Kyle O’Reilly (C) and Roderick Strong (C) def. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch – NXT Tag Team Championships
This was one hot opener if you ask me. My concern coming into the match was whether or not Lorcan and Burch would be able to hold up their end of the bargain for an extended period of time and keep the crowd engaged. I didn’t think they had the charisma to make me care, but they proved me wrong, and I’m glad they did. If there’s one thing to describe this match, it’s just purely physical. It really wasn’t so much wrestling as it was a fight and desperation into one. What I loved were some of the subtle things they did in the match that carried it along, with perhaps the most pertinent example of this being Kyle O’Reilly managing to just barely escape out of the submission hold by kicking Burch in the face to save his teammate and keep the match going.
If you ask me, Burch and Lorcan gave me a vibe that I got from The Revival. They were just widely physical in their attacks and they worked so cohesively as a unit, whereas Strong and O’Reilly strongly rely on their individual talents to carry them through. Fortunately for them, it was good enough to get them through this match. I wasn’t expecting much from this and was actually expecting this to be the cool-off before Gargano/Ciampa, but they managed to keep the heat, make the match fun while doing things simplistic, and we saw Blockbusters in this match that would make Seth Rollins proud. I’m also glad Burch and Orcan got the post-match sympathy from the crowd that they deserved. This was their chance to make an impression on the Takeover stage, and they did just that. A fantastic opener that grossly over-delivered in my opinion. ****1/4
Ricochet def. The Velveteen Dream
The thing about Velveteen Dream’s matches is that there is always great storytelling. It’s really a treat to watch someone as young as Velveteen Dream master the art of making sure that a story is told from start to finish. Here, we had Velveteen begin by trying to outdo Richochet’s athleticism and trying to do his own moves better than he could himself, and for a while, he was getting the job done. But once he started to realize nothing was working, he started to get desperate and did everything he could to put him away until Ricochet just out-maneuvered him.
I thought the match took its time to get going and I thought it was the pacing that hurt it more than anything. I just believed some of the transitions were kind of weird and I wasn’t sure what kind of match they wanted to wrestle. I didn’t know if it was going to be a slugfest or if it was going to be a test of athletic ability, and I thought they were trying to incorporate both at the same time without making it look like a natural transition. But then, they started to hit some huge spots, like Velveteen’s delayed suplex onto the outside and his huge DDT on Richcoet that he kicked out of. Those big spots seemed to be what got the crowd amped, and from that point on, the two just said “screw it” and just started to see which one could take more impactful moves, and Ricochet would prove to be the victor. This was a well-done match, with great storytelling. While I thought it took a bit long to get to the point, I was more than entertained. Great match. ****1/4
Shayna Baszler (C) def. Nikki Cross – NXT Women’s Championship
It’s slowly starting to dawn on me how bland and generic Shayna is. She can go in the ring, but unless she’s in the ring with a dynamic character, she struggles mightily to keep the crowd involved. Fortunately, these two didn’t completely lose the crowd, and a blessing in disguise was the annoying and discourteous beach ball distraction that seems to make its way during the match the crowd cared about the least. The bottom line is that Cross carried the hell out of this thing like no one’s business. Her relentless energy and motor was the only thing that the crowd was invested in, and if it wasn’t for her, this match would have died a slow, painful death. Of course, my expectations weren’t high for this match after the past hour of wrestling, so I wasn’t too disappointed in what I saw.
You had basically Shayna kicking Nikki around while Cross was acting like a lunatic the entire time before eventually just passing out. I did like the spitting image of her smiling as if she wasn’t feeling anything and her pride refusing to allow her to tap out, but the match really wasn’t anything too good. Shayna really needs to work on her character and get her something that will make the crowd care about her past the stereotypical bully mentality. Work on your mannerisms. Do evil, hellish things in the ring. Don’t just remind us that you’re good at wrestling. Be a jerk. This was clearly the cool-off, and while it was far from a failure, the women’s matches at Takeover has seen better performances. This was the first NXT Women’s Championship match since Takeover: Respect in 2015 that didn’t feature either Asuka or Ember Moon, and this match struggled. We’ll see how much their absences hurt the division going forward. **1/2
Aliester Black (C) def. Lars Sullivan – NXT Championship
Sorry, but I’m just not sold on Lars Sullivan. He’s decent in the ring and he certainly looks the park, but there’s nothing I have seen in him that I haven’t seen in every other big, overgrown ogre that WWE has created. There’s room for improvement, and by all means, all isn’t lost for him, but what sells in WWE is the uniqueness of character. What you look at Lars, what do you see? You hear the generic heavy metal instrumental music. He comes out in trunks. He looks like a caveman. He has abundant body hair. He’s very strong. He likes throwing people around. Are you invested in him yet? I just don’t think he’ll amount to anything more than Snitsky on the main roster, but I’ve been proven wrong before.
