Death. Taxes. Another solid NXT Takeover in Brooklyn. It’s a given that these events are going to be booked at just the right run time with the right amount of matches. Take a step back and look at how loaded the roster in NXT is right now.
The brand has a different booking style than the main roster and it’s time to stop thinking of this brand as developmental. These wrestlers are brought in to get acclimated to the WWE style of wrestling. Before they move up, they get to showcase what makes them enduring individually before they have more constraints on Raw or Smackdown. Let’s take a look at this card:
Undisputed Era vs. Mustache Mountain (NXT Tag Title Championship): This match was the best way to kick off Takeover. Four talented wrestlers going back and forth what with started out with stiff strikes. Then, they showcased different things from each wrestler. Tyler Bate’s strength. Look at that suplex spot and then the one armed slam. Trent Seven got the hot tag. Kyle O’ Reilly’s ability to use his mixed martial arts and integrate it in match is always impressive. Roderick Strong has a million ways to hit a back breaker and has been a great edition to UE.
In this match, they reversed what happened in NXT a few weeks ago. Undisputed Era went after Tyler Bate’s leg. Trent Seven teased the towel spot and and threw it away. From there, “Okay, Mustache Mountain is going to pull away with this one.” Some good near fall spots followed and then UE went right back to the knee and got the victory.
Enter War Raiders. Where the Undisputed Era is able to be crafty against tag teams that are around the same size as them, they aren’t going to do this against them. Now, it’s if the hunters are the hunted.
Velveteen Dream vs. EC3: This was a match of two charismatic wrestlers. Following the tag match, it may have been a little bit much of a let down. Let me preface that saying that it was because it was more of a conventional wrestling match with two wrestlers that are figuring out how to control a match. Not for a lack of talent. It’s just that they have to get the kinks out in match pacing.
Velveteen picks up a win and it will be fun to see how he can parlay that going weeks down the road leading up to War Games. Wouldn’t it be fun to see his mind games going against someone like Ciampa? With EC3, he’s got a few losses under his belt. Where is he going to go to get back on the right side of the win/loss record?
Adam Cole vs. Ricochet (North American Championship): These two guys complemented each other well. The first part of the match saw Adam Cole trying to ground Ricochet’s high flying attack. It looked like it was working. “You’re not special.” (How about that Moonsault/Superkick spot?) In the end, the eccentric, talented skill set of Ricochet was just too much.
Adam Cole did a great job in being the first North American title holder, but I think there’s more on the horizon for him. The Heavyweight title in particular. When he first arrived a year ago, he attacked Drew McIntrye where it looked like he was going to be the next guy. Before the Undisputed Era moves up, I would love to see that come into fruition.
Ricochet’s future is bright for the title. He’s the new, flashy, cocky wrestler. He will get challenged by someone that make sure that they try to ground him as much as possible. I see that’s where the story is going. Perhaps a bigger wrestler like Lars Sullivan or Keith Lee.
Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane (NXT Women’s Championship): Let’s just highlight how much Shayna and Kairi have grown since their match ups at the first Mae Young Classic and NXT Takeover. Shayna has grown into the heel championship role so well, that this was her best match. She looked imposing and continued to cut off Kairi anytime she got some momentum. She kept up the underhanded heel tactics stomping on Kairi’s leg. It looked like she was going to pull it out.
Where Kairi improved was her countering. At points, she seemed like she was one step ahead of Shayna. She was able to battle back for a strike exchange and broke Shayna’s clutch which Ember Moon and Nikki Cross passed out too.
They told the story where she almost let her aggression got the best of her. Kairi passed up the pin and went for an Insane Elbow too many. Shayna gets the clutch, but Kairi turns that around for the pin. It shows that Kairi is a bit more crafty, but it doesn’t take away from Shayna’s finishing move.
Look for a rematch between these two at some point because Shayna will point to how she lost. She’ll probably even be more aggressive. After that, Shayna will move up and Kairi has a long pick of challengers going forward.
Tommaso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano: NXT Championship (Last Man Standing): The Ciampa/Gargano saga has been great. It’s not that I didn’t like this match. A lot of good callbacks here including the crutch, the exposed ring and DDT, and the exposed mat on the outside just to name a few. This was a very good, brutal end to this trilogy, but part of me wonders what could have been on two levels. First starting with Aleister Black. Yes, we have the “who dun it” story line going in the long term to buy some time has he recovers from an injury, but he was a nice little wrinkle to this story. Aleister was directly effected by Johnny’s sporadic decision making and cost him the belt.
Also, how frustrated are you with Johnny Gargano? He had Ciampa beat. He even had him apologizing, but I think that’s more to the effect of Ciampa manipulating him further. Gargano continues down the spiral of his rage and goes for the overkill. Winning the title was not enough for him and it cost him everything. The match. The Heavyweight Title. His Knee. Ciampa was able to lift himself up at nine to get the win. This was a great touch as it goes along with his character.
The finish at Takeover: Chicago II had Ciampa steal the win after it looked like Gargano had the match won, but let his guard down for a second. Here, it was his own doing. The “dislocated knee” spot gives time for this feud to cool off. You don’t want to go back to a fourth match too quickly because you run the risk of killing the mystique. Ciampa is one of the top heels of the company. Pick any face on the roster and he’ll have a good program with them.
