Edwin Posted August 19, 2018 Report Share Posted August 19, 2018 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksman Posted August 19, 2018 Report Share Posted August 19, 2018 Possibly because I was really tired when I watched it this morning, I wasn’t that keen on it originally - and can’t quite work out why. I just rewatched, and liked it a lot more second time around. Shayna is an awesome heel, Kairi’s a great sympathetic babyface, and I loved the surprising way it finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nivvad Posted August 19, 2018 Report Share Posted August 19, 2018 I wish the crowd would've been more alive for this because this was a really good match. In all honesty, this match had the best storytelling of the night as it didn't have to rely on melodramatic towels or immature "darksides" to get their point across. It felt like a real fight with both women wrestling defensively and trying to play the submission game until it finally resulted on one woman gaining the win even if it was a lucky roll up, ****. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donsem43 Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 The storytelling here was really good. Not only did they get over that Kairi wasn't afraid of Shayna but she also had inventive ways to get out Shayna's submission, all of which played into the finish. I don't think the work was quite as good as their other two matches as the strikes weren't that crisp with Kairi in particular flailing around a bit. Still, this was a nice, compact title match that didn't over stay it's welcome. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShittyLittleBoots Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 A very good match w/ a simple, yet super effective dynamic. Shayna is an awesome bully, twisting Kairi's ankles, toes & everything in brutal fashion, while Kairi brings great emotion & fire with his babyface work. Nowhere near their MYC tournament finals classic, but a very good match nonetheless. ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Really really good stuff here. I said a few minutes ago that Mustache Mountain vs UE was second favorite match of the week and favorite match on NXT, but I might have actually enjoyed this more. This was really well done, especially given that its sort of an awkward title change. Like, this feels simultaneously believable and rushed all at once. Sane is clearly the best person to take the belt off Shayna at this point but at the same time I really didn't feel like it was time to end that reign. Regardless, they actually executed it really well. I loved the control sequence that Shayna had in the middle. It was brutal and Sane sold it really really well. Whats more, I thought Sane's fire on her comeback was incredible. She hit a new level that I hadn't seen from her (at least in NXT). It wasn't Shayna's best night. I thought she was clunky in selling in spots but that it didn't really take much away from the match itself. Sane not putting Shayna away with the big elbow was a nice touch. They prolong the match and get everyone on their toes, but just when you feel like they might go into some finisher spam they end it with a rollup... awesome! I am really high on this as one of the more careful and nuanced matches of the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 I liked their MYC final quite a bit, but I liked this better. I think a big part of that is Baszler's character being more established now; they did a good job with that in the MYC, but with the last few months of TV she came into this match so much more of a clear favorite. Similarly, Kairi having to really turn up the aggression in the recent weeks gave here more of an arc to work off of here than simply "I'm an amazing wrestler who was a favorite coming into this tournament." And all that's just on top of the really great work in the match, with Shayna's leg work looking awesome and her selling of Kairi's strikes equally impressive (I wonder if her MMA background actually helps her sell strikes a little more distinctly than other wrestlers sometimes, ex. just covering up quickly after you've been rocked by one big strike). I still actually like Shayna/Ember from the last Takeover better, but this was the match of the weekend for me for sure, and a WWE match of the year contender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Shayna's offence is absurdly brutal. You have Baszler, who has that MiSu-like aura doing really sick stuff to limbs, and an amazing babyface like Kairi and you get some simple, yet effective wrestling. Quite a feel good story, as it is impossible to not like Sane. Best match on the card by a mile. At this point, Baszler, along with KOR and Velveteen Dream are the most consistently entertaining wrestlers of current NXT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Loved this match. One thing I want to say specifically is that my reading of the elbow kickout was that Kairi had her knee worked over and thus couldn't use her legs to leap as high as she normally does and thus it wasn't her best elbow drop. So I was fine with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted August 22, 2018 Report Share Posted August 22, 2018 On 8/21/2018 at 6:54 AM, Jimmy Redman said: Loved this match. One thing I want to say specifically is that my reading of the elbow kickout was that Kairi had her knee worked over and thus couldn't use her legs to leap as high as she normally does and thus it wasn't her best elbow drop. So I was fine with it. What do people think about these kinds of conclusions? This isn't at all a knock at Jimmy -- in fact, its completely logical and the type of attention to detail that adds a lot to a match for me. But if the commentary doesn't point it out and the wrestlers don't do anything in particular to highlight such a point, how much credit do we give for it? What if someone's watching on mute, or watching a match in Japan without English commentary? How far are people willing to arrive at these conclusions without any big or small pushes in such a direction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted August 23, 2018 Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 In this particular case, I'd say the observation was spot-on. Kairi did an excelent job with the selling, limping when she did her usual "plank walking", and other small details, so I believe that not using the elbow drop at the maximum height due to that would make sense and would be coherent. Otherwise... yeah. I agree with you. More often the not it is up to the fans to cover up for psychology flaws or gaps, and I found it to be even more common when people don't understand the language of the commentary. It can be a good thing, as we are actively providing critical input into something we enjoy, but sometimes it can just be covering up for obvious flaws more than we admit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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