NXT - Post NXT Takeover discussion in progress

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Weird intro with the static crowd shot while the opening video package played. By design or was that a production goof?

My dodgy stream kept fucking up during the opening tag but what I saw was decent. Montez looked like a star as usual. Liked the peoples elbow tease but he should nip that in the bud before people start expecting it. Surprised the Street Prophets picked up the victory in this one. I'll laugh my arse off if they vacate the belts at the next set of tapings, before moving on to the land where stars go to die. 

Io vs Candice was a good showing for both and more than justified their inclusion on the card. Obvious that whoever put this match together has been watching the G1, what with the poison ranas and trading Germans etc. This felt like New Japan on fast forward and I could've done with more selling. As much as I like Lerae - and I fancy the pants off of her, so next time I moan about Vince pushing the blondes down my throat you can call me for the hypocrite I am - the originally planned feud of Io vs Kairi Sane would have been so much better. Poor Candice hasn't had much character development beyond being Johnny's girlfriend, and she had little chance going over the cool new heel, so the crowd were dead flat for her.  Good match, but hearing those "this is awesome" chants actually made me angry watching it. It got me thinking about Kairi Sane, and how she's gone to complete and utter waste in the shitty, contemptuously booked, diva's division.

Io's so much better as a heel, her one facial expression practically demands it.

Talking of facials, could you imagine if Kyle O' Reilly was in that triple threat match instead of Roderick Strong? Kyle, Dunne and Dream in a threesome, preening, gurning and goofing. I don't think I could handle all those facials! Why this was a threeway in the first place I don't know. Not loving Pete's new look, he stood out more when he was clean cut, and what's the green about? Velveteen is way behind the other two in terms of polish but I thought his selling was phenomenal. Matched peaked whenever Roddy went on an offensive tear, especially those awesome running forearms. Felt like they were teasing a future Roddy babyface turn here. Overall the match was alright but I'm sick of the contrived multi-man spots. Love Roddy, but I'd rather a Dunne vs Dream singles feud. Stunned that Dunne ate the pin.

Haha no fucker knew who Austin Theory was.

Riddle is a stud that's absolutely pissing charisma, but Christ, he's gonna be dead in the water if he doesn't stop this 'bro' bollocks. Also, totally not into this feud with Killian Dain at all, bro. Dude just keeps jumping him for no apparent reason, bro. Boring.

I love Shayna Baszler to pieces - best heel they've had since '11 Mark Henry - but not even I gave a shit about the women's title match. Aside from some excellent video packages, Mia Yim's been built terribly. Crowd didn't care either by the sounds of it. Poor match, Shayna looked off all night and I'm starting to think Yim is a bit rubbish. It makes me laugh how the babyfaces that Shayna feuds with always use Duke and Shafir as an excuse to act like dicks, resorting to kendo sticks and ghetto beatdowns, as if the two of them are reason that Baszler is the champion. Because, yet again, Shayna wins clean as a whistle! 

Who the hell's left for Baszler to put to sleep now?

Gargano vs Cole was match of the night, despite being predictably overlong and wanky. Was hoping the final fall would have a loser leaves town (NXT) stip, because I'm done with Johnny. I was never particularly keen on his phoney HBK cosplay act in the first place but that Ciampa feud killed him dead for me. I did love the visual of the cage coming down from outta nowhere and that they used no escape rules. Well done Paul!  But Jesus Christ, Cole took some horrific chair shots to the head in this. Cody has clearly raised the bar and this lot can't help themselves. Had to laugh at the crowd booing in disappointment at the lack of thumbtacks. Didn't like the finish. I watched the replays and I'm still not sure what they were going for and they didn't really do anything with the barbed wire. Maybe that's what the crowd deserved after shitting on the pliers reveal. Nothing else two say about these two, I find them so uninspiring.  

Commentary was dire all night. Usually I can tune these three out but they were noticeably shit tonight, Beth especially.

Decent show overall but NXT has certainly lost its lustre. Even when the card looks flat going in they usually deliver a banger of a show, but this wasn't it. Nothing of note happened. Harsh on the guys putting their bodies on the line in the main but this Takeover was completely missable.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Mr Butternut Squash

[WeeAl]

@HarmonicGenerator pretty much said everything already that I was thinking. This was definitely one of the less interesting TakeOver's, on paper and in reality. 

The tag title match wasn't at the same level as the typically brilliant TakeOver tag title matches. It was fine, but that's as good as it got I think. 

Pete Dunne does nothing for me so I was fighting an uphill battle in the triple threat, but it really peaked with Dream's entrance. Way, way too many convoluted three way spots. It would have been much better as Dream Vs Dunne or Dream Vs Strong. The right man won though. 

