NXT TakeOver Brooklyn 4

[El Dragon]

Yeah, to me, that just makes Gargano look like an idiot.

[hammerva]

He may have dislocated his knee?  How the fuck do you determine that in about 5 minutes Mauro

 

[Mad Dog]

They need to give this like a 6 month break. The matches just get weaker each time and that finish in particular was just terrible and killed the crowd.

[Edwin]

I didn't think the match was that bad, but it was far from being as good as their previous matches.

Like I said before, I thought Ciampa rolling off the ramp and landing on his feet was cool, but the entire Gargano running knee was pretty lame.

[Mad Dog]

It's bad though when you started the feud with a ***** match. That match felt a lot like the last one with some good callbacks but it was ultimately nothing special. You could feel the crowd was less invested too.

[Edwin]

The sequence of the stipulations of the matches does them no favors either. If they were going to continue these, they should have held the unsanctioned match as the feud ender and just had them escalate the violence to the point where WWE wouldn't want anything to do with them and just let them go at each other.

[Mad Dog]

They've really booked it in reverse.

[rovert]

Really happy for War Raiders, Kairi, Riddle and others.

But it was the weakest Takeover in a while and the main event as WWE B PPV schlock. As I posted on the first page NXT kinda had to take a hit on this show after Black got injured.

[sek69]

One of the best parts of Wrestling Twitter is Dixie tweeting at EC3 as if he's actually family. 

[Boss Rock]

I actually liked this show a lot but the ending to the main event was indeed incredibly dumb and felt like your typical main roster BS. This obviously isn't the end to Gargano-Ciampa but they need to keep them separated for a while.

[C.S.]

Forgot about the time change, so I watched the show later in the evening. 

My thoughts:

Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era: Match of the night? Even though the wrong team won, this was still great stuff. Roddy Strong may be the best "he's a good hand" ever, and both members of Mustache Mountain are fantastic. BTW, is it just me or was the camera work really bad at certain points in this match?

Adam Cole vs. Ricochet: Keeping this mostly grounded was a strange choice and kind of limited Ricochet's aerial offense. As I'm sure others have already pointed out, Adam Cole constantly shouting "You're nothing special!" at Ricochet is really rich coming from him. I don't see what everyone else sees in the bland Bingo Hall Bay Bay. Calling him the next Shawn Michaels, as one of the commentators suggested, is absurd. Next Jackyl maybe. I'm glad Ricochet won, but the title isn't worth a damn, which kinda dampened the effect of his victory.

EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream: EC3 has a million dollar body and a 10-cent ring style. Like all other TNA "darlings" not named AJ Styles, he has been a massive disappointment. Velveteen has nothing but potential, and he handled himself very well here. Is this his first victory on a TakeOver? If so, it's long overdue. Random side thought: I hope EC3 is brought up to the main roster with facepaint and pushed as a knockoff Ultimate Warrior/Sting midcard act. He'd actually be perfect in that role.

Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane: Shayna Baszler is getting called up, right? No other way to explain her inexplicable loss to Kairi Sane. Then again, I didn't understand why Shayna lost to Kairi in the finals of the Mae Young Classic last year either. I have nothing against Kairi at all - she's a very competent wrestler - but her character (or lack thereof) does nothing to pique my interest whatsoever. There's no "it factor" with her, at least compared to Shayna.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano: Ricochet was complaining that he and Cole weren't going to get enough time compared to this match, and while I never want a Bingo Hall Bay Bay match to get more time than absolutely necessary, I kinda see Ricochet's point. This match really would have benefited from having ten minutes chopped off to make it tighter and more cohesive. As it stands, there were way too many garbage spots for the sake of it. Where this match shined was when those garbage spots were creative and led to actual knockout counts. One standout: office chairs, other debris, and even an official being piled onto Gargano - great stuff and very creative. I also liked the callbacks to their previous matches - something we rarely see anymore, so that was a nice touch. The finish would've benefited from Ciampa getting up just to break the count and then collapsing back into unconsciousness. The fact that he was standing around, smirking, and gloating kind of hurt the message of a crazed Gargano wanting to hurt himself if it meant hurting Ciampa. A mixed bag, and probably the least of their matches (including the CWC), but still great fun when it was firing on all cylinders. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

I fucking loved this show, especially  Gargano vs Ciampa. I can't wait for part four. I like long term feuds that go on forever. I grew up with that. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

Oh, and the one thing that annoyed me was EC3 being the good guy going in to the show. Why? He's clearly a heel . But by the end there was a bit of a double turn going on so fine. Dream is the best.

