NXT TakeOver Unstoppable... Live as it happens

[Timbo Slice]

Sasha/Becky is a legit MOTYC and might be in my Top 5. Someone gave an Ozaki comp to Sasha Banks and I about marked the fuck out for that stepping armbar. Absolutely nasty looking. She's surpassed Charlotte for sure, but I'm hoping she and Charlotte get one more match together at some point.

 

The one thing I didn't like about the main was that they did that whole ref thing at the end again and didn't really determine if the match was over or not. They did a great job setting up the shoulder issue with Zayn (much like they did with Itami) and Owens is the best menacing heel I've seen in a long time. He's added a ton to it in such a short time it's mindblowing. I agree that Joe's music wasn't the best, but man, when he walked out and threw the towel down, I was excited as all hell. Owens/Joe is gonna be legitimately incredible, especially with Joe having really put in work in the last couple of months to get in shape. Hopefully Owens' balky knee allows him to get in shape, too, because they're gonna really have to come up huge.

 

I think I'm out on Balor at this point, too. The entrance is cool, but he's going through the motions in many ways. He's also quickly becoming a bit overshadowed with what's happening at the top of the card, and I don't really see how he's going to fit in other than just lining up to job to Owens again.

 

You wonder if the NXT top guys getting shots at Cena is going to lead to something over the summer that plays into SummerSlam somehow, but with Zayn out, along with Itami (who it seems was going to be the guy to get the title shot had he not gotten injured) you wonder who's gonna get left behind if Owens actually gets the push to the main roster full time. Joe seems like someone who won't be at NXT for long, either. Suffice to say, the interest level for me is at an all-time high.

[El-P]

- Enzo and Cass got screwed, but I agree with the NAO comparison - both good and bad. They need to add some new material to their act, which NAO never did and they suffered for it.

 

Yep. The NAO were really fun for the first months, before they got associated with DX and got stuck with a unique a sing-along catchphrase. That stuff gets old quick and tends to get the audience to only pop for the entrance.

 

- I don't know what the hell Blake and Murphy are trying to be, but it rings completely false in every way - like two in-over-their-heads indy kids playing dress-up. Just awful. I don't buy their "characters" for a second.

 

Lenny Lane & Lodi. That's who they remind me of. That's not a compliment.

 

 

Someone gave an Ozaki comp to Sasha Banks and I about marked the fuck out for that stepping armbar.

 

Damn. I knew that reminded me of something, but I havent watched any joshi puroresu in more than ten years. Oz ! Of course !

[C.S.]

- I don't know what the hell Blake and Murphy are trying to be, but it rings completely false in every way - like two in-over-their-heads indy kids playing dress-up. Just awful. I don't buy their "characters" for a second.

 

Lenny Lane & Lodi. That's who they remind me of. That's not a compliment.

 

I can see that. The only thing is, I actually believed Lenny and Lodi when they were doing that gimmick - at least to a degree. This just feels like two bad actors auditioning for a part they have no hope of getting. It's brutally bad. Blake and Murphy can't pull it off at all.

[jcmmnx]

Cass and Enzo usually have a few great new jokes when they get to the ring after they get their usual stuff in. For me they really excel in the backstage promos and skits where they just seem to interact with each other off the cuff, and Carmella adds way more to those skits than she does in front of an audience. I've seen noticeable improvements in Cass in both the ability and look departments lately. Also that was easily the best Enzo has ever looked. Just show that guy nothing but Ricky Morton tapes. I would say them along with Bayley have huge potential in being marketed to kids/teenagers when they get to main roster.

[Russellmania]

Bayley too. She is neck and neck with Sami Zayn as the best natural babyface of this generation. I don't know if she's as much of a workrate type, but she just has so much fire and has an incredible ability to connect with the audience.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I thought the first half of the show was unexpectedly mediocre. I only knew two matches on the card going into the show, but usually NXT delivers fun matches up and down the card. I liked the women's tag, but the fitness model chick sucked. I really like Emma and actually thought she could have gone more over the top with her heel mannerisms early on, but the character work started to seep in late. I like the Cactus/Dreamer-esque story between Emma and Bayley. I think Bayley is an awesome face worker and should get a crack at Banks before they do Banks/Lynch II.