The main event was the typical Gargano/Cole overkill. Meltzer probably loved it, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Gargano went from being a really hot baby-face to completely unlikeable. That Ciampa feud fucked him completely. Self indulgent nonsense, as their whole program has been, and I'm afraid we're probably heading for more of it. It doesn't feel like there is anything particularly hot at the moment in NXT. 

[DavidB6937]

What don't you like about Pete Dunne out of interest?

[WyattSheepMask]

* I used to quite like Mauro Ranallo as a commentator, but I can’t stand him anymore. I don’t know if he’s always been bad and I’m only starting to notice or I enjoyed him by him being the best of a bad bunch, but he had a shocker here. ”Kyle O’Reilly is home!. The Vancouver, British Columbia native...”, so he’s nowhere near home is he. Vancouver to Toronto is a 2,614 mile/40hr drive, it’s like when Neville was in London and was from “just down the road”. And he loves saying “supine position” doesn’t he? And finally, fuck off with your “instant classic” shite.

* That bit in Dream/Strong/Dunne where they were all punching eachother, what the fuck was that shit? 

* I don’t know if the crowd wasn’t mic’ed right or what, but they seemed to from making noise to deathening silence all throughout the show

* I think the only person excited to see Austin Theory was himself

* Yim/Bayzler didn’t do anything for me, but that’s pretty much how I am with Mia Yim in general

* Cole and Garagano went 50+minutes. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. The Canadian Destroyer, or whatever Adam Cole calls it, means diddly-squat after all that. They can’t do Cole v Gargano again, it’s done

[Kaz Hayashi]

Disagree with most of the above posts.

I thought it was a solid event. Not the best, but solid, which is generally in the ‘good’ region.

Tag titles match was better than I expected. I thought Profits brought more to the match than I assumed they would. For the first time I was able to see them as worthy champions, not just characters. If they can build on that energy and aggression they displayed at Takeover, I’ll be happy to keep watching them.

Yim vs Baszler was underwhelming. Yim does nothing for me and Baszler ended up in the bottom match on the card (IMO) for the 3rd takeover in a row. Shame, I highly rate her. But the shine is fading. Being a solid bully doesn’t work if you have your mates doing run ins. She needs to fuck them off.

3 way was really good fun, as expected. Surprised Dunne received the pin, but happy Dream has retained. Not sure what’s next for him though.

Lo Shirai was tremendous and looked mint as a heel. This was my match of the night. I can see this feud going on for a while, looking forward to where they go with it. But yeah, super fun match.

Main event. 1st fall went on a bit longer than needed. Fun transition in to 2nd fall. Quite enjoyed the 2nd fall and it was my favourite out of the 3. Final fall was alright, but overkill. 2 falls would have been fine, but the 2nd fall being falls count anywhere. Just my preference.

What i’d Like going forward.

Shayna fucks off her shit mates. Gets back to being a brutal bitch, holds title until January and leaves NXT as part of Rumble.

Shirai/Candice - I would like to see this feud develop and go on for a while. I thoroughly enjoyed this match and want to see where it goes. Maybe add the belt to the feud if Baszler drops it in Jan.

Bring up British Strong Style as a unit, have them feud with Undisputed Era.

Have Ciampa feud with Cole on his return.

I don’t have a fucking clue what to do with Dream. I think it’s time he bed to Raw/SD. Yup, I’m concerned they’ll ruin him, but I don’t think he needs to be world champ in NXT. It’s just delaying things. He has outgrown NXT. In fact he has probably outgrown wrestling in fairness.

 

[King Pitcos]

22 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

What don't you like about Pete Dunne out of interest?

I’m not sure I like his caveman look for a SRS GRAPPLER. His face is hilarious anyway, but it’s just ridiculous with the long hair and shit beard. I really enjoy watching him, but he looks way more like a comedy jobber now than a main event guy. He’s perfect for pulling funny faces when a diva kicks him in the balls during a backstage skit.

[Love-Wilcox]

I actually quite like Gargano and I'm a fan of Adam Cole but what the actual fuck was that main event?! Convoluted, self-indulgent, indy wank-fest of the highest order just with better production values... And this is coming from someone who considers himself a Young Bucks fanboy so I'm certainly no old school wrestling purist by any stretch.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Love-Wilcox

[Mr Butternut Squash]

6 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

* I used to quite like Mauro Ranallo as a commentator, but I can’t stand him anymore. I don’t know if he’s always been bad and I’m only starting to notice or I enjoyed him by him being the best of a bad bunch, but he had a shocker here.

