NXT Takeover: The End

[El Dragon]

Very underwhelmed by the main. Everything the Dallas match had in wildness just wasn't there. Didn't have the hate it felt like it should due to the escape shit. I'm really over Finn.

[...TG]

Those guys worked their asses off but something just didn't connect for me. Oh well, great show - two hours is perfect.

[hammerva]

Not as good as the Dallas match in terms of hate and just out of control action. But still really good. Loved the finish given how everyone was complaining that leaving the cage was a victory.

 

Should be it for Finn in NXT. Now the waiting game to RAW and Smackdown begins again

[Johnny Sorrow]

SAMOA MOTHERFUCKIN' JOE, SON. 😎

[MikeCampbell]

I was hoping that the rubber match between Revival and Alpha would be a 2/3 Falls, but with the sneak attack afterwards, and the fact that the Revival just put over Gargano and Ciampa, it looks like they're going in another direction for both teams.

[SirEdger]

Looks like their names are Gzim Selmani and Sunny Dhinsa.

 

If I'm not mistaken, according to what I read on Twitter from several sources:

 

Selmani is a former Bellator fighter and Dhinsa is a former Canadian national superheavyweight champion.

 

I originally thought that these two were trained by The Great Khali in India, which scares the crap outta me. But having Paul Ellering as their manager sounds really cool to me. Gives them some serious credibility from the start.

[MikeCampbell]

According to Wikipedia, they're called the Authors of Pain.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Ten years ago it would have been Da Hit Squad. 😎

[Alucard]

Aries/Nakamura and Asuka/Nia were badass matches. Plus that tag team match, awesome again and I love the appearance of Paul Ellering

 

So what's the deal with Nia Jax? They give her ring music that sounds fitting for Maryse or Eva Marie, but outfit her like the heel from The Little Mermaid.

 

I love the theme music, reminds me more of something like Chyna's "Don't Treat Me Like a Woman" theme.

[El-P]

This is infinitely more watchable than any WWE TV. The wooden announcing still hurts though. Give me life.

Fun opener. La Sombra's gimmick still screams "We have no idea how to promote a supposed latino star" though. Los Boricuas outfit, really ?

 

American Alpha vs Revival, another very good match between these two teams. They work a little fast to my taste,but maybe I'm just old. Still, Gable is a terrific worker and Revival, as generic as they look, keep this together with a nice Arn Anderson vibe. I dug the 90's Steiner outfits with awful colors.

 

Austin Aries vs Shinsuke Nakamura, very good match too. I have no idea what Aries is upposed to be though, he's soooo from the 00's indy school of generic look * pure-sport-build. And if he's not, well, that's how he came off to me. Looks like a hipster but I couldn't figure any personnality traits. Nakamura costing is better than most. The selling was perfectly fine BTW, Aries working the leg for a minute doesn't call for hobbling around. Taking many shots to taped ribs and not making it a big deal, however, is more problematic. Still match of the night easily.

 

Asuka vs Nia Jaxx. Ok, sorry, but it was really Asuka doing 90% of the work, running, moving, bumping and selling for Jaxx decent but unimpressive power spots. Jaxx has no aura. The fact she's got a cute makeup and awful generic r'n'b theme doesn't help, it's like her gimmick is "I'm a big girl but I'm fine with it." She looks like a servicable big girl worker without charisma at best, a sorta Eagle Sawaii if you will, or a much cuter Gary Allbright. Hell, Monster Ripper as Bertha Faye was much more scary. Asuka did a terrific job though, but it never felt anything but an exercise in teaching how do work with a green and limited opponent. Me want Asuka vs a serious opponent. Gimme Emma.

 

The main event lost me. Fine match, but escape rules + no blood = I don't care that much. Doens't help that Balor isn't very compelling to me, but Joe looked excellent. Needed a lot more hate, grinding against the fence and shit like this. Some excellent *moments* though.

 

Funny how, after 15 years of being irrelevant, TNA seems to be the place to come from to be acknowledged in WWE, complete with keeping your name : Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, AJ Styles, Bobby Roode.

 

Paul Ellering doesn't look that much older from the last time he was on TV, which was probably when Hawk jumped from the Titontran. Still, the old manager gimmick never works. Considering he was last relevant around the late 80's, well, I guess it's a nice pice or wrestling trivia for the WWE Universe. These two jacked up kid look freaky.

 

Ok, when is the NXT NXT ? Before SummerSlam ?

