Tag: NXT Takeover

NXT Takeover: Portland: Every Match Ranked

Another Takeover, another great night of wrestling. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to discover that the show last night was just as good as they always are. I was worried the addition of a 6th match would mean that one of the matches get slightly shafted, but instead, the length of the show was simply extended to make room, which is fine with me and I don’t think 3 hours is too long of a show, especially when compared to Raw & Smackdown PPVs. So let’s not waste any more time and take a look at the matches.

6 – Dakota Kai def. Tegan Nox

Interesting how on one show we can have examples of two match-interferences, one of which was to the match’s benefit, the other its detriment, no prizes for guessing which one this was.

The action between Nox & Kai was great stuff, as I mentioned in my predictions, this whole build has done a great job of making both women seem like legitimate contenders in the women’s division and the brutality on display here has capped that off perfectly. I know I’m not normally a fan of weapons matches but I think this one kept the pace fast enough to hold my interest.

The interference at the end feels to me like a case of short-term loss for long-term gain, which is ultimately a good thing, but it doesn’t stop it from bringing this match down. It didn’t help that I – and seemingly the whole arena – had no idea who it was that interfered in the match, but I kind of like that, it immediately creates intrigue surrounding them and it lets them have a real ground-zero for a new character. That said, I’m not sure giving Dakota a lackey is the greatest idea, especially when you consider that we’ve already done that story very recently with Baszler, Duke & Shafir.

I have faith in the NXT creative team to make it feel like something different, however, until I see proof of that, I shall remain wary.

5 – Finn Balor def. Johnny Gargano

I know, I know. This match was fantastic, but there was so much good stuff on this show and I just couldn’t put this above the other matches from last night.

I think one of the main reasons I dropped this one is because it didn’t quite live up to my (admittedly, very high) expectations. I think because of Johnny’s injury, it lost a little bit of steam and the match as a whole just felt like it was missing something. What exactly that something is, I can’t quite put my finger on, but it dropped my enjoyment of the match just a bit.

That said, the match was still really good. I know people have soured on Gargano slightly, but I honestly don’t know where those people are coming from because I don’t think he’s lost a beat. These two matched up about as well as you’d expect them to and the action was, fast, hard-hitting and full of spectacle as a result.

Against, what I said in my predictions, I actually think Balor winning is the better idea now I’ve considered it. Gargano has had his status reinstated by what happened in the main event, so giving Balor this win to give him that boost in credibility after his return & subsequent heel turn was definitely the right way to go.

4 – Rhea Ripley(c) def. Bianca Belair
(NXT Women’s Championship)

This match is actually a really great look into how far Bianca Belair has come over the past year.

When Belair got a title shot against Baszler this time last year everyone viewed it as an opportunity to proves she belongs in the uber-high quality of the NXT Women’s division and she succeeded. Now, a year later she has another opportunity and it’s clear that she’s easily on par with any other competitor in the NXT locker room. In an era of NXT where the majority of stars are wrestlers who come in with a wave of indie support & hype behind them, looking back I’ve loved watching Belair become the fantastic performer she is today.

I had a lot of fun watching this match. Rhea has settled into her role as champion so easily that it only further proves how worthy of a successor she is to Shayna Basler’s crown. The chemistry here was stellar and there was such a wonderful sense of flow to the whole thing that kept my attention ticking over from one spot to the next. I don’t really have anything special to say about it, it was yet another great performance from two great performers and I’m very excited about what Rhea & Charlotte have in store going into Wrestlemania.

3 – Adam Cole(c) def. Tommaso Ciampa
(NXT Championship)

Oh! That’s the direction they’re going in, alright, you’ve got my attention.

This match was exactly what I’d hoped it would be and honestly, I think that’s the best thing I can say in its favour. This easily had the strongest story going into it and both guys feel like huge stars in both their presence and in the ring. There was a subtle brutality to this match, even though there wasn’t a great deal in terms of big “OMG” spots. Probably helped by that fact that Ciampa looks ripped, this felt like a real hard-hitting fight between two men who genuinely despise each other.

Despite Ciampa’s overwhelming presence and being the one with all the steam behind him currently, Cole made sure that he wasn’t forgotten as the champion and just in general, this match really cemented both of these guys as two of the biggest stars NXT has ever had. This fed into the finish, where we got a bait-and-switch with the interference, as Cole used all his greatest hits in terms of using underhanded tactics to try and win the match. The Undisputed Era getting involved, the low blow, the ref bump;  it felt like a real swan-song for Cole’s title reign and right up until Gargano showed up, I was certain Ciampa was going to win.

