Takeover: WarGames II
Date: November 17, 2018
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson
Yeah I think this is going to do just fine. Not counting the show’s namesake match, it’s a big card with a 2/3 falls title match, an NXT Title match and what could be a heck of a grudge match. As usual, NXT knows how to present a big card with all the junk trimmed off to give us the best show possible. Let’s get to it.
Takeover: Toronto
Date: November 19, 2016
Location: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips
We’re up north this time as NXT gets another showcase event on the weekend of a major WWE pay per view. There are a few rematches tonight but we’re also getting the finals of the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as well as the return of WWE legend Mickie James, who is challenging the unstoppable Asuka for the NXT Women’s Title. Let’s get to it.
Takeover: Back to Brooklyn
Date: August 20, 2016
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
This might be NXT’s biggest show of the year, especially after last year’s amazing double main event that really turned Bayley into a star. This year’s main event could be even bigger with Samoa Joe defending the NXT Title against Shinsuke Nakamura and Bayley trying to get the Women’s Title back against the monster champion Asuka. Let’s get to it.
NXT Takeover: The End
Date: June 8, 2016
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
We’re back with a big show at Full Sail for the first time since last fall. It also might be the final show under the Takeover banner depending on which news source you believe. If nothing else it’s likely to be the final match between Finn Balor and Samoa Joe for Joe’s NXT Title inside a steel cage as the gimmick makes its debut in NXT. Let’s get to it.
NXT Takeover: Respect
Date: October 7, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Rich Brennan
This is one of the weaker looking Takeovers on paper as it’s only been about six weeks since the last special. However, there are four major matches taking place tonight with a thirty minute women’s Iron Man match for the Women’s Title and the final three matches in the inaugural Dusty Classic Tag Team Tournament. Let’s get to it.
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover Brooklyn 0.5 – 08.26.15
Buffering update: Just for fun, I tried watching the 10/07/96 episode of RAW that has become my white whale at work on my phone, which has LTE speed. Started buffering 2 seconds in. So I guess I’m limited to the live stream stuff for the time being until they get their shit together. This show streams beautifully, of course, with no problems whatsoever. It’s just the damn archives.
Taped from Brooklyn, NY
Your hosts are Rich Brennan and Corey Graves.
NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
Date: August 22, 2015
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Rich Brennan
It’s the biggest show in NXT history (so far) as NXT is on the road again. We have a double main event tonight with Finn Balor defending the NXT Title against former champion Kevin Owens in a ladder match and Bayley challenging for the Women’s Title against champion Sasha Banks. Let’s get to it.
On August 22nd (one day before Summerslam), NXT Takeover will take place live at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center!
Should be the biggest NXT show to date. Crazy how this brand continues to grow. Funny how a quality product works like that (even though they obviously have more $ resources than say ROH or TNA)…
What would you like to see on the card? Balor/Joe? Multi man NXT championship match? Sasha/Becky rematch (2/3 falls? 30 min Iron Woman?)? Sasha/Bayley?
Also did you watch this week’s episode? What would you rate Carmella’s buttcheeks?
Alexa Bliss is the gold standard for buttcheeks in NXT as far as I’m concerned. Carmella has the rest. I didn’t watch the last two weeks because I’m going through a thing with Sporting News right now and kind of waiting it out.
As for Takeover, I think we’ll get:
Balor v. Itami (or Balor v. Itami v. Breeze v. Joe) in some form. I really think Breeze is the guy who should be champion, because clearly he’s at the point where he can carry it, and he’s not going to the main roster any time soon, and he probably needs to finally win the big one soon.
Enzo & Cass winning the tag titles, either in straight tag match or multi-team deal with the Vaudevillains. But either way, they’re in BROOKLYN, why wouldn’t you do it there?
Sasha/Becky II, because why not keep going to that well until it doesn’t work?
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover: Unstoppable Belated happy birthday / drunken bachelor party wishes to my compadre Zen, who is now on the wrong side of 40 like myself and soon to be married. Finally. Good on ya, and welcome to old age. Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves #1 Contender: Tyler Breeze v. Finn Balor Sadly, Hideo Itami was attacked on the pre-show and suffered a shoulder injury, which the company obviously knew nothing about beforehand. Because why would they advertise this as a triple threat for weeks beforehand unless they were totally ignorant of the injury? That would just be silly. Kevin Owens is suspected due to making a sarcastic remark on the way out of the shot. It’s CSI: WWE. Finn Balor is portraying a dragon tonight and usual gets a monster reaction just by walking out. Like basically Balor is the closest thing the company has to a larger-than-life superhero right out of the comics at the moment. The crowd is so jacked for him that they chant “This is awesome” just for the entrance! They trade headlocks to start and Balor dumps him, but can’t get the dive in time. Back in, Breeze hits the springboard dropkick to put Balor on the floor and stomps away in the ring. Some jackass in the front row has a “We Want Riley” sign. Who is “we” in this situation? Doesn’t that require more than one person to hold an opinion? Breeze with a neckbreaker for two and he works a chinlock, but Balor fights out and puts him on the floor with a seated dropkick. Double stomp from the APRON follows. Ouch. Back in, Tyler rolls away from the finisher, but runs