The heated rivalry between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa will come to a head at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
It was announced at the start of tonight’s episode of NXT that Ciampa will face Gargano at TakeOver in an unsanctioned match. Ciampa had been heckled by the crowd upon entering Full Sail University and asked NXT General Manager William Regal how he could finally get Gargano out of his life. Regal said that he would make the unsanctioned match at TakeOver with the following stipulations: if Ciampa wins, Gargano will be out of NXT forever. But if Gargano wins, he will get his job back.
Gargano was forced out of NXT in storyline after he lost a title vs. career match on NXT last month to Andrade “Cien” Almas. Ciampa had interfered in the match, attacking Gargano with his crutch, which led to Almas getting the win with the hammerlock DDT. On last week’s NXT, Gargano came out of the crowd to attack Ciampa, leading to a pull-apart brawl.
A story that went around on Monday claiming NXT had announced the return of War Games for a second time this November was an error, according to WWE sources.
AXS.com ran a story announcing that the specialty match would be part of NXT TakeOver in Los Angeles, CA, during Survivor Series weekend at the Staples Center. However, the story has been removed from the website and has been debunked.
NXT brought back War Games last November during Survivor Series weekend for TakeOver, the first time the match had been done in a WWE-owned promotion. Created by the NWA and carried on by WCW, the concept had been dormant since September 2000.
In the 2017 match, the Undisputed Era of Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly defeated the Authors of Pain/Roderick Strong and SAnitY in a slightly modified version of the match.
WWE will run the Staples Center for four straight nights in November which includes TakeOver, Survivor Series, Raw, and SmackDown. Tickets are on sale now.
EC3 was shown sitting in the front row at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia tonight and has officially signed with WWE.
He appeared just before the video packages began for the Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Johnny Gargano main event. The graphic identified him as “EC 3,” and Mauro Ranallo called him one of NXT’s new arrivals.
EC3 finished up with Impact Wrestling at their most recent set of television tapings earlier this month, with him being written out by getting the “fired” briefcase in a Feast or Fired battle royal. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter following the tapings, Dave Meltzer reported that he was told months ago that EC3 was going to be leaving Impact and at the time was looking at going back to WWE.
EC3 was known as Derrick Bateman in WWE until being released in 2013. He was in developmental and appeared on two seasons of NXT in its previous format. In Impact wrestling, he was Ethan Carter III and played Dixie Carter’s storyline nephew.
Earlier in the night, Ricochet and War Machine were also shown on camera sitting in the crowd. Candice LeRae was featured in a backstage segment with Gargano and his family, sat in the crowd for the main event, and got involved to help neutralize Zelina Vega.
Royal Rumble weekend kicks off tonight as the Wells Fargo Center hosts NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
Johnny Gargano challenging Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship will headline the show. Gargano defeated Kassius Ohno in a qualifying match and went on to win a number one contender’s fatal four-way to earn his way to TakeOver. On Wednesday’s go-home show, he defended the title shot against Velveteen Dream and stood tall over Almas.
In the show’s other title matches, Ember Moon will defend her Women’s Championship against Shayna Baszler and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly will put their Tag Team titles on the line against The Authors of Pain.
Adam Cole and Aleister Black are set to face off in an extreme rules match. Plus, Velveteen Dream takes on Ohno.
There will be an hour-long pre-show starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time, which includes the NXT year-end awards, and our coverage of the main card begins at 8 p.m.
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NXT Year End Awards:
Rivalry Of The Year: Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream (Dream guaranteed a 30 second knock out of Kassius Ohno during TakeOver) Male Competitor Of The Year: Aleister Black Breakout Star Of The Year: Aleister Black Female Competitor Of The Year: Asuka Match Of The Year: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne from NXT TakeOver: Chicago Overall Competitor Of The Year: Asuka
Announced off-air:
Tag Team of the Year: SAnitY Future Star of NXT: Cezar Bononi TakeOver of the Year: NXT TakeOver: WarGames
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Nigel McGuinness is sick and will not be here tonight, so the commentary will only be Mauro and Percy.
