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.