10 Thoughts on NXT Takeover: Toronto

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

JT on NXT logo

1. It’s Takeover time and we are live from Toronto Canada! Tonight we will see the final of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic, Asuka vs Mickie James and the long anticipated NXT title rematch between Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe.

2. Our first match of the night is the Glorious Bobby Roode (with awesome live choir) vs the Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger, who starts the match like a house afire! Roode bumps like a maniac on the outside and makes Dillinger look like a superstar, and the Toronto crowd eat it up. Eventually Roode turns the tables and begins to wear Dillinger down with some hard hitting technical offense, attracting a ‘this is glorious’ chant. After a fantastic match Roode picks up the win with the Glorious DDT. Way to set the bar high, guys.

3. Next up is the Dusty Classic finals as TM61 take on the Authors of Pain. In a nod to history, Paul Ellering will be suspended in a cage above the ring. Strong start for Thorne and Miller, with an awesome swanton bomb off the cage from Thorne, but Akem and Razar take control before too long. Some nice tag work from both teams, and the Authors are definitely improving in the ring. Nick Miller shows off a greatly expanded move set packed with suplexes and high flying, while Thorne is impressive as always. After the inevitable interference from Ellering the Authors pick up the win with the Final Chapter.

4. Now it’s time for a 2 out of 3 falls match as DIY take on The Revival. The champs dominate to start with their standard punchy kicky stuff, but DIY come back with some actual wrestling moves. The Revival pick up the first fall out of nowhere with the Shatter Machine on Gargano, and Johnny continues to play face in peril for ages before Ciampa gets the hot tag and cleans house, picking up the second fall on Scott Dawson.

5. Solid psychology and lots of near falls make for an exciting match, apart from some odd logic where Gargano kicks the title belt into Dawson’s head, busting him open, but somehow Johnny is the one hurt. DIY pick up the win with dual submissions on Dash & Dawson, and Gargano and Ciampa are the new NXT tag champions!

6. Good Old JR is in the house as Mickie James returns to the ring to face Asuka. Mickie can still go in the ring and Asuka makes her look like a legitimate threat before kicking the crap out of her and hitting a nasty German suplex on the outside. After absorbing some more abuse Mickie makes a big comeback, getting a near fall from a top rope seated senton. Some nice chain wrestling leads to Asuka locking in a crossface chickenwing for the submission victory. After the match Mickie goes for a handshake but Asuka replies by holding the belt in her face. Gold.

7. Our main event of the evening is Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe, which should be about a thousand times better than Goldberg vs Lesnar at Survivor Series. Pre-match we get a great video package of the Nakamura / Joe feud to date, and it’s been pretty great so far.

8. The match starts out with an exchange of stiff strikes, until Nakamura hits Good Vibrations in the corner and Joe escapes to the outside. The fight spills into the crowd, which the WWE liability lawyers must love, than back into the ring. Nakamura hits hard and fast, but Joe takes out his left knee and the match feels like it could go either way. Joe hits some sweet old school submission transitions and Nakamura answers with a top rope knee, and both men are putting it all out there.

9. After a protracted battle on the outside, Joe uses the ref as a shield and hits a low blow on Nakamura, then rolls him back into the ring and hits the Muscle Buster for the pin. Samoa Joe has regained the NXT title!

10. Overall an excellent Takeover, with no bad matches and a couple of match of the year contenders. I wonder how this will compare with the Survivor Series video game mega-match? And thanks to WWE Network, I can watch it now and compare. Wait, a Goldberg squash? Hahahahahahaha…

JT is a hot air balloonist, writer and tattoo aficionado. He writes about movies, science, music, video games, action figures and professional wrestling.