NXT TAKEOVER - NEW ORLEANS - 4/7/2018

[Matt D]

Also, the Gargano/Ciampa match didn't feel long to me in the moment (I get that it was, after the fact), but the ladder match, which I liked well enough for the characters and effort in there, felt like it lasted forever in the moment. 

[Wyld Samurai]

13 hours ago, Black Angel said:

Not even gonna lie. Loved Baszler popping her arm back into place.

I actually would have liked to see her go over to her horsewomen clique and had them pop it back in for her - instead of her doing a pretty good Lethal Weapon impression.

[Brian Fowler]

I think that Gargano/Ciampa might age similarly to the famous Double Dog Collar match, where those of us who watched the whole story unfold will love it way more than anyone who sees it without context years later.

[Bustronaut]

I saw it without context last night and it was amazing

[jaedmc]

18 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Also, the Gargano/Ciampa match didn't feel long to me in the moment (I get that it was, after the fact), but the ladder match, which I liked well enough for the characters and effort in there, felt like it lasted forever in the moment. 

Agreed. There was even more moments in the ladder match where I was like END IT. EVERYONE IS DEAD NOW. END IT. Great spectacle though.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I've watched a lot of wrestling in 2018.  Gargano/Ciampa was about a 2/10 on the "overkill"  scale.  It didn't even cross my mind and in their case it was at least a blood feud with a 2-year build and Johnny's career on the line.   

[Ramo2653]

I kept dozing off watching the last two matches so I decided to re-watch this morning.

Almas is great, I forget who earlier in the topic said they liked it Almas just goes into another gear at times to sting together moves, but I love it too. It makes sense that you'd find another burst of energy to try and finish a guy off. I'm curious to see what Black does next since no one is really built up enough at this point to face him. But the next Takeover is in June so there's plenty of time. I'd assume there's an Almas rematch thrown in there before then.

Gargano/Champa was insane and I loved it. I don't have anymore complete thoughts right now.

 Loved the other matches and as someone that liked Shayna's character stuff in matches but thought her offense was a little meh in the MYC it's awesome to see her improve so quickly, I assume it was coaches at the PC just pointing out little things. She's been wrestling for like 3 years though right? I don't know if Ronda will get there so quickly.

As an aside, I'm always caught off guard by how I don't recognize Liv Morgan when she's in regular clothes with glasses. If it weren't for Ruby and Sarah with her I don't know if I would have made the connection. She's like the wrestling Clark Kent.

[odessasteps]

11 minutes ago, Ramo2653 said:

She's like the wrestling Clark Kent.

[Red is Dead]

a step up springboard ssp as your first move? Jesus H christ on a pogo stick...how do you top that?

By the beautiful velveteen dream taking that insane risk and hitting the picture perfect elbow drop.

Cole was probably the least deserving guy out of the lot to get it. But with TuE now holding a fair bit of power...it made some retrospective sense.

If Ember gets called up, she'll struggle. She doesn't (for me anyway) have that wrestler/audience member connection in the way that asuka, sasha, or bayley did. The match was fine, but I believe she'll struggle. 

The multi tag was a complete schmozz. It was a mess. No real cohesion to the vein of the match. But watching AoP utterly wreck the Usos on smackdown? Count me the fuck in. Yes please.

Glad black won - put andrade and vega into the us title scene immediately. andrade vs rusev, or orton? that'll do.

And Gargano vs Black vs tomato chomper for the title at the next takeover? That'd work.

[Brian Fowler]

I do think Andrade is gonna need a new finisher on the main roster. The hammerlock DDT looks really bad on anyone over about 6'0"

[maciej]

That's three really great matches, goddamn. I think the main might actually be my third favorite match on first watch, but as I wasn't completely enthralled with some of the beginning, and a few spots were a little nonsense (Johnny, what is that running one handed crutch attack yr attempting? Ciampa, Johnny is like 8 feet away outside the ring, why are you reaching for him?). That said, least favorite of the three in this case probably means one of the, like, 20 best matches I'll see this year. When the emotion eventually arrived for me it was huge, and the overall storytelling was terrific.

So, it seems there's not a lot of people that loved the women's match even more than the main, but I'm in that camp for sure. I love Ember Moon because there's no one else that really moves the way she does. So her big jumping strikes look really distinct and cool. I like pretty much all the work they do here, I like the selling in the big spots, and, maybe most importantly, this match gave me two things I've legit never see in a ring and also worked as great character moments for Baszler: the Lethal Weapon spot and the the hair grip on the sleeper. 

Ladder match was bonkers. Big multi-person matches aren't generally things I expect to love and I was on board for every second of it. Ricochet's bumping was even better than his dives.

[Jiji]

Does anybody remember when Dean Ambrose did the dislocated shoulder/Riggs spot about two years before they completely ruined him?

Main event was great but there were stretches where the crowd was really quiet and kind of slogged along. I can't handle Gargano's affected, over-the-top selling, cutesy offense, and contrived spots (he literally crawled by the two crutches seconds before the crutches tug-o-war. @maciej touched on some of the other problematic spots). I think Gargano's a nerd and I accept that by this point. At least the production didn't focus wholly on his reactions and gave his opponent some shine unlike the last Takeover match. Ciampa was terrific and the swelling on his eye made him look like the devil. I dig him a lot. He's a better promo, isn't quite so OTT in the character work mid-match, and has a lot of Johnny's strengths so I can watch his matches without gritting my teeth.

[John from Cincinnati]

7 hours ago, The Natural said:

Thinking back to the abuse leveled at Ciampa. Swearing on WWE PG Era in 2018. Atmosphere and match went together as one.

I didn't really buy the heat. Yeah, the crowd was doing what you'd want it to do. But "Fuck Ciampa" has become such a meme that I think most of the hardcore, fly-in audience was just riding that Wreddit-fueled wave. 

Rumour has it Vega's moveset is inspired by Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. 

The show was really good. But so many major, lengthy matches in quick succession is exhausting. I needed a breather in there. Mania's going to kill me. 

[Kyuubi]

2 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I didn't really buy the heat. Yeah, the crowd was doing what you'd want it to do. But "Fuck Ciampa" has become such a meme that I think most of the hardcore, fly-in audience was just riding that Wreddit-fueled wave. 

Rumour has it Vega's moveset is inspired by Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. 

The show was really good. But so many major, lengthy matches in quick succession is exhausting. I needed a breather in there. Mania's going to kill me. 

...So any basic Luchadora type moveset?

[EricG]

2 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I've watched a lot of wrestling in 2018.  Gargano/Ciampa was about a 2/10 on the "overkill"  scale.  It didn't even cross my mind and in their case it was at least a blood feud with a 2-year build and Johnny's career on the line.   

Yeah, pretty much half of the PWG matches on a card do more 'finishers that should have ended the match' than those two did last night. And most of those have no story behind it whatsoever. 

[John from Cincinnati]

2 minutes ago, Kyuubi said:

...So any basic Luchadora type moveset?

Way more basic than that. ScarJo doesn't do many springboards or dives. 

[Eivion]

How is Vega as a wrestler? I only saw the one Stardom tour she did, and she looked ok there. Never saw her TNA work.

[Jiji]

7 minutes ago, EricG said:

Yeah, pretty much half of the PWG matches on a card do more 'finishers that should have ended the match' than those two did last night. And most of those have no story behind it whatsoever. 

I rage quit for a few hours after that. Janela tapped