I really have enjoyed Enzo/Cass and now they have a wicked hAwT chick with them I am all aboard on Certified G/Bonafide Stud Express. I thought the shine was well done, but Blake & Murphy just have nothing on offense like most 1980s WWF heel tag teams, man they would have fit right in. Cass is fun on offense. Adding another hot blonde is definitely the way to make this feud more entertaining. Four matches in and this was my favorite match, we have a problem.

 

Then Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch happened and all was right with the world. Sasha is a bad bitch and I love it. There was a point during Sasha's phenomenal heat segment where I though to myself this match really needs a short arm scissors and the next move was just that. Straight cash money. Becky forgot to sell the arm initially, but by the end, she was selling it just fine. From a pure offensive perspective, I love, love Becky Lynch. She needs to define who she is more, but in the ring she was awesome. I am a wicked mark for rolling submissions and Becky had at least three that just blew my mind. This match is a statement on what women's wrestling should be by accentuating what women naturally have in spades over men and that's flexibility. There were at least two spots that men just can't do because they don't have the flexibility. Women sticking to the mat with great selling and strategy can not only compete, but excel over the men. Incredible match and I will do a full write-up before year's end. This is my choice for the best women's match in WWE history (slam dunk, in my opinion) and the best match of the year so far in WWE. ****1/2

I enjoyed the booking of Zayn/Owens. Zayn starts off hot and will not be denied. Owens puts enough of a defense to make Zayn earn it, but this is Zayn's redemption and he is going to kick ass. Then it is just turns on a dime with the powerbomb on the apron. It shows how fragile Zayn was that one powerbomb fucked him up and it told a good story. SAMOA JOE~! I don't think we got an AJ vs Joe 2015 match, which makes me sad, but hey Joe in the WWE is some cool shit.

[donsem43]

Balor vs Breeze

If they want to make the how makeup deal really mean something then Balor needs to raise his in-ring work. Otherwise, he just looks like he's going to a comic con cosplaying his own fanfic character.

Tyler Breeze needs a fresh dance partner. I like him as a worker and the gimmick is awesome, but he never seems to have matches that stand out. A feud with Solomon Crowe could be really good, but a step down career wise.

Every WWE show needs a "Chinlock City" sign.

 

Women's Tag

Pretty much filler. Didn't really advance the Bailey/Emma feud. Teased Charlotte/Dana but that could really expose Charlotte and they're really trying to protect her. Dana looks like somebody who's more interested in her entrance and poses than her in-ring work.

 

Corbin vs Rhyno

It will be interesting to see how patient they are with Corbin. He looks like a guy they keep talking themselves into keeping but there is no guarantee that he'll get any better or worse than what he is now.

 

Tag Titles

So, the storyline leading up to this was centered around Carmella. Then, when they actually have the match she's an afterthought. It would have helped the champs get over better if they worked a couple of spots with her but that's the problem with most WWE heels. They're only heels during promos and back stage stuff.

Did love Enzo selling, especially after the hot tag. Love/hate the finish. Enzo's selling did make it plausible for little Alexa Bliss to take her out, but it did make Cass look like the biggest idiot in the room for literally leaving Enzo hanging to check on Carmella.

 

Women's Title

Sasha Banks... just WOW!!! I mean Becky Lynch was really good definitely not just along for the ride but it still felt like it was the Sasha show. Pretty much everything she did meant something, all of the little things she added worked. Hard to believe she gone from being a nobody to, arguably, a top 5 woman in the world. Only Meiko Satomura and Kana are clearly better.

I'll have to rewatch some stuff but this might be the best women's match to happen in a U.S. promotion.

 

Main Event

Maybe it's just me, but this match seemed like it was designed to write Sami Zayn out of NXT. With Joe showing up, it looked like they were trying to replace the fallen hero with a new one.