Gargano’s arc over the past three years has been so interesting to watch, it’s like when Ciampa’s around, Gargano just can’t help but become the worst version of himself. It’s almost like some kind of deeply ingrained trauma inside his mind that just turns him into a completely different person whenever Ciampa gets involved. There are so many pieces involved here and I’m not sure exactly how they’re all going to come together, but I’m very excited for wherever this whole thing ends up.

2 – Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne def. The Undisputed Era(c)
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

In my predictions, this was easily the match I was the most negative about and when it comes to the character stuff, I stand by what I said. I liked the caddy they drove themselves & the trophy out on, but I was not a fan of the “Fish” stuff. I understand why other people would find it funny, but it’s just really not for me. When it comes to the in-ring stuff, however, that’s the kind of stuff I live for.

In the past, I criticised the fact that Riddle & Dunne have a distinct lack of chemistry in the ring and while I still wouldn’t say it was perfect here, it was absolutely much better than it has been in previous matches. This match was back-and-forth the whole way through which is where I think tag matches are at their best, there was never a chance to settle into the groove of the match because as soon as one team established control, it somehow got broken and stuff started going mental again.

Something I think this match did particularly well was towards the finish when it kept me guessing as to who was going to win right up until the referee hit for three. It continued that form that I talked about earlier, I was never allowed to settle into the finish which meant that the excitement just kept building and building until Dunne & Riddle finally got the win. Despite what I said in my predictions, I’m actually glad the titles changed hands here because I think a shakeup in the tag division is absolutely in order because it’s really lacking in major talent right now. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get on board with their odd-couple pairing, but as long as they keep churning out matches like this, I really don’t mind.

1 – Keith Lee(c) def. Dominic Dijakovic
(North American Championship)

So THIS is what an all-out hoss fight is supposed to look like…I like it!

Quite simply, these guys went all-out and unleashed just about everything they could possibly think of to do and it was just fantastic fun to watch. it proves that big-guy fights don’t have to be slow, plodding affairs full of tests of strengths and grunty pushing. This match had such a different feel to everything else on the show, it was able to have an incredible sense of spectacle to all the big spots, while still maintaining a sense of a hard-hitting fight.

Not to mention, it helped to make an absolute star of Dijakovic. I know most of the NXT faithful know that he’s a great wrestler, but this was his first match on a big show like Takeover and I’ll be very surprised if he didn’t turn some heads. I could sit here listing all of the awesome spots that filled this match, but let’s be honest, you’ve already seen the gifs. I didn’t even know it was possible for people the size of Lee & Dijakovic to pull off some of the stuff they did last night, but quite frankly, I’ll never see gravity in the same way again.

It had just about everything you could want from a big match like this (both figuratively and literally) it was loud, proud, impressive and, most importantly, an absolute blast to watch, easily the best match of the show.

That’s all folks! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this article, please let me know what you thought of the show, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back on Saturday, where I’ll be running down the best speeches from Doctor Who!

NXT Takeover: Portland: Predictions & Analysis

It’s been far too long since we’ve had one of these. I know World’s Collide happened and it was a very good show, but it just didn’t have the same feel or level of pure quality that a good old fashioned NXT Takeover event does. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but something about that show just didn’t quite click for me. Regardless, we’ve got this to get excited about, so let’s not spend too much time complaining.

Tegan Nox vs Dakota Kai
(Street Fight)

If I’m remembering correctly then I’m pretty certain this is the first time in quite a while that an NXT Takeover event has had more than one women’s match on the show. For a while, this was understandable, as there wasn’t much in the way of talent depth, but now looking at NXT Women’s division, the whole damn show could be women’s matches and it would be brilliant.

This match, in particular, has got me quite excited. I don’t really know much about Kai & Nox, but I’ve been getting quite invested in them since their feud began at Wargames. Now Shayna Baszler seems to be bowing out of NXT, there’s a lot of room up at the top for heels in the women’s division and I think Dakota Kai is going to be a great fit for that role. As for Tegan Nox, I just hope that NXT management has learnt from the mistakes they made with Io Shirai and keep Nox going as a believable face because as much as I’ve like Io since her heel turn, it very much felt like a move born out of desperation.

When it comes to picking a winner, this is a simple situation of picking who I think has the most to gain from the win right now, which is easily Dakota Kai. Although her heel turn was a good few months ago now, this is the first major match she’s had since it happened and it would be a bit of disaster for her to start taking major losses this early and there’s all the potential in the world of Tegan Nox to have a Gargano-Esque redemption story following a loss or two in the coming months.

Johnny Gargano vs Finn Balor

Out of all the matches on this show, I think this one has had the best build.