into a mule kick in the corner that gets two. Sadly the tweet scroll for NXT is just as idiotic as the main show version. “Did Kevin Owens attack Hideo?” YA THINK?! Balor walks into a Supermodel Kick and Breeze gets two off that, but he stops to loosen a turnbuckle and pounds away in the corner. Beauty Shot misses, but Breeze gets a rollup for two. Blind charge misses and Balor rolls him up for two, but Breeze sends him into the exposed turnbuckle and hits the Beauty Shot for two. This prompts a tantrum in fine heel fashion, because these guys actually CARE about wins and losses. Breeze bails to the floor to regroup, but Balor hits him with a forearm from below the ramp, and then dives off the ENTRANCE SET while the fans chant “Please don’t die”. I concur. Back in, corner dropkick, Coup de Grace, and it’s good night Irene at 11:00. Hard work, great near-falls, crazy finish, this was fantastic for an opener. **** Meanwhile, Kevin Owens is typically unimpressed by his new challenger. Dana Brooke & Emma v. Charlotte & Bayley Bayley is actually a really interesting character now, because they haven’t had anyone to appeal to young girls for a long time and that’s exactly the demo she’s hitting. Dana immediately gets double-teamed by the babyfaces and tags out to Emma, who gets greeted with an “Evil Emma” chant. She hides behind Brooke and gets wiped out by Bayley anyway, but Bayley goes up and gets hauled down for two. If there’s anyone born to play face-in-peril, it’s Bayley. To the heel corner for some double-team stomps as this crowd really hates Brooke. Emma Sandwich gets two. Emma stops to mock Charlotte, however, and Bayley gets the hot tag. Charlotte hits Brooke with a neckbreaker as Dana’s gear malfunctions a few times, and hits a double DDT on both heels. That gets two on Emma. Emma comes back with a flying bodypress, but Charlotte rolls into the figure-four and then bridges while holding it, which is the Figure Eight. Bayley gets rid of Brooke and Charlotte finishes Emma with the Natural Selection neckbreaker at 6:50. Fun little match and thankfully Brooke didn’t do much and let Emma carry the workload on live TV. **1/2 Rhyno v. Baron Corbin I love it, no bullshit, just ripping right through to the next match. Someone e-mailed me asking if the Sons of Anarchy theme would work for a wrestler, and while I don’t think Corbin is QUITE right for it, he could totally use “John The Revelator” from the end of season one. Rhyno tosses him and they brawl on the floor, but Rhyno goes up and Corbin sends him to the floor again. Back in, Corbin takes over and slugs him down, then pounds away in the corner. Sliding punch gets two. OK, this is already too long. They collide in the corner for the double KO and Rhyno comes back with elbows and a spinebuster for two. Belly to belly sets up the GOAR, but Corbin counters with a clothesline and finishes with the End of Days at 7:10. Baron is definitely still a work in progress. They need to go back to short matches again for him. Not particularly bad per se, but Corbin was totally lost out there. *1/2 Meanwhile, Greg the idiot interviewer interrupts Kevin Owens in the locker room, even though he’s really sorry to do so, and asks him how his week was. WHO WRITES THESE QUESTIONS?! Owens takes this moron in stride and points out how dominant and awesome he is, and promises that tonight is the last time we’ll see Sami Zayn. NXT tag titles: The Dubstep Cowboys v. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady I love the champions if only because they have their names on their tights so I can tell them apart. Enzo gets a quick bodypress on Blake for two, but Cass comes in and the champs back off. Cass slugs Murphy down for two, and Enzo comes in with a flying bodypress for two. He bails to the apron and Murphy clotheslines him to the floor so that Enzo can take his god-given place as face-in-peril. Blake with a backbreaker and he works a chinlock. Over to Murphy for his own chinlock, and they cut off an Enzo comeback with a Blake abdominal stretch. A cool powerbomb into a backstabber from the champs gets two. They fight to the top and Enzo comes back with a tornado DDT on Murphy and it’s hot tag Cass. Cass clears the ring and lays out Blake with a big boot and SAWFT elbow drop for two. Sideslam on Murphy and he puts Enzo on the top rope (while still half-unconscious) but Alexa Bliss heads down and attacks Carmella, then turns on Enzo to knock him off the top and allows Murphy to get the easy pin at 9:00 to retain. Well you knew the Jersey crew was coming up short here one way or another, and now we actually have a tangible direction for this feud again. **1/2 Match was nothing special, but served the purpose. Meanwhile, they cut to Eva Marie from Total Divas in the audience, and no one gives a shit. That was legitimately great. Like, what exactly is that girl’s role in the company? Wrestler? NXT Women’s title: Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch Becky is apparently steampunk tonight. Because, hey, why not? They trade rollups to start and go right into the pinfall reversal sequence, and Becky goes for the arm before Sasha bails to the ropes. Becky with a springboard kick to put Sasha on the apron, but Sasha yanks her to the floor. Like a boss. Back in, that gets two. Sasha works on the arm, but Becky cradles for two. Sasha wraps her up with a straightjacket hold into a backcracker, but Becky makes the ropes. So Sasha hits the double stomp in the corner for two. Sasha twists Becky’s arm in a way that nature did not intend, which gets two. Sasha with the SHORT ARM SCISSORS, and of course we get the power spot to break. Haven’t seen that one in a while, actually. Becky makes the comeback and goes up with a missile dropkick for two. Sasha hits her with a pair of running knees in the corner, which gets two. They slug it out and tumble to the floor, where Sasha meets the post, and Becky gets a hammerlock suplex and goes to work on the arm. Backdrop suplex gets two. Sasha tries a suplex, but trash-talks first and gets wrapped up in an armbar as a result. Only talk shit when you’re in control, Sasha! That’s basic heel strategy! Sasha thankfully makes the ropes