[SmartMark15]

I generally enjoyed the show, finish of the main event included but then I'm probably one of those highest on the Ciampa-Gargano feud on this forum. Of course, it's nowhere near their first two matches but still a pretty great match if you ask me. Hopefully this knee injury angle lets Johnny take some time off for the feud to cool off a bit. Let Tomasso go wild with the belt and bring back Johnny after a few months and things will be hot again. Still, another great Takeover and still the most consistently enjoyable stuff in wrestling today for my money.

[NotJayTabb]

What's great about this show is that you could ask four different people and get four different legit picks for match of the night (sorry EC3/Dream). Sane/Baszler takes it for me, just the perfect mix of likable pure face vs nasty bully heel. Loved that Kairi showed no fear to Baszler, as one of the few women to beat her, and took the fight to her. Mental to think Shayna has been wrestling less than three years

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Really good show.  Just never topped that opener.  I felt the same way about the Chicago show.  Ciampa/Gargano was a letdown but there was pretty much no way it couldn’t be without throwing a random person in there to eat the L.  Now that Gargano has the “dislocated knee,” he can take a few months off and come back to win the belt on Mania weekend in the same building.

[Robert S]

13 hours ago, Mad Dog said:

Can we have one fucking match where finishers aren't kicked out of?

Welcome to wrestling in 2018.

Some random thoughts:

- On the one hand the crowd was relatively flat,  on the other hand at least there was no constant "Undisputed vs. Moustache Mountain" duelling chant and stupid chants like "fight forever" were at least not that dominant. Even the 10 stuff in the main event was hardly there.

- Nigel had the weirdest call all night saying in his analytic voice "this is what Ciampa is so great at: begging for mercy".

- I hope that Velveteen Dream gets at least one more year in NXT. He has huge potential and is improving at a great speed, though he is not yet unvincible against bad booking and this is what he would face on the main roster.

- Baszler losing here only makes sense if she is called up or if she completely destroys Sane in a rematch.

 

[KawadaSmile]

I hope with Kairi as champion we will get Sane vs Belair II. Make it a no contest in order to protect both, too.

Also, the main feud seems to be designed to make Gargano look like an idiot every passing moment.

[El-P]

Wow. Is the bloom off the rose with NXT ? It's the first time I remember such a tiedous reaction thread to a Takeover. Especially considering Gargano/Ciampa was like the greatest WWE thing ever just a few months ago. 

So Matt Riddle showed up ? When you think he was on Joey Janela's show against PCO just a few days ago. Quite the transition.

[C.S.]

15 minutes ago, El-P said:

Wow. Is the bloom off the rose with NXT ? It's the first time I remember such a tiedous reaction thread to a Takeover. Especially considering Gargano/Ciampa was like the greatest WWE thing ever just a few months ago.

The bloom has been off the rose for a while now.

The terrible Balor/Joe/Nakamura reigns, the underwhelming Galloway/Black reigns, the uselessness of the North American Title...

Gargano/Ciampa was still good fun at this show and still the greatest feud of the year overall, but this was definitely the least of their matches.

It was too long, too bloated, with too many unnecessary and meaningless garbage spots. It shined when the garbage spots were creative and/or led to knockout counts, and the callbacks to their previous matches were nice to see because that kind of continuity in wrestling is rare today and such a lost art in general.

The finish didn't have the desired effect because of Ciampa's bizarre decision to get up, prance around, gloat, etc. Like I said in a previous post, he should have gotten up to beat the count and then collapsed back down. That would've sold the idea that Johnny Gargano was willing to hurt himself if it meant hurting Tomasso Ciampa more. Instead, Gargano just looks like a clumsy, dimwitted, impulsive imbecile. 