I did appreciate the clash in styles that the two were going for here, as Black looked to utilize his athleticism and quickness to combat Sullivan’s overwhelming power. It worked for a time, as Black was able to use Sullivan’s momentum against him on some of his moves, and we also got Lars being desperate by going to the top rope, which is something powerhouses rarely ever do. That being said, the pacing was kinda dull, and what we all know hurt the ending sequence in the match especially, was Sullivan’s botch of Black Mass. He just fell to the ground after nothing hit, and he heard it from the crowd. From that point on, everything really just felt disjointed. The match wasn’t terrible, but certain styles and wrestlers don’t mesh together well. In Lars and Black’s case, it was like oil and water. They tried to make it work, but it ultimately fell flat for me. ***
Tomasso Ciampa def. Johnny Gargano – Chicago Street Fight
I’m honestly starting to run out of adjectives to adequately describe what I am seeing out of these two. If you want a parallel to the Triple H/Shawn Michaels feud of 2002, look no further than this masterpiece of a feud. Whether or not this match was going to top their New Orleans slugfest was the only thing that I was looking for, and if you ask me, it’s a tie. I honestly can’t say that one match was clear-cut, definitively the better match because each one was unique and special in their own, brutal way. The New Orleans match focused more on the environment around them. Ciampa’s silent entrance with “F YOU” chants reigning down and each physical beating having a special meaning behind it. This was just two people who had a deep-seated hatred for each other and just kicked each other’s ass to near death. The little things in this match were what did it for me. Ciampa recalling back to the last Takeover in Chicago when his betrayal of Gargano began with the same spot by the entrance ramp. Gargano turning the tables on Ciampa by sending him through tables in direct contrast from before. But what I loved especially was Tomasso taking Johnny’s wedding ring and just chucking it. That’s like the ultimate dick move. But it was all bait.
Don’t you get it? Ciampa was able to win because Johnny turned into what Ciampa said he was all along. Johnny turned into a psycho and lost himself, and while he technically had the match won in the ring, the ref wasn’t in the ring to see it, and Tomasso did what all heels do, and that’s take advantage of a situation and use it. That finish was just absolutely brilliant And it wasn’t in the ring that it was done. It was straight on the wood without any foam padding to help cushion the blow. I don’t need to go too in-depth with everything else that took place that carried this match because we all know what the deal is with these two. It was a fight all over the arena. Brutal chair shots. Brutal uses of crutches and steel steps. Relentless assaults from Johnny. Pure evil from Tasso. The contrast in their styles and characters are what puts their matches over the top, and we got yet another masterpiece between the two. Certainly, this feud is far from over. For me, ideally, Ciampa will somehow get the NXT Title off of Black, and it will result in one final battle. The ultimate rubber match where Johnny and Tomasso look to take their feud to even further heights, but this time with the NXT Championship, which Johnny has failed to get on several occasions, on the line. This is a feud that has been festering for over two years back to when they were a tag team and even before then in the Cruiserweight Classic. And it has all led to this pay-off. And boy has it paid off. *****
Conclusion:
The sky is blue, the grass is green, wrestling is awesome, and Takeover delivers once again. While I wouldn’t put it on the level that New Orleans reached, this was still a masterpiece of a show and I was thoroughly entertained. While the middle portion was kind of meandering a bit, nothing on the card was horrible and nothing overstayed its welcome. The tag team match was a special treat that over-delivered and gave the hot crowd the energy that would last throughout the night. Richochet and Velveteen Dream tore it up, the middle parts weren’t obscene in any way, just kind of average or so, and the main event was another perfect classic, and I cannot wait until how they plan to try to top themselves yet again. What more do you want out of NXT? If you haven’t been tuning in, you are doing yourself a great disservice. May this be a lesson to never take a match card that looks thin on paper at face value. Thumbs all the way up. Until next time.