It was disappointing that we had to wait a couple of months longer than we expected to get this match thanks to Gargano’s injury, but they were able to recover the story well and I think a great deal of intensity has been added to the feud thanks to Balor’s new shift in character and Gargano’s hunger to re-prove himself. The history of Balor in NXT has been played into it, but what I think is most surprising is how starkly different Balor’s character is this time around, he truly feels like a different person to the one we’ve seen on Raw & Smackdown for the past few years.

Naturally, this match should be brilliant. While I’ve never been blown away by a Finn Balor match, I always find them very enjoyable and when he’s matching up with a wrestler like Gargano, I’m certain we’ve got a potential match of the year on our hands.

It’s a tough call as to who will win this one. Balor needs a solid win to cement his return, otherwise, he could quickly fall back into old routines. Though at the same time, I think Gargano is going to be a major part of major storylines going into Wrestlemania season (I’ll talk more on that in a little bit) and he really needs a big win after spending the past year having a bit of an underwhelming time. I’m picking Johnny Gargano because, unlike Balor, I actually have a pretty clear picture in my mind of what I think the next couple of months are going to look like for him and it requires a win here.

The Undisputed Era(c) vs Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

It seems like such a weird thing to say given the men involved, but I’m really not feeling this match. Don’t get me wrong, I think Fish & O’Reilly are a fantastic tag team and both Dunne & Riddle are among my favourite singles guys in WWE right now, but I just don’t really buy them as a tag team. Unfortunately, there’s not much else they can be doing right now and if the Dusty Rhodes Classic achieved anything, it was highlighting the fact that NXT US has literally only one decent tag team in their ranks at the moment, so it was kind of necessary.

I’m sure this will be a brilliant match, but after so many years of the NXT Tag Team division being full of cohesive teams that felt like natural partners, to have two guys whose characters don’t align in the slightest (and not even in an “opposites attract” sort of way) seems like such a letdown.

Weirdly though, I kind of think they might win. It seems like Undisputed Era’s reign at the top of NXT is starting to crumble, so taking those titles away from them might be the direction they’re going in right now, not to mention that if Undisputed Era retains, then who have they got left to fight? Unless we’re just going to keep bringing in NXT UK teams for them to fight, the only direction we can go at this stage is rehashing old matches. The other possibility is that Riddle turns on Dunne, in order to inject some life into Riddle’s quickly stagnating character, not to mention there’s a bit of a lack of heels at the top of NXT right now thanks to Undisputed Era being the be-all and end-all of the division.

There are compelling arguments for both scenarios and I honestly can’t say that I think either one is more likely than the other, so I’m instead going to go with what I want to happen and pick The Undisputed Era to retain.

Keith Lee(c) vs Dominic Dijakovic
(North American Championship)

For the longest time, I was not a fan of Dijakovic he seemed to me like just another hoss that didn’t bring much to the ring other than a fairly impressive physique. Over the last few months, those assumptions I made of him have been utterly destroyed as he’s put on some great matches with wrestlers of all shapes and sizes.

Combine a guy like Dojakovic with someone like Keith Lee who, I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to say, has it all. He was criminally underused for the longest time in NXT and Survivor Series finally woke everyone (myself included) up to the fact that he’s an absolute beast and a brilliant wrestler that deserves the world. Now Lee has himself a championship, I can’t think of a better way than to show off just how good he can be than by putting up against one of his best opponents in NXT right now.

These two have fought several times before and it’s always been great stuff, their chemistry is impeccable and they’re always able to add something new to their matches so that it doesn’t feel like they’re stepping over old ground. Now they’ve finally been given the opportunity to put it all on a much bigger stage, I can’t imagine they’ll waste it. I’m expecting big things from this one, both from a literal and metaphorical standpoint.

That said, I think it’s quite easy to pick Keith Lee as the winner here. He’s only just won the title and he’s got all the momentum in the world right now, so losing the title like this would be an absolutely terrible move. Admittedly Dijakovic does need a big win to fully legitimize him, but that win can’t be at the expense of Lee.

Rhea Ripley(c) vs Bianca Belair
(NXT Women’s Championship)

When this match was first announced, I really wasn’t interested. I adore Rhea Ripley and thought her title match against Baszler was one of the best matches of last year, but this felt like such a placeholder match it’s believable. I mean, I still stand by that a little bit, there’s no way Bianca’s winning this match, but the build has been exciting enough so that I am actually interested in seeing the match play out now.

