Over the last three years, WWE NXT Stand & Deliver has acted as arguably the biggest event WrestleMania weekend outside of the namesake event itself. Debuting back in 2021 as one of the last NXT TakeOver events, Stand & Deliver has since served as an early afternoon precursor to the first night of WrestleMania and has featured key moments for the black and gold brand such as the final NXT matches of both Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
However, it looks like a significant change could be coming to the Premium Live Event in 2024. Insider X account WrestleVotes reports that there have been discussions backstage within WWE regarding NXT Stand & Deliver. Specifically, the company is said to be considering hosting the show on Thursday, April 4th as the opening event of WrestleMania 40 weekend as a whole. There is said to be some support for the move behind the scenes but it “isn’t ideal” for some, leaving it unclear if the company will go ahead with the move.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Premium Live Event has opened WrestleMania weekend. NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver kicked off WrestleMania 37 weekend back in 2020 with two shows across April 7th and 8th before being followed by SmackDown, the WWE Hall of Fame, and then WrestleMania itself. NXT TakeOver events have featured as part of WrestleMania weekend stemming from WrestleMania 32 weekend back in 2016.
In more recent NXT news, the black and gold brand’s next Premium Live Event Deadline is just a few weeks away. So far, the men’s and women’s Iron Survivor matches, which return after debuting at NXT Deadline 2022, are the only matches official for the show. During last night’s edition of NXT, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley announced the first set of qualifying matches for the Iron Survivor bouts, which Dijak and Tiffany Stratton came out victorious in with respective victories over Tyler Bate and Fallon Henley.