NXT Takeover: Brooklyn Thoughts

[Hanley!]

I didn't see any threads up about this show as a whole yet, so I thought I'd put one up and give my thoughts on the show, and invite others to do the same.

I haven't been watching much NXT lately, but they always seem to deliver at Takeover, so I wanted to see this. Though I did watch the last couple of shows, mainly so I could see the women's matches. The women's division has been the best part of NXT for a while now if you ask me.

Triple H & Stephanie Promos: I'm just going to lump these together as one of the few negative aspects of the show. They were both harmless promos that took up very little time, so I had no big problem with them. But Triple H's was corny, and I didn't like how Stephanie was taking credit for putting the women in the main event. The WWE bullshit about their being more than one main event has never convinced anyone, the main event is the match that goes on last. If they wanted to take credit for putting the women in the main event then they should have just done it. I think on this show in particular, it would have been the right call.

Jushin Liger vs Tyler Breeze: This was a really fun match. Liger is 50 now, he's not going to be able to go like he used to. I came into the match knowing that, and wasn't disappointed therefore when he was more limited in the ring. The match was still a blast, the crowd were really into it and both guys worked well in their roles. Breeze is very underrated as a performer, I'd like to see them go further with him. I thought this was a great way to open the show.

Tag Team Championship Match: I really love the Vaudevillains. Their entrance is great, they look really unique and Simon Gotch in particular has a great in-ring style. Blake & Murphy are pretty good too, I think they get unfairly overlooked sometimes. They all put together a good match here. I thought it was funny that they teased on the pre-show that Lita might get involved, yet the crowd popped huge for Blue Pants! Whoever is booking NXT seems to actually understand their crowd, which is more than can be said for the main roster. Bliss shows a lot of character in her new heel role, I think she can go on to be pretty damn good. Probably a contender for Bayley in the near future? This was a good, fast-paced match with a cool finish, and it's the right time to go with new tag team champions.

Apollo Crews vs Tye Dillinger: This was probably the worst match on the show, simply because it was shorter and there wasn't as much at stake. But the match was still very entertaining. Crews looks great - this guy could be a star. He looked comfortable in front of the live crowd, showed lots of personality in the ring. He makes a hell of a babyface. And he's athletic as fuck. I knew he was agile for a bigger guy, but I was surprised by some of what he did here. Looking forward to seeing more of him. The last big NXT debut I can remember (Solomon Crowe) was a massive disappointment, so it's nice to see that Crews is a genuine talent.

Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin: It wasn't spectacular, but this was Corbin's best match to date. Corbin is much better as a heel, fans were always going to get bored of cheering for him after a while. He shows promise with this character. They both came off as stars in the hype video. I liked Corbin's cocky comments about only needing to make a phone call to get the job with NXT, and Joe saying "the difference is, they called me." Awesome. In the match, both guys got some nice shots in. It's cool to see two huge wrestlers just going to war sometimes. I liked the finish a lot again, with Joe locking in the choke out of nowhere. Good stuff.

Women's Championship Match: Should have been the main event. I loved the entrances, particularly Sasha's. This was a match of the year candidate. The story was there, the match was laid out brilliantly. Sasha showed tons of personality as usual, and played a great heel. Bayley showed a lot of fire during her comebacks. The working over the broken hand stuff was very well done. The stomps to Bayley's hand during the submission sequence were genius. One of my favourite moments of the entire show. There were some convincing false finishes, and the reverse rana at the end was a brilliant spot. Post match was awesome too. The show was good already, but this made it.

NXT Championship Match: I didn't think Owens and Balor could follow the women, and that ended up being true. The match they had was still very good, but the previously excellent crowd was a bit deflated after the huge emotional highs of the previous match, and only really came alive for the big spots. It was a good match - Balor looked amazing in his war paint as usual. There was some nice innovation using the ladders, which is getting harder and harder at this point. The right person went over, and it was a nice way to finish of the feud between these two. I just don't think it should have been the last match on the show. That was a missed opportunity.

This is at least an 8/10 for me, maybe a 9/10. It was very good, better than I had been expecting. The best Takeover since R-Evolution in my opinion. And it could probably even give R-Evolution a run for its money.

[Romo]

my favorite moment on the night was when the show began to run over time they made the comment of like 'If this was on PPV we would have to finish by now but because its on the network we can go all night' it was fantastic because you know how planned it was to hype the network...

Great PPV, women stole the show again 8.5/10

[SlightlyJames]

I gave it an 8. I don't think it quite stacks up to R-Evolution but it was a great show. There wasn't a single match on this card that wasn't at least pretty good, with the better ones like Sasha and Bayley (which absolutely should have went on last) being brilliant.

Apollo Crews will be great, he's the most entertaining guy to watch in the ring since Adrian Neville left for the main roster. Joe and Corbin was pretty good, I'm not fond of Corbin at all so seeing him choked out was nice. I'm not a fan of the Vaudevillains either, they're good in the ring but their whole schtick isn't my cup of tea. Glad they won though as Alexa is far too good of a heel, seeing Blue Pants again was fun too.


Liger vs Breeze was what it was, just a bit of fun to start the show. I've not seen much at all of Liger but he got a chuckle out of me when he aped the lying on the turnbuckle and selfie stick things from Breeze. Assuming he won't be around regularly. The Ladder match I honestly tuned out for, it shouldn't have been last but it wasn't a bad match, just wasn't the best one either. Don't think anyone really thought KO was taking the title back.

