NXT TakeOver 31 was the 31st NXT TakeOver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. Unlike all previous TakeOvers, which aired exclusively on the WWE Network, TakeOver 31 was the first TakeOver to air on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) in addition to the WWE Network. The event took place on October 4, 2020, and was broadcast from the Capitol Wrestling Center, hosted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida—this was the first NXT event to feature the Capitol Wrestling Center, NXT's version of the WWE ThunderDome used for Raw and SmackDown and an homage to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the predecessor to WWE.

There were five matches scheduled on the event's card, as well as two dark matches that occurred before the live broadcast. In the main event, Finn Bálor defeated Kyle O'Reilly to retain the NXT Championship. In the penultimate match, Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae to retain the NXT Women's Championship. Other prominent matches included Santos Escobar defeating Isaiah "Swerve" Scott to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and Damian Priest defeating Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American Championship in the opening bout.