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NXT TAKEOVER: RESPECT


RIPPA

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I'll keep this short since I'm exhausted. This was a great show, every match I'd give an easy 4 stars+ to. Whoever laid out the main event deserves a raise it was brilliant and hid every single weakness Bayley has. I've never in my life seen a match that was explicitly booked to get a reaction out of one person, an 8 year old little girl, before but it was brilliant. I'm not sure if it was a good thing or an absolutely horrible thing to do, to put her through the emotional wringer like that for a half hour but it worked out. I'm legitimately stunned that this show didn't have one single angle, I can't believe Balor/Joe didn't turn and won the damn thing. I also can't believe that there was nothing at the end but I guess they did enough to Izzy so Kana or whomever can eviscerate her tomorrow night or something. Speaking of which, that Asuka/Dana match was fucking amazing. I was scared to death at how they'd do her but they made Asuka into a megastar tonight she was amazing.

 

This entire show was perfect even if in a weird way it left me wanting more because there weren't any angles. I figured they'd do something after the main event, especially with all that time, or have Joe beat Balor's ass and do Rumble '94 but they did neither and that was strange to me.

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What a great show.

The first two tag matches were awesome. I love The Mechanics so much. That match had such a great basic throwback story with Finn's knee getting lit up. I thought Corbin/Rhyno vs. Jordan/Gable was even better. That was ridiculously good considering Rhyno is the only veteran guy in there. I know Jordan' been around for a bit, but not in a spot like that. Truly awesome match. The end was great. Heel Corbin is really friggin' good.

 

Asuka/Dana was an awesome debut. Perfect. Dana is so great at being a heel. She took a friggin' beating for our collective pleasure tonight and in between getting kicks to her spinal column was doing some great taunting. She's just such a good, simple character to enjoy.

I thought Breeze/Crews was great with an awesome near-fall with Breeze countering the backflip. Man, they really need to do something with Breeze more than this. He's ready for Raw or to hold the NXT belt. He's such a great performer.

The finals of the tag match was sorta whatever. It was a good match but not as good as the first two.

The main event was just spectacular. I can't wait to watch it again. Sasha is the best worker in the world, if we didn't know that already. I loved how the first segment of the match was all about the "score the early pinfall" and then elevated to hitting moves and then became something else when Sasha went all Eddie Guerrero with playing possum and cheating. Her stuff with Izzy was as good as it gets in heeling. She bullied a friggin' child at ringside into tears. A+. I loved how Bayley realized she had to step up and went after Sasha's own hand with step moves. All of the callbacks and reversals from the last match were absolutely perfect. Just amazing storytelling. And the announcers did an amazing job with the match, getting over how Sasha couldn't apply the Bank Statement as well because of the fingerwork earlier (with Sasha holding her wrist) and that leading to her eventual downfall with Bailey finding her own submission, targeting what she worked on earlier and also doing Sasha's dickish  kick to assist.

That was just so much next level stuff from start-to-finish. Sasha and Bayley are absolutely fantastic to watch. They've put on two MOTD type matches. It's an all-time great feud.

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I'll give Finn credit. I thought he looked very good tonight playing vulnerable but full of heart. Connected way more than usual.

 

I thought the first tag match was the best he's been in NXT. And the best Joe has been, too. The last match they didn't really push the knee injury as much as they could have. But the knee work in the first match was great.

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The tag tournament matches were solid enough, but the finish was really anticlimactic.  I think what's so disappointing to me about the way the tournament shook down tonight is that the booking in NXT is always so good and excels at storytelling and character building up to a really impressive final climax.  Gable and Jordan have been built up for months now and them not being in the finals is a really poor choice, especially over the thrown together team of Rhyno and Corbin (who has still yet to do anything to impress me).  The "thrown together tag team of two top singles guys takes over, but a tag team is so good they're able to overcome them" would be a prime way to end the tournament.  Another trope of two guys having tension between them, but overcoming it to work together is all well and good, but Joe and Balor are much better as singles and didn't need the win at all.  You didn't need to do a full on fuck finish, but building up the tension between them and not capitalizing on it seemed anticlimactic.

 

This was the best I've seen Crews look so far, but I'm still not sold on him.  Breeze looked great out there and was doing a terrific job in the "goofball who gets serious when the going gets tough" role.