as the crowd freaks out, and she tosses Becky to take a breath, but hits Becky with a dive and gets caught. Becky sends her arm into the stairs and they head back in, but Becky goes up and gets brought down in the Bank statement at 15:30 to keep the belt on the Boss. SHOW STOLEN. ****1/4 I am 100% Team Sasha at this point, although my wife thought that Becky’s shorts and hair were cuter. Thankfully the crowd gives Becky the standing ovation for a job well done afterwards, even though she came up short. This was pretty much everything great about wrestling that we love. And finally… NXT title: Kevin Owens v. Sami Zayn Kevin Owens has a John Cena shirt tonight because he’s the best. As usual, he walks away to start, so Sami attacks on the floor and slugs away, then sends Owens into the stairs and into the crowd. Owens tries to escape and Sami chases, so Owens catches him in a powerbomb and Sami grabs the railing to block. That would have been scary. Back to ringside and finally in the ring, a Blue Thunder Bomb gets two. Tornado DDT is countered by Owens, as he drops Sami on his shoulder to take over. Sami keeps coming with a suplex into the corner, however, and Owens escapes the ring again. Sami chases again and suplexes him on the floor, but charges one time too many and gets powerbombed onto the apron. Owens pounds away on the floor while the refs try to pull him off, but Sami won’t quit. So Owens hauls him into the ring as dead weight while a gaggle of refs run interference, and finally William Regal himself gets involved and gets headbutted out of the ring. Owens grabs a chair…but SAMOA JOE debuts and shit is about to get real. Owens chooses to walk away from that one. I presume this was a no-content somewhere about the 8:00 mark. Hard to rate as a match, but it was tracking at about *** before the Zayn injury angle ended it. So now Samoa Joe on WWE TV is a thing that has happened. Poor Sami, though, getting destroyed again. The Pulse Can’t argue with a pair of **** matches, including another classic from Sasha Banks, and the WWE debut of Samoa Joe! Not the blowaway show that some of these have been, but I was entertained for two hours and that’s all I want out of these. Thumbs way up.
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover: Rival Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves & Jason Albert Hideo Itami v. Tyler Breeze Tyler now has a blinged selfie stick, which you have to figure will factor into the finish. Also of note, a hot chick jumps out of the crowd and clings to Breeze before getting hauled off. Breeze with a pair of elbows in the corner to start, but Itami gets his own and puts him down with a knee to the gut that sends Breeze to the floor. Back in, they collide on a bodypress attempt and Itami nails him with kicks. Breeze makes another run for it as Brennan notes that “some OBSERVERS say we’ve only seen bits of pieces of Itami’s potential…” WINK WINK. Breeze catches him with a cheapshot on the apron to take over. He goes to work on the leg with a ringpost figure-four and a modified Sharpshooter. Very nice! Itami makes the ropes. We AGAIN get the mean tease of the GTS and a high kick gets two, but Breeze superkicks him for two. If Itami ever hits that damn move the place is gonna explode. They slug it out on the mat while the crowd is actually torn between them, but now Itami is PISSED. Backfist and a spinkick set up the kick combo on the ropes, and Breeze eats the corner dropkick and big kick to the face to finish at 8:20. Heck of an opener. *** Baron Corbin v. Bull Dempsey Baron attacks and runs into an angry Bull, and they brawl on the floor. Back in, Corbin gets a spinebuster for two and they tumble to the floor again. Bull comes back with a diving headbutt for two, and he goes with a chair to end it, but walks into the End of Days in a sloppy finish at 4:15. Yeah, even this crowd wasn’t very forgiving of that ending. *1/2 Match was OK for what it was, but really we’ve seen Corbin squash him decisively twice now anyway. NXT tag titles: Blake & Murphy v. The Lucha Dragons AAAAAAAAGH SO MUCH DUBSTEP. Brennan compares their title win to the Mulkeys getting their one win 30 years ago. Ouch. The champions have matching tights AND put their names on their asses so I can tell them apart. That makes them OK in my books. Sin Cara gets double-teamed, but comes back with a flying headscissors on Blake and they all fight to the floor. In the ring, Sin Cara takes Blake down from the top with a victory roll for two, but lets him tag out for some reason. Kalisto (Spanish for “fake gay hairdresser rumor”) comes in with a senton for two on Murphy, but Sin Cara walks into a massive double-team neckbreaker. That should probably be a finisher. Murphy hits the chinlock, but Kalisto comes in with a springboard bodyblock and a knee to the head for two. Ouch. SDS is countered into a facelock and a powerbomb, which Kalisto reverses into a rollup for two. They trade near-falls off that and Sin Cara springboards in for two. Blake with a suplex, but Cara reverses into a rollup for two. Another one is countered for two. Blake with a sunset flip for two. Murphy gets powerbombed for two. Kalisto gets knocked to the floor and Cara is on his own, and the champs finish with a brainbuster into a frog splash at 7:45. Crowd didn’t really get who to cheer for, but this was a fun and energetic indy style tag match. ***1/4 Blake & Murphy need a big heel foil, though. Next week: SOLOMON CROWE. #1 Contender finals: Finn Balor v. Adrian Neville Full entrance for Finn, although sadly my wife doesn’t get the deal with him. Neville with the headlock and they fight to the stalemate, but Balor gets a low dropkick and Neville bails. Back in, Balor with the dropkick and Neville rolls out again, but cuts off a dive attempt a second time. Springboard dropkick gets two for Neville off that. Neville with a couple of chinlocks (“His makeup is rubbing off!” notes my wife on color commentary. “That stuff is expensive, I bet.”) Balor bails and tries a springboard dropkick, but Neville nails him with his own dropkick and gets a suplex for two. Neville goes up and Balor kicks him in the face to put him on the floor, then follows with a dive. Neville retreats to the timekeeper’s area, and Balor stalks him and dropkicks him into the railing in a crazy spot. Speaking of crazy spots, Neville crawls in and Balor double-stomps the BACK OF HIS HEAD off the top for two. Balor tries a dragon sleeper, but Neville fights back with kicks and they do the DUELING HEAD KICKS and both guys are out. Neville recovers first with a german suplex, and a second one gets two. To the middle rope for a mini version of the Red Arrow, which gets two. Balor catches him with the Sling Blade and comes back with a lariat, and the inverted DDT gets two. To the top, but Neville cuts him off with a head kick and goes up himself, but the Red Arrow misses and Balor gets a small package for two. Corner dropkick and the flying double stomp finish at 13:27 and the crowd goes BATSHIT. Well that’s gonna be a tough one to top. ****1/4 NXT Women’s title: Charlotte v. Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch v. Bayley Everyone attacks Charlotte to start and Bayley rolls her up for two before the heels pull Charlotte out and beat her down, breaking the LED board on the side of the ring in the process. I was wondering when that would happen. Back in, Becky and Sasha pound on Bayley, but can’t decide who gets the pin and Becky turns on her. So Becky takes over with legdrops on Bayley for two, and she goes to work on the leg with a grapevine. Sasha breaks it up and beats on Becky in the corner, but Becky gets a missile dropkick for two. Charlotte comes back in and hits Sasha with a neckbreaker for two. Another neckbreaker on Lynch gets two. Sasha comes back and mocks Charlotte, and that goes badly for her. Charlotte and Bayley team up with a codebreaker on Sasha that’s pretty awesome, but Charlotte turns on her and boots her out of the ring. Sasha manages to stack Charlotte and Becky in the corner and hits them both with double knees in a funny spot, and that gets two on both. Bayley returns with suplexes on the heels and she elbows Charlotte into the corner, setting up a top rope rana and Bayley to Belly for two. Becky saves and she brawls to the floor with Bayley, allowing Sasha to hit both of them with a dive. And then Charlotte hits all of them with her own. Back in, Becky catches her with a cheapshot and a suplex for two. They fight to the top and Bayley saves by suplexing Becky, and hits Charlotte with a top rope Bayley to Belly for two. Sasha saves and steals a two count off that. Sasha with the crossface on Charlotte, but Charlotte fights for the ropes, so Sasha smartly rolls her over in a crucifix for the pin and the title at 12:00 in something of a shocker. So she won the title in a match by beating the champion due to being a better wrestler? Like that shit would ever fly on RAW. Another contender for “Best Divas match ever” in the running series of them on NXT. **** Charlotte gives her the victory hug, but Sasha shoves her off instead. Because she’s the Boss. NXT title: Sami Zayn v. Kevin Owens The opening video package is one of the best that WWE has ever produced and sums up their entire feud in 2 minutes, giving both guys their motivation for anyone new that’s watching. If they can finish with something great this show is gonna be an all-timer. Owens immediately ducks out of the ring to mess with the fans, until Zayn has had enough and hits him with the dive. They slug it out in the ring and Zayn gets the best of that by unleashing his anger, but Owens drops him on the top rope and clotheslines him to take over. He whips Zayn around the ring while the crowd is very split on who they’re cheering for here. It’s a new golden age of Canadians in the main event! Owens with a chop for two and they trade forearms, but Owens slams him for two and works on the chinlock. Back elbow gets two as the announcer discuss the brass ring in veiled terms. Sami fights back, but Owens suplexes him onto the top for two and goes back to the chinlock. Sami fights up and Owens suplexes him for two. To the floor and Owens throws some very loud chops and beats on Zayn, and back in for two. Gutbuster and senton get two. Sami keeps fighting like he does, and the announcers reference Brock v. Cena at Summerslam, which is so weird because it’s like the main roster is something out of a different world than these shows. Sami keeps fighting and clotheslines Owens to the floor for another fight out there, where he makes the comeback with a clothesline. Back in, Zayn with the Blue Thunder bomb for two. Owens hits a superkick and Zayn is loopy, allowing Owens to hit the cannonball in the corner for two. Owens with a crazy pumphandle backbreaker for two. Zayn fights back again with the dropkick to block the powerbomb, and he suplexes Owens for two. Owens bails to the apron and necks him, then goes up, but Zayn pops up with a superplex and Owens fights him off. Top rope senton hits knee, however, and Sami comes back again. Owens charges and Sami suplexes him into the corner, and the Heluva kick misses as Owens runs away. They fight on the floor and Sami escapes a powerbomb out there, then follows with an equally crazy moonsault press that causes Sami to knock himself silly on the ramp. Sami, who is never not awesome, sells it like he’s concussed and staggers around the ring, unable to hit the kick. He walks into the powerbomb, and Owens gets two. Sami is just the best at selling a beating like this. Owens keeps beating on him and levels him with an uppercut until the trainer has to come out and check on Sami. Another pair of powerbombs follow for Owens, but Sami barely rolls over at two while WOMEN ARE LITERALLY CRYING IN THE FRONT ROW. The trainers want to stop it, but Owens powerbombs him two more times and the ref stops it at 22:46 and awards him the title. The crowd is shocked and horrified. I LOVE IT. Sami Zayn fighting from underneath is money and this is the finish I’ve been waiting for someone to try for a long time. **** The Pulse It astonishes me that the monkeys who produce the garbage for the main shows don’t watch these and LEARN. This was probably one of the best two hour wrestling shows you’ll ever see and well worth your $9.99 to check it out. Highest recommendation.
