[2018-06-16-WWE-NXT Takover: Chicago II] Aleister Black vs Lars Sullivan

[cactus]

Lars Sullivan is NXT's answer to Braun Strowman. This is one of those matches where you find yourself scratching your head how the babyface will end up making their comeback and getting the win. It's a rare yet welcomed feeling to get when you are watching as an adult as it takes me back to watch wrestling as a child and how one more big move is definitely going to do the heel in. After Black gets his shine segment, Sullivan had me convinced that he was winning this. Black's leg is worked and he sells it consistently.

 

Even with the botched-to-high-heaven Black Mass finish, this was still brilliant.

 

★★★★¼

[nivvad]

This was weird. I can't say Lars did a bad job, but at the same time he failed to impress me beyond "vanilla hoss". I can't say Black carried the match either because all he did was just spam strikes, several of which obviously didn't even hit but were still sold lmao. Still very hard hitting I suppose, and it wasn't even a bad match. Just weird chemistry is probably the worst thing about this match, ***3/4.

[KawadaSmile]

Black compensated that horrible Black Mass with another kick that really fucked up Sullivan's teeth.

 

Thought Lars looked like the better wrestler here. Sometimes Aleister's kicks are just... not good looking, and he is not interesting at all as a champion - although much of that is due to the brand being unable to book top champions in recent times.

 

With that said, that's a hard hitting match, something we can all can get behind.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

This was pretty damn good. Very solid David vs. Goliath action w/ Aleister bumping his ass off for Sullivan & being awesome with his strikes. ***

[Boss Rock]

Very good match and impressive showing for Lars. Loved the story of Lars dominating the majority of this match and shaking off or having an answer for all of Black's best strikes. I really liked that they made Lars look both nearly unstoppable and vulnerable down the stretch without damaging his aura, something that's a bit of a fine balancing act. Major Black Mass whiff aside, this was a really good, hard-hitting match.

 

***3/4.

[Maciej]

Black was fine as usual, but once Lars hit his Hansen/Kobashi lariat off the top and really started laying into him this went from decent to really, really good. Lars played the part of the monster really well, both in his strikes and especially in his selling (his wounded monster look before the final kick was great). The whiff was unfortunate, but this was still my favorite Black title defense and made me way more optimistic about Lars.

[Cap]

Good solid stuff. They laid a match out that complimented the entire show, kept the belt where it belonged, and got their monster over even more than he was before. I am not sure what more they could have done. Sullivan's top work pretty interesting. I actually liked Black getting some control early and then working to chip away at the big man throughout, working angles and distance and having some extra tricks to throw the big man off. Lars showed improvement and I imagine this matchup could be borderline great in a year or two. I generally speaking try not to get too hung up on misses and "botches" but this one was sort of in an important spot and did take some of the wind out of the finish for me. ****