[Ricky Jackson]

Another great Takeover. Really loved the tag match. Nak vs Aries and Asuka vs Jax were both very good. Cage match was good but I felt they didn't take it to that next level, and not just because there was no blood. Also, they need to choose between either having a ref in there or escape the cage rules, don't have both

[Jimmy Redman]

I like how Nia Jax's gimmick is that she's a dumb ass.

 

She's a giant in a land of girls, towering over all of them and able to toss them all around at will. BUT she's green and prone to silly mistakes. So against Bayley she gets trapped in a guillotine and doesn't know what to do. In this match she showed it by tossing Asuka around, but then making lazy, arrogant "lay my hands on them" pin covers. And then at the finish when she started getting kicked in the head and was all like "Yeah! Kick me some more!" and got fucking killed.

 

What's scary about Nia though, is that she is, slowly but surely, learning from these mistakes. After being choked out by Bayley, girls are constantly trying to guillotine her but she now has counters for it. After making a douchebag cover, her next big power move was followed up with a REALLY tight cover. It's just that she doesn't learn fast enough to be able to win a big match.

 

Still, if Nia ever gets all of her shit together at once and gets through a match without making some bone-headed rookie move, the title is all hers. Her inexperience is what keeps the other girls on her level, despite the size difference. But she won't be inexperienced forever, and if she ever turns all the lights on, she has the size and power to be truly unstoppable.

 

In other news, the tag title match was the stuff dreams are made of. Like, best match of the year, non-Sami/Nak division, type stuff.

 

Also, the people taking Shinsuke's song - a song with no words and a harsh violin line that is impossible to sing - and deciding to SING IT FOREVER just like I do in my car was the greatest moment in the history of our great sport.

[Flyin' Brian]

 

 

Ok, when is the NXT NXT ? Before SummerSlam ?

 

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn August 20

[Scarlet-Left]

I enjoyed the show. I don't get the criticism of Aries not selling his taped up ribs. Corey Graves was talking about the fact that he hadn't shown up in the injury report and might just be playing mind games, before the bell even rang.

[The Chief]

I get the rib thing but I think it's too subtle a plot point for most fans, especially the ones in the crowd.

[RCS1988]

Then I didn't miss anything interesting then.

[FMKK]

Just catching up on this show but am I the only one that finds Balor totally overrated? I just feel that everything about his act is superficial; the entrance, the face paint and the work all seems to be ok for show but not really connected to any wider sense of him having a character. He's just a guy who sometimes wears paint. His matches seem to hit a glass ceiling for me in terms of quality too. He does some cool moves I suppose but there's just something missing, maybe in terms of story or psychology, that stops them from ever crossing over into really great territory. Kinda like Seth Rollins. I feel like the bloom may be off the rose with him quite quickly when he is eventually called up to the main roster and doesn't have the aura of being the top NXT guy to keep all the smarks loving him.

[Mad Dog]

He doesn't always play the Demon right. Last night was a good example of how the Demon is different than Finn is. He isn't my favorite.

 

I will say though that my wife loves Finn and she wants to watch the specials to see him and has even expressed interest in going live to see him.

[El-P]

Finn is both a good toy tool (DEMON !) and a total blowjob babyface. But yeah, the Demon entrance was cool the first time I saw it then quickly went into the "you know, it's not that cool, it's actually kinda stupid" category.

 

Also, the people taking Shinsuke's song - a song with no words and a harsh violin line that is impossible to sing - and deciding to SING IT FOREVER just like I do in my car was the greatest moment in the history of our great sport.

 

That was cool, although at some point I wonder how much of this is simply the fans entertaining themselves as opposed to showing support. Dunno.

 

And the other hand, them chanting "This is awesome" about 2 seconds into the cage match is simply ridiculous. At this point, they should chant "This is starting !". Then "This is the shine !" and other "Heat control !" über-meta chants.

[goc]

Finn does seem to be fairly popular with the female audience

 

[Timbo Slice]

Dude in the lower right hand corner of that picture always slays me.

 

Opener was fine, but it actually came off more like a Tye showcase than an Andrade showcase. Andrade is a quick learn, though, and I hope they let him do something akin to the Ingobernables stuff at some point, even though Cesaro has the suit gimmick on lockdown.

 

Tag match was fire. This is it for now, but if Alpha gets the call up and Revival drops the belts to Gargano/Ciampa, they need to feud over the WWE tag belts for the next 10 years. They seem like they are smart enough to mix it up from show to show to the point where it doesn't get stale. Great cutoff spots here, making the guys actually kick out and give more drama to the pin falls. That's a smart, subtle change to tag formula.