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover REvolution Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves & Alex Riley. So I guess Graves has decided to hang it up after all. It must suck to be forced into retirement before you even make it out of developmental. Kevin Owens v. CJ Parker Hopefully this “KO” will work out better than the first one. Huge pop for Owens once his video reveals his identity and he attacks Parker, tosses him, and then splats him with a dive on the ramp. Back in, CJ catches him with a spinkick and throws weak knees, followed by the palm strike for two. This actually busts Owens’ nose open, and he levels Parker with a lariat and a muscle buster. Powerbomb finishes at 3:12. So that was quite the debut. **1/2 NXT Tag titles: The Lucha Dragons v. The Vaudevillains Sin Cara gets a quick bodypress on Gotch for two and the Dragons double-team him with a senton for two. The villains work Sin Cara over and English gets two. Blind charge hits elbow, but Cara remains trapped in the corner. The beating continues for a bit and Kalisto gets the hot tag and throws kicks on Gotch. They toss the heels and follow with a double dive on English, but Gotch gets out of the way and tries to capitalize on Kalisto. Sadly, he takes the SDS and gets pinned at 6:54. Kind of a nothing match, not much heat to it. ** Tye Dillinger v. Baron Corbin The crowd timing the match is a funny bit. Corbin hits the Snake Eyes, big boot and finishes with the End of Days at 0:40. That’s a hell of a name for a finisher. He and Bull Dempsey have a staredown at ringside afterwards in some good old fashioned rasslin’ story development. The Ascension v. Finn Balor & Hideo Itami Well the babyface team doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue easily. But Finn Balor’s interpretive dance entrance WINS THE INTERNETS because holy shit. This was like something out of NJPW’s over the top theatrical entrances and I love it. The babyfaces clear the ring and the crowd chants “Marking out”. Itami and Balor control Viktor in the corner and Balor throws chops for two. Over to Konor, who gets dropkicked for two. Itami throws kicks, but walks into a flapjack for two and the Ascension takes over. Konor stomps away for two and Viktor goes to a chinlock. Konor with a corner clothesline for two. Viktor does some old school cutting the ring off, but misses a charge and hits the post…and then Konor knocks Balor off the apron like an ASSHOLE. That’s great. Itami keeps fighting back, and this time makes the hot tag and the crowd goes cray cray. He kicks Viktor into the corner and then hits him with an enzuigiri on the top, putting him on the floor and following with a dive on both Ascension. Back in, he misses a double stomp on Viktor, but hits an inverted DDT for two. Viktor with the STO for two. Itami tries a GTS as the crowd freaks out, but Konor breaks it up and they set up for the Fall of Man. Balor hits a Pele on Konor and both faces go up with stereo double stomps to finish at 11:34. Devitt is a STAR and I was way into this one. Although he was such a huge star that he pretty much overshadowed Itami in the process, which might be a problem. *** Meanwhile, Renee Young interviews Roman Reigns, who as usual has nothing much to say. NXT Women’s title: Charlotte v. Sasha Banks Sasha throws chops in the corner and gets beat up as a result, and they take it to the floor. Sasha sends her into the stairs and back in for two. Sasha stomps away in the corner and gets two off that. Sasha stops for a strut and gets rolled up for two, and they do a nice little reversal sequence that leads to Sasha hitting a backstabber into a straitjacket hold. Charlotte powers out of that, but Sasha takes her down with a headscissors. Charlotte powers out with an electric chair and makes the comeback with clotheslines and a neckbreaker for two. Sasha dumps her and follows with a suicide dive, and that gets two. They trade chops and Charlotte puts her down with a spear, but goes for the figure-four and Sasha cradles for two. Neckbreaker gets two and she fights for the count. Good to see that. I also love the touch of Sasha getting all pissed off because she can’t beat Charlotte. Charlotte misses a moonsault, but recovers with a senton instead for two. What a great spot. Sasha escapes a Razor’s Edge and sends Charlotte into the corner for a superplex, but Charlotte blocks it. Natural Selection from the top rope finishes at 12:13. Good, no point in bringing her up after the debacle on Monday. This was an amazing performance from Sasha Banks, as I had no idea she had this kind of match in her. ***1/2 NXT title: Adrian Neville v. Sami Zayn The heat for Zayn is off the charts as he somehow manages to keep people invested in him despite all the failures. They trade wristlocks to start and Neville starts working the arm, which leads to a stalemate. Sami with a backbreaker to put Neville on the floor, and Sami hits him with a quebrada. Back in, Neville with a crucifix for two and a back elbow for two. Low dropkick gets two. Neville with the chinlock, and three kneedrops for two. Sami fights up, but Neville gets a dropkick for two. Sami fights back again and dumps Neville for another dive, then follows with a crossbody for two. Neville tries a handspring and Sami catches him with a powerbomb for two. Neville with a running elbow and german suplex for two. Sami escapes a powerbomb, but tries a ropewalk and Neville reverses into his intended powerbomb for two. Neville throws forearms, but Zayn gets more fired up and comes back with a lariat. Heluva Kick misses, however, and Neville goes up, but the Red Arrow hits knee and Zayn hooks the Koji Klutch. Sadly, he makes the ropes. The ref gets bumped “accidentally” by Neville, and he hits a superkick and crazy inverted rana for two. How do you even take that bump? They slug it out and Zayn drops him on his head with a suplex, so Neville bails. Zayn follows with the diving DDT through the ropes, and back in the ref gets bumped AGAIN. Neville grabs the belt while Zayn wastes time checking on the ref again, but this time Sami gets the belt and contemplates using it. Sami finally decides that he can’t win it that way, so Neville rolls him up for two. Zayn has had enough and comes back with the exploder into the corner and Heluva Kick to FINALLY WIN THE BIG ONE at 23:13. And the crowd LOSES THEIR MIND. What a cool morality play, with Zayn getting tempted and beaten down, but finally learning that hard work and fair play can triumph in the end. **** And Kevin Owens comes out for a big tearful manly hug with his best friend. Neville also gives him a hug as we get the celebration with the entire locker room and Owens comes out for one more hug to end the show…and then FUCKS HIM UP WITH A POWERBOMB ON THE FLOOR. While the end graphic was on the screen no less! Well there’s your next challenger. The Pulse Easily the best, or at least more purely enjoyable, show of the year thus far. All killer, no filler. Even if the weekly show has been pretty weak as of late, everyone came out trying to steal the show and more than a few succeeded. Three great matches to close the show, in three totally different styles, makes this a giant thumbs up.