It was really cool seeing NXT in a building that big. Hearing such a big crowd still as loud as they normally are was a great thing. The announcements of the Dusty Tag Team Classic and the next Takeover in October were cool and if NXT comes to Glasgow in December I will definitely try to go.

[Hanley!]

@SlightlyJames, it looks like they are coming to Glasgow. On Friday, 11th of December. Which sounds pretty ideal, you lucky bastard.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/611811-full-schedule-of-nxt-tour-of-the-uk

They're doing six UK dates, and not a single one of them is in Ireland. There's not even one in Northern Ireland. We could have traveled to Belfast for the night to see an NXT show. For fuck sake, WWE. Why did you have to go getting my hopes up?

There's talk about them doing a Takeover event in the UK though. If they do a Takeover show, we might consider flying over for a couple of days to see it.

[SlightlyJames]

Hmm, had a look at the tickets for the Austin show next month, $75 or roughly £50. If it's similar pricing for the Glasgow show it might be a bit pricey for me right now, I need to get a job before they come here.

[Tom]

Just finished watching the show and it was great for the most part. Breeze/Liger was enteraining, the tag match was decent and Apollo Crews match did what it was supposed to do. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him, I think he will be awesome on NXT and will make it big on the main roster too.

Corbin/Joe was entertaining. Sometimes it's good watching two brawlers like these go at it, and Corbin put on his best show to date. I think he is finally finding his niche in NXT and he could become a good character on the show. Glad Joe got the victory, I am interested in seeing where both characters go from here.

The womens match was exceptional, certainly one of the matches of the year. The characterisation was great, the action and pace was awesome and the commentary did a fantastic job of putting across the importance of the match and the overall division to NXT. There was some awesome stuff in this; Sasha working on the hand, the stomps when she had the Bank Statement locked in, the submission sequence that led to that, Sasha diving over the ref and the ropes, the botched hurricanrana, the reverse hurricanrana. The action was great. Sasha Banks is certainly the best female wrestler in the ring WWE has ever had in my opinion. It's a controversial statement maybe but I can't recall Trish, Lita, Alundra Blayze etc having two of the best matches in any calendar year? Hopefully she really gets to shine on the main roster. The moment at the end of the match was awesome too; it's great to see WWE breaking kayfabe to produce a moment like that. As others have said, it definitely should have closed the show.

I wasn't that impressed by Balor/Owens. Owens is awesome. The way he presents his character is awesome, his entrance wasn't the most extrvagant of the night but the emotion he put into it was awesome, he really made me interested in the match. I think he has the potential to be the best heel in the company if booked right and put in the right position.

The action in this one though wasn't as great as I expected it to be. I think ladder matches have fell into a trap over the years of being about spots (TLC and MITB have probably made it like this) but singles ladder matches should always be about telling a story and I don't think a great one was told here. There were some awesome spots, don't get me wrong but it didn't keep me hooked thoughout. It was a solid match, but their match at the Japan Supershow was much better in my opinion. Balor winning was expected but it also felt like a let down because it was nothing memorable; like it would have been had Banks/Bailey closed the show!

[Str8Shooter]

It was a solid show as expected, the big matches delivered which is really the most important thing for a show like this to be considered a success.

Breeze vs Liger was a fun little opener. I think Breeze is underrated, and it kind of made me sad that he had to lose here, even though it was inevitable. He's the kind of guy that should be given a bigger push in NXT in my opinion. The crowd is into him and the gimmick, and with some of the top level NXT depth heading to the main roster, he could step into that main event role.

The tag title match was quite good. I've been lukewarm on both of these teams, the Vaudevillians can be fun, but I think their gimmick is very hit or miss and is almost a sure bet failure on the main roster. Blake and Murphy are still generic as hell and I have my doubts about. But both teams worked hard, the addition of Blue Pants to ringside was well done and added to the match. They had some good spots and the crowd was red hot for the finishing stretch and the title change.

Crews vs Dillinger was a good showcase for Crews, he's super athletic and is likely to climb up the NXT ranks quickly. I actually really like the "Perfect 10" gimmick Dillinger has. It's fun and instantly has made a forgettable guy memorable.

Joe vs Corbin was better than I thought it would be. Corbin stepped up and they beat the hell out of each other. It was a true slugfest and Corbin held up his end in my opinion with Joe. Probably Corbin's best match I've seen him in. Joe should be headed into the title scene soon, but maybe not with Balor as champ.

The women's title match was spectacular, had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Sasha's dive over the top of the referee was crazy and unexpected. They pulled out some unique stuff, Sasha stomping on the hand while locking in the Banks Statement was genius and I actually though Bayley was going to tap. Some great false finishes. Two spots that almost broke each of their necks may have added to the match by adding an element of danger. Bayley gets the feel good win and the post match was really emotional and likely the end of Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha as NXT regulars.

The Ladder match had a hell of an act to follow and they tried their best. It was actually a solid match, but the crowd was burnt out and not their usual selves for it. They pulled out some cool stuff, and the Coup de Grace off the ladder was a great visual that will get replayed over and over.

Overall a fun, fast paced show that didn't feel like two and a half hours.

[xgamr]

It was a good show. I'll post my thoughts when I wake up a little more.

also not sure If it made air but there was a Blue Pants City chant. best one of the night