Sometimes I wonder what to show to non-fans to let them know that I’m not a complete weirdo for watching wrestling. Liger vs. Sasuke from the J Cup or Eddie vs. Rey from Halloween Havoc are good bets but not always well-received, and god forbid I try to show anybody anything from Monday Night RAW. I think Barry Horowitz vs. Blue Blazer is my favorite non-fan reaction. Either way – I were to show a newbie, I think the NXT TakeOver series is as good a shot as any to convert someone to wrestling fandom, or at least enable them to “get it.” The entrances, the wrestling, the commentary, the crowd, the presentation – it is all packaged in a way that provides all that I love about the professional wrestling.
I had the thought going into this show that NXT had lost its’ luster lately for a few reasons: 1) the TV just isn’t as good and the stars are barely around – if they are, they’re doing a contract signing or something stupid, 2) there’s no major babyface star to root for right now… Zayn, Bayley and even Balor are gone, and Joe and Nakamura are talented guys but not picking up the slack and 3) seeing what has happened to some of NXT’s brightest spots on the main roster makes it really hard to get into some of this. At one point with NXT’s presentation I thought Bo Dallas would be the next big thing – silly me. Same with Tyler Breeze. There’s still hope for American Alpha, but seeing them enter to crickets on SmackDown or Main Event is depressing. Certain guys get through but more often than not NXT has become a feeder system to the C-shows, not RAW and SmackDown.
But then the actual show happened and I loved it, so fuck it. Wrestling isn’t meant to be great every single week, marks.
Corey Graves and Tom Phillips are a GREAT commentary team. They get the stories over and the banter is phenomenal.
1. Tye Dillinger vs. Bobby Roode
Bobby Roode replacing Tyler Breeze as the TakeOver entrance you look forward to is a wonderful thing. Roode vs. Tye Dillinger was an awesome match and perfect opener. TakeOver opener’s are usually pretty awesome – in a different setting they may not come off as great, but the amped up crowd and excitement of the event push them over into something special. Asuka/Emma, No Way Jose/Austin Aries… these are good matches that became great matches. And this was another one. I don’t mean for that intro to take away from this either, as there was a ton of good stuff here. Liked the smart folks at NXT announcing Dillinger as from Canada but not Roode. Loved all the early punching and brawling, Tye with the serious streak, and Roode’s nasty back body drop bump on the outside. The spot with Roode begging off but actually doing the “perfect 10” taunt was great and somehow didn’t seem completely out of place in a serious brawl. The backslide counter of the neckbreaker from Tye followed by chops followed by the whip reversal to the corner into Roode finally hitting the neckbreaker was an amazing sequence of events. Loved Roode’s sell of the atomic drop too – sometimes in this fast-paced modern world you have to remind the people that this stuff still hurts. Tye’s wild comeback followed by the two cradle near falls and superkick near fall were late highlights, and the lead-up to the Sharpshooter was INCREDIBLE. This was just some classic wrestling from two fellas who aren’t burnt out working TV every single week. ***3/4
2. Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – Final: TM61 vs. The Authors of Pain (Paul Ellering in a Shark Cage)
TM61 vs. The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering hanging above the ring in a Crash Cage (to promote a toy line, I fucking love it) was basically a best case scenario for that match. Shane Thorne’s dive off the cage structure was batshit crazy and his backflip bump off the apron wasn’t far behind it. Nick Miller got off a couple impressive power spots and for once almost stood out. Authors did their thing with the beatdown. The chain flying into the crowd was a scary moment. Ellering celebrating from the cage was great. A solid match that didn’t overstay its’ welcome with some really fun moments. **3/4
3. 2/3 Falls – NXT Tag Team Title: The Revival [c] vs. #DIY
The Revival vs. #DIY, two out of three falls, for the NXT Tag Team Titles, was a match I could write a dissertation on. This match was all that is good about the professional wrestling – great and complex wrestling sequences, old school feel, tag team rasslin, hot crowd, great characters, great story, drama, championships, and a fairytale ending. I’d separate what I loved about this match into three parts: great sequences, great moments, and the little things.