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-Way In a cool touch, the NXT guys have been remixed into the “Now / Forever” opening, and KENTA is part of the opening now! Live from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Renee Young, Bryon Saxton & Tom Phillips NXT Tag team titles: The Ascension v. Kalisto & Sin Cara This is probably it for the champs because clearly they’re going to demolish the Usos on the big stage before the year is out. Viktor pounds on Sin Cara to start, but he fires back with a springboard moonsault for two before getting tossed into the railing. Konnor pounds on the back and gets two and they work Cara over in the corner. Viktor tries a slingshot powerbomb, but Sin Cara escapes that with a rana and the Ascension gets rid of Kalisto to cut off a tag. He fights off Konnor and makes the hot tag, however, and Kalisto runs wild with a sunset powerbomb on Viktor for two. Konnor bails and Sin Cara hits him with a dive, then he regroups and hits both guys with another dive. Back in, Viktor hits Kalisto with a lariat to cut him off and they set up for the Fall of Man, but Konnor gets tripped up and Kalisto finishes Viktor with his neckbreaker deal at 7:45 to win the tag titles. Mostly a nothing match, but the finishing sequence was super hot. *** Really, they were long overdue to get those belts off the Ascension. My wife was actually very impressed with Kalisto’s acrobatics, although she was very confused because I’ve been binging on horrible 95 RAWs for the past month and she was like “How come I haven’t heard of any of these guys before?” Adrian Neville clarifies the difference between confidence and cockiness. CJ Parker v. Baron Corbin Corbin seems to have begun his Sons of Anarchy-inspired repackage, as they call this his “NXT debut” despite months of doing jobs. And in fact he destroys Parker and finishes quickly with a downward spiral at 0:30. He’s apparently getting one of the newbie Divas as his biker babe as part of the gimmick, and if so they could have something with this guy. Tyson Kidd does a funny promo, carrying on with his spectacular douchebag act. Basically he puts over the other guys in the match, then reveals that he was talking about himself the whole time. Haircut match: Enzo Amore v. Sylvester Lefort A pre-match vignette gets over that most faithful of wacky wrestling concepts: DEADLY HAIR CREAM. Frankly I’m shocked it’s taken this long for it to make a comeback after the heyday in the 80s. Enzo’s options for Lefort are limited to ZERO OPTIONS and someone’s head is going in that bucket of cream tonight. Enzo’s manic energy has been sorely lacking from Cassady’s act these past months and I’m so happy to have him back. Frankly it should have been them to end the Ascension’s reign. They head off a headlock while Renee discusses the subject of hair loss and how it has personally affected her in the past. Enzo with a dropkick to send Lefort running, but he catches Enzo with a necksnap to take over. We hit the chinlock and Lefort knees him in the corner and slugs him down while the hair debate rages at the commentary table. Renee does not care for the abuse that Enzo puts his scalp through! Lefort with a clothesline for two, but Cass takes out Marcus Louis and Enzo rolls up Lefort for the pin at 5:45. It’s for the better, he looked too much like 1999 Randy Savage anyway. * But then, since life is unfair, Louis attacks and allows Lefort to run away, sacrificing his own hair as a result. Well, he got a big bucket of hair cream dumped on him, but no one actually got shaved, so they kind of pussied out on the only stipulation…TWICE! So kind of a major fail all around. Tyler Breeze faces #UGGO, #Hobbit and #NattiesHusband tonight. Luckily, gold goes with any outfit. William Regal joins us to formally introduce KENTA and the crowd is immediately going nuts for him. He changes his name to Hideo Itami, because apparently the NXT Random Name Generator works in Japanese as well, but Ascension hits the ring and tosses him because they’re in a bad mood. This proves to be a bad idea as Itami kicks their asses single-handedly and sends them running. So that was pretty bad-ass, but what the hell was wrong with “KENTA” as a name?! Bull Dempsey v. Mojo Rawley Bull steamrolls in and runs Mojo over in dominating fashion, then goes up with a diving headbutt to finish at 1:11. I don’t see anything in Bull, especially with Kevin Steen coming in and doing the same gig right away, but Mojo hit the wall a long time ago and this might be the end of the line for him. DUD The problem with Bull is that he looks like a long lost Godwinn brother at best, and a 1995 RAW job guy at worst. Meanwhile, Enzo and Cass go searching for the Legionnaires, because they wanna see someone bald. So they kidnap Louis and reveal his baldness, complete with shaved eyebrows. “He looks like a Chia pet!” declares Renee. Well, they’re trying. Speaking of trying, their next social media project that they probably won’t shut up about is buying articles on Buzzfeed, sandwiched between quizzes about which One Direction member your cat is most like and animated gifs of ostriches who are SO OVER the new Taylor Swift song. Although really those ostriches are crazy, that song is catchy as hell. NXT Women’s title: Charlotte v. Bayley Bayley attacks to start, but Charlotte fights her off with chops, so Bayley gets a low dropkick for two. Backslide is blocked with a neckbreaker and drops knees for two. Figure-four headlock and Charlotte beats on her in the corner with more chops. Back to the figure-four and she rides Bayley around the ring with her freakish leg strength, but Bayley reverses into an inside cradle for two. Rollup gets two, but Charlotte cuts her off again with a clothesline for two. Bayley finally snaps and fires away with forearms, but Charlotte takes her down in the corner for two. Bayley fights back again with a top rope