Topic summary
NXT TakeOver 36
NXT TakeOver 36 was a 2021 professional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV) and livestreamingevent produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's NXTbrand division. It was the 36th and final NXT TakeOver event and took place on August 22, 2021, from the Capitol Wrestling Center, hosted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
The event was held during that year's SummerSlam weekend, but was held the night after SummerSlam, which was held on Saturday while TakeOver 36 was held on Sunday. This would also be NXT's final major event to be promoted from the Capitol Wrestling Center (CWC). The CWC was originally a bio-secure bubble that allowed WWE to hold NXT's events during the COVID-19 pandemic, but by this point, COVID restrictions had been lifted. In September, NXT was restructured as NXT 2.0 and the CWC name was discontinued, with all future events simply billed as being held at the Performance Center. The TakeOver series itself was discontinued along with the rebranding to NXT 2.0. It would in turn be NXT's last major event in which the brand was considered WWE's third main brand, as NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand with the restructuring to NXT 2.0.
Six matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Samoa Joe defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Championship for a record-breaking third time, which would ultimately be Joe's final WWE match. In the penultimate match, Kyle O'Reilly defeated Adam Cole by 2–1 in a two-out-of-three-falls match; this was also Cole's final WWE appearance. In other prominent matches, Ilja Dragunov defeated Walter by submission to win the NXT United Kingdom Championship ending Walter's record-setting reign at 870 days, and in the opening bout, Cameron Grimes defeated LA Knight to win the Million Dollar Championship with the added stipulation that if Grimes lost, Ted DiBiase would have become Knight's butler. Grimes subsequently became the final holder of the title before its retirement the following month.