Surprised nobody did a double ring spot until the main event.
1. Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan
“Lars Sullivan is demolishing NXT superstar Kassius Ohno.” I thought Dylan Miley would end up a classic WWE What If story, but here we are. This was a lot of Ohno throwing nasty shots and Lars just shrugging them off and firing back. Liked the spot where Ohno kipped up and Lars just knocked him right down, loved the spot where Ohno decided to just start stomping the shit out of Lars and it STILL not getting the job done. The pop-up powerslam by Lars was wild. Thought they could’ve milked Lars’ top rope splash more, otherwise this mostly worked. It wasn’t a classic TakeOver opener like you usually get, but it was a match that accomplished something, so cheers for that. **3/4
2. Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream
This was the good stuff… liked all the early work with Dream trying to out-wrestle Black only to end up selling hammerlocks, and then each guy trying to out-character each other (dug the Black quebrada, Dream rolling inside and staring him down, then SWIVELING), and then OHHHH WOW. Patrick Clark, welcome to World Wrestling Entertainment! They did all the fun character stuff they needed to and it led into an absolutely piping hot finish. The cartwheel DVD kickout, Dream’s crazy DDT thing that got a standing ovation, and both guys just throwing blows until one went down were highlights. This was a great standalone match, brought up a notch by Velveteen Dream showing everybody he can GO. Oh and his Rick Rude pants were incredible. ***1/2
3. Fatal 4-Way Match – NXT Women’s Title: Ember Moon vs. Kairi Sane vs. Nikki Cross vs. Peyton Royce w/ Billie Kay
Look – this was a Fatal 4-Way. Not much room for character work or epic moments, but they kept it moving with fun spots and everybody got at least one chance to shine. Billie letting Peyton go alone was a nice touch. Kairi Sane was either legit hurt on the superplex or is just the most wonderful seller, or maybe both. Ember winning was a legit surprise and Asuka handing her the title was an awesome moment. ***1/4
4. NXT Title: Drew McIntyre [c] vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega
Almas brought all the dickishness early, and then oh my god did they build this sucker into something beautiful. Physical, sweet counters, impressive power spots. This match ruled. Almas in NXT has gone from alright to really good to finally legitimately great. Drew’s power vs. lucha folk is always impressive, whether it’s vs. Mysterio, El Torito, Zelina Vega or Almas himself. The reverse rana catch and powerbomb catch on the outside were WILD. A huge performance by Almas… the moonsault to the floor and backflip bump off the Claymore were jaw-dropping. Vega meanwhile was awesome reacting to everything on the outside. That double knees to the back of Drew’s head towards the end looked like it killed Drew. The finish was one of those ugly things that ended up being cool as it looked brutal. ALMAS!!! LOS!!!! ***3/4
5. WarGames: Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering vs. SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe) vs. Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
This had nowhere near the build or character of WarGames classic’s past, so it was pretty stadard basic stuff for a bit… and then the Authors of Pain entered and started throwing everybody around, and then SAnitY entered and brought the weapons and this match became exactly what it should’ve been… great chaotic fun. It got a little stunt show-y in parts, but was all the entertainment a big crazy ass WWE gimmick match in 2017 promises. Really liked Eric Young’s crazy bumps too, added to the madness. And like 20% of the participants got blood, which is more than I expected, though I feel for poor Alexander Wolfe who looked great but also sliced open the back of his head. Oh and Roddy Strong coming out in Authors of Pain gear was tremendous. ****1/4
Another blast of a TakeOver. Everything was at the very least good, and Dream/Black, Drew/Almas, and the actual WarGames match were strong peaks. 8/10