rana, but only gets two. Charlotte rolls her up for two and then rams her head into the turnbuckles in a ugly spot, and the moonsault gets two. Charlotte way overshot on that one, too. Neckbreaker finishes at 10:50. Really, really disappointing, although it had super heat until the finish completely deflated the crowd. Way too long for what it was, though, as Charlotte really got exposed without someone like Nattie to carry the pace. It really needed more hope spots for Bayley, who never seemed to be seriously threatening. ** Sasha Banks comes out for the beatdown on Bayley afterwards, prompting an argument from the crowd about whether she’s ratchet or not (half feels that she is, the other half feels the opposite) but Charlotte kinda makes the save. NXT Title: Adrian Neville v. Sami Zayn v. Tyson Kidd v. Tyler Breeze Big brawl to start and the heels get dumped, and Zayn USES TYLER’S PHONE. That’s just wrong. Tyson goes after Zayn and gets caught in a Koji Klutch as a result, but Breeze breaks it up and they all go brawing up the ramp again. Neville takes a double suplex from the heels out there, and back into the ring as they beat on Zayn as well. The crowd notes “Nattie’s Better”, but I’d have to take issue with that. Kidd’s a hell of a worker. FACT. Finally the alliance breaks down and Kidd turns on Breeze and dumps him, hitting a neckbreaker on Zayn for two. Poor Neville gets tossed AGAIN, a total non-factor in the match thus far. Kidd chokes out Zayn while the other two disappear into the ether, and a corner dropkick gets two. To the chinlock as Breeze must be legally dead or something, and Neville finally gets in and goes after Kidd. Sami puts everyone on the floor and Neville steals his dive mojo, and now finally we get the Zayn v. Neville showdown everyone has wanted all along. Zayn blocks a handspring with a backdrop for two, but Kidd dumps Zayn and goes after Neville again. Poor Adrian hits the floor for the zillionth time and Kidd suplexes Zayn for two. Sharpshooter is escaped by Zayn and he makes the comeback, but walks into the Beauty Shot. Breeze hits finishers on EVERYONE and gets a series of near-falls, but no luck. Well there was his one sequence of hope spots. Everyone piles up on the top rope, giving us the Tower of Doom spot and Zayn gets two. The ref should have counted three, actually, and the crowd totally calls him on it. Zayn unloads on Kidd in the corner, but walks into Neville’s boot, and the shooting star press allows Breeze to steal a two count on Zayn. This crowd is insanely ready for Breeze to win on a fluke but I don’t see it happening. So Breeze takes another shot at Zayn, but Kidd catches him with the Sharpshooter instead, and Neville saves just as Breeze is going to tap. So Neville slugs it out with Zayn and Neville hits the floor yet again, allowing Zayn to hit him with a dive into the front row. Tornado DDT for Breeze on the floor, and Huluva Kick for Kidd…gets two. Neville pulls out the ref and instantly turns heel. THEY HAD ME. Neville lays out Zayn, and the Red Arrow finishes Kidd at 24:11 to retain. **** The first 10 minutes or so was kind of aimless, but once they hit the crazy spots it took off big time. Man, they really ripped out the heart of the crowd with that finish, though. Zayn finally winning would have been the epic moment they were shooting for with him, and I don’t know if they can get back there again. The Pulse Certainly not on the level of the first two specials, but the main event was certainly worth going out of your way to see and the rest was inoffensive and fun. Thumbs up.
The SmarK Rant for NXT Takeover LIVE from Orlando, FL Your hosts are Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and William Regal. Adam Rose v. Camacho A sign in the crowd notes that “This person only attends Lemon Parties”. Stay classy, Full Sail. On a related note, I was discussing Lemon Party with a co-worker and it came up that he had never Googled “blue waffle” either. Sadly we couldn’t do it on the work computers so he could add that to his bucket list. Camacho attacks and gets a sleeper, but Rose fights out and starts to make the comeback before Camacho cuts him off and goes back to the sleeper after a big boot. The crowd chants “Party Time / All the time” to get Rose fired up, but Camacho puts him down and drops a leg for two. Hey, some people only want to rock n roll all night and PART of every day, to quote Paul Rudd. Rose comes back with the corner splash and broncobuster, and the Party Foul finishes at 5:06. Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling. ** Tyler Breeze has just entered the building! NXT Tag team titles: The Ascension v. Kalisto & El Local The Ascension charges in and attacks, but they get tossed as a result and the luchadors try a dive…only to get caught with stereo forearms. Ouch. Viktor beats on Kalisto in the corner as the crowd is torn as to who to chant for here. Konor drops an elbow for two and Viktor chops him down for two as Kalisto is your cara-in-peril. Viktor drops him in the corner for two and goes to the chinlock, then decides to just toss him and let Konor beat on him outside. Kalisto fights them off, but Konor cuts off the ring in classic fashion and Kalisto has to fight off Viktor with a victory roll before making the hot tag to Local. Rolling kick out of the corner and moonsault get two on Viktor, but he goes up and misses, allowing Viktor to hit the STO. Fall of Man finishes at 6:15. Bigger challenge, same result. Keep the new meat coming! The more they work longer matches, the better they’ll get. Again, totally fine, fun wrestling. ** Tyler Breeze gets a video package! #1 Contender match: Sami Zayn v. Tyler Breeze Sami has new music for some reason, as does Breeze. Why are they messing with what was working? The crowd was really into Breeze’s entrance before and this kind of kills it. They fight over a wristlock to start and Zayn goes to