There were so many complex wrestling sequences here that came together so well. The Brooklyn match was great for Scott Dawson’s performance and #DIY truly getting over – this was more just everybody here looking like the best wrestlers in the world. You had Dawson’s kick/elbow combo followed by Dash clotheslining Gargano over the top followed by Dawson’s slingshot suplex, Gargano fighting out of the Gory special leading to the hot tag fake-out followed by the clobbering followed by the Hart Attack, the tornado DDT counter into the elbow/German suplex hold by Dawson into the pin by Dash and the Ciampa break-up, Gargano elbowing away at The Revival and using Dash to kick off the backslide into the inside cradle near fall, and the dickish attempt at DIY’s finisher by The Revival followed by the DIY SHATTER MACHINE!! and Dawson’s save… all this insanity was worthy of such a run-on sentence.
There were a lot of great little things too: Dawson’s reactions to basically everything, Revival shouting stuff to each other from the apron (Dash’s “Good job!” followed by Dawson’s “thank you”), Dawson pulling Ciampa by the beard, Dash’s cut-off of Gargano after the first fall, Dawson cutting off Gargano before the first hot tag… basically The Revival is a God-tier professional wrestling tag team and all their matches seem like shoots within the confinement of campy wrestling rules. It’s great.
So many great memorable moments too: the first Shatter Machine off the slingshot spear that looked like it killed Gargano and got the first fall (along with Ciampa’s reaction), Gargano’s struggle on the kneebar playing off storytelling going back almost six months, the Ciampa/Dash staredown to kick off the third fall, Dawson’s “NOOOO” and desperation as Ciampa tried to set up his submission, the ref actually calling a guy out on pulling the tights, the INSANE chop block by Dash on Gargano, and the double submissions finish including THE REVIVAL HOLDING EACH OTHER’S HANDS AS THEY TAPPED OUT.
Yes Gargano kicking the belt looked like it hurt Dawson more and Dash hit the wrong leg on the chop block, but fuck you. *****
4. NXT Women’s Title: Asuka [c] vs. Mickie James
Mickie James vs. Asuka was a match I had to re-watch as it didn’t grab me after the tag match. On rewatch I liked it a lot better. Hearing Mickie’s theme again was great. The Asuka masks in the crowd were wonderful. The early stuff was really strong and actually very impressive with how they got a crowd that could’ve been burnt out back into it. You had Mickie showing she could still keep up, both doing the spot where they let each other back in the ring, Asuka getting vicious with the German on the floor and the beatdown, Mickie desperately trying to get the win. Finish was a little sloppy but I liked the suddenness of it. This was really good. ***1/2
5. NXT Title: Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. Samoa Joe
Nakamura’s intro remains the coolest thing in wrestling. Nakamura vs. Joe match had that Big Fight Feel but was another big Joe match that didn’t come together as anything amazing – lots of fun individual moments, real physical stuff, a pretty hot crowd … but in the end just not an interesting complete package. This is a pairing that will always be a victim of timing – if the Nakamura of a few years ago met the Joe of 10 years ago we might have something here. Otherwise, eh. Now as a skinny fat 29-year-old geek I don’t want to question the skills of Samoa Joe. Harley Race didn’t always have amazing matches but there was a legitimate feel to them, and wrestling needs that. And this had that feel in places… but it was also really boring in other places. For a guy who’s a mark for Shinya Hashimoto I’d expect more intensity and attempts at ‘moments’ from Joe. What we got here was just a pretty basic strike-based brawl, pretty different from most WWE-style matches which I appreciated but it appears these two just don’t have the chemistry to do anything memorable. Even the kickoff of the Kinshasa wasn’t huge. ‘Just’ a good match when you’d hope for something a bit more epic. Legit shocking finish though – Nakamura as NXT ace is fun, but if you want to make some stars I think Joe’s the better guy to do it.***
Despite the apathy of the main event it was still pretty good, and as a whole this was a very fun, very good show with a straight-up five-star match and a bunch of other fun stuff. Onto bitching about the TV until TakeOver: Orlando. 8/10
