NXT Takeover: London (Spoilers)

[Matt D]

Joe deserves a run on the big show he's looked terrific lately. How fucking awesome is Bayley vs Asuka going to be? Really good showing from Emma I have no idea why they can't use a woman that attractive and that talented on the main roster. Crews kinda sucks. I thought Finn did most of the heavy lifting in their match a few weeks ago, and Corbin completely out classed him here.

What I'm really excited for is Asuka and Bayley teaming up first.

[Sean Liska]

It's amazing how these shows are always 2 hours of little things done right that I don't get anywhere else in wrestling. It's like HHH would be a great poster here breaking down what works with 85 Continental.

[C.S.]

I thought they specifically signed Asuka to a NXT contract only and told her she would never be called up?

 

Why would she sign such a ridiculous contract that would uproot her from her home on the other side of the world, only to be stuck in a developmental fed forever? Unless it's a short term deal for more money than usual?

 

Another question: Why is her name pronounced "Aska"? Where's the u? Why waste a perfectly good vowel?

[sek69]

One thing that stands out to me is how NXT doesn't follow the WWE formula where you have to have a filler match between the two main events. You don't need to have a death spot on every PPV.

[Woof]

One thing that stands out to me is how NXT doesn't follow the WWE formula where you have to have a filler match between the two main events. You don't need to have a death spot on every PPV.

 

Well that's easy to do when you don't book any filler matches for the card to begin with.

[dexstar]

I thought they specifically signed Asuka to a NXT contract only and told her she would never be called up?

 

Yeah I definitely read that. It makes sense, she's a guaranteed over act as a NXT Diva main eventer and that's necessary running the more robust touring schedule I think.

[Sean Liska]

Re watching the Dawson/Wilder-Enzo/Cass match. Such a loving tribute to 80s tag wrestling with a mix of 2015. NXT is so much better than anything else in wrestling. No one hated 2003 HHH more than me but tough to have negative feelings right now. If I'm a mark for being tricked into enjoying his vanity project than please keep tricking me.

[Jingus]

Man, fuck this. Enzo and Cass better be getting called up.

Would now be the best time for that? The main roster's tag division is unusually crowded at the moment. They've got New Day, the Wyatts, the two lucha teams, the Ascension, the Dudleys, the Usos, and at least a couple of thrown-together teams that I'm blanking on. In theory it could be a great environment to get a new team over since they've got so many different opponents to potentially work with, but it also leaves a lot more room for them to get lost in the crowd.

 

The same problem is facing Bayley and Asuka. Frankly, I don't want either one of them to be called up, or at least not anytime soon. I have zero faith in the office booking Bayley to showcase her strengths on Raw in the same way that she's handled in NXT. And I've got less-than-zero faith in their ability to do anything productive with a joshi superworker who has twice the stiffness and half the language skills of all the other women on the roster. I agree with Matt D, I just wanna see the two of them teaming up as the developmental-chick-equivalent to the MegaPowers for a long time, getting fed a long line of heels until the inevitable explosion.

 

Another question: Why is her name pronounced "Aska"? Where's the u? Why waste a perfectly good vowel?

Because... Japan. Same reason why Misawa's finisher, first word: "Emerald" had at least three mutually exclusive spellings of its second word. Translation becomes infinitely harder when you're going back and forth between alphabetic and kanji-based languages. Add in the fact that pronunciation isn't always done identically (the L/R difficulty among Japanese speakers, and probably similar cringe-worthy difficulty with Westerners pronouncing Eastern sounds which don't really show up in European languages) and you're just gonna get a lot of times when something makes no damn sense and there doesn't seem to be any reason for it.

[Codysseus]

Really loved that Bayley/Jax match. Bayley's a star. Her selling was really top notch and made Nia look incredible while getting you to really pull for the comeback/worry about the result. Wonderful match.

[dexstar]

First, a Bayley/Asuka team up (which is absolutely coming against Nia/Eva Marie) makes me Archer style sploooosh with excitement.

 

I don't think there's a chance in hell Bayley isn't called up in the next few months though. And it's the right call to try. They might fuck it up with her booking but if they don't, she's the Diva's John Cena. Asuka I can definitely see staying in NXT and leading them on the road (are we sure that's not what Finn is also going to do in his division)?

 

Regarding Enzo/Cass ... I agree they need the callup. Ideally in a smark city crowd post-PPV where the entrance gets the mega pop. I hope it happens soon-ish. Imagine a New Day vs. Enzo/Cass feud.

[Woof]

Even though I was slightly underwhelmed by the card coming in (it was just lacking something special on paper), they once again over-delivered in my eyes. There was nothing here I didn't like, outside of a few nitpicky moments. Anyway, some thoughts...

~Right off the bat, I hate the way Greg Hamilton does ring introductions. Everytime he says "the following CON-test" I wanna punch him. The way he puts that hard break in the middle of words is aggravating. You gotta go UP vocally at the end to sell the excitement.

