NXT - Post NXT Takeover discussion in progress

[Sonny Mustang]

5 hours ago, JohnnyF5 said:

I'm confused - I thought @Sonny Mustang was Everton shirt wearing superfan Kyle! Fair enough if you are different people. I've seen Kyle at full sail and at a house show in Sanford but never introduced myself. He seemed fine in those shows. I will introduce myself next time and cross-examine him about his recent alleged misconduct. 

???

No, not my secret identity either, I’m about as far removed as you could be! I’ll be at full sail next week so you can see us together in the same room at the same time and end this conspiracy theory.

[Accident Prone]

16 hours ago, TheToeSucker said:

At 17, you're allowed to be, but this guy is a complete tosser, I'm sorry.

Did he shag your missus or lock you in the cloak room at school or something?

[Whistling Skull]

47 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

Did he shag your missus or lock you in the cloak room at school or something?

I gather that you disagree with the statements concerning his douchebaggery?

[TheToeSucker]

2 hours ago, Accident Prone said:

Did he shag your missus or lock you in the cloak room at school or something?

No, my missius thinks he's a tosser too

[Kfogg1991]

I've read online today I think it was that now nxt is going onto like bt sport or whatever it's going on vince has apparently said that he is thinking about taking over the overall running of it all 

[Weezenal]

6 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said:

I've read online today I think it was that now nxt is going onto like bt sport or whatever it's going on vince has apparently said that he is thinking about taking over the overall running of it all 

Where online?

[TildeGuy~!]

Wrestling Observer were saying it may go to Fox Sports 1 in October and become a 2 hour live show to go head to head with AEW

Went to bed during the women’s title match and will probably catch up with those last 2 matches after the football today.

Io Shirai is great.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Really disappointed in that Takeover. Nothing grabbed me, there was nothing truly standout, and the landscape feels exactly the same after it as it did before it. All the champions retained, nobody was elevated, nobody got their comeuppance; it may as well never have happened.

The Tag Team Title match was good, but nothing more, and of the past year of "open Takeover with a hot tag match" it'd have to rank near the bottom. It had the world's least enthusiastic "this is awesome" chant (long-hair-sunglasses-guy in the front row caught my eye, he looked catatonic as he chanted and clapped along. DON'T SAY IT'S AWESOME IF YOU DON'T THINK IT IS MATE), and the crowd only came properly alive when Montez tried for the People's Elbow... but then he didn't hit it.

Io Shirai has a character now, which is great to see. Her match established that, but no more than we'd already seen on TV, and it's not like there's anywhere for her to go as heel with Shayna still champion.

I'd have rather Riddle and Dain had a match on the show. I don't know when the next Takeover is but I can't see them dragging this out until then.

Velveteen Dream's entrance was by far my favourite part of the show. We've all said it but that man exudes, sweats, shits, pisses, radiates charisma. He is a dream and it is such a shame I have absolutely no hope for him to realise his potential. The second he's stuck on those same-again sets facing Ziggler he's dead and he'll never reach the heights he should. Match was alright but made me wonder if Undisputed Era are moving up. I only caught one mention on commentary of the "draped in gold" story, which was from Beth and not followed up on, and you would have thought if they were ever actually going with that, it would have been here where all the UE were in title matches. Apparently not.

Speaking of commentary, Mauro had a shocker. Reference after reference after reference, none of which will age well and most of which already sound dated, and completely disingenuous sounding JR-alikes after big moves. His "mamma f'n mia" after the cage fall could have been taken off one of the videogame pre-records.

Women's Title match was the only time I've ever not been invested in a Shayna Baszler match. I can't stand Mia Yim, Shayna being put on the backfoot just doesn't work, nobody believed Yim was winning, and the match itself was verging on boring most of the time.

At least it was something slightly different though, which I can't say for the main event. The "Johnny Gargano Kicks Out Of Everything Match" was amazing and thrilling the first times we saw it against people like Andrade, but now it's just his routine and it means you just can't get invested in the matches. I don't think I believed a single near fall for this entire match because Johnny Gargano Kicks Out Of Everything. There's no tension or drama to it anymore. Why Adam Cole even bothered trying to pin him, I don't know. After eleventy million matches he should surely know Johnny Gargano Kicks Out Of Everything by now.

The whole thing felt like we'd seen it all before. Mainly because we had, granted. Superkicks and Canadian Destroyers and Superkicks and Superkicks and Superkicks. The first fall ending in a DQ just made me think we're getting another rematch after this. Considering Gargano's reasoning for the last fifteen rematches have been that he's beaten Cole as well as Cole beating him, handing Cole the first fall like that is almost certainly going to be used to justify yet more superkicks.

