[2018-04-07-WWE-NXT Takeover: New Orleans] The Undisputed Era vs The Authors of Pain vs Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong

[cactus]

Adam Cole is taken out early and he doesn't contribute to the match at all, which is understandably as he did work a ladder match an hour earlier. This match made me realize how much I want a Pete Dunne vs Kyle O'Reilly singles match. They had great chemistry and Dunne's old school leanings helped O'Reilly from slipping into that land of indy wankery which has entered on so many occasions. Even that silly hybrid no-sell/selling thing from that nasty German Suplex didn't detract from the action too much.

 

A tornado tag-esque tag match where everyone's weaknesses are well hidden and their strengths enhanced. This takes the best from that ROH 'epic' formula and strips out the bad stuff and plays it 3x speed. Everyone came in and got their shit in and got out. Nothing too hokey. A great spotfest with a hell of an ending. I won't spoil it, but that swerve was gloriously. I didn't see it coming and the reaction on the audience's faces was golden.

 

★★★★

[DMJ]

I was not as high on this. Part of it, to me, was the context. After everything we'd seen in the ladder match to open up the show, starting the match with such a loose structure and then, in general, keeping that loose structure going meant that they were going to have to bust out every signature move/high spot they could think of to keep things moving. They did that and they did it well, but it still felt "less than" in comparison to the insanity of the opener. If one had swapped the two on the card, I think I would've likely appreciated everyone's effort more, but obviously, with the way the Undisputed Era's story went, that wouldn't have worked as well.

 

There were individual moments in this match that I really liked, but as a whole, it didn't leave me nearly as excited as any of the previous AOP multi-team matches either. I'm hoping the AOP get called up soon as it could only hurt them to stick around longer and not regain the belts.

[Richeyedwards]

This was more of a three way tornado match than a tag match also the structure seemed off in that o'reily was the biggest babyface in this match despite being supposedly a heel. He was fighting against a bunch of bigger men on his own with his only help being his friend who had already wrestled that night had injured ribs and was put through a table at the the start of the match. Also strong was beating up kyle all match and then just joins him, why?

 

AOP were the mvp's I have not seen much of them but they are really good i would love them in the smackdown tag scene with new day and usos or a big guys match vs the bludgeon brothers. There was also a moment in this match where o'reily takes a German and pops up before collapsing like he was kawada which caused me to spit my drink out with laughter it was really bad.

 

This match is problematic due to some of the structure reasons mentioned above but as a sprint tag match it was good it just makes little sense to me. so i am unsure as how to rank it similar to the ladder opener for me **3/4