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NXT TAKEOVER - Chicago


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6 hours ago, RolandTHTG said:

Who was it that said that "What's so Stunning about Stunning Steve Austin"? One of the Fullers?

 

6 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I thought was Dr. Tom. 

 

It was Dutch.

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1) Bobby Roode is awesome. I have no idea why ya'll hate on him. The combination of his presentation and mic-work is the best NXT has produced since The Wyatts' reign of terror. I love his big matches so much. He doesn't give the fans too much to root for. They pop for his self-obsessed taunts, but what wrestling fan doesn't pop for Flair's WOOOO and its equivalents? His matches always have a great finishing run. This was no exception -- a lot of great near-falls with Itami, and a lot of great jerk heel strategy from Roode like rolling out of the ring after a GTS and the like. The double DDT at the end was fantastic. Roode knew Itami was going for another Go 2 Sleep, had a counter and remembered Hideo kicked out of the first one. Instead of giving him an opportunity kick out again, he finished him. That's such a great moment of ring psychology there from a character presented as a thinking man's heel ala Nick Bockwinkle/Flair/HHH/etc. 

2) Woman's match was very good. Not the best woman's match, but still a fun three-way. What is Asuka's best match? It's against Bayley or Nia, right? I think that sort of shows more on Asuka than it does on any of the new girls. I'll get more into that later.

3) Tag match was a fantastic car wreck. AOP are awesome. Most underrated guys on the roster. They're in the right place constantly and to a fantastic job making them getting knocked down a big deal, let alone having them on the ropes. 

The heel turn at the end had a great amount of viciousness. I didn't like it as much as everyone else, seemingly. It just came too out of nowhere. I would have liked for just one or two moments from DIY in the build-up to this feud where Tomasso showed a little doubt in the partnership or jealousy. Something like "Gargano gets an upset against Razar but Tomasso loses his singles match against the other dude" which then touches on Tomasso remembering Johnny got the better of them in their epic from the Cruiserweight tournament. That whole "taking the bullet" moment was a cool moment, but I wish it played into the end of the match. That would have been such a great dramatic moment -- dude risking the end of his career to save his friend who then turns on him just minutes later.

Gargano is usually awful at acting. He's absolutely terrible. But his sell-job at the end with his "WHY???" face as he knew he was being destroyed was terrific. 

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I find it amusing that the dude who comes on this board and writes epic treatises on basic storytelling as if he's explaining the meaning behind Mulholland Drive apparently missed that they've been setting up the Ciampa turn for almost a full year.

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52 minutes ago, EVA said:

I find it amusing that the dude who comes on this board and writes epic treatises on basic storytelling as if he's explaining the meaning behind Mulholland Drive apparently missed that they've been setting up the Ciampa turn for almost a full year.

Please don't insult me. 

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It says a lot about that heel turn if I'm still bummed out today about it.

And I could see the turn coming out of nowhere if you never watch NXT or missed the Cruiserweight Classic. This has been a long time coming. All of the social media stuff that Gargano and Ciampa did together made the turn that much more painful. You get people on Twitter and elsewhere linking out to the video from Gargano's wedding reception, the Glorious-bombs, and so many other moments between those two that makes the turn have so much lasting power. 

But again, you'd have to ignore just about the last 9 to 10 months of DIY to not see that the seeds for the turn were sown long ago.

Count me in for not getting the Bobby Roode hate. I don't think the guy is amazing or anything, but he's pretty good. There's just something about how he moves in the ring. I think Rippa pointed out that Aries moves in the ring like a Ray Harryhausen creation, but I see that more in Roode. He makes these super exaggerated movements in the ring like he's working for the cheap seats, but it just looks so odd. I don't know. It just bugs me. Even though it bugs me, I still like him. In this match, I thought his selling of the shoulder was great. Plus, that Glorious gimmick is so awesome. He manages to get people really into the gimmick and the entrance, but they still think he's a piece of shit. When he turns face, it's going to be awesome. 

