WWE NXT Takeover Phoenix

[hammerva]

Pushing more of the Ciampa and Mauro story tonight

 

[sek69]

1 minute ago, hammerva said:

You must not have seen EC3 lately

 

Yeah it's been looking like the Hulkster has been teaching tanning classes at NXT, brother.

[FMKK]

4 minutes ago, hammerva said:

You must not have seen EC3 lately

 

Oh, he's grotesque but he doesn't physically resemble a dried out sausage in the same way.

EC3's piss could melt iron at this rate.

[Edwin]

I hope they never do that lame punch exchange ever again. It was lame at WarGames, it was lame during Dunne/Coffey and it was lame.

[hammerva]

Okay I would have liked to see someone get pinned because they accidentally spilled water near the announcer table  

Well I guess you have to do the exposing ring thing with Ciampa although it is serious overkill doing it twice on a show

Rolling over so he can't even get pinned was awesome 

[...TG]

This match is certainly long.

[sek69]

Remember when finishers used to actually end matches? Pepperidge Farms remembers. 

[C.S.]

I've been distracted throughout this match. Am I missing much?

Edit: Aaaaaand there's the finish!

[El Dragon]

Yeah, that did nothing for me by the end. I assume Black is in the Rumble tomorrow.

[NintendoLogic]

The main event was a very pleasant surprise. There were some unfortunate PWG-esque tropes, but I liked how the main emphasis was on selling and psychology rather than MOVEZ. The crowd didn't seem to be much into it for that very reason, but fuck them.

[...TG]

I don't watch NXT regularly so I was unaware that Ciampa has stolen Stevie Ray's WCW/nWo Revenge finisher. That's a deep pull, I'm impressed.

[C.S.]

Middle of the road show as far as TakeOvers go, but not a bad show.

Best matches were the Tag and Women's Titles

[hammerva]

So nothing really happened tonight to set up the WM Takeover

If you are going to bitch about the Ricochet match then you should be pissed about Black selective Seth Rollins like leg selling.  

 

[El Dragon]

Just now, hammerva said:

So nothing really happened tonight to set up the WM Takeover

If you are going to bitch about the Ricochet match then you should be pissed about Black selective Seth Rollins like leg selling.  

 

It doesn't bug me nearly as badly as Rollins cause Blacks are short bursts for kicks were as Rollins is fucking running while carrying people with a destroyed leg like an idiot.

Main still didn't do much for me, and this Gargano/Ciampa angle needs to fucking eeennnd.

[NintendoLogic]

Black's selling of the leg was fine. He never completely blew off the leg work, and temporarily blocking out the pain to execute a move and then going back to selling the injury is a well-established wrestling trope.

[C.S.]

5 minutes ago, hammerva said:

So nothing really happened tonight to set up the WM Takeover

That posedown/lovefest at the end could be setting up something.

[Edwin]

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Best matches were the Tag and Women's Titles

Riddle/Ohno III was good, too.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I’ll have to re-watch the women’s match because I wasn’t seeing it with that one.

Tag match, Riddle/Ohno, and Gargano/Rick were my faves.  Didn’t love the main event but I am rarely ever invested in a Black match.

[Ricky Jackson]

Really good show. Loved the women's match

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, Edwin said:

Riddle/Ohno III was good, too.

It was fine, but let's not pretend an Ohno match is ever worthy of being on a TakeOver. The guy is a pure JTTS with the worst gear in the industry (awesome color combinations that really pop, but everything else is blech). You can argue that he deserves to be more than a JTTS, but he isn't, so it's impossible for me to get invested in any of his matches since the outcome is never in doubt. I tried to fool myself into thinking Ohno was going to win (see my earlier post), but of course he didn't. He never does. He never will. He's the wrestling equivalent of a tomato can. Good showcase for Riddle though. Still can't wrap my head around a surfer bro who wrestles like an MMA fighter, but that's exactly who he is IRL and it's oddly appealing to me.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

War Raiders vs UE/Gargano vs Ricochet was excellent and the women's match was very good. 

[El-P]

8 hours ago, Richeyedwards said:

Kushidas last NJPW match is Vs tanahashi and I don't think that has happened yet

Kushida is ending his NJPW contract on January 31 I believe.

[Boss Rock]

Really liked this show a lot but the Gargano-Ciampa stuff is still such a mess.

[DMJ]

I thought this show was good, not great. The crowd seemed a bit dead at times, too. 

To me, one of the most glaring issues with some of these Takeover shows is the lack of variety. Starting with the tag match and then having 4 consecutive singles matches is just not how I would lay out the show. I think the WWE logic is that the Women's Match is "variety," but I no longer feel that it actually is when the Women's Matches on these Takeover shows are every bit as hard-hitting, suspenseful, etc. as anything the men do. And the same is true on the main roster. 

I also think this show would've benefited with some sort of in-ring segment with Velveteen Dream. A tease for the Rumble? Maybe a face-to-face with some new NXT guy? I think it was maybe 2 years ago when Seth Rollins showed up on an NXT Takeover show to go after Triple H and while I dislike Rollins tremendously, I did think it was a good angle to break up the show. This show could've used a similar moment. 

[Grimmas]

Maybe next year they should add a NXT Rumble match to this TakeOver?