[Mad Dog]

Wile E Coyote wouldn't have even done that. 

They need to get away from Brooklyn for next year's Takeover. That crowd sucked. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

They're having the Mania Takeover there.

I think rumors were going around that Toronto is getting Summerslam next year but no idea if that's true.

[NintendoLogic]

Baszler really is a fantastic worker in the classic sense of the term. She gets more of a reaction for stomping on limbs and manipulating joints than most of the roster does for killing themselves with car-crash spots. Other wrestlers should take notes.

Count me among those who has no real desire to see Gargano wrestle Ciampa again. But if the feud must continue, I'd like to see a rehash of Savage/Steamboat. Have Gargano realize that the way to truly hurt Ciampa is to take his title and the best way to do that is to beat him in a straight wrestling match.

[donsem43]

Kairi's title reign is going to be interesting. The only heels for her to feud with are Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans while on the other end you have a similar type babyface with Candace LaRae and Dakota Kai. They could do a rematch with Shayna at Evolution but that would be tricky if she debuts as Rhonda's friend on the main roster. I guess start with a multi-woman match then try and build up someone who has some momentum coming out of the MYC.

[SomethingSavage]

I'm far from the guy's biggest fan or anything, but calling Adam Cole "nothing special" is a bit much. The most special thing about him may indeed be that he's gotten crazy over everywhere he's gone. Ever. But that's one hell of an important factor when your main objective SHOULD be to make money and move up in your profession. Great matches don't matter as much as diehard fans want them to - they just don't. The number one goal has always been (and should still be) to get over. Cole is quite skilled at doing that somehow.

His work isn't anything exciting or outrageous, but it's perfectly passable. His garbage matches are actually a level above some by comparison. Truth be told, he's pretty good at getting over stories and big spots in those weapon-based matches.

As the arrogant douchebag heel, he can be fun. I don't think NXT has harnessed that attribute to its full potential, but it's there. A lot of people point to his ROH run for some reason, but I'm not a fan of that time at all. His reign as PWG Champion is an excellent example of what he can do in that spot though.

Combine Cole's look with his Edge-like tendencies as a worker, and you can easily understand how & why WWE would buy into him as a main event option in the making.

There are plenty of guys in NXT that make for more exciting in-ring choices, for sure. But the reality is that alot of those guys are more likely to wind up as the tenth most featured performer on 205 Live or something instead.

Velveteen Dream looks like a lock, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him cast as the next Tyler Breeze or R Truth on the main roster. I feel like they only get it right with guys about once every 18 months, and even then it's usually temporary.

EC3 is a guy I actually kind of like. Yeah, he's a more traditional style worker than most might enjoy. But he's shown great aptitude in getting angles over in the past. At one time, for a good two or three year stretch, he was consistently the best overall performer for Impact. Lashley was having better matches, and maybe Drew too, but EC3 was knocking it out of the park in programs with Matt Hardy, Kurt, Spud, *and* those aforementioned two guys.

With all that being said, I don't think he showcased his best side here. I don't know what it was exactly, but this didn't feel like EC3 at his best. He's always had that clunky style, but it almost feels like someone is coaching him to be a direct Cena clone or something. It's weird & difficult to pinpoint.

But he's majorly miscast as a baby face for starters. His music is among the worst they've pumped out as well - which is downright criminal, considering how catchy his TNA tune was. And then they've got him doing a Five Knuckle Shuffle ripoff. Ugh. Just so much of his shit could already use retooling. He's basically feeling like main roster Bobby Roode, except that the experiment is failing before it ever gets called up - which actually could work in his favor, if they just step back and let the guy do more of what he was doing before.

EC3 is never going to be Ricochet or an indie darling of any sort. But he doesn't need to be. I think his style is actually suited just fine for WWE, and he's capable of keeping up with everyone around him while excelling at the character stuff and the mic work.

But yeah. His time in NXT has been extremely underwhelming to me thus far.