~Emma is tremendous in this heel role. She carries herself like a badass, which is hard to do when you're not an imposing physical specimen
~The spinning backfists from Asuka looked great and I'm legit shocked WWE has never given that to a main roster guy in hopes of making it a killer finish

~Enzo is actually turning into a decent worker. He used to be a guy who could talk and sell a beating, but he's slowly added some sneaky offensive stuff to his repetoire and it makes him a more interesting overall package
~I can't tell if Cass is any good or not, since he doesn't usually do much outside of take hot tags. His singles stuff last year while Enzo was out was really "blah", but I have to assume he's improved since then. Not sure when we'll see it though.
~Loved the way Dawson cranked on the headlock early on, really leaning back with it. That's one of those holds where guys will grab it and just stand upright, making it look like nothing's happening. The simple act of putting space between you and your opponent and then leaning in on him turns it into something of note and more guys should do it.
~The camera work in these early matches from whoever was on the floorcam was making me nauseous. You can follow the action without yanking the camera to follow each punch, numbnuts
~Props to the ref for not acknowledging the heel blind tag he didn't see. It pisses me off when refs disallow a babyface tag so vehemently and then turn around and allow a heel tag seconds later. The heels need to earn it, not just have the guy shrug off the rules just because it's a cheap way to get crowd heat. If the heels (and ref) work it right, the timing should be that when he turns around he's not sure if they even changed out. It's about creating confusion on what happened, not just blatantly ignoring it.
~I totally bit on the false finish where Enzo got pulled out of the ring off of the pin attempt. Love that spot when timed well

~Corbin shouting "GO BACK TO RING OF HONOR" killed me. I love that he apparently thinks anybody who has indie cred went through there at some point.
~Probably the best Corbin match I've seen to date. His crowd interaction in the early parts kept things interesting and his selling has really improved. This was the first time I saw him where I thought, "yeah I can see him on the main roster".
~The slow mo on Crews' standing moonsault made it look GORGEOUS.
~Not that there was anything you could do about it, but Corbin's win more or less told me Balor was retaining. Corbin needs a straight-up title shot soon and this win puts him into that spot.

~Bayley vs Nia started kinda clunky for me even though I could see the story they were telling, I almost thought it was gonna just go down as a total style clash, but hot damn did they ever hit their stride in the last 2/3's
~Nia stands around too much when she's on offense. Couple of times there I thought to myself that she really had no clue what to do next
~The crowd chants were cute, but man audiences need to learn to pick their spots. It's cool in the opening parts of a match where the pace is slow and the wrestlers aren't doing a whole lot, but once the action kicks in it needs to be saved for moments when the babyface needs a pick-me-up. They broke out into the Bayley song about 3/4 of the way through when Nia was actually doing stuff and going for pins and it made it seem like the audience wasn't into the actual action that was going on.

~I haven't really seen much of Balor outside of his NXT run and I gotta say, this is probably the best he's looked in that time. I usually struggle with him because everything he does looks good, but it doesn't really grab me. Here I was buying into his offense more.
~Lots of credit for the above to Joe, who sold really well I thought. I love his big guy selling, where he won't just go down on a solid shot, but he'll sell the shock of it and get wobbly. He makes smaller guys earn their knockdowns, which totally makes sense given how thick he is.

Really fun show overall where once again I can't take issue with any of the booking. We had one ref bump that didn't even play into the finish, and no other bullshit. That's the way a supercard should go. Decisive finishes that position guys for the next round of build. Save the shenanigans for weekly TV (and even then use it sparingly so it carries weight). Week in, week out, NXT delivers a show that deserves my full attention and is never just "background" for me.

[Jmare007]

I thought it was an outstanding show. Really impressed with Bailey vs Nia Jax.

 

 

I thought they specifically signed Asuka to a NXT contract only and told her she would never be called up?

 

Why would she sign such a ridiculous contract that would uproot her from her home on the other side of the world, only to be stuck in a developmental fed forever? Unless it's a short term deal for more money than usual?

 

Another question: Why is her name pronounced "Aska"? Where's the u? Why waste a perfectly good vowel?

 

 

I think that's how Japanese pronounce a lot of names that have a "u". Saske, Daiske, Shinske, Kenske, etc.

[The Man in Blak]

I thought it was an outstanding show. Really impressed with Bailey vs Nia Jax.

 

 

I thought they specifically signed Asuka to a NXT contract only and told her she would never be called up?

 

Why would she sign such a ridiculous contract that would uproot her from her home on the other side of the world, only to be stuck in a developmental fed forever? Unless it's a short term deal for more money than usual?

 

Another question: Why is her name pronounced "Aska"? Where's the u? Why waste a perfectly good vowel?

 

 

I think that's how Japanese pronounce a lot of names that have a "u". Saske, Daiske, Shinske, Kenske, etc.