 

Aries/Nakamura was a terrific match, Aries' best showing, and great to see it not a 50/50 Indy Dream Match. Aries had a good control segment (fine with the leg selling, 2 minutes a leg work does not a legless Nakamura make) and the stretch run was different and added a lot to Aries' ability to pull off the win. Finish was great, too, as Nak baited the Missile trying to beat the 10 count to set up the win. People who said Nak was coasting here are absolutely 100% wrong.

 

Women's match was really good, as Asuka's dangerous enough to take out even the biggest of competitors, and Jax did enough to make you believe all she needed was one shot. She's definitely improved a lot since the London match, and her getup was straight out of the Combat Toyoda wardrobe, so I'm fine with that. Finish was great, but Asuka/Bayley II is gonna have to deliver something big because I'm not sure how the crowd is going to react after Dallas.

 

Main event was solid, but cage matches in WWE probably need not exist anymore, to be honest. They don't really add anything unless people are doing stuff off the top of them (sad, but unfortunately true), and without blood and without the idea of outside interference helping things aesthetically, it doesn't do much. That being said, Finn bumped like a moron (in a good way) and Joe was just an absolute beast. I'm so happy to have him back and he's right now amongst my Top 10, maybe even Top 5 in the world. Joe/Nak is going to fucking rule.

[El-P]

Finn does seem to be fairly popular with the female audience

 

Holy shit. Gotta love the heart-shape dot after the "face fuck" proposition. Dirty cute I guess.

[NintendoLogic]

I'm not saying Nakamura should have been hobbled the whole match. I just wanted to see some token acknowledgement of the leg work, like shaking his leg to bring the feeling back or something.

 

Also, you probably watch too much wrestling if you refer to Disney movie villains as heels.

[Gutenberger]

Once again a Tekeover delivers big time.

 

The opener didn't do much forme, just too short. It's always good to see Tye though, he is just pure entertainment.

 

That tag match... Gold. I've never been a fan otag team wrestling, I just don't like the fomula which makes it pretty boring to me, most of the time. But these four men I could watch pretty much all night every night, so much energy and chaos, fantastic.

 

Aries/Nak was really, really good too. Not MOTYC for me but still incredibly entertaining. And I loved that they implemented that apron DVD, and the selling just makes it that much more credible.

 

The women's match was fine. Nothing spectacular, but well executed and believable. I adore asuka and could watch her go into rage mode every show.

Thanks to that match, or the preview rather, I've been listening to Baby Metal A LOT over the last week, btw.

 

The main event... Yeah, cage matches without blood just suck. I've been a Joe ark for quite some time now and he so much delivers at the moment, he's just fun to watch. I'd imagine Balor goes up now, probably after MITB to support The Club against new Day and Cena. Haven't seen him as a heel yet, so I'm interested to see how that will work out.

 

Overall, like I said, definitely thumbs up and, like all the Takesovers, can't miss.

[sek69]

I like how Nia Jax's gimmick is that she's a dumb ass.

 

She's a giant in a land of girls, towering over all of them and able to toss them all around at will. BUT she's green and prone to silly mistakes. So against Bayley she gets trapped in a guillotine and doesn't know what to do. In this match she showed it by tossing Asuka around, but then making lazy, arrogant "lay my hands on them" pin covers. And then at the finish when she started getting kicked in the head and was all like "Yeah! Kick me some more!" and got fucking killed.

 

What's scary about Nia though, is that she is, slowly but surely, learning from these mistakes. After being choked out by Bayley, girls are constantly trying to guillotine her but she now has counters for it. After making a douchebag cover, her next big power move was followed up with a REALLY tight cover. It's just that she doesn't learn fast enough to be able to win a big match.

 

Still, if Nia ever gets all of her shit together at once and gets through a match without making some bone-headed rookie move, the title is all hers. Her inexperience is what keeps the other girls on her level, despite the size difference. But she won't be inexperienced forever, and if she ever turns all the lights on, she has the size and power to be truly unstoppable.

 

In other news, the tag title match was the stuff dreams are made of. Like, best match of the year, non-Sami/Nak division, type stuff.

 

Also, the people taking Shinsuke's song - a song with no words and a harsh violin line that is impossible to sing - and deciding to SING IT FOREVER just like I do in my car was the greatest moment in the history of our great sport.

 

 

If you love his song, you'll enjoy this: