1. After the excellent Takeover Toronto, NXT remains in the great white north, possibly seeking citizenship. Man, how messed up did Joe look after that match with Nakamura? Strong style indeed. This is the first of many Takeover recaps tonight, including lots of shots of people crying…
2. Our first match of the night is Rich Swann taking on Kona Reeves, who I’m pretty sure wasn’t called Kona Reeves last time we saw him. Farewell Noah Potjes, we hardly knew you. Wait, is he meant to be Keanu’s cousin or something?
3. Decent match with a fair amount of back and forth is interrupted by Sanity, because Sanity hate Hawaiians and people from Baltimore. Is that the message you’re trying to send, WWE? Because that seems a tiny bit racist, doesn’t it? Just for a change…
4. Beatdown by Sanity goes on for ages without being terribly interesting, then EY gets on the mic and spouts some fine apocalyptic gibberish. After the break No Way Jose gets on the mic and challenges EY who happily accepts as Sanity surround the ring.
5. EY makes Jose look good for about 30 seconds before fat goober #1 and #2 interfere, then Young hits his finisher and Nikki Cross bites the ropes. I understand that the role of Sanity is to get Fulton and New Heidenrich over, but the net result is a talented worker being saddled with some serious dead wood.
6. Interview with the Aussie mean girls and their new partner and former Tough Enough contestant Daria Berenato, who has an MMA & braids thing going on. They’re taking on Liv Morgan, Aaliyah and Ember Moon later tonight, because they need to build some new opponents for Asuka. Man, the face team are all tiny! How long until they’re taking on Nia Jax 3 on 1?
7. I generally don’t care for 6 person tags due to their tendency to be clusterf**ks (copyright David Spain) but this one wasn’t too bad. Giving the faces individual entrances gave this a big match feel, and Daria was made to look like a threat in her first NXT appearance.
8. The Aussie mean girls have developed a nice chemistry and some sweet double team moves, while Ember Moon and Liv Morgan continue to impress.
9. Slightly odd finish with the mean girls walking out, allowing Ember Moon to hit the Eclipse on a distracted Daria for the win. Are they turning her face already? Because I get that she might eventually make good Asuka-fodder, but give it time, people…
10. Pretty much a recap show for Takeover: Toronto, with zero matches that didn’t end in shenanigans. Time to check out 205 Live!