Same. Never usually care about him one way or other but it felt like he turned it up to eleven on this show. He was completely insufferable during the main event. 

I think watching Cole/Gargano in five sittings helped me not hate it as much as I normally would, although that's a dead give away about how overlong it was. Feels like they've long jumped the shark with these Takeover main events. Not even the Meltz was a fan of it. Dread to think what their future bouts will look like if the feud continues.

They really need a shake up in NXT. Would love to see the likes of Keith Lee, Dunne, Dijakovic, Riddle etc. breath new life into the main event picture. Hell, just bring all of British Strong Style in, they should be making stars out of Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne already. Tag division needs the bodies as well. They desperately need fresh women too, Shayna's made mince meat of the division god bless her.

[Loki]

The problem is Gargano - he can only really do indy wankfests.  This main event was just AWFUL and fast forward material and that's been increasingly the case through all of his top level run.

Cole I like but I think he was better as a North American level champ than the top guy.  Move the whole of UE up to Raw, they're not going to get any fresher or more ready.

As Mr Squash says, there's a ton of talent in NXT so let's start pushing some other people.  Lee, Riddle, Dream and Dain should be the main event scene.

Women's division is more interesting - still love Bazsler but I think Io Shirai should get a run with the title.  I know she's meant to be a heel now but she's so over she might as well go up against Shayna as a tweener type character.

[WyattSheepMask]

You could do a multi-women match at the next Takeover (November?) to get the belt off of Bayzler and onto Shirai, and you can have a face take the fall which stops Bayzler from losing. I know she has been beaten before, but this would keep her strong.

As for the men, I think Dream would benefit from a run with the main belt as a face, but he’d need to have someone carry the matches. He’s a phenomenal character, no doubt about that, but in-ring he’s still developing. He’s not bad by any stretch, but there’s still work to be done there.

Gargano can fuck off to 205 Live, he’s outstayed his welcome in NXT

[Ricc1PW]

I enjoyed Takeover, not as barn burning as previous efforts but a decent show. the main event was full of ridiculous kick outs and not selling of supposedly high impact moves, might be personal preference but i dont like that style much.

I think, on this occasion, the main Summerslam card was better than Takeover, which hasn't happened for ages.

[BomberPat]

Yeah, I thought this was probably the weakest Takeover in a long time for me, and the main event played a large part in that. Both women's matches were great, but I didn't think much of the opening tag match - just felt like an uncoordinated spotfest, and the most exposed Montez Ford's weaknesses have been yet - and the Triple Threat had a ton of contrived, over-ambitious "moments" that took away from its strongest parts. The main event was just a slog, though. I was practically screaming at the TV for them to get to the end of the first fall, let alone the entire match.

Way too much no-selling, moves for moves' sake, Adam Cole's awful bunny hop Canadian Destroyer, and the culmination of a year of them fucking up Gargano's character by having him, the babyface, be the one to take an intentional DQ in the first fall. The steel cage covered in WWE's standard selection of gimmicked weapons just looked like a hokey children's playset, particularly as the majority of them didn't come into play. If all they wanted was for a cage match with weapons coming in to play, they could have accomplished that the same way they set up the tables being in there - have the weapons brought into the ring during the second fall, so they're trapped in there with them for the final fall. It felt like that entire gimmick was to allow for there to be an otherwise pointless platform on one corner of the cage to set up their big spot.

[King Pitcos]

9 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

As for the men, I think Dream would benefit from a run with the main belt as a face, but he’d need to have someone carry the matches. He’s a phenomenal character, no doubt about that, but in-ring he’s still developing. He’s not bad by any stretch, but there’s still work to be done there.

Gargano can fuck off to 205 Live, he’s outstayed his welcome in NXT

I think these are both good shouts. 

Is 205 still going to be a thing when SmackDown moves to Fridays? If it’s sticking around, it could definitely do with a few new faces. Gargano wouldn’t add much to the main shows right now, and both him and NXT need to move on from each other. He’d be a big shot in the arm for 205.

And Dream absolutely should be the top star of NXT for the next year or two. He’s one of very few homegrown single male talent success stories of the performance centre era (who else is even in that category? Corbin? Braun was never on NXT except as an extra). He’s young enough that there’s no rush to get him on the main roster. He can hold his own in the ring with much more experienced wrestlers. There are plenty of workrate guys to surround him with for at least ten Takeovers as well. Especially if they start sending main roster guys down to NXT. 

[ThumpSquids]

I’ll take Ripley/Baszler all day, thank you very much. 

[DavidB6937]

Yep just when they keep making me think there's nothing left for Shayna on NXT, they grab my attention again.