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Paul Heyman narrated the pre-show video package.
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NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Authors of Pain to retain their titles
O’Reilly pinned Akam with a schoolboy during a chaotic finish. AOP hit the Super Collider, but before he could be slammed down, O’Reilly gave Akam a Hurricarana, which sent Akam into Rezar which knocked Rezar out of the ring.
This was a really good opener, with Rezar and O’Reilly working really well together especially. This was AOP’s first major regular tag team match as babyfaces and considering neither have had to sell much in the past it went really well.
Akam sold his knee as injured to let Undisputed Era get the heat. Fish gave Rezar a spear through the rope and to the floor, which took him out for several minutes. Rezar tagged in and at one point gave Fish a Fallaway Slam, while falling backwards on O’Reilly, who was on his back.
Crowd got into the match late after not making much noise early.
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War Machine was shown in the crowd, called that by Mauro Ranallo.
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Velveteen Dream defeated Kassius Ohno
Velveteen Dream won with a Rolling Death Valley Driver (that he needed two tries to lift Ohno) and a Purple Rainmaker (top rope elbow). Dream actually dove from the ring post and not the top rope.
This was one of those good news/bad news situations for Velveteen Dream. The good news is he did hit a knockout blow in 30 seconds. The bad news is he celebrated and never made a cover, so he didn’t actually win in that time. As for celebrations there are people who won the main event of WrestleMania who didn’t celebrate as big as Dream did when he hit his knockout blow.
It should be noted the fans booed when Ohno got up and gave Dream an Elbow Strike, as Dream has been the most over person on the show so far. This match wasn’t as good as the opener, but had much more heat. At one point Dream was supposed to catch Ohno for his rolling Death Valley Driver, but Ohno’s momentum was such that Dream couldn’t catch him.
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Maria Menunos was shown at ringside.
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NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Shayna Baszler to retain her title
This was a very different Women’s Title Match. Unfortunately this crowd didn’t seem to understand what they were watching. The finish saw Baszler work the armbar for close to 4 minutes with Ember scratching and clawing to get out of it. Finally Moon was able to use Shayna’s own momentum against her and pin her with a cradle to retain the title.
Shayna did a UFC-like entrance where they showed her walking from her locker room all the way through the backstage area and to the ring.
This was a fight from the get go and Baszler early on used the same stomp to the bent elbow that she did to Dakota Kai. Shayna’s offense revolved around armholds, which the fans mostly seemed to think was a series of rest holds. Ember sold the arm and elbow perfectly.
Ember hit The Eclipse, but due to selling her arm and elbow she couldn’t make the cover. They called the medical staff down to see if she could continue, but they let it go. The first time Baszler got on the armbar, Moon was near the ropes.
After the match Baszler jumped Ember in the aisle and locked her in a Rear Naked Choke.
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Ricochet was shown in the crowd, called Trevor “Ricochet” Mann.
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Aleister Black defeated Adam Cole in an extreme rules match
Black pinned Cole with Black Mass when Cole went after him with a chair in an excellent weapons match.
This was a brutal, slightly bloody affair which featured run-in’s by Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and all of SAnitY.
Cole went for a baseball bat-like swing with a chair at Black’s face early. Thankfully this wasn’t The Rock and Ken Shamrock, so Black ducked it. In perhaps the best timed weapon shot ever, Black went for his Quebrada and Cole hit him with a Kendo Stick shot to the abdomen. Cole busted his hand open somehow and the match was temporarily stopped so the medical crew could clean it up. Black picked up Cole in an Electric Chair position and threw him into a ladder set up in the corner. Black ended up taking the same bump Chris Jericho took at WrestleKingdom, this time he got superkicked and fell backwards off the middle rope and through the tables at ringside. Black gave Cole an Attitude Adjustment on top of two chairs, which were back-to-back, which played off the angle on tv where Cole did that to Black. The crowd chanted “You deserve it” which was funny.