As for the NXT Championship match itself, it was really good. If anything, it's divisive because I've seen everything from that it wasn't good and it would drive Hideo out of the company to saying it was the best NXT Championship match in recent memory. I'm not sure if it was better than the second Roode/Nakamura match, but it was still pretty good, just like Roode.

For Hideo, yeah, it would be amazing if he could work like KENTA or even just work like he did in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the match, but no one is going to want to take his kicks or those slaps. You could just as easily concuss someone with a slap like that than you would with anything else. Oddly enough, look at what Asuka is doing in the women's division. So how was Kana/Asuka able to adapt so perfectly to NXT/WWE, still pull off her stiffer moveset, but Hideo can't? Is it that the women are willing to take harder hits? I doubt that's it. It's just really puzzling. You have two workers who are known for being shit kickers and one is still able to look like a destroyer while the other appears to have been cut off at the knees at times. Meltzer spoke about the trainers and road agents getting in Hideo's head and that making Hideo cause himself to work a shittier style, so maybe that's it? It's just weird.

I'm loving this Roddy push. Actually, I really liked that opening match. My only quibble is that it felt like something you'd see to blow off a feud between Roddy and Sanity and as of last Wednesday, Roddy just recently became Sanity's main target. I'd much rather see a couple months of Roddy putting together how to beat these guys and then do everything he did on Saturday night. Still, it was refreshing to see a WWE babyface not look like a dope.

The NXT Women's title was...fine? Someone else said that setting up the winner of the women's tournament may be a good way of finding the person to take the title off of Asuka. I still think that Asuka should remain undefeated and go up to the main roster. The problem with that is that I'd bet my house that Raw or SDL would overhype Asuka coming up, play up how she broke Goldberg's record, play up how she set a record for holding the Women's title, how she can't be beaten, etc. and then within a month she'll lose. I really want her to go to SDL though, mainly because I want to see her beat the shit out of Charlotte. I could see Asuka and Charlotte putting on some amazing matches.

Finally, is there really anything more to say about the UK Championship match? Because I'm a wimp and the headbutt from the Okada/Shibata match and what happened to Shibata soured me on that match, this UK Championship match is probably my second favorite match of the year behind Okada/Omega. Hell, I may have like it more. I need to watch them both again. What may put the UK Championship over the top for me is just how young Bate and Dunne are, and yet they wrestle like they're both in their prime in their 30s. In each match, I'd be hard pressed to point out something that was botched or blown. Everything was so smooth and was pulled off flawlessly. 

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My highlight was actually at my house. I have an 8 year old daughter on the spectrum that I've tried to get to sit still and watch wrestling with me. Well, she did watch Takeover and all she talked about was Aska. Sunday morning I go into her room and she's recreating the women's match with her My Little Pony's...and Rainbow Dash was been officially been renamed...Aska. 

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Roode is closer to being the babyface ace of NXT than he is the top heel. I don't think they have another face as over as him. Maybe Alister Black will get there.

Asuka was acting like a heel on tv, but she really didn't do much heel stuff at Takeover that I can recall. I don't think Nikki needed to get pinned at the end, and I thought the overall match layout was a little weak. It's hard to get excited about an Ember Moon rematch with Hojo and Shirai signed. I'm sure the match will be fine, but Ember Moon is such a weak character. I actually think Nia Jax was Asuka's best opponent because she was the only one that looked like a real threat to Asuka. I wish they'd just let her work full heel already the Bayley's matches would've been way better.

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Asuka being Asuka without any defined face/heel role is the best thing NXT is doing right now. She's like the Golden State Warriors. Sometimes she's dirty out of borderline necessity or just for the hell of it, but even when she plays it straight the majority of the time, she's still clearly better than everyone. Either way, she doesn't lose much and that draws supporters and detractors alike.

8 hours ago, Greggulator said:

What is Asuka's best match? It's against Bayley or Nia, right? I think that sort of shows more on Asuka than it does on any of the new girls.