The match itself was fine, maybe hurt by what it had to follow. The brawling was good but it only felt like they were using it to move around to setup the next spot/sequence.

If they're going to do these injury stoppages then they should get someone to play a ringside doctor. It would make it more clear to the audience as to what is going on rather than gang of refs/security they use to break up any other type of similar situation.

I loved Joe's promo at the end but he's got to get rid of the 8 bit video game theme music.

[dexstar]

Joe's music strikes me as something that is lame initially but able to ingrain itself and stay for a while, kinda like the beep boop beep boop of My Time back in the day with HHH.

[SomethingSavage]

Joe's music did sound a bit... off. I think I would have preferred a ripoff of the old "Champ Is Here" ROH theme, but this one might just take some time to stick. Truth be told, a lot of themes sound strange on first listen. That's especially the case when you start to associate one guy with one specific theme though. So there's that.

 

As far as Balor goes, I think the "Best Case" scenario with him lies in those big bomb-throwing WWE main event style matches for the time being. His most hyped matches from NXT so far seem to be the ones with Neville & Owens - both of which were structured in that style. It's the usual sequence of "bomb offense, pause to sell and rest, reset, and go again." It's just back and forth big moves to set the stage as something epic or grand, even if it's not all that really.

 

It just doesn't translate in the smaller scale matches - like this one with Breeze. I don't think it's a case where he's condemned for not "getting it" yet. He may get there. In the meantime, I'd just like to see some fundamental stuff from the guy. Not everything needs to be treated like an all-out war when it isn't. This match could've been served better as a straightforward match without any of the "risk life or limb" stuff that seemed way too staged and unnecessary.

[Slasher]

For me, the problem with Balor is that he doesn't wrestle any different in his body paint than when he is a regular guy. They should be booking it as if Finn is a regular wrestler but that in big time matches on big shows he allows for the eye of Balor to open, donning body paint and just eating his opponents alive. And to combat the idea that fans might have where he should just be Balor all the time to win, book it so that being Balor does take a lot out of him. Maybe he collapses in exhaustion at the end of his victories or during matches where he is just Finn, being prone to more mistakes or something. They developed an interesting idea with the whole Finn/Balor dynamic and should play that up to the hilt.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

For me, the problem with Balor is that he doesn't wrestle any different in his body paint than when he is a regular guy. They should be booking it as if Finn is a regular wrestler but that in big time matches on big shows he allows for the eye of Balor to open, donning body paint and just eating his opponents alive. And to combat the idea that fans might have where he should just be Balor all the time to win, book it so that being Balor does take a lot out of him. Maybe he collapses in exhaustion at the end of his victories or during matches where he is just Finn, being prone to more mistakes or something. They developed an interesting idea with the whole Finn/Balor dynamic and should play that up to the hilt.

Personally, I am not a big fan of anything with Balor. Most times when I say I don't like the entrance and paint, the response is "you don't like anything," but I just think they and the character are really lame. It's already getting played out by the time he reaches the ring in a small room. That being said, I didn't care for Prince Devitt in NJPW (especially the last year or so he was there), so maybe I am just pre-disposed to not being into the guy.

 

I also totally agree with goc re: Full Sail. I don't think being over in front of that crowd means anything. However, if a guy CAN'T get over in that room, they might as well just release them.

[dawho5]

Balor v. Breeze

 

Perfectly fine for an opener. Lots of highspots without a ton of structure. I have grown to hate Balor's entrance, especially the demon one. His finish is ridiculous kinds of hurty though. It's a perfect WWE finish in it's simplicity + painful looking.

 

Women's Tag

 

Okay, note to whoever is changing up all the booking. Dana has a 3-5 minute match in her at best. And half of that is going to be bad timing and awkwardness. So keep her out of the matches with people who can work. Bayley is all kinds of awesome as the little engine that could babyface. Emma is not as bad as a heel as I would have guessed. Only problem is she's in the same division as Sasha which makes her seem like a bargain basement variation. There was good stuff here for sure but I think Dana needs to be moved to the main roster as she fits that match style perfectly.