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly ran in for interference. Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe of SAnitY ran down to attack the tag team champs. That was playing off Undisputed Era’s backstage attack on SAnitY before their tag title match earlier this month. Killian Dain did a Suicide Dive to all four of them to take everyone out of the picture.
Black put Cole through the announce table with Double Knees when he jumped off a case at ringside, which led to the finish.
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Former TNA Champion EC3, called that, was shown at ringside. Once upon a time he was Derrick Bateman on the never-ending (but amazingly awesome) NXT: Redemption.
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NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Johnny Gargano to retain his title
Almas won an amazing main event with a draping Hammerlock DDT after using the running Double Knees to Gargano when he was propped against the ring post. The match started slow but built to one great match.
Almas came out in his La Sombra mask and with a masked Mariachi band. Candice Lerae was shown at ringside, cheering her husband on.
Both men missed moves off the ring apron early on. Almas, with a moonsault, landed on his feet, but Gargano went for a flipping dive and when Almas moved Gargano crashed on the black mats. Gargano hit his Slingshot Spear, but no one bought it as the finish. He then rolled out of the way of a Moonsault, but when Almas landed on his feet he immediately hit a standing moonsault, which popped the crowd. Almas went for a Hammerlock DDT off the top rope, a version of which injured Drew McIntyre, but Gargano got out of it.
Having wrestled each other on tv twice before, these men were well aware with each others spots and were constantly reversing each others moves and a hot series near the finish led to a standing ovation. Gargano used a Slingshot DDT on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring. Gargano got a pair of near falls with a small package and a superkick, which had the crowd screaming. Almas gave Gargano the double footstomp while he was draped across the turnbuckle, which led to him falling outside the ring. Gargano had the match won with the Gargano Escape, but Zelina Vega grabbed his hand before he could tap out and Almas used an eyerake to get out of it. Gargano used a Suicide Dive, but Vega used a Hurricarana to send him into the ring steps. Back in the ring Almas hit his Hammerlock DDT, but Gargano kicked out. Vega tried interfering again, so Candace Lerae jumped the guardrail and attacked her! Lerae chased Vega out of the arena. Another Gargano Escape and Almas barely got his foot on the ropes before the finish.
Gargano got a standing ovation when leaving, when he was attacked by Tommaso Ciampa! Ciampa, returning from injury, struck Gargano with his crutch. The show went off the air with Lerae tending to her fallen husband.
This show probably won’t be remembered as one of the best TakeOver’s, but is well worth checking out.
Prior to TakeOver: Philadelphia going on the air tomorrow night, there will be a WWE United Kingdom Championship number one contender’s match on the pre-show television tapings.
Roderick Strong will be facing Tyler Bate, with the winner getting a future shot at Pete Dunne’s title. Strong vs. Bate will air on Wednesday’s episode of NXT television.
Bate was the last person in WWE to challenge Dunne for the title, losing to him in a match that aired on December 20th.
Nikki Cross vs. Lacey Evans and the in-ring return of TM61 have also been advertised for Wednesday’s episode and will be taped prior to TakeOver.
There will be an hour-long pre-show before TakeOver begins. Renee Young and Corey Graves will host the NXT year-end awards, and Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts, and Samoa Joe will appear on the pre-show panel.
The main card for TakeOver: Philadelphia has Johnny Gargano challenging Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship, Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black in an extreme rules match, NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defending against Shayna Baszler, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly putting their Tag Team titles on the line against The Authors of Pain, and Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream.
Editor’s note: The following references results from tonight’s episode of NXT television.
Triple H revealed the final match for Saturday’s TakeOver card on a conference call with the pro wrestling media this afternoon.