 

I'd never seen Asuka wrestle before, and that was a pretty solid debut from her.

 

When you've got a match as classic as the last Bailey/Banks match, trying to replicate or top it is incredibly difficult as the end result comes off as overdone or otherwise pales in comparison.  The buildup to the first match was just so emotional and organic which was every bit as good as as the technical aspects of the match.  They did their best building up this match, but I was just worried they'd captured lightning in a bottle the first time and that the rematch would come off as forced.  The first half didn't really draw me in, but once they started with the spots in the aisle and the brawling up the ramp, it really clicked into high gear.  You got the sense each woman would do pretty much whatever it took to win and would exploit eachother's weaknesses whenever they could.  The limbwork and selling of the hand by Sasha was incredible.  Sasha going full Chuck Taylor heel mode was such a brilliant touch.  I really thought they would go into overtime with one person locked in a submission move, but Bailey's reversal at the end was such an incredible "fuck it, I'm going for it" desparation move.  Has she ever used that finisher before?

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Sad thing about that ending is Steph whispering in Sasha's ear "great work but your jobbing to Nikki on RAW next week"    ^_^

 

It was Sara Del Rey whispering in Sasha's ear after she crumpled. Girl's a crier.

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I liked the Ironman but I have Gable and Jordan vs. Rhyno and Corbin up there with it. Best match in NXT for each of those guys. Jordan and Gable are so exciting and explosive on offense. I am loving watching them develop.

 

I am sad that they didn't just turn those two face by having them win the tournament. Plus it would have been nice for Jordan, having ditched Tye Dillinger and cast about for a partner, losing matches all the while, to make it all the way back with his new partner and win the tournament, sort of a mini-redemption story for him. 

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Gable and Corbin hit some awesome stuff together. The dead lift Chaos Theory by Gable, the spinning Bossman Slam, and that sweet counter into the End of Days. I could see that match being for the NXT title in a year.

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Thinking about the end of Sahsa/Bayley -- Man, what great stuff. One of the theme of the match was Bayley going to the well too often. She got burned on the third apron dropkick. She got caught by Sasha trying to reverse the Bank Statement like in their last match. Sasha also countered the Poison Rana. The times Bayley was more effective in the match was when she stepped outside of her traditional wheelhouse -- using the steps to hurt Sasha's hand and breaking out a new submission and going for it (while giving Sasha comeuppance with a taste of her own medicine) -- was what got her the victory. She had to find something she never used before so Sasha couldn't counter.

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Watching that show, I'm trying to think who put up the worst performance. I can't come up with a name. Dana was great in her role. Corbin fucking brought it in the tag matches, especially the Jordan/Gable awesome match. There wasn't someone who didn't have a great night anywhere on the show. Rhyno maybe because he was just kinda there?

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Asuka is beautiful. I mean drop dead gorgeous. I liked her offense except her strikes. She was being very safe with her stuff. It will be nice once she gets in the ring with someone a little more seasoned.

How about the post-match? Emma just witnessed her good buddy get destroyed. Asuka approaches and Emma can't even bear to look at her. It reminded me of a horror film with the victim cowering in the corner frozen by fear while the killer stands over them. Great stuff.

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How about the post-match? Emma just witnessed her good buddy get destroyed. Asuka approaches and Emma can't even bear to look at her. It reminded me of a horror film with the victim cowering in the corner frozen by fear while the killer stands over them. Great stuff.

 You mean like :

 

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Asuka is beautiful. I mean drop dead gorgeous. I liked her offense except her strikes. She was being very safe with her stuff. It will be nice once she gets in the ring with someone a little more seasoned.

How about the post-match? Emma just witnessed her good buddy get destroyed. Asuka approaches and Emma can't even bear to look at her. It reminded me of a horror film with the victim cowering in the corner frozen by fear while the killer stands over them. Great stuff.

 

Is it possible in some alternate universe that they do a double turn?  Dana keeps asking for rematches and keeps getting her ass kicked so much the crowd actually gets behind her?  And who knew there were lyrics to Asuka's theme song.

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Asuka is beautiful. I mean drop dead gorgeous. I liked her offense except her strikes. She was being very safe with her stuff. It will be nice once she gets in the ring with someone a little more seasoned.