A large chunk of this switch in opinion was Belair’s great performance in the Royal Rumble a few weeks ago, she went on an absolute tear and reminded me that she is actually just as good a talent as any other wrestler in the NXT women’s division at the moment. There was also that great promo on NXT TV last week where she inserted herself in-between Charlotte & Rhea’s bickering and reminded everyone that, despite Charlotte’s insistence that she wasn’t a threat, she’s could easily take that title from Ripley and be staring Charlotte down at Wrestlemania soon.

That said, there’s absolutely no situation in which she takes the title away from Ripley on Sunday. Ripley is absolutely the biggest star in NXT right now, she’s only just won the title and now she’s got a Wrestlemania match against Charlotte Flair looming in a couple of months. Rhea Ripley is keeping that title around her waist and nothing anyone says will convince me otherwise.

Adam Cole(c) vs Tommaso Ciampa
(NXT Championship)

Ooooh boy, this is gonna be a good one. Ever since Ciampa returned I have been gagging to see this match, so now it’s finally happening, I am sufficiently excited.

Cole has been a fantastic champion during his reign, all of his matches have been must-watch and this will absolutely be no exception. WarGames proved that Ciampa hasn’t lost a beat during his time away from the ring so this match should do nothing but reaffirm his status as the best of the best. The build to this match has been great too, it’s clear that Cole and The Undisputed Era can sense that Ciampa might spell the end of the Golden Prophecy so they’re attacking with all their might to try and beat him down before the match and hopefully that’ll carry over into the match itself too.

While I’m not entirely confident in this pick, I feel fairly certain Tommaso Ciampa is going to pick up the win here for two major reasons. For one thing, it feels like the culmination of his return & redemption story to sit atop the NXT throne once again, but also, with an NXT Women’s title match already being planned for Wrestlemania, I think it’s likely that we’ll see the men’s title get the same honour and quite simply there is no bigger NXT Title match for Wrestlemania than us finally getting the finale in the Ciampa vs Gargano saga, one year after the match was cruelly taken away from us. I think seeing that match at Wrestlemania would mean so much to both guys and everyone like me who’s seen the whole story unfold from the beginning and in order for that to happen, Ciampa has to take the win here.

NXT Takeover: WarGames III: Every Match Ranked

So that’s another NXT Takeover in the bag! As always, it was a great show with some fantastic wrestling, but it felt a little weird compared to other Takeovers. The pacing of the show was a bit off, which is probably due to having two WarGames matches so it meant that the two pure wrestling matches in the middle got a little buried. It seemed to me like the crowd was noticeably quieter than usual for the non-WarGames matches, so I think in future, having two of that match on a single show might be a bit much.

That said, the show was still a quality night of wrestling, so let’s not waste any more time and get to talking about it!

5 – Angel Garza def. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
(Kickoff Show)

Despite the fact I’ve been making an effort to watch NXT TV (almost) every week, both of these are guys who have managed to largely slip under my radar. I know who Isaiah was, but I didn’t know much about his wrestling ability and I didn’t even know what Angel Garza looked like until he showed up to wrestle here.

So as it stands, this was a good first impression for me of both of these guys. Like most people from the Performance Center, I thought they had great chemistry, carried the time they got really well and I felt that if they had the opportunity, then they could’ve carried another 10 minutes or so without breaking much of a sweat. Unfortunately, it was still a pre-show match which meant that it didn’t get the time it needed to be a truly excellent match – hence it’s placement in last – but that shouldn’t take away anything from how enjoyable this was to watch.

4 – Rhea Ripley & Candice LaRae def. Shayna Baszler & Io Shirai & Bianca Belair & Kay Lee Ray
(WarGames)

A lot was going on in this match.

First off, there was Dakota Kai’s sudden insertion into the match and subsequent heel turn, which was great, but also not in some ways. For one thing, the turn itself was really obvious, so obvious in fact, that I convinced myself there’s no way it could happen because it was just too damn obvious. That said, I’m glad to see that Dakota Kai is finally getting a sense of character to her, because until now she’s been a very generic babyface that’s a good wrestler, which is great, but not very interesting compared to the character-filled roster that is the NXT Women’s division and it should help boost Tegan Nox’s stock as a face going forward. My only worry is that being a heel not named Shayna Baszler in the NXT Women’s division right now generally means you’ve got somewhat of a low ceiling for your character because you can’t exactly challenge for the title.

Speaking of character development though, if you had told me earlier this year that Rhea Ripley, a woman who felt so damn natural as a heel would become the coolest and most believable face woman in NXT I never would’ve believed it, but here we are. Since showing up and getting in Baszler’s face, she’s been pretty good as a babyface but this match put that stock through the roof, I found it so easy to root for her throughout this whole thing and her general demeanour gives off these really cool vibes that I can totally get behind.