In a match that Triple H said has the potential to steal the show, Kassius Ohno will be facing Velveteen Dream at TakeOver: Philadelphia. This will be the second straight TakeOver that both have appeared on. Ohno lost to Lars Sullivan and Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream in Houston last November.
Johnny Gargano defeating Velveteen Dream to retain his shot at Andrade “Cien” Almas’ title is set to air on tonight’s episode of NXT television.
Triple H noted that TM61 will make their return on Saturday’s pre-TakeOver TV tapings, with Roderick Strong and Nikki Cross also set to appear.
Here’s the updated card for TakeOver: Philadelphia:
NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas defending against Johnny Gargano
NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defending against Shayna Baszler
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black in an extreme rules match
NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defending against The Authors of Pain
Most of the card for NXT’s next TakeOver special was made official at last night’s television tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta.
Two more title matches were set up for TakeOver, with Shayna Baszler challenging for Ember Moon’s Women’s Championship and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defending their Tag Team titles against The Authors of Pain. AOP won a number one contender’s match against The Street Profits to get their title shot.
Baszler made her televised NXT in-ring debut at the tapings. She defeated Dakota Kai by referee stoppage and continued to attack her after the match until Moon made the save. Baszler later appeared following Lacey Evans vs. Aliyah, but Moon made the save again as Baszler was attacking Aliyah.
After Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black was announced for TakeOver on this week’s recap episode, an extreme rules stipulation was added for it last night. As the build to their match continued, Cole got involved and distracted Black while Black & Roderick Strong were facing Fish & O’Reilly.
Johnny Gargano also retained his NXT Championship shot by beating Velveteen Dream at the tapings and will challenge Andrade “Cien” Almas in the main event of TakeOver. The fifth match for the event hasn’t been confirmed, but Lars Sullivan called out Killian Dain in an angle last night and Strong challenged Sullivan to a match.
TakeOver: Philadelphia will take place at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27th as part of Royal Rumble weekend.
Adam Cole made his NXT debut Saturday at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, attacking Drew McIntyre and aligning himself with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly.
McIntyre had just won the NXT title by defeating Bobby Roode. The show was set to close when Fish and O’Reilly, who made their NXT debut as a team earlier on the show attacking SAniTy, appeared on the apron. This let Cole, who came in through the crowd, attack him from behind.
All three put the boots to McIntyre, signaling an alliance. Cole grabbed McIntyre’s title and held it high, indicating that he was coming for the title.
It had pretty much been known that Cole was making his way here following his departure from Ring of Honor in May. Cole had been with the promotion since 2009, where he initally teamed with O’Reilly as Future Shock. He ascended to the top of the roster, winning the ROH world title on three different occasions, a company record.
We’ll have more on this tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio.
The two WWE weekend shows in Chicago’s All-State Arena were almost amazing that they came from the same company.
The NXT Takeover show on 5/20 was one of the company’s best shows in years before one of the hottest crowds in a long time. One would have thought the competitive nature of having to follow such a great show would lead to the Backlash PPV stepping it up as well. But instead, they had a lackluster show which felt more like a boring elongated episode of Smackdown. Still, it was the latter show that generated far more talk with the decision to make Jinder Mahal, 30-year-old Yuvraj Singh Desi, into the WWE world champion.
The same decision making that led to Mahal headlining the show made it clear to accomplish the goals based on this move, that he should win the title. Going from a prelim jobber type to holding the historical biggest championship title in the world in a short period of time was unusual, but this was a unique situation.
In conjunction with SmackDown’s Backlash pay-per-view, NXT TakeOver: Chicago will take place on May 20th at the Allstate Arena before the venue is home to Backlash the next night. The news was announced by Triple H on Twitter after the show was also listed on Ticketmaster earlier in the day.
Tickets for TakeOver go on sale to the general public on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
With the addition of the show, at least five TakeOvers will take place in 2017. NXT is scheduled to run its signature events the night before all of WWE’s “big four” pay-per-views, with the Chicago show filling a place on the calendar between them.