the armdrags and puts him down with a leg lariat. He goes up and Breeze shoves him to the floor and then chokes away in the corner. Breeze with a bulldog into the corner for two. Faceplant gets two. Breeze holds a facelock on the mat, but Zayn powers out and chases him to the floor, then follows with a quebrada that looked like it smashed Breeze’s head into the ramp. YIKES. Back in with a flying bodypress for two. Breeze elbows out of the Blue Thunder bomb, but a second try hits for two. Zayn back up, but he misses and Breeze superkicks him into a DDT for two. Powerbomb out of the corner gets two. Breeze slugs away in the corner, but Zayn suplexes him into the turnbuckles. They’re letting it all hang out here, for sure. Breeze with a rollup for two and they fight for another one, but Zayn walks into a superkick that gets two. They keep slugging it out on the ropes and now Zayn is PISSED. They fight over a wacky suplex variation, and Zayn is like “fuck it” and turns it into a crazy powerbomb for two. I don’t know what that was, but it was AWESOME. Breeze takes a break, so Zayn follows him out with another dive that smacks poor Tyler’s head into the metal AGAIN. I hope it’s worth the concussion. Back in, Sami crotches himself trying the corner kick, and the Beauty Shot finishes at 15:55! Tyler Breeze is the #1 contender! I presume this means Zayn is headed to the big time, because otherwise there was no point in having him blow the big one yet again. There was a point where Breeze was clearly off on another planet after the head injury, but this was easily a show-stealing classic otherwise. **** Rusev is again talking about Putin, and that’s a no-go for Mojo! Rusev kicks his ass, regardless of patriotic fervor, though. They need to bring back Bill Watts and have Rusev bury him under the Russian flag again. NXT Women’s title: Charlotte v. Natalya So we’ve got Flair in one corner and Bret in the other, and I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess which is which. They trade armbars to start and Nat works on a headlock while the crowd is torn. Charlotte cartwheels out and goes to her own armbar, but Nattie goes for the leg now and taunts Flair. That never works out well for people. Charlotte tries a wheelbarrow suplex and Nat reverses into a rollup for two, and goes right into a bodyscissors for two. Rollup gets two. Charlotte finally uses the POWER OF THE CHOP to take over, and Ric does some strutting to celebrate. Nattie tries a sleeper, but Charlotte sits down with a jawbreaker for two. Charlotte wraps her up with a figure-four headlock and bounces her face off the mat a few times, then flips her over for two. Regardless of her experience as a wrestler, Charlotte is a freakish athlete. They trade abdominal stretches and Charlotte dropkicks her for two, but Natalya comes back with a butterfly suplex and the low dropkick for two. Charlotte with a Flair Flip and Nat knocks her off the apron, so Charlotte yanks her to the floor in response. Back in, that gets two. Charlotte goes AERIAL, but misses the moonsault and Flair is going nuts at ringside. Nat with the STO for two. Sharpshooter, but Charlotte counters out to the figure-four in a slick move, and they fight for the reversal on that. That turns into a SLAP FIGHT before Nat makes the ropes, but Charlotte rolls to the floor and hangs on before finally breaking the hold. Charlotte sends her knee into the stairs, and back in for her own Sharpshooter, but Nat then reverses THAT before Charlotte fights her off and finishes with the neckbreaker at 16:41 to win the NXT title. Everyone hugs it out afterwards because Flair is so damn proud of his daughter. And well he should be, the match was awesome. ***3/4 NXT Title: Adrian Neville v. Tyson Kidd Some pretty badass gear on Kidd tonight. Kidd takes him down with a headlock and gives him a shot to the head to show he’s meaning business, and controls with a wristlock on the mat. Neville goes to the armbar, but Kidd makes the ropes and monkey-flips him, only to have Neville land on his feet. They reach a stalemate and now it’s on. Kidd throws the first forearm and hangs Neville in the Tree of Woe for some punishment. Back elbow gets two. Kidd cranks on a chinlock and Neville fights up, so Kidd dumps him and follows with a flip dive that gets two. Back to the chinlock, but Neville fights up again and puts him down with forearms and puts Kidd in his own Tree of Woe. Regal sings the praises of sweet revenge and Neville springboards in with a forearm for two. Kidd bails to the apron and catches Neville with a forearm to block his dive, and that gets two. Kidd to the top, but Neville catches him with a forearm and flips away from a potential powerbomb. And then he does his own for two! Neville tries a springboard move, but Kidd follows him up and brings him down with a Russian legsweep for two. Kidd to the top again, but he lands on Neville’s foot and gets cradled for two. Kidd throws kicks and tries a suplex, but Neville reverses and they both suplex each other to the floor in a crazy bump. Both guys JUST beat the count. They slug it out while the crowd does a dueling chant, and Kidd takes him down with a Sharpshooter, which Neville blocks, so Tyson turns into the rare Dungeon Lock instead. Kind of a triangle choke. Neville makes the ropes, but Kidd goes up with a somersault legdrop for two. Kidd to the top again and Neville keeps trying to follow, so Kidd keeps fighting him off, but finally Neville flies in with a rana from the top and finishes with the Red Arrow at 20:53. Rough night for the Kidds, but that’s what they were there for. ***1/2 Neville wants the handshake, but Kidd gives him the COLD SHOULDER. Oh no he didn’t! The Pulse Payback is gonna have a bitch of a time topping this show. There’s your $10 worth for the Network in 2 hours. No bullshit, great action, and easy to follow storylines with logical payoffs. Thumbs WAY up.