The match itself was ok. I felt that the earlier segments weren’t carried as well as they probably could’ve and even once the pace built up, it ground to a halt when every woman in the ring had to spend about 5 minutes staring at what Dakota Kai was doing. However, once that was over and done with, it recovered quite nicely, the huge spots weren’t there, but I think that just let the women be a bit more creative with their offence and I absolutely loved the finish.

The multiple high spots just before it were a great way to make things at a fever pitch going into the finish and having Rhea Ripley outsmart the wrestler who has been consistently presented as the most intelligent wrestler in all of WWE was fantastic. I love the way Rhea basically just called Shayna’s bluff and used the handcuffs – something Shayna intended to hamper Rhea – as the key to her victory; it was such a clever finish and only added to what I talked about regarding Rhea’s face persona. When Shayna & Rhea inevitably have their singles feud, I want more of this.

3 – Finn Balor def. Matt Riddle

Wow, Finn Balor’s actually a great heel wrestler, who knew?…hmm? Everyone who ever saw him wrestle in Japan? Oh, well alright then.

This match was pretty much what I expected it to be, it was two high-quality, pure wrestlers doing some high-quality pure wrestling. The match was perhaps a little slow in pace that I would’ve liked, but it served to give everything a greater impact, which I think is quite important to Riddle’s style of offence.

This whole thing was more or less Balor re-establishing himself as the brilliant wrestler that he is, which is something that I think was sorely needed after the problematic time he had on the main roster. In that area, I think it was a success, watching Balor in this match felt refreshing and it felt like he was a new character, unlike the past year or so on Raw & Smackdown where he’s not felt the least bit important.

This won’t go down as one of the greatest one on one matches in Takeover history by any stretch, but this was a match that had a specific goal that it needed to accomplish and that’s exactly what it did.

2 – Pete Dunne def. Killian Dain & Damian Priest
(Winner gets an NXT Championship match at Survivor Series)

Well, this match had a bit of everything.

This match definitely went on a bit of a journey it started out kind of slow (not counting the opening burst of kicks) which I would normally say was a bad thing, but in this case, I think it was necessary. Even though this was only the second match on the show, the crowd were a tad tired following the opening WarGames match and it seemed like this match had been structured with the specific intention of slowly ramping things up in order to bring the crowd back into it and ensure they weren’t dead for the rest of the show. Whether that’s true or not, it’s definitely what happened.

Other than that, this was a really well balanced Triple Threat match, it felt a bit like Dunne was carrying the thing at some points, mostly down to the fact that he was almost one of the two men active in the ring, but both Priest and Dain got ample chances to show their stuff and I’m excited to see more of their stuff going forward, especially Dain.

You could argue that Dian or Priest winning would’ve been better in the long run, since both of them are trying to either establish or re-establish themselves, however in the short term, Pete Dunne vs Adam Cole is 100% the right match for Survivor Series, that match is going to be killer.

1 – Tommaso Ciampa & Keith Lee & Dominick Dijakovic & Kevin Owens def. The Undisputed Era
(WarGames)

The NXT Wargames matches have always had a really nice balance between ridiculous high-spots and a fast pace with a high work rate and this match was a good example of that. This match made sure to not let the pace slow down early on, a feeling that was definitely helped with Ciampa being the first man in the ring and each additional wrestler felt like it only added to the feeling of slowing increasing chaos.

I was worried going into this that Undisputed Era was going to come out of this looking a little weak ahead of Survivor Series if they lost here, however, past-me is an idiot and doesn’t understand how WarGames works. I forgot how much you get the feeling that every wrestler in the match has gone through hell by the time you get to the end, so a loss inside of it doesn’t make anyone look weak in the long-run.

Kevin Owens being the 4th man was such an awesome surprise. I know a lot of people were predicting it, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. This show has been a great look into how people moving across from Raw or Smackdown to NXT is going to really help everyone involved. Not only that, but this has now created a bunch of questions for tomorrow night at Survivor Series, as Kevin Owens is officially a member of Team Raw, so now there’s a whole world of possibilities in terms of what he could do.

The action in the final segment of this match was top-notch, I got the feeling that both teams were trying to go for as high-impact stuff as possible to end things quickly, it added a sense of urgency that was quite lacking from the women’s WarGames match earlier in the night. This made for a fun finish where every member of Undisputed Era went through tables, including, ending with Adam Cole being dropped through two tables off of the top of the cell by Ciampa.

It struck the right balance between spectacle and wrestling, the surprise entrant hit the mark and the action as a whole was really fun to watch the whole way through, that’s about all I could ask for from a match like this.

