Last night’s Takeover was one of the best and was everything that is right about NXT. The matches were hot, fans were passionate and there were a few surprises in the crowd. All in all a very good show that will be remembered fondly.
NXT Tag-Team Championship
American Alpha defeats Revival (c)
This match was the perfect start to the card both teams are at the top of the games and fans love both teams and their abilities. Jordan and Gable were the stars, the last few weeks have seen excellent storytelling of the journey American Alpha have taken to get to this point and they proved in the match that they deserved the belt, however the Revival were no slouches ether. The constant comparison for the Revival is to the Minnesota Wrecking Crew then a worthy comparison for American Alpha is the Briscoes and each team lived up to those comparisons. People often talk about tag-team wrestling being very paint by numbers these days well Dash and Dawson and Gable and Jordan painted a Da Vinci Piccasso fusion piece in that ring. The match definitely gives hope for the future of tag-team wrestling in NXT and WWE.
Austin Aries defeats Baron Corbin
This was a solid match Aries was very good and proved that he is worth the hype. However, the real star is Corbin who has vastly improved and proven himself more than a one move guy and delivered some top notch trash talk. The highlight of the match was Deep Six to Aries on the arena floor that showed that if there is a rematch a stipulation that appeals to fighting outside the ting would deliver a great match. While this match was not up there with the rest it was not due to lack of ability but rather it was a packed card with a lot of high profile matches and one had to suffer.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Sami Zayn
What can be said about this match? We all knew it had great promise but exceeded even the highest of expectations. It is definitely a match of the year and we are only in April. The fans were chanting this is awesome before they even touched, after this intense battle got going the chants became fight forever, if that does not say it all I don’t know what does.Nakamura won not just the match but a fanbase as well in the match. The match is everything that is right about NXT and will give fans hope for the future battles Nakamura will have in NXT and WWE. For Zyn it seems this is the end for him in NXT and it was a sombre moment in the ring for him, however, hopefully he will finally get one over on Kevin Owens Sunday and become the new Intercontinental Champion on Sunday. This match will be remembered fondly and already looks to be seen as one of the all time greats.
NXT Women’s Championship
Asuka defeats Bayley (c)
It shows how strong the women’s division is in NXT that they can still carve a place for themselves as a good match after following Nakamura and Zayn. The match was a clinic for submission manoeuvres with Bayley proving she can adapt to Asuka’s style easily. As Asuka locked on the Asuka lock Bayley proved that she has incredible heart doing everything to get out and continue as champion but it was not to be. With Asuka now champions questions will now fly about Bayley moving to WWE especially with a rumoured Divas Division Shake-Up rumoured to be taking place after Wrestlemania and with her fellow Four Horsewomen already there the future is very bright for Bayley.
NXT Championship
Finn Balor (c) defeats Samoa Joe
A moment has to be marked for Balor’s excellent entrance with a chainsaw, obviously Terry Funk had two.The match was excellent and had its share of controversy when Joe was busted open the hard way at the very start above his eye. This led to medics fawning over him constantly throughout the match who were brushed off as much as possible by Joe. Apparently Stephanie McMahon who was in attendance was not impressed by the blood which was no one’s fault. Balor won but there are rumours that Joe was originally planned to win, probably to allow a rubber match at some point. However, it now seems Joe is headed to the main roster, possibly on RAW but soon definitely. This has been rumoured for a while now and it seems to be happening after his second loss to Balor. Questions wills start to arise now as to who there is left for Balor to face?
Takeover Dallas was excellent and not just in ring as Kota Ibushi and Bobby Roode were spotted at ringside and focused on by cameras.The future looks brighter than ever for NXT with so many new stars coming in and potential stars being courted. Over the next few weeks we should see an influx of NXT talent into RAW in Takeover’s wake and new stars replacing them in NXT as it comes apparent who is leaving and who is coming in the WWE Examiner will cover it and please join us for our tweeting of Wrestlemania on Sunday followed by its review.
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