In addition to TakeOver, five house shows outside of Florida were also announced for May. Those dates are:
NXT taped TV prior to TakeOver: Orlando at the Amway Center tonight:
– Heavy Machinery defeated The Bollywood Boyz when Otis Dozovic was holding one of the Bollywoods in the same position Mark Henry would for a World’s Strongest Slam, then Tucker Knight ran the ropes and splashed his partner in the back as Dozovic executed the slam. The move was hard to explain, but very cool to watch.
– Peyton Royce defeated Aliyah with a bridging fisherman’s suplex.
– Oney Lorcan defeated El Vagabundo (Elias Samson)
El Vagabundo came out. It was The Drifter with a lucha mask and his guitar after he lost a loser leaves NXT match to Kassius Ohno on TV. He sang a song and then Lorcan took the mic saying “I know you’re The Drifter, you know you’re The Drifter, these people know you’re The Drifter” and then the fans started chanting “No! No! No!” and a huge “Vagabundo.” Great stuff.
After just a few minutes, Lorcan removed the mask and the crowd started booing. Soon after, Lorcan pinned him with a standing blockbuster. A woman security guard escorted Samson to the backstage area by grabbing him by the hair.
With NXT TakeOver’s big WrestleMania weekend fast approaching, WWE’s COO Paul “HHH” Levesque did his regular conference call with the wrestling media Thursday afternoon.
A few questions/topics he went into:
– A rundown of the next TakeOver show which features NXT Champion Bobby Roode vs. Nakamura, Aleister Black vs. Andrade Almas, NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Ember Moon, and more.
– Clarification on his past comments on not being “happy” with NXT
– Could NXT eventually have facilities all over the world like MMA’s American Top Team?
– What led to the exit and eventual return of Kassius Ohno (aka Chris Hero)
– Discussion on whether the UK brand is going to be Network only or whether traditional TV is a goal
– The evolution of some of the younger talents they are developing (Patrick Clark, etc)
– The status of Kyle O’Reilly coming to WWE
Subscribers can listen to the nearly 40 minute call below:
*These could be a mix of TV and dark matches. Not sure which is which.
– Rich Swann vs. Kona Reeves ended in a no-contest
This was my first time seeing Reeves, a tall guy who looks Hawaiian with ‘Aloha’ on his tights. Swann was very over while Reeves got a “Who are you?” chant. The lights turned out during the match, and SAnitY came to the ring. They attacked both of them, and got a hhuge pop from the crowd with “EY” and “Eric Young” chants.
Young took the mic and cut a promo saying they don’t ask for permission, they take it.
– Eric Young and No Way Jose ended in a no-contest
As Reeves and Swann were brought to the back, No Way Jose came to the ring and got a strong reaction. He called out Young and they started a match for that was quickly stopped by Sanity. Nikki Cross went on the top rope and as she went to dropkick Jose on his back, she slipped and fell just before getting to Jose. She got a huge “you f***ed up” chant. She went back up a second time and got a nice dropkick on his back. She then went up a third time and didn’t mess it up but she kind of slipped on Jose’s back upon hitting it.
– Ember Moon, Liv Morgan and Aliyah beat Bille Kay, Peyton Royce and Daria
This was ok. The heat was on Aliyah who got a good reaction from the crowd since she is from Toronto. But, Moon got the best pop of the two. End came with a hot tag to Moon who cleaned the ring. The Aussies tagged Daria and stayed on the outside, leading to Moon hitting a stunner from the third rope for the win.
On Saturday, the NXT gang heads north of the border to Toronto for their first TakeOver in almost three months. Each TakeOver seems bigger than the last with this iteration being no exception. It is an absolutely stacked card with the Dusty Rhodes Classic tourney up for grabs, along with all three titles on the line.
Let’s run down the card and see what we can expect from the future of WWE moving forward.