And that’s it! Those were my thoughts on NXT Takeover: WarGames III! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this review, please let me know what you thought of the show either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo! Finally, make sure to come back tomorrow, where we’ll be capping off this weekend of wrestling with a review of Survivor Series!

NXT Takeover: Toronto 2019: Every Match Ranked

I feel like we say this every time an NXT Takeover show has finished but holy crap what a show!

As usual, this show did not fail to deliver the goods when it came to its action and once again I came away from it feeling incredibly satisfied and a bit blown away by the fantastic wrestling that was gifted to us last night. Although the show as a whole isn’t in the running for best Takeover ever unlike seemingly the rest of them from this year are, there were still some matches in here which I’d rank among the best to ever take place on a Takeover. Not to mention, even a sub-par Takeover would still be better than most wrestling shows on the planet.

Still, among this heavy competition which matches rose to the top? Let’s discuss it as I rank every match from NXT Takeover: Toronto 2019.

5 – Shayna Baszler(c) def. Mia Yim
(NXT Women’s Championship)

When a match like this happens of a Takeover it’s always a bit difficult to talk about because as much as this match was still great, it wasn’t quite up to the very high standard we’ve come to expect from these shows.

That said, similar to Bianca Belair’s match against Baszler, this was a great showcase for Mia Yim. While I’d been enjoying her work on NXT TV, it wasn’t until now that I felt like I had a good sense of who she was as a wrestler. Baszler did what Baszler does best for a big chunk of this match – being domineering and mean spirited – but for the first time in her title matches, it seemed like there was extra emphasis on Baslzer showing weakness.

After some great moments where Yim took a couple of cheap shots and gave Baszler a taste of her own medicine, Baszler did a brilliant job of playing the victim for a bit. In the end it served both characters well, it showed us that Mia Yim isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and isn’t going to try and be a pure face if it gets in the way of her goals, while to the contrary it grew the sense of intelligence and strategic mastery of Shayna Baszler, with her taking no time at all to realise her injured arm made the Kirifuda Clutch impractical and seamlessly switched to a brutal looking leg choke.

This might not quite have been as good as we were hoping but it was still a brilliant showcase for Mia Yim and laid the groundwork to further this feud going into the autumn.

4 – The Street Profits(c) def. The Undisputed Era
(NXT Tag Team Championship)

NXT Tag Title matches seem to be the perfect show openers.

Seeing The Street Profits spouting bollocks every week on Raw this past month or so almost made me forget that they’re brilliant wrestlers as well. This matchup was a great contrast of styles between Profits and UE and it made for some great phases in the action as O’Reilly and Fish tried desperately to stop Dawkins and Ford from gaining any kind of momentum, although it was ultimately futile.

As always, this match reached it’s peak once things descended in chaos and everyone started flinging themselves about everywhere. Almost all of the action in the second half of this match perfectly incorporated all four guys in order to create some really fun sequences. I really wasn’t expecting The Street Profits to win, but ultimately I think it’s the right decision, partly because they had much more to lose if they dropped the titles and also it means we won’t be losing them from NXT anytime soon, which is always the best.

3 – Io Shirai def. Candice LeRae

First off, can we just take a second to appreciate how AMAZING Io looked last night?

Admittedly, I wasn’t into this match early on, but around the halfway mark things really picked up. I’m a little salty about the reports saying that the original plan for this match was Io vs Kairi, but that doesn’t take away from how great this match ended up being. I’ve not been over familiar with Candice as a wrestler until now but I can most certainly say I was impressed by this performance.

By the same token, even though I’ve never seen Io’s work as a heel before she joined NXT, it’s obvious from her performance here that she’s an absolute natural at it. One of my main criticisms about Io so far in NXT was her general lack of a persona, but all of those complaints have been totally washed away with this match because everything she did was dripping in personality.

In addition to that, you throw on a match with a lot of fast-paced and impressive looking action (including one of the best looking top rope Spanish Flys I’ve ever seen) and a couple of shocking kick-outs from Candice and this was a brilliant way to get people behind both characters going forward.

2 – Velveteen Dream(c) def. Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong
(North American Championship)

I swear, any other show this would’ve been number 1.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a triple threat match on a Takeover and it’s generally a type of match that I always find fun to watch even when I don’t particularly care for the participants, so when the idea of such a match where the participants are the best character in NXT, one of the best technical wrestlers in NXT and Pete fucking Dunne, I was pretty excited and sure enough, this match did not disappoint.