 

Corbin v. Rhyno

 

When Titus was in NXT I kept hoping they'd put him with Baron in a "This is what you become if you don't learn to work" feud. But instead they bogged down the main events with him for too long. At least if they are going to have Rhyno around and spouting off they gave him the right target. Corbin desperately needs some real offense to work with if he's going to work longer matches. Rhyno's bump off the top was incredible.

 

Tag Championship

 

I hate Enzo/Cass' entrance with a passion. Enzo busting out actual wrestling moves was shocking as Hell. Up until that point he had been completely and utterly worthless in any kind of in-ring capacity. Saying that Enzo's performance here is miles ahead of everything he's done on NXT TV is both true and incredibly sad. Make him a manager and focus on Cass, who needs more big spots but is at least passable. BAM have flashes of being good, but the heel turn really killed them. I thought they were better as up-and-coming babyfaces with actual offense. The Carmella/Alexa feud is going to be interesting in a "let's see if it works" way. Both are lost when it comes to working, Carmella is good when working submissions and Alexa can hit a few of her highspots with consistency. If both improve it might help elevate them, but if they continue to have awful timing and inconsistent execution it's gonna be rough to watch. Also I'm not sure I buy Alexa as a heel.

 

Sasha v. Becky

 

Okay, you know how I didn't particularly like the rest of the show? I no longer care. Yeah they got a little cute with the roll-ups at the beginning but they didn't go into Dean Malenko-style pushing the opponent out of the pin into their cover levels of bad. And everything after was incredible. Sasha is the best heel in the company with Owens right behind. One of the reasons I say that is because Becky was a heel right up to 2 weeks short of the show. And somehow by the end of the match she's a babyface despite getting in by putting one over on Charlotte. That's some god damn heel work by Sasha there. I would call that the best match of the year over Zayn v. Owens 1 and Zayn v. Neville.

 

Zayn v. Owens

 

I loved Zayn's extended shine. That was some incredible shit right there. The ending takes a lot away from it, but I understand why they did what they did. They wanted to put Owens' apron PB over as the killer and not the shoulder injury. It just detracts a lot from the match. And when you think about it, I would guess that the tag championship and Rhyno/Corbin were meant to be shorter. It's just that Zayn was injured and couldn't work the match they wanted to do for this slot. So they cut it down from 25 minutes and tacked that ending on as well as putting some more time into a couple of other matches. Still, the Zayn shine was massive amounts of incredible and I want more! Owens forcing the crowd to hate him despite their willingness to love him is some kind of holy shit awesome revelation within the WWE.

[Coffey]

 

For me, the problem with Balor is that he doesn't wrestle any different in his body paint than when he is a regular guy. They should be booking it as if Finn is a regular wrestler but that in big time matches on big shows he allows for the eye of Balor to open, donning body paint and just eating his opponents alive. And to combat the idea that fans might have where he should just be Balor all the time to win, book it so that being Balor does take a lot out of him. Maybe he collapses in exhaustion at the end of his victories or during matches where he is just Finn, being prone to more mistakes or something. They developed an interesting idea with the whole Finn/Balor dynamic and should play that up to the hilt.

Personally, I am not a big fan of anything with Balor. Most times when I say I don't like the entrance and paint, the response is "you don't like anything," but I just think they and the character are really lame. It's already getting played out by the time he reaches the ring in a small room. That being said, I didn't care for Prince Devitt in NJPW (especially the last year or so he was there), so maybe I am just pre-disposed to not being into the guy.

 

I also totally agree with goc re: Full Sail. I don't think being over in front of that crowd means anything. However, if a guy CAN'T get over in that room, they might as well just release them.

 

 

A lot of it might just be getting older & seeing everything too. Were you impressed by The Great Muta the first time you saw him? Imagine an 8-year-old seeing Demon Balor for the first time.

[C.S.]

Personally, I am not a big fan of anything with Balor. Most times when I say I don't like the entrance and paint, the response is "you don't like anything," but I just think they and the character are really lame. It's already getting played out by the time he reaches the ring in a small room.

 

I feel the exact same way.