 

Yeah, the letter 'u' can frequently be silent or devoiced. There's a syllable there for it - Ah-suh-Ka - but speed of conversation and linguistic drift have chipped away at how much that middle syllable hangs around over time, sort of like how "Worcester" evolved into "Wor-eh-ster" with a silent C and then just "wooster" in English.

 

#TheMoreYouKnow

[Johnny Sorrow]

This show fucking RULED.

[cpst]

This show was amazing. I can't believe I enjoyed a Baron Corbin match. I only have a few minor nitpicks. The ref bump in the first match was really weak. I sometimes take a rougher bump getting out of bed. Enzo and Cass losing the tag team title match seemed off, especially after the pre-match promo; maybe there needed to be more underhanded tactics leading to the finish? Nia Jax's leg drop sucks. She needs to get more air or switch to a different move. Is she worried about hurting people?

[cpst]

 

I thought they specifically signed Asuka to a NXT contract only and told her she would never be called up?

 

Why would she sign such a ridiculous contract that would uproot her from her home on the other side of the world, only to be stuck in a developmental fed forever? Unless it's a short term deal for more money than usual?

 

Another question: Why is her name pronounced "Aska"? Where's the u? Why waste a perfectly good vowel?

 

I am not an expert in Japanese phonology but I think the 'u' is devoiced, so it sounds closer to a pause but not like you would typically pronounce "aska".

[Coffey]

Great show but I was surprised no titles changed hands. I could have seen every single belts switch & none of the changes would have shocked me. That's just good story-telling. I loved Bayley's never give up attitude & Nia getting more & more frustrated.

 

Baron Corbin is gonna fuck around & get uber good.

[NotJayTabb]

Really surprised at how much I enjoyed the tag match. The Mechanics really are one of those teams that you buy as a legit team, rather than two guys put together. The crowd chanting "Which one's Dash? Which one's Dawson?" really ignores the bigger picture, you don't need to know which one is which, as they're one well-oiled unit. It was also the first time I've thought Enzo looked somewhat competent in ring, and someone who might have a future as a solo act. Big Cass remains absolute garbage though, 7ft tall with absolutely zero presence. If he'd not been partnered with Enzo and allowed to take half of his catchphrases, he'd have been fired before you could say "shittier Lance Hoyt"

[cpst]

I love how they played off old wrestling tropes like the face being caught with the foreign object they didn't use, or the ref missing the tap out - giving you this sense of dread/familiarity of what's next - only to have it not work out that way. Well done.

It was great how they were able to suck you in for the second sequence at the end when Dana Brook got ejected from ringside. The face distraction leading to the heel approaching from behind with the foreign object, only to be defended by Asuka. The unused foreign object being right in front of the camera for the 3-count was especially poetic.

[JNLister]

Re Japanese pronounciation, there's a good explanation here: http://www.learn-japanese.info/pronunciation.html

 

The short version is that "su" is an anomaly. Japanese is made up of sounds rather than letters. Most of these sounds are what we'd think of as a consonant followed by a vowel. Most of these sounds are then pronounced as we'd expect, whether it be ku, nu, fu, mu or sa, se, so. However, with su, the u is clipped to the point of almost disappearing if there's another sound after it. Hence Kensuke Sasaki is "Sa-sa-ki" but Great Sasuke is "Sa-s'ke"

[TravJ1979]

Card of the year. I was engaged in and loved every match (Baron/Crews least of all, just because Corbin does nothing for me.)

 

Best Emma match I've ever seen.

Best. Enzo/Cass match I've ever seen.

Best Dash/Dawson match I've ever seen.

Best Nia Jax match I've ever seen.

Best Finn Balor in NXT match I've ever seen.

[funkdoc]

yea, japanese tends to do that when there's only one vowel in a syllable. they pronounce okada's first name in a similar fashion ("kazuchka").

 

vowel sounds are drawn out when there's two of that vowel in a row. think "iizuka" or "mutoh" ("oh"/"ou" is actually "oo" but they spell it differently in romaji).

[The Following Contest]

Finn needs to go to Dallas, in front of the 93,184 fans, and beat Undertaker clean. Taker retires.

[Slasher]

If we are looking at NXT guys seriously for Taker at Wrestlemania, I hate to say this but I think Baron Corbin is the guy. It would be cool if it was Joe but at this point I wouldn't bother really. Reason being that if they ever decide to pair then it really should be something like a 3 match series. I think an one off match wouldn't be as effective as if Corbin did it. Balor...gotta think Undertaker would be more comfortable working with someone just a wee bit bigger than Balor. I know Taker has preferred opponents in recent years as being guys who stood a chance of helping Taker produce a quality matchup. I don't think he would be comfortable working with Balor and the match would suffer as a result. If he has to have a bad match at the biggest show of the year, might as well go with a bit more imposing a presence like Bray Wyatt or if it happens, Baron Corbin.

[goodhelmet]

Corbin doesn't have the star power or presence to face Taker. I like the sentiment but it wouldn't work... at all.