The action in this match was paced to perfection, I enjoyed when all three men were jockeying for position early on and quite honestly I was ready to praise this match for being brilliant by the two-minute mark, but things only got better from there. There was very little time in this match where any one man was down and out, it was an almost constant rolling line of these three men in the ring together and it made for some brilliant watching.

My favourite part of the match was easily the finish because of how out of nowhere it was. I really thought Strong was going to win when he sent Dream flying and hit the End of Heartache on Dunne, but unbelievably Dream suddenly dropped out of the sky to shitcan Strong and steal the pin, incredible stuff. That’s just one spot in a 20-minute match where the action never lets up, definitely one of my favourite matches of the year so far. However…

1 – Adam Cole(c) def. Johnny Gargano
(NXT Championship)
(3 Stages of Hell)

Let’s face it, nothing on this show could’ve topped this match.

I’ve seen some criticize this match for being “overindulgent” and at 50 minutes I can understand where those people are coming from, however, I think this was paced really well.

The first fall was necessary to ramp up the tension and intensity going into the following two. There was plenty of great action the whole way through the first fall and I was very much a fan of how the finish to that fall played out. I knew Cole was never going to be stupid enough to give up a fall like that, but teasing it only for Gargano to be the one to do it was brilliant.

The second fall seems like the kind of match I normally label as boring but something about how these two went about throwing each other around the arena worked for me. It was slower than the other two falls but given how long this match ended up being, we needed it to catch our breath before some of the mental shit that happened during the final fall.

I wasn’t sure about the weapons-based cage when I first heard about it, but I think these two did a great job at avoiding the gimmicky feel that came across when Ambrose & Jericho did this a couple of years ago, also the faces of Gargano and Cole as the cage descended was a nice little touch. As I mentioned this was in danger of crossing into the gimmicky territory, but every weapon was worked seamlessly into every spot it was in, the only time the action ever really stopped was in order to set up the finish which is quite impressive for a match as long as this.

The spectacle in this match was through the roof and I felt it helped aid this idea that Gargano and Cole’s whole rivalry is being encapsulated in one match. I’m still undecided on whether this was my favourite match of their trilogy, but it’s certainly close.

So that’s what I thought of NXT Takeover: Toronto! Thank you very much for- Oh there’s Matt Riddle!

Anyway, thank you very much for reading, let me know what you thought of the show on Twitter @10ryawoo or in the comments below. Make sure you come back here Monday where I’ll be giving my thoughts of tonight’s Summerslam!

NXT Takeover: Toronto 2019: Predictions & Analysis

Another big 4 weekends, another show much better than the big 4 show itself. It’s time for an NXT Takeover.

While this card still looks fantastic, it doesn’t quite feel like it’ll be as good a show as previous months by virtue of a couple of rematches and some untested talent. However whenever I think this about a Takeover it generally ends up being one of my favourites, so who knows what to think.

Fantastic or not, there will still be winners and losers, so let’s get about picking them, shall we?

Candice LaRae vs Io Shirai

So I don’t know much about Io’s reputation before she joined NXT, but I’m told that “attempted murder” Io is best Io and based on what I’ve seen on NXT weekly so far, I can’t say I disagree. So throwing her in the mix with Candice LaRae, who is just as much of a lovable underdog and fantastic wrestler as her husband and you’ve got the making of a match of the year candidate.

Although, as much as I’d like to see an absolute classic between these two, I also wouldn’t be against Io ripping Candice limb from limb, dancing around in the blood shouting about how she doesn’t need friends….or you know, beating her really dominantly. Which brings me to the obvious because Io Shirai is definitely coming out of this one the victor, she’s been losing to Shayna a lot recently and this new burst of character would go to waste if she lost this early, even if it was a “flukey” win on Candice’s part.

The Street Profits(c) vs The Undisputed Era
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

One day, NXT will be allowed to just have tag team champions without someone stealing them away.

Once again, I don’t think I’ll surprise anyone when I say that I think this match is going to be brilliant. considering how long they’ve been around, it’s weird that this is their first straight-up tag match on a Takeover, but I have no reason to doubt that they’ll knock it out of the park; not to mention they’re in the ring with Undisputed Era.

The real problem I’m having here is picking a winner. Street Profits have basic wrestling logic on their side since they’ve just won the titles it wouldn’t make a great deal of sense for them to lose the titles so soon, especially to a team that’s already held them. That said, the Undisputed Era has a pretty strong case too. For one thing, Street Profits seem to have already been called up, with this weird role where they sit around and chat about everything that’s happened on Raw, but does that really count as a proper debut? Then there’s the driving force of Adam Cole’s promise that The Undisputed Era will be draped in gold, and tonight has all the makings of that promise coming true.