I'd say her 3 best NXT matches are with Nia, Dana, and that jobber last month. The big takeaway is that the less someone tries to add their own shit to Asuka's winning formula, the better things turn out.

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3 hours ago, JonnyLaw said:

I really liked the Emma match, just for the way they played with expectations.  That's probably been the closest she's come to losing too.

My favorite as well and one of my all time favorite NXT matches.

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I really don't think that Ember Moon should beat Asuka (nor do I want to see that), but it should be the first match that Asuka chooses to use heel tactics & cheating to win.

I really liked a lot of NMcGuiness' reactions to and commentary on the action

The women's match seemed a little sloppy, with some mistiming and folks out of place. To me, it did not take too much out of  it, it just added to the chaos.

The Brits looked great, such an impressive match. Dunne is a natural heel. HHH digs him. A lot of the things I do not like about the UK style were replaced by a bit of strong-style Japanese moves and psychology, and nice usage of the WWE 2-count pops.

- RAF

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As others have mentioned, they've backed themselves in a corner with Asuka. There is no one currently on the roster who feels like a legitimate threat to her.  Ember Moon could have been that with better characterization. The next option is hoping someone from the Women's Tournament catches fire and build that person as a contender.  But that would take several months, and they'll have to figure out what to do with Asuka in the meantime.

 

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18 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

As others have mentioned, they've backed themselves in a corner with Asuka. There is no one currently on the roster who feels like a legitimate threat to her.  Ember Moon could have been that with better characterization. The next option is hoping someone from the Women's Tournament catches fire and build that person as a contender.  But that would take several months, and they'll have to figure out what to do with Asuka in the meantime.

 

I don't expect it will happen--nor, probably, should it--but you could easily get a Takeover match out of Sasha or Becky, neither of whom seem to have anything better to do at the moment. With the former, it's as easy as an "I'm the greatest NXT women's champ ever" promo; with Becky, it's the chance to correct the one blemish on her resume. 

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1 hour ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

As others have mentioned, they've backed themselves in a corner with Asuka. There is no one currently on the roster who feels like a legitimate threat to her.  Ember Moon could have been that with better characterization. The next option is hoping someone from the Women's Tournament catches fire and build that person as a contender.  But that would take several months, and they'll have to figure out what to do with Asuka in the meantime.

 

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The only woman who reserves to right to destroy Asuka. Fuck the whole build to the tournament. Just throw Io in there and have her out Asuka Asuka, and bam.

Then have Kairi do the pesky underdog "Always Second Place" routine that she has always been for literally her whole career because you don't want two back-to-back long running champs.

Fuck the whole tournament. I don't need to be re-introduced to Io and Kaiti. I just want to see Asuka vs arguably the best female wrestler of this generation.

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2 hours ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

I really don't think that Ember Moon should beat Asuka (nor do I want to see that), but it should be the first match that Asuka chooses to use heel tactics & cheating to win.

She already did, didn't she?

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38 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

She already did, didn't she?

Heel attitude, lotsa disrespect, but no real rule-breaking, no? Foot on the ropes, eye-rake, international object, leading to a pin... I realize this would be out of character (so far) but that is what would get her opponent over.

- RAF

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9 minutes ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

Heel attitude, lotsa disrespect, but no real rule-breaking, no? Foot on the ropes, eye-rake, international object, leading to a pin... I realize this would be out of character (so far) but that is what would get her opponent over.

- RAF

Two Takeovers ago she shoved the ref into the ropes to prevent Ember from hitting her finisher, which led directly to the finish. That's unambiguously a heel tactic in my book.

It's also part of the reason I don't get the talk about how Asuka has no credible challengers. Ember Moon is athletic as Hell, has a finisher that looks like death, and has already shown the first cracks in Asuka's armour. She's clearly a credible challenger. And her alleged poor character work is a good reason for not wanting her to win the title, but I hardly see how it affects her credibility.

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