Dusty Classic Finals: TM61 vs. Authors of Pain (Paul Ellering in a cage above the ring)
This is the best stipulation since the ‘Judy Bagwell on a pole’ match, and how we got here is hilarious. TM61 basically says “Look at this cool toy cage from WWE” and William Regal responds, “Hey Paul, you interfere in matches, so you’re going in a cage over the ring.” This makes for the most NXT stipulation of all time.
I’m very torn on TM61. If you’ve seen anything of their pre-WWE days, it feels like a different tag team. Obviously there is the natural adjustment to the WWE style, but more and more, NXT is trending away from a less formulaic style and moving towards something more dynamic.
That said, TM61 clearly hasn’t resonated as much as WWE would have liked. Just look at their reaction compared to the one Austin Aries and Roderick Strong got for their Dusty quarterfinal match. Granted, it probably wasn’t the best idea to expect Roddy to get anything but a great reaction in California, but the difference is stark.
Part of me feels like the reason their matches don’t fully get ‘there’ is because they use Nick Miller, who shows zero personality and is the template for a create-a-wrestler from WCW/NWO World Tour, as the hot tag. It is clear that Shane Thorne kind of has ‘it’ to a certain extent as he’s weirdly charismatic and actually gets a reaction from a live crowd.
How this match plays out impacts how the NXT Tag Titles match goes down. If TM61 wins, does that means the Revival retains and sets up a new face/heel pairing for the foreseeable future? Likewise if Occam’s Razor retains, wouldn’t that signal a DIY victory? The simple answer is usually the easiest, so with the way they’ve been kind of, sort of, maybe pushing TM61, it’s reasonable to expect they go over here.
Bobby Roode vs. Tye Dillinger
Bobby Roode is very good. His theme song is very good. But, are people more interested in singing along with his song than caring for his actual character? I guess the same is true about Dillinger on a smaller scale. Roode has had at least some character development, and is supposed to be the heel in this situation. But what have they done for Dillinger to establish his character as opposed to his gimmick?
Audiences, and especially NXT audiences, love to chant and love offbeat or silly gimmicks (see Breeze, Tyler). The difference between Breeze and Dillinger is that Breeze cultivated a character through his gimmick. That’s what made him popular, and Dillinger just, well, he just kind of hasn’t. His character is just his gimmick and short of “doing it for Dusty”, there hasn’t been anything to make us care about him. Shouldn’t a ‘Perfect 10’ actually win a match?
The crowd will pop and cheer for both Canadian boys (as they should), but Roode’s will be louder and more resounding. It sounds cold to say, but he’s the one with the clear path to a big future: one that could involve the NXT championship.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Mickie James
I’m going to describe a wrestler: a wrestler so physically and psychologically dominating that all of their matches are must see; a wrestler who very, very rarely speaks, but is so massively popular because of the exciting and stiff style they work that is unlike any other wrestler on the entire WWE roster; a wrestler who is so lacking for competition, their matches are most often special attractions with people not on the active roster.
Now, did I just describe Brock Lesnar or did I just describe Asuka? She is the female Brock Lesnar of WWE, and is deservedly treated as such.
So when I heard about this match, I couldn’t help but smile: not in the scary way Asuka did when she heard about the match, but in a ‘This is gonna be gooooooood’ way. They treat Asuka like the monster she is, and there isn’t a soul in the NXT women’s division that is even close to her…and they know it. What’s the point of feeding Liv Morgan, Billie Kay, or Peyton Royce to her if none of them are ready, or able, to put on a remotely competitive match with her?
Having someone with the name recognition and in ring acumen like James is just perfect. It gives the other women time to work their way up. Rather, it gives Ember Moon time to establish herself as a viable threat to Asuka’s belt come 2017. Asuka’s matches are all excellent. Mickie James is excellent. This match will most likely be excellent. Mickie James gonna die.
NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival vs. DIY (2 out of 3 falls)
This could be the best tag match of the year, regardless of promotion. If The Revival aren’t the best tag team on the planet, then they’re certainly 1a. They are the best in NXT, the best in the company on either brand, and heck, maybe even ‘The Best In The World’ (™ Phil Brooks).
They remind us how a tag team can wrestle if they are an actual team instead of two guys thrown together, something WWE loves to do. These guys are big time wrestlers, top guys, whatever you want to call them, and they deliver.
But, DIY is the perfect foil to Dash and Dawson. Johnny Gargano has all the babyface charisma you could ever want, and paired with Ciampa’s hard, stiff style they make up a team that is just plain good. I had reservations when they came into NXT and whether what made them successful on the indies would carry over, but it absolutely has. Their match at NXT Brooklyn II was the match of the night, and I see no reason for this to be any different.
Especially in NXT, a stipulation like this typically signifies the end of a feud. With TM61, Authors of Pain, SAnitY, Aries/Roddy all legitimate forces in the tag division, it’s worth asking whether this is the end of The Revival’s run at NXT. Put them on Smackdown (the show that actually can book wrestlers), build them up with American Alpha, and let that division be low-key fantastic.
Or, put them on RAW and have them wrestle The Golden Truth and I’lll send out a Tout of me crying on my couch.
NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe
Look, we know this match should be the main event of a main roster PPV. These are two of the best in the game, performing at the top of that game, in a match that has had an exceptional build. Joe has been just incredible throughout this whole program, maniacally coming to take back his title at all costs. I would argue he can cut the best ‘angry’ promo of anyone currently signed to a WWE contract. He was great as the champion, but has been even better as the enraged monster chasing it.
That’s to say nothing of Nakamura’s growth over the past few months as well. He slowly added wrinkles to his character, showing aggression, showing fight, and showing a willingness to take everything seriously. Before he was more of a showman, and to a large extent he still is (in addition to being an incredible wrestler, which goes without saying). Now, he is showing fire, showing he cares, and showing that he wants to get his hands on Joe as much as Joe does him.
Shinsuke has an unstoppable air to him. He truly is the ideal representation of a sports entertainer: someone who can wrestle as well as anyone in the world while doing so in a completely unique and fascinating way. There is really no one like him.
So what’s going to happen aside from this match being great and stiff as all hell? I feel like Nakamura retains and goes on to have a series of great matches with Roode, Aries, Hideo Itami (when he’s healthy), and Roddy. His matches don’t need builds like others do as he is the build and the attraction. Noam Dar can call himself ‘Champagne Supernova’ all he wants, but Shinsuke is the entire goddamn galaxy. It makes sense for him to keep the belt until NXT has someone else capable of main eventing a TakeOver.
As for Joe, it’s time to move on and move up to the main roster. With as stale as RAW has been, bring him in and let him feud with Roman Reigns or Chris Jericho or whoever.
It’s always fun to think of the future, but around 9:30 on Saturday night, we should all be very thankful for the present.
You can watch NXT TakeOver on WWE Network Saturday starting at 8 PM EST. We’ll also have a live recap going on the site you can follow along with.
WWE announced on Friday morning that NXT will present one of its regular TakeOver specials on Saturday, November 19th from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The show will take place the night before WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view in the same building.
After filling the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY for three straight nights over SummerSlam weekend, WWE will hope to do the same in Toronto as the Air Canada Centre is home to TakeOver, Survivor Series, and Raw in successive nights.
Survivor Series will be a cross-brand PPV featuring stars from both Raw and SmackDown.
Triple H cited overwhelming demand as the reason for bringing TakeOver to Toronto. The brand had previously announced a tour of Canada in September, but those three dates have been canceled with the addition of the November WWE Network special. A pre-sale code for TakeOver will be made available to those who purchased tickets to those events.
The Toronto show will be the first TakeOver held in Canada and the second to take place outside of the United States.
Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, September 23rd at 10 a.m. ET.
