[2018-04-07-WWE-NXT Takeover: New Orleans] Ember Moon vs Shayna Baszler

[cactus]

A few of the exchanges look a touch awkward as if their timings were ever so slightly off. Shayna Baszler came off as someone you wouldn't want to mess with. The arm stomping spot looked devastating and it played into the finish very well. Baszler having to adjust her submission because the damage done to her arm was a great touch.

 

The weakest match on this exceptional card is still very much worth your time, even if their previous Takeover match was much better.

 

★★★¼

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This was a damn good match overall, but also quite disappointing. I LOVED their previous 2 matches - this one, the 3rd meeting between them, was not nearly on the same level, sadly. I didn't care at all for the stuff that happened before Ember started targeting Shayna's arm; after that the match got absolutely awesome. Ember's targeting of it was great (loved her trying to break out of the Rear Naked Choke by smashing Shayna's arm) & Shayna's selling was absolutely outstanding. Very good sense of urgency from that point on. It's a shame that the first half of the match was so dull & heatless. ***1/4

[Richeyedwards]

Ember moon reminds me of Marty Scrull in the sense of being all surface and over gimmicked to make up for being really generic and boring, also like marty it does not seem sincere or real there is a major disconnect. Shayna however rules, she looks and acts baddass and the shoulder stuff in this match was nasty and well sold holding her own hair to lock in the choke was brilliant. Moon fights the choke for a long time but eventually passes out.

 

I enjoyed this but moon was largely along for the ride for me, the back and forth at the start was not great but the main thrust of the match after shanya injured her shoulder was pretty much all gold. ***1/2

[Loss]

I'd probably go way higher on this than most just because I thought the psychology was so strong -- creative without being cute. Talk about a way to get a badass over as a badass by selling. ****1/4

[bradhindsight]

I'm with Loss on the psychology - really strong. The end was drawn out a touch much for my taste (although I loved Moon trying different ways to break, and going back to some also), but this was a great way to lay out a match with a badass like Baszler.

[Maciej]

Yeah, I thought this ruled. I don't think Ember's character work is her strong suit, but I think the way she moves in the ring is actually much more distinct than most people. Like, if you put a mask and body suit on her and watched her wrestle I think you could immediately figure out who she was from the way she throws herself into her kicks and stuff like that. That's a weird sentence. Anyways:

 

I like pretty much all the work they do here, I like the selling in the big spots, and, maybe most importantly, this match gave me two things really unique things that also worked as great character moments for Baszler: the Lethal Weapon spot and the the hair grip on the sleeper. One of my fav matches on the card and, therefore, of the year so far.

[El-P]

Ember works so well with Baszler, who's coming around quite well as far as in-ring stuff goes. That punch straight to the face at the very beginning followed by the grin = gold. I want a match with Suzuki. Anyway, this was at worst very good. Ember Moon is one hell of a worker with a cool look, what more do people want these days ? She carried the bulk of the action,while Baszler was a terrific heel who bumped her shoulder into the post to pop it back. Yeah, another winner here.