Tim Evans

They ran it cause the building they usually ran across the street was booked for the weekend. The guy that runs the night club also owns the building FIP ran. Wouldn't be bad during the summer but god it sucked during style battle.

It was a squash. Also the crowd was just dead for that match but it took place after one of the best matches I've seen live in years so it makes sense. Ember/Liv wasn't bad either. They have good chemistry.

I really enjoyed Moose/Bennett. Easily the best match of that style since they started the division. Bennett's new physique makes him look more powerful and I thought Moose looked good too. No Maria BS either. Rest of the show was awful. You would think with the new people in charge that they would start off with something exciting like maybe Lee vs Everett(even though they are partners) or a good tag match. instead, they have a shitty Eddie Edwards talking segment. I just can't take him seriously as champ. He's about as vanilla as Seth Rollins. The Spud match was just embarrassing and reeked of 2011 Hornswoggle vs Chavo feud. Spud carried that company on his back with ethan back in 2015 and this is what they do to him? When is his contract up? He should go the Andrews route. Broken Hardy's stuff was what it was. I'm probably the only guy on this board that can't stand the Allie angle so thought that segment sucked. Main event was technically alright but all that for a Davey Richards return. Blah. TNA was better in the summer of 2016 and now it seems to be going backwards.

Based on tonight's tapings, the Takeover card looks to be

Thanks to @luchablog for this:

That Nia Jax vs Asuka match was really great. Best Jax match ever as she was just throwing those headbutts to counter Asuka's strikes. The crowd was going nuts for it that it doesn't surprise me that the main was pretty quiet. Tag title match was good too. Can't wait to see Tajiri next week on 205 live. Nice to see Andrade bring the Sombra mask back and Tom was name dropping New Japan like crazy. Best NXT show in a while

He didn't run in the ring. That was the aftermath of one of Studd's $1,000 bodyslam challenge.

I'm surprised they kept in the AOP match. Just as brutal on tape as it was live. Feel bad for poor Anthony. I wonder if they air the tag title match next week during the clip show or not? Hope it airs as it was really good. I'm looking forward to asuka/Nikki more than most matches in NXT. That's going to be fun.

Sasha/Charlotte was good I guess but I just don't care about it at all if that makes sense. The trading of the title that much is like the intercontinental title in 99. Charlotte is a good heel but she's so good I don't want to watch her matches. Tag title match was the best match. Cesaro/Sheamus make a hell of a team and hopefully this leads to a Big E singles run. Feel bad for Anderson and Gallows though. Either Kendrick or TJP need leave Raw. I hope it's Kendrick and he lands on Smackdown where he can be with Bryan. Just be interesting how the crowd reacts when guys like Tozawa and Metalik show up.

Itami during his NXT debut

Lance Russell and Dave brown are the best. My favorite random commentary team is probably Cole and Taz. I thought they worked well with each other. Especially during the early days of smackdown.

Some news from Tonight's tapings

I'm really sad the Revival didn't take out the Usos or Sheamus and Cesaro. However, that match was fun as hell at the end. Made no sense as the Usos felt like babyfaces but it was fun. Alpha doing the old Steiner Bros bulldog looked great. I'm surprised it took them this long to do the big guy running in to beat up the cruiserweights match. Looking forward to the gauntlet match at the rumble where Noam Dar pulls out the upset. WWE actually shocked me with the main event. Not saying it was good for business cause nothing is these days but it was nice to be shocked for once.

You're right about the impact of ticket sales but I think if it's not over on TV, it's going to affect the ticket sales around the country with the casual fans. The TV show seems so cold these days.

I haven't been to as many show this year as JJ has but I see what he and Krisz are talking about. Back when NXT was really hot in late 2014 and 2015, they had guys that the people down here really cared about like Enzo/cass, Bayley, Emma, Tyler, Sami etc. They got over because they worked hard and people got behind them. Now adays, the shows are just here's a bunch of matches with indie guys that have no character and they expect people to care. Like why should I care about people like Roderick Strong, Aries, etc. if I'm a casual WWE fan? No Way Jose and Liv are probably the closest to "homegrown" talent these days and while they are over, the booking hasn't helped them get over with the masses. I don't know how it is for the out of Florida shows but the Florida shows used to be fun with the guys hanging out after the show to talk to the fans and sign autographs. Now the security is real tight and they basically kick out everyone after the show and everyone has to go through a metal detector. I guess that's because of the crazy dude that tried to trespass the performance center. Also, NXT has been doing a lot of false advertising lately. I think that hurts too. Finally, on the call ups, it's pretty obvious they brought up Nia and Apollo too soon. Nia could have had at least a 6-month title reign and maybe a babyface turn and Apollo wasn't even over in NXT so it's not surprising he's not over on the main roster. Guys like Vaudevillans, Breeze and Ascension had to be called up cause they was nothing else they could do in NXT. As for Rippa talking about Almas, it was only a couple drunks that were chanting that. I wouldn't even call it a NXT show. Most of the people there didn't even care about the action and were there just to get Mania tickets or meet Charlotte, Cesaro and the others. Plus it was free so a lot of casuals. Hell I was standing by people that weren't even wrestling fans.

I just can't get into another heel James Storm led group. Even if it has Eddie Kingston is in it. Hopefully, they let Eddie do the talking. Only other part I caught was the Hardy stuff and it was excellent. I was down on the Broken Matt but Amnesia Matt is hilarious. Especially the part where they started singing Obsolete.