WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners
Well, here we are. For the 40th consecutive year, "The Show of Shows" has arrived — and with it comes the 2024 edition of "WWE NXT's" WrestleMania equivalent, Stand & Deliver.
We've compiled our consensus picks for every PPV and PLE so far in 2024, and if the recent past is any indication, you can view this column as less of a prediction and more of a spoiler. We are 20-2 as a group so far this year, with the meaning the person a majority of us predict to win a PPV match is almost always the person who wins that match. But with three massive WWE shows taking place over two days, WrestleMania weekend has the potential to elevate our hot streak to new heights — or dash it against the rocks of defeat.
Stand & Deliver brings us seven matchups (if you include the pre-show, which we will) with four championships on the line. And with a couple notable exceptions, the WINC staff isn't completely aligned on who will win these contests — which makes the whole thing that much more exciting. Which sides in each debate managed to sway the most voters? Let's get to the picks!
Joe Gacy vs. Shawn Spears: Spears (79%)
Shawn Spears made a surprise return to "NXT" in late February and immediately began making an impact, sending Ridge Holland into exile and taking a chunk out of Dijak in a banger of a match that saw Joe Gacy's thievery of Spears' steel chair play a major factor in an eventual loss for "The Chairman." And what happens when you steal a steel chair from "The Chairman?" You get smoked with said chair ahead of your match against a monster like "NXT" North American Champion Oba Femi, who proceeds to beat you to a pulp in a match that had to be stopped by the referee. And when you're Joe Gacy, from there, you head right to the back to the commissioner's office and ask for a match with Spears to seek revenge.
Thanks to all of that, we have Gacy and Spears on the "NXT" Stand and Deliver Kickoff Show (although these kickoff shows, apparently, are now called "Countdown to _______" so we'll go with that). Nearly 80% of our respondents have Spears winning in his return to an "NXT" premium live event for the first time since "NXT" TakeOver: Orlando in April of 2017 when he (as Tye Dillinger) teamed with Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong, and Ruby Riot in a loss to SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, Killian Dain, and Nikki Cross). At that same time, Gacy was carving his path toward WWE in CZW and other independent promotions. Maybe the perception of Spears as the seasoned veteran in this match, then, is fueling our collective confidence in him?
More likely, the steam behind his return to "NXT" is the bigger predicate here, plus the fact that the nature of Gacy's character — Mr. Crazy Guy — dictates that it doesn't really suffer much from any loss and he just keeps on tickin'. (See: getting thrown off the roof and into a dumpster and then beaten in an Asylum Match by Dijak, as well as the thrashing from Femi we mentioned earlier.) Either way, it's good to see Spears back under the WWE umbrella and this should be a fun one to kick off WrestleMania weekend.
Written by Jon Jordan
Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Thea Hail, Kelani Jordan & Fallon Henley (79%)
Thea Hail, Kelani Jordan, and Fallon Henley will face off in six-woman tag team action against Jacy Jayne, Kiana James, and Izzi Dame and 79% of us are betting on the babyfaces to get the win. That may be because the entire match is based on the breakup of a friendship, or maybe one that was never there, when it comes to Hail and Jayne. Both women found new friends in their tag partners, and they'll do battle at Stand & Deliver. After Jayne effectively saved Chase University with her sexy co-ed calendar, as well as turning Hail into an edgier, unauthentic version of herself, the two have the most heat out of anyone. While the focus of the match will be on the former friends, Henley and Jordan getting the win along with Hail will do them good moving forward on "NXT."
All 79% of us here at WINC believe the babyface team to be much stronger. The women have been getting physical in the ring in various combinations of matches between the two teams, and it comes to a head at the premium live event. While we don't think the story between Hail and Jayne will be over after this show – they still need to have a blowoff singles match – but we do think Hail, Henley, and Jordan will walk out of Philadelphia victorious.
Written by Daisy Ruth
NXT Tag Team Championship: Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin (64%)
Some might think it's about time for Bron Breakker and his tag team partner, Baron Corbin, to lose the "NXT" tag titles so Breakker can continue his warpath on the main roster after signing with "SmackDown" back in February. Some might find it strange and slightly upsetting that Breakker hasn't wrestled on "SmackDown" in more than a month, and would like to see him freed from "NXT" so he can go back to Spearing blue brand jobbers into oblivion. The WINC crew, however, believes The Wolfdogs will prevail, to the tune of 64% of the vote.
Why do we think this? Maybe it's just because we have a hard time seeing the flippy high-flyer team of Axiom and Nathan Frazer knocking off the bruising, brutal combination of Corbin and Breakker. Maybe it's because we doubt WWE wants Breakker losing to guys who are decidedly closer to being "NXT" midcard talent than in the main event. Maybe it's just because we like The Wolfdogs' dynamic as a team and don't want them to split up, a sentiment that is reportedly shared by some folks backstage. Regardless, we see the champs retaining here; some other team will have to be the one to free up Breakker's Tuesday nights.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
NXT North American Championship: Oba Femi (93%)
Oba Femi made his professional wrestling debut on "NXT Level Up" in late 2022 and whatever kinks there were in his game were ironed out in that short, five-month stint in which he mustered exactly zero wins. Since then, he's been invincible, plowing his way through the NXT Breakout Tournament, defeating Riley Osborne in the Final, and cashing in his title opportunity the very next week, defeating Dragon Lee to become "NXT" North American Champion and never looking back. If our poll results are any indicator, he won't be slowing down anytime soon, or at least not at Stand and Deliver.