The Street Fight felt like it was filling time - there was no natural reason to go through the crowd other than to show the wrestlers were shorter than most of them. 

All the plunder in the Cage could have felt like something different, but for the most part they used the tables and chairs, which they'd had access to anyway. And there were moments - which they've done in all their matches - that took me completely out of the "what a draining, exhausting match" aesthetic they were presumably going for. When you're chucking Kendo Stick shots at each other over and over or you get hit with eight superkicks then bounce right up to hit twelve of your own with no selling, it isn't fighting spirit, it's me playing with action figures when I'm eight. It's about the same level of realism.

To quote Butch's immortal Shane Douglas post, "if you have to make it clear to the crowd something's an epic, then it's not a fucking epic".

The last bump was impressive, but Cole won but not decisively so we've got more rematches to look forward to, and Johnny's still a loser even though he Kicks Out Of Everything. No thanks.

Disappointing show.

 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Was it more or less pretentious than the Shawn vs HHH 7 hour 3 Stages of Hell match from 2002?

[HarmonicGenerator]

3 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Was it more or less pretentious than the Shawn vs HHH 7 hour 3 Stages of Hell match from 2002?

I’d say it was less self-indulgent, but a bit more wanky.

[RedRooster]

5 hours ago, Weezenal said:

Where online?

Had a google and found this so presumably this is what he’s referring to. Based on the wording it sounds very much like Meltzer was speculating about what might happen as opposed to stating something as a matter of fact. 

I enjoyed the show, the Io Shirai/LeRae and opening tag matches stood out to me. 

Io’s heel mannerisms were superb, getting separated from Sane may end up being the best thing that ever happened to her.

The main event...I just couldn’t get into it. There was no way it wasn’t going to go to that third fall given the stipulation and that totally removed the drama away from fall two. 

The cage match was fine. The mason problem for me may be Adam Cole. There’s something very bland about him and I don’t particularly buy him as champion. Maybe I’m biased against Adams for some reason, I feel exactly the same about Adam Page. 

[DavidB6937]

I enjoyed the show but it's certainly not up there with the best they've done. I don't have any issues with feeling like there was no mass changes or steps forward because there shouldn't always have to be. I'm all for champions retaining if it's the right call, and at the moment I don't think its the right time to be switching champions too quickly or taking it off someone like Shayna just for the sake of it. 

Talking of Shayna. Fuck knows what was going on with those two but it was up there with the worst Takeover match in recent memory. It didn't work at all. I know they have tried to build Mia up over a few weeks but it wasn't enough to make her feel ready.

Street Profits are good. Very good. Lots of potential. But not at the level of some of the teams before them and that was noticeable I felt. A good match but we're often treated to better.

Enjoyed seeing that side of Riddle. He seems like a genuine threat physically and I like that.

North American match was enjoyable. Those guys work well together. It's a shame Strong is so weak on the mic considering how great he is in ring. Hoping for more Pete Dunne going forward. And obviously Dream was Dream with that entrance. No one can touch him.

Main event was what it was. I'm a big fan of both of them and I did get caught up in it all but I'm quite happy to let that feud go now.

[Statto]

I was in attendance last night, and it had a rather strange feel crowd-wise. Admittedly I was up in the cheapo seats so I don't know how it might have felt further down or indeed how it came across on TV, but in the arena it seemed to go inorganically from near silence to "This is awesome" in milliseconds. Big moments were met with a bit of reaction, then seemingly 30 seconds of 'prep' before the "mamma mia" chants was cued up.

It really felt like the crowd was playing a role rather than actually enjoying the show. Maybe didn't help that I was sat right in front of the section 'comedian', though...

That all said, as a live experience the show breezed by, even though my personal interest in NXT is probably as low as it's ever been. If you asked me to list the 50 acts across all the brands I enjoy most/have most interest in, I think only Dream & Dunne would make the list of those who had matches on the show last night.

We were so high up we could see the weapons-laden cage over the top of the curtain concealing it, so that wasn't much of a surprise.

[The King Of Swing]

So Io's heel persona is making goofy faces and shaking her head, while still doing all the flashy moves she is incredibly popular for as she's beats the face clean.

#OLDMANSHOUTSATTHESKY

[DavidB6937]

I'd have to disagree. I don't think she was nearly as over as she could've been previously. Popular sure but she hadn't won them over like Kairi and there was little character development. What she's doing now is so much better even in a short space of time. She doesn't need to change her style.