The card for NXT’s first Takeover event of 2017 may have highlighted the lack of depth on the brand, but the show certainly was not a disappointment!
The show opened with a video package spotlighting Bobby Roode ahead of his NXT title shot, and the stage features a rising video screen for the entrances… and we’re starting with a perfect 10! This was Corey Graves’ final night in NXT, as they announced on the pre-show that Nigel McGuinness would be replacing him going forth.
Tye Dillinger vs. Eric Young
Of course, Eric was out with Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe – no Nikki Cross here – and Young starts by throwing Tye a SAnitY jacket for a final chance at joining the group. Tye picks it up… then throws it back at Eric as we get going!
Young powders to the outside, then returned to go back and forth with Tye, who had to rush back in to avoid a double-team from Dain and Wolfe. Back inside, Tye hits Young with some mounted punches in the corner, but an eye rake sends Tye to the outside once again, where he’s met by a diving crossbody from Dain on the floor.
A top rope elbow drop to the back of Tye’s head sees Dillinger roll to the outside again, as this staccato match finally broke into something of a pattern, when Young scored a near-fall from a neckbreaker. Dillinger blocks a flipping jawbreaker off the top rope, before he tries for a superplex, but Young just headbutts him to the mat… and takes so long to jump down that Tye connects with a dropkick in mid-air.
Eric and Tye trade chops, before Tye uses Young’s beard to hold him in place for a headbutt. Dillinger fires back with a big back body drop, then with a super belly-to-belly suplex for a near-fall. Alexander Wolfe gets involved and is dropped with the Tyke Breaker (ushogoroshi)…. Dain comes in, but he just provides a distraction as Young goes for the wheelbarrow neckbreaker, only for Tye to turn it into a wheelbarrow roll-up for a two-count. Dillinger gets the Tye Breaker on Young, but Wolfe puts Young’s foot on the rope to stop the count… so he gets a plancha from the Perfect 10. A cross body from Dillinger’s rolled through for a near-fall for EY, but Young makes the most of another distraction as he lands the wheelbarrow neckbreaker for the win. A good opener, and of course, the crowd are not happy that Tye lost. ***¼
Backstage footage shows Shinsuke Nakamura shadow boxing… and Samoa Joe is shown in the crowd!
Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Roderick Strong
Roderick Strong’s NXT theme is somewhat generic… and from there they start with Roddy going for takedowns as Almas scrambled to the ropes. Almas hooks himself in the ropes to wind up Strong, who hits back with a dropkick after Almas had to leap over Strong.
Strong and Almas trade chops for a spell, before Almas charges at Strong… and slaps him! Very Rush-like! An armbar in the ropes sees Almas wear down Strong again, but a backbreaker attempt is blocked as Almas takes down Strong with a dropkick before he goes for the Fujiwara armbar. Almas drops Strong with an arm-held bodyslam before a pair of moonsault attempts miss, with Strong coming back with an almost Angle Slam-like overhead suplex. A dropkick gets Strong back into it, as does a front suplex and a running knee into the corner, but Strong hits a second dropkick to take Cien into the corner.
Strong hits a backbreaker after pulling Almas off the top rope for a two-count, but Andrade comes back with a strait-jacket German suplex for a near-fall. They trade chops and forearms for a spell, but Strong manages to take down the Mexican with a jumping knee, before a big boot leads to a caught kick as Almas finally takes him down in a double armbar. Strong makes the bottom rope to free himself, before he crotches Andrade on the top rope en route to a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle – similar to what Charlotte and Sasha Banks tried during their Hell in a Cell match.
Almas tries for the hammerlock DDT, but Strong charges him into the corner, only to take a hiptoss into those turnbuckles. Almas hits a clothesline after missing a double knee strike in the corner, then hits those knees before the hammerlock DDT is again blocked and countered with a waistlock takedown. From there, a Sick Kick is all that Roddy needs for the win – a solid, hard-hitting match, but that loss doesn’t do too much for Almas, does it? ***¼
Michael Hayes is shown in the crowd after a video package from the 1995 Royal Rumble in San Antonio. There’s a random crowd shot, eh?
NXT Tag Team Championship: Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) vs. #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano) (c)
The Authors came out with Iron Man-esque masks and a veil over them… are they getting married?!
Rezar starts by charging at Gargano on the apron before taking Ciampa to the corner with a choke. Tommaso hits a back elbow to free himself, before he tries for a crossface early on, but it’s just broken up with a kick. Gargano tags in, but he’s not doing much better, having to punch out of a powerbomb before Akam tags in.