This was our most one-sided response of all of these matches, with all but one respondent casting a vote for Femi. (The lone standout is holding out hope for Dijak, for the record, meaning poor Josh Briggs didn't get any love at all.) The responses really reflect Femi's run of dominance, save for the fact that unlike his record, it does have that lone blemish. Still, we've basically got our chips pushed in on the champion here and would be stunned with any other result than him retaining the title.
As for Dijak, whose contract is reportedly set to expire in June, his return to "NXT" has been largely impressive after toiling in obscurity as T-Bar on the main roster for two years he'd probably prefer not to ever think about again. Whether he remains in "NXT," heads back to "Raw" or "SmackDown," or ventures elsewhere, he seems to have restored his confidence. But if our predictions hold true, all the confidence in the world won't be nearly enough against Femi, whose reign of terror seems poised to continue.
Written by Jon Jordan
NXT Women's Championship: Roxanne Perez (64%)
As you've already seen, the WINC staff doesn't anticipate a ton of title changes happening at Stand & Deliver. The one belt we do see changing hands, however, is the "NXT" Women's Championship, with 64% of the vote supporting challenger Roxanne Perez.
Part of this anticipation is the fact that Lyra Valkyria's title reign, which started off on such a high note when she cleanly defeated Becky Lynch for the championship, hasn't gone great since then. Over the course of her 165-day reign, she's only managed to defend her title on five occasions — Lynch managed the same number in merely 42 days. Yes, on one of those instances Valkyria defended the title twice in one night, but that was only because her first opponent suffered an injury. Then there was the time Lola Vice chose the dumbest possible time to cash in her guaranteed title shot. And through it all, Valkyria's defining storyline hasn't been with a challenger at all, but with her best friend obsessed stalker, Tatum Paxley. It's just been a strangely-booked reign plagued by bad luck and poorly-formed ideas, and most of us are ready for it to end.
Mostly though, we're ready for the new Roxanne Perez to win the title. Completely reinvigorated by her recent heel turn, Perez is doing the best work of her career and is apparently turning heads backstage, causing many to push for her to get another title win (and presumably a better reign than her own star-crossed run as champion). While it's possible other voices prevail and Perez loses before getting called up to the main roster, we're betting that "The Prodigy" is about to be rewarded for her beautiful and deadly evolution.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
NXT Championship: Ilja Dragunov (86%)
Since the dawn of the "NXT 2.0" era (and through its return to whatever you'd like to call the current product that is an amalgamation of that 2.0 a return to Black and Gold-ish ways), a strong argument can be made for Tony D'Angelo, "The Don of NXT," as the fastest-rising star of the whole lot. A product of the WWE Performance Center through and through, D'Angelo's very first match took place on an episode of "NXT" in October of 2021 in a win over Malik Blade. His rise to prominence is commendable and his place in this match is well-earned — but our panel of punditry seems to be looking more closely at this as his first shot at the NXT Championship, and with that in mind, giving Ilya Dragunov the nod at Stand and Deliver.
Dragunov is more than ready for the main roster as a finely-tuned, polished wrestler who would be a phenomenal (and fresh!) opponent for so many on "Raw" and "SmackDown, including, as has been fantasy-booked by so many in the wrestling fandom stratosphere, WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER. Fun fact: GUNTHER lost to then-"NXT" Champion Bron Breakker in his final match for the brand in April of 2022. That, along with Dragunov dethroning him (as WALTER) as "NXT UK" Champion eight months prior, are GUNTHER's only losses via pinfall in singles competition whatsoever in MORE THAN FIVE YEARS. Being in that sort of elite company is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to just how ready Dragunov is for, well, anything and everything, really.
Still, these days, WWE is far more methodical and meticulous than it once was with NXT call-ups and if it doesn't happen now for Dragunov (as would be indicated by his predicted title retention here), that shouldn't be a surprise or any cause for concern. His day will come. As will D'Angelo's, in "NXT," and on bigger and better stages. In fact, we may just be on the precipice of The D'Angelo Era down Orlando way, but for now, we see things going Dragunov's way this weekend.
Written by Jon Jordan
Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes: Trick Williams (71%)
While we're not all in agreement here at WINC when it comes to Trick Williams whooping that trick, 71% of us think he's going to walk away from this blood feud with Carmelo Hayes victorious. Many of us believe that's because Hayes is headed to the main roster full-time, potentially as soon as the first "WWE Raw" after WrestleMania. If Hayes is headed up, it only makes sense for him to go out on his back against his former best friend and make him look like a million bucks while doing it.
The story has been going on since October, when it turns out, Hayes was Williams' mystery attacker all along, even though Hayes tried to pin it on everyone but himself. That 71% of us believe he's going to get what's coming to him, then hit the bricks. Williams is also good enough to be called up, and he's been on "NXT" since 2021, just like Hayes. Williams also played for the Philadelphia Eagles for a period, so he has almost a hometown connection here, so the crowd may help put him over, even more so than usual. We think those "whoop that trick" chants are going to be deafening in the Wells Fargo Center.
As mentioned on "NXT," this is the main event featuring two Black men in WWE history of premium live events. So, both men and all fans are winners here in this history-making match.
Written by Daisy Ruth