I really want to say Street Profits will retain because I think that’d be the right move, but the case for The Undisputed Era to win is just too strong to ignore, so I’m going with them.

Velveteen Dream(c) vs Roderick Strong vs Pete Dunne
(North American Championship)

Wow, they really did a good job of making so many of these matches hard to pick huh?

First off, the fact that Dunne is finally in NXT Prime is brilliant because quite frankly he should’ve been on every single Takeover anyway because he keeps knocking it out of the park. Secondly, I’m very happy to see a Triple Threat Match on a Takeover for once, we see them so rarely on these shows and given how good main roster Triple Threats are, I’m sure an NXT one – especially with these guys – will be incredible.

Once again, I’m really struggling with picking a winner. As much as I’d be very happy with Velveteen Dream retaining, I feel like this match is where he drops that title, especially given he seemed destined to drop the title to Dominick Dijakovic before he got injured. I’m just not sure who it’ll go too. On the one hand, Pete Dunne is fantastic and should never be without a title ever, not to mention you risk making the UK division look like chumps if Dunne comes to NXT Prime and gets his ass kicked. Admittedly the case for Roddy pretty much begins and ends with Cole’s aforementioned promise of draping Undisputed Era in gold, the thing is, I think if that promise is ever going to come true, it has to be now so I’m picking Roderick Strong to pick up the title.

Shayna Baszler(c) vs Mia Yim
(NXT Women’s Championship)

Mia Yim’s one of those competitors where it always seemed like it was a matter of time until she got a big chance to show her stuff like this and here we are. Despite having a build and look that would seemingly favour a more heelish persona, Yim’s done a great job wrestling as a face and has got a large portion of the NXT fanbase behind her going into this match.

As I alluded to, this should be Mia Yim’s big coming-out party, much like Bianca Belair this match with Shayna will hopefully be when everyone sits up and takes note that she’s just as good a wrestler as all the women who came before her in the division. I imagine Shayna will do what Shayna always does in this match, which is be the most wonderful bastard in the world, which will play right in Yim’s strengths as a babyface.

As much as this will be a big spotlight for Mia Yim, I highly doubt she’ll win. It’s pretty rare in the women’s division that anyone wins the title in their first shot at it, not to mention Baszler’s been such a dominant champion it would be almost a waste to have her lose the title like this. I think Yim will ultimately be the one to unseat Baszler, however, I don’t think it’s going to be on Saturday, so I’m going with Shayna Baszler to retain.

Adam Cole(c) vs Johnny Gargano
(NXT Championship)
(3 Stages of Hell)

I know it’s not being advertised as 3 Stages of Hell, but that’s what it is. Plus “2 out of 3 falls where each fall has a different stipulation” is far too long for a header.

As much as it feels like this feud has gone on for a bit too long already, it’s hard to argue with another match considering both of their previous two were among the best in WWE history. The stipulations seem to play into each other’s hands too and I imagine in some sort of ironic twist, each man will win the fall where the other picked the stipulation (Cole wins the Street Fight, Gargano wins the standard match) and I fully expect to see Undisputed Era get involved during the Street Fight.

As for the final fall, which William Regal will reveal if (when) they are tied up after the first two, a ladder match seems like the easy pick. It’s easy for the crew to quickly set up without killing the pace of the whole match and the condensed time frame will add a great sense of urgency to the whole thing. They could surprise us and throw out NXT’s first-ever Hell in a Cell match, but the only issue with that is the crowd would be able to see the cell up in the rafters (or if they use screens to hide it, it’ll be obvious) so it won’t really be much of a surprise.

Once again, I find myself really struggling to pick a winner. If it wasn’t for one factor I’d say Cole was an easy pick, but the thing is: Tommaso Ciampa. We’ve got confirmation that August is when he’s set to return so with him just over the horizon, could we be heading back to the Gargano vs Ciampa match we were robbed of in April? I know that the ending of Takeover New York changed their relationship slightly but it could still work just as well. Then again, what about the other side of the coin? Imagine Undisputed Era standing in the ring triumphant with all the gold only for Ciampa to appear at the top of the ramp and stake his claim. How cool would that be?!

No amount of logic I apply is going to help me decide one way or the other, so I’m going with my heart and picking Adam Cole.

And that’s it! Thank you very much for- wait a minute where the hell’s Matt Riddle? Odd.

Anyway, thank you very much for taking the time to read this piece, let me know what you think is going to happen on Twitter @10ryawoo or in the comments below. Make sure you stick around over the weekend as I’ll be covering both Takeover and Summerslam!