On January 24, 2022, it was confirmed that Stand & Deliver would continue on as its own event for NXT with a second Stand & Deliver event announced to be held during WrestleMania 38 weekend, thus establishing Stand & Deliver as NXT's annual event held during WrestleMania week. This second Stand & Deliver was scheduled to be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, April 2, 2022, the same day as WrestleMania 38 Night 1. Due to this, Stand & Deliver had a special start time of 1pm Eastern Time. It was available to livestream through Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets; unlike the previous year, it was not available on traditional pay-per-view. This was the first NXT event to be held outside of Florida since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and the first held outside of NXT's home arenas—Full Sail University (former) and the WWE Performance Center (current)—since NXT TakeOver: Portland in February 2020.

Storylines

The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT, and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up.

On the February 8 episode of NXT, Raw's Dolph Ziggler made his first-ever appearance in NXT during the NXT Championship match contract signing between champion Bron Breakker and Santos Escobar. Tommaso Ciampa also interrupted the segment and attacked Ziggler. At Roadblock on March 8, Breakker, Ciampa, and Ziggler competed in a triple threat match for the championship where Ziggler won the title after interference from Robert Roode. The following week, after Ziggler's successful title defense, Breakker appeared and challenged Ziggler for the title at Stand & Deliver, and Ziggler accepted.

After retaining the NXT North American Championship on the March 1 episode of NXT, Carmelo Hayes announced that he would be defending the title in a ladder match at Stand & Deliver. Qualifying matches then began to determine the other participants in the match. On the March 15 episode, Santos Escobar qualified for the match by defeating Cameron Grimes. The following week, Solo Sikoa and Grayson Waller qualified for the match by defeating Roderick Strong and A-Kid, respectively. On the March 29 episode, Grimes defeated Strong and A-Kid in a last chance triple threat match to qualify for the final spot in the match.

On the March 15 episode of NXT, Tommaso Ciampa addressed the fans, and seemingly announced his departure from NXT. Tony D'Angelo appeared and challenged Ciampa to a match, claiming that he wanted to be the next "Don of NXT". Ciampa accepted and shook hands before D'Angelo attacked Ciampa with a low blow.

On January 4, 2022, at NXT: New Year's Evil, Cora Jade and Raquel González failed to defeat Toxic Attraction leader Mandy Rose in a triple threat match for the NXT Women's Championship. González and Jade then entered that year's Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, where they were eliminated in the semifinals at Roadblock after interference from the other members of Toxic Attraction, NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. Later that night, after the other semifinal match, Jade attacked Rose in the "Toxic Lounge". The following week, Jade stole all of the title belts from Toxic Attraction, with Dolin and Jayne being trapped when they tried to retrieve the tag title belts. As Jade tried to leave the Performance Center with the NXT Women's Championship belt, Rose attacked her and spray-painted the back of Jade, setting up a match between Jade and Rose for the NXT Women's Championship at Stand & Deliver. On the March 29 episode, González saved Dakota Kai from a three-on-one beatdown from Rose, Dolin, and Jayne. Later that night, a tag team match pitting Dolin and Jayne against González and Kai for the tag titles was scheduled for the Stand & Deliver pre-show.

Also in January, Kay Lee Ray began feuding with Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne). This led to an NXT Women's Championship match on the February 8 episode of NXT, where Ray failed to win the title from Rose. Afterwards, Io Shirai prevented Ray from a beatdown from Toxic Attraction. Shirai and Ray then entered the 2022 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, where they defeated Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo in the finals to win the tournament. Afterwards, they challenged Rose for the NXT Women's Championship, turning the title match into a fatal four-way match.

After defeating MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) to win the 2022 Men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic at NXT Vengeance Day, The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) were granted an NXT Tag Team Championship match against champions Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) at Roadblock, but they were mysteriously attacked backstage. MSK replaced them in the match, which ended in a no-contest when Julius and Brutus attacked both teams. The following week, The Creed Brothers demanded to know who attacked them. MSK then claimed that they did not attack them, but they deserved a match for the tag team titles. Imperium interrupted and attacked both teams, stating that they would defend the titles against both teams as they did not fear anyone. Later that night, a triple threat tag team match between the three teams for the titles was scheduled for Stand & Deliver.

On the March 15 episode of NXT, Gunther did not like the fact that LA Knight got an NXT Championship match that night. The following week, after Gunther's match, Knight confronted Gunther and challenged him to a match at Stand & Deliver, which was made official.

Event

Pre-show

During the Stand & Deliver pre-show, Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) defended the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship against Dakota Kai and Raquel González. González attempted a Chingona Bomb on Jayne, who escaped, but González performed a big boot on Jayne. González followed up with a twisting Vader Bomb for a nearfall. Kai performed a German Suplex on Jayne and a Pump Kick on Dolin. Jayne and Dolin performed a double Suplex on Kai and followed up with a high-low kick combo on Kai for a nearfall. In the climax, Wendy Choo appeared and struck Dolin with a pillow before throwing orange soda in her face. Back inside the ring, Kai performed a Yakuza Kick to a cornered Jayne followed by a Chingona Bomb by González to win the titles for a record-setting second time.