How about the post-match? Emma just witnessed her good buddy get destroyed. Asuka approaches and Emma can't even bear to look at her. It reminded me of a horror film with the victim cowering in the corner frozen by fear while the killer stands over them. Great stuff.

Is it possible in some alternate universe that they do a double turn? Dana keeps asking for rematches and keeps getting her ass kicked so much the crowd actually gets behind her? And who knew there were lyrics to Asuka's theme song.

Possible, but I'm not sure i see the point. Dana's heel charisma has been arguably the best part about her, and if you're going to turn Asuka heel, why not have her threaten Bayley instead?

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Asuka is beautiful. I mean drop dead gorgeous. I liked her offense except her strikes. She was being very safe with her stuff. It will be nice once she gets in the ring with someone a little more seasoned.

How about the post-match? Emma just witnessed her good buddy get destroyed. Asuka approaches and Emma can't even bear to look at her. It reminded me of a horror film with the victim cowering in the corner frozen by fear while the killer stands over them. Great stuff.

 

Is it possible in some alternate universe that they do a double turn?  Dana keeps asking for rematches and keeps getting her ass kicked so much the crowd actually gets behind her?  And who knew there were lyrics to Asuka's theme song.

 

 

It is going to take a lot of work to get people to like Dana.   Sympathy in terms of getting her butt kicked isn't really a strong thing among Full Sail fans.  Especially when the way she is getting her butt kicked looks so awesome

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It says something that I as much as I enjoyed the main event I was still noticing little sloppy moments here and there and feeling disappointed for them early on. 

 

Then I realized I'm basically watching a women's wrestling match with the same critical lens that I would  Nakamura/Ibushi or like Tanahashi/Okada. 

 

It's like anything less than ****1/4 from the NXT ladies and you feel slightly let down. 

 

Just goes to show how high the standard is and how much they deserve the high standard.

 

Wonderful show, wonderful match.

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I'm legitimately stunned that this show didn't have one single angle

 

 

I think that's the one thing that's keeping me from calling this a "greatest NXT show EVER!" but in retrospect, the best angle may have been the fact that they had a great show without having a major storyline develop.  When you get fans to think that something won't necessarily happen on every show, that's when it's so much more special when it does.

 

Asuka is my new favorite female wrestler.  Her mannerisms are just so different from anybody else.  She just looked so evil while looking so happy at the same time.

 

And I'll admit, for a half a second, I thought Breeze was beating Apollo.  Much better match than I thought it would be.

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I really do hate Finn Balor's finisher. Maybe because Low Ki does it better and it looks vicious when he does it, but Finn's looks kind of lame, but whatever. Those were decent tag matches. Gable is going to be a star and that crowd was right on the money chanting Chad Gable to Kurt Angle's "You Suck" theme.

 

Asuka wears her opponents down with submissions. She really isn't the Hideo in teats that they are making her out to be. She wrestles completely different from everybody else and I love how she just broke down Dana with submissions and made Dana look good especially since Dana is the stronger of the two and Asuka does that lot. Like that is impressive. Asuka awesome has the charisma down as someone already said. On a side note: I need Asuka vs Eva Marie.

 

I like Apollo Creed's new finisher and Tyler Breeze is such a prize. I love the little things he does such as him messing with Apollo's boots to get him to turn around for a kick and then doing a roll up pin to outside. Apollo, however, needs to stop selling like he is 165 pounds. That bumb on the ring outside was ridiculous for a man the commentators just sold as 250 pounds. Made Breeze look like Prince Poppa Pump.

 

And finally, the main event. Okay, I liked the Takeover: Brooklyn match better, but this was almost just as good. Sasha is Eddie Guerrero reincarnated. Like, the little things she does such as her obscuring the refs view so she can poke Bayley's eyes. Making a little girl cry by sheer heel douchey-ness. Sasha is an incredible wrestler and wrestler of the year, man or woman. That was probably my favorite Iron (Wo)Man match and it knocked out Prince Puma vs Johnny Mundo for me.

 

This was an awesome event, top from bottom, and I am glad that got to chance to watch it. No match was bad and everyone performed awesomely.

 

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I've never seen Asuka wrestle before tonight, but HOLY SHIT. She reminds me a lot of Tajiri, with the presence and sheer physical charisma she has.

And props to Dana, who was pretty great tonight, too. She gets it. She's gonna be really good someday.

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