All four men end up in the ring briefly, but the Authors end up getting sent to the outside with knees and a clothesline, before topes from Gargano takes down both of the Authors. Gargano’s slingshot DDT is caught, but he comes back with a superkick off the apron before Rezar knocks him into the guard railings. Akam tags in and just carried Gargano back into the ring with a slam and it’s Gargano who remains on the defensive.
A backbreaker submission from Akam looks to force Gargano to throw the towel in, but Johnny Wrestling escapes and almost tags out, but the Authors again remain on top. A stomp-assisted sidewalk slam gets Rezar a two-count, before they go to the outside where Akam misses Gargano twice, hitting the steps and the post in-time. Still, Gargano can’t make the tag in, until he rolls away from an elbow that is as he finally tags in Ciampa.
Knees and elbows from Ciampa keep the Authors cornered, before Ciampa dumps both of them with suplexes to turn the match on its head! A knee trembler gets Ciampa a near-fall on Akam, who then gives his challenger his wish of multiple shots, before Akam’s lariat gets a near-fall.
Ciampa escapes a double suplex, before he and Gargano gets a double spear on Akam for a two-count. Gargano unloads with shots on Akam before the double-team enziguiri misses, and that leaves Ciampa alone with the Authors, who lay him out with a neckbreaker/sit-out powerbomb that almost saw them win the titles! A superkick from Gargano ends cuts off the Last Chapter, before Akam’s caught in an armbar from Ciampa… Gargano lands the Gargano Escape on Rezar in a call-back to how #DIY won the tag titles, but Rezar picks up Gargano and impressively slams him onto Ciampa to break the armbar.
Gargano and Ciampa pull each other to their knees for some shots on the Authors, who hit back in kind, before a pair of knee strikes take the Authors to their knees. Another pair of knee strikes lead to the Super Collider (double powerbombs), and that just leads the crowd to boo as Ciampa eats the Last Chapter as the Authors win the tag titles! A decent match given their relative inexperience, but man, the Authors are so not ready for this level. ***
After some plugs, we have Seth Rollins hitting the ring?! Seth’s taking over take-over, and he calls out Triple H – threatening to hold the show hostage. No matter, Hunter comes out, and with Seth out of the Rumble, it looks like he’s doing his WrestleMania angle on… NXT? Hunter waves out security to eject Seth, but of course, he overcomes the security guards, with one of them taking a nasty spill out of the ring as Seth heads to the back… wiping out yet more security! Eventually he’s restrained by six guards (and a seventh who was holding his face a LOT), as the interruption was taken to the back, to chants of “bullshit” from the crowd.
NXT Women’s Championship: Nikki Cross vs. Peyton Royce vs. Billie Kay vs. Asuka (c)
The feral Cross started by locking eyes with Asuka… but for some reason the Aussies put themselves in harms way before escaping the ring.
Kay and Royce come in pretty soon afterwards to pick apart Asuka and Cross, with the latter being caught in a tree of woe before Asuka took down the Aussies. Cross and Asuka go at each other, but again they’re separated… before Asuka dumped Kay and Royce with a double German suplex off the ropes!
Finally we get Asuka and Cross, and a headbutt from the Scotswoman leads to a Thesz press, before Asuka blasted Cross with a German suplex for a near-fall. A missed kick helps Cross get back into it with a neckbreaker, then again with a reverse DDT for a two-count. Cross takes Asuka to the outside, where a spinning DDT off the apron takes the champion down, before a cross body off the top rope knocks down the Aussie duo. Eventually Kay and Royce kick Cross down the aisle, before heading up towards the commentary table which has a second table conveniently placed next to it. Billie and Peyton join Cross up there as they suplex her off the commentary desk and through the second table… and only now they realise they’ve got to go to the ring to sort out Asuka. Or perhaps just lay down for each other?
The Aussies return and catch Asuka in a wheelbarrow hold for a knee-strike as they pile on for a near-fall, before they look to throw Asuka into Billie… but she just kicks Kay before Royce almost won the title with the Widow’s Peak! Asuka bridges up to avoid the three-count, then replies with kicks to Kay and Royce, and it’s one last head kick to Peyton that helps her retain her title. Short, but plenty of fun. ***
After the match, the camera shows Nikki Cross still laying on that table, motionless from that double suplex…
Tyler Bate is shown on camera. Waving, of course. With an uncredited Matt Riddle behind him… Bate wrestled earlier on the show, likely to be a part of this week’s NXT TV.
NXT Championship: Bobby Roode vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (c)
No singing choir for Bobby, instead, he’s got eight women in evening gowns in the entrance-way for him. Sadly, they didn’t turn around to reveal “Glorious” on their backs – he just took them down to the ring like a modern day Ric Flair! Nakamura’s entrance on the other hand was him coming down to the ring on an epilepsy-inducing cart, since we’ve already had violinists…
The crowd was split virtually 50-50 here, and with ten minutes left in the two-hour slot, we’re going long!
A tentative start saw Roode check an early kick before going for a waistlock that lead to headlocks and headscissors. They remain tentative as Roode goes to the ropes as Nakamura came at him with wristlocks, before a clean break from Roode saw him throw in a back elbow. Nakamura counters a headlock with some stuff, but he ends up in some grounded headscissors.
Roode does his “glorious” pose, but that leaves him wide open for Nakamura to knee him in the gut, before a spinning heel kick takes the challenger to the outside. They quickly return as Nakamura works over Roode with knees in the corner, before he’s lifted onto the top rope as Roode then dumped him backwards to the floor. Roode tried to pick apart the pieces by rolling Nakamura back inside for a near-fall, before some shots kept the champion down. A double axehandle off the middle rope gets a near-fall, as Roode continues to pepper Nakamura’s neck with knee drops. Nakamura finally makes a comeback with a guillotine-like knee drop as Roode’s sent to the outside as the pace picks up a little with kicks and knees from the champion.
Nakamura uses his boot to choke Roode in the middle rope, before he’s hung over the top rope from the challenger. The back and forth continues with a reverse Exploder after a Nakamura knee, before Roode plays dead to avoid the Kinshaha as he gets a schoolboy then a backstabber for a pair of near-falls. The Glorious DDT misses, but Roode comes back with a spinebuster for a near-fall, so he chops Nakamura on the top rope as he goes for a superplex.
Nakamura fights out though, then drops Roode with a front suplex and a dropkick off the middle rope. That’s the set-up for a Kinshasa, but Roode gets his feet up and looks to score the pin – but Roode had his feet on the ropes, so the referee stopped the count! The comeback continued from Nakamura with stomps to Roode, who was then caught in a spin-out armbar that turns into a triangle armbar, but Roode lifts up Nakamura, who then goes into a sunset flip then a sliding knee for a near-fall! Shinsuke goes up to the middle rope, but Roode rolls to the outside as he sensed another dive, but Nakamura gets the diving knee in that seems to do more damage to him than to Roode. The crowd care so much they chant “ten” when the referee counts them out… seriously, have more respect for the guys you’re supposedly into, eh?
They return to the ring where Nakamura gets the Kinshasa, but his knee seems to give way as Roode’s out cold. A doctor comes into check on Nakamura’s knee as Roode gets back to his feet… and Nakamura wants to continue, but he’s seemingly being held back. Nakamura drags himself back in, but Roode jumps on him with a Glorious DDT for a near-fall as Nakamura somehow kicked out!
With Nakamura’s knee still injured, Roode rolls him into a single leg crab with some punches to the knee for extra effect, but for some reason NXT coach Matt Bloom comes to ringside as Nakamura finally worked his way free and into a triangle. Nakamura couldn’t hold it in, and that left him exposed as Roode hits a second Glorious DDT – and we have a new champion!
This was a good main event – not a candle on some of the prior Takeover main events – but this was a pretty believable way to get the title off of Nakamura. Hopefully this doesn’t lead to rematches a la the Samoa Joe feud, but for now we get a Glorious new champion! ***½
Roode celebrates with the title in the ring as medical staff and Matt Bloom checked on Nakamura, but it came across to me as – beyond the initial pop – the crowd weren’t that much into Roode’s win. Maybe it’s just my ears, but we’ll find out on upcoming NXTs!
What Worked: That women’s four way was a bit short, but they teased – without delivering in-full – the Cross/Asuka match we all wanted to see. Getting the title off of Nakamura should theoretically free him for a main roster call-up at some time, but also it’ll allow them to freshen up the main-event scene with some new faces on top. In both senses of that phrase!
What Didn’t: I still think it’s too soon for the Authors of Pain to even be on NXT, let alone be tag champions. They’re doing well with their relative inability, but when you’re dealing with a team with a combined three years in the business, you’ve got to adjust expectations.
Thumbs: Middle, leaning up – there was nothing blow-away on this show, but nothing that stunk either. We’ve been spoiled by Takeovers for a while now, so if you’re looking to be comparing this to those, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. This show was good, nothing special, but a solid two hour event that delivered exactly as promised.