NXT Takeover Respect thoughts

[Str8Shooter]

Anybody watch this show? It was pretty damn solid as usual.

The Mechanics are a decent team, kind of generic dudes though, somewhat like Blake and Murphy to me. Hopefully they'll get to develop some more personality along the way. Joe and Balor were always going to the Finals at least in my mind. Teased Finn heel turn near the end, to me anyway, with the injured Balor demanding a tag and getting the pin.

Gable and Jordan are clearly the next big team in the NXT Tag Division. They are gaining momentum and showing more personality. Gable is the crowd favourite, and Jordan looks like the prototype of a pro wrestler. I would have liked to see them beat Rhyno and Corbin here. The crowd would have been more into the final then.

Breeze loses again at a Takeover! His won/loss must be awful . I like both guys and think both have bright futures. This was basically a filler match though.

Asuka made a hell of a debut. She seems to have a good feel for the American style already. I was impressed with Dana Brooke too to be honest, she's green but held her own well enough. She shows a lot of personality too. Asuka had some cool offense and this was her showcase match. I look forward to seeing her in more matches going forward. Her vs Bayley will be fantastic, the next big womens NXT match to me.

The Dusty Tourney final was well done. Nothing spectacular though. I thought we would see some dissension in the Finn/Joe ranks, but it looks like they'll hold off on that. The post match was cool, seeing Cody and Dustin and the Rhodes family present the trophy. A nice moment.

And the main event.... what can you say, these women continue to rise to the occasion. Maybe not quite as good as the Brooklyn match, but not a whole lot farther behind in my mind. The match didn't feel like a 30 minute match, it went quickly, told a good story, and had enough memorable spots in it. Sasha stealing Izzy's hair thing and taunting her was brutal but effective, mad her cry! I wonder if she was in on it, I have my doubts given the tears! I'm sure she's getting some nice swag for her efforts! The finishing stretch was really good and the drama kicked into high gear. A well laid out match. The post match was cool, it definitely looks like Sasha is officially done with NXT

[The Legend]

Balor/Joe vs Dawson/Wilder – Solid storytelling and building in this match. Although it was a bit predictable. They could have had Joe and Balor start fast to sell them being favorites a little more and then go to Dawson and Wilder teaming up and using teamwork to work Balor’s knee. Speaking of Balor’s knee, next time they want to sell a chop block, let’s not have the guy’s foot so clearly off the ground. The move only hurts if you get caught with your foot planted. Those are minor gripes though for a tag match that was classic and well put together. I liked the heels working together and the hot tags by Joe getting into the match. The ending builds up some suspense for what could happen later as well.

Gable/Jordan vs Rhyno/Corbin – Having two thrown together teams reach the semi-finals isn’t exactly a good look and Rhyno/Corbin didn’t really add much exciting to this match. Gable/Jordan are good workers and a lot of fun to watch, but they are very generic and could desperately use a manager I think. Gable can be funny at times, but he wears on me on the mic, having a third voice in that team could offer some diversity of promo. That rolling suplex was amazing and should have ended the match. It takes a very special opponent to make Corbin’s end of days look good and Gable sold that like a champ. So sad that Rhyno and Corbin won this match though.

Dana Brooke vs Asuka – A good chain wrestling sequence at the beginning of a match is something great to see and we don’t get it often, especially in a woman’s match like this, but this one was pretty cool. A really good match that did a great job showcasing Asuka, but also I’d like to say Dana held her own more than I was expecting. I think she has some potential as well. Pretty cool submission move to end it by Asuka.

Breeze vs Crews – I love Tyler Breeze, he’s pretty much always my favorite NXT performer or involved in my favorite part of the show. The fact that he’s basically relegated to being a jobber is sad, very sad. The action was great, I knew Apollo would win, but I hate that he did.

Tag Team finals – The fact that these two became the last two teams standing in this tournament is bizarre to me. NXT has a lot of great tag teams, real tag teams, and NXT has basically buried them all in 3 weeks. I tried getting into this match, but I couldn’t. I didn’t like the matchup and the match for the most part was a plodding, slow mess. Add in the fact that Balor’s injured knee didn’t mean anything and this was clearly the worst match on the card.

Main Event – Weird staredown to start this match. Didn’t really add intensity, it was just like they gave the first two minutes to the crowd reaction. The match started slowly, but man by about halfway through they were doing a lot of incredible things. My only gripe would be, why does the fall have to happen at the very last second? You could have had Bayley ahead and holding off Sasha from getting the submission at the end and it would have been basically as effective.

[Daz]

Gable and Jordan will both have excellent careers. The Tag Division is looking pretty solid with them, Blake/Murphy, the Vaudevillains and the Mechanics. Scott Dawson reminds me of Arn Anderson so much.

Tyler Breeze is tremendous. Great character, great wrestler. Can work with pretty much anyone. I hope he gets a run with the NXT Title eventually because he works it.

Sasha Banks is probably the best heel in the company. The little girl crying made the match even better than it already was. It's so great to see real emotion out of young fans. Reminds me of why I give a fuck about the product to begin with. Great storytelling in the final few minutes. Sasha collapsing to her knees after the match resonated with me for some reason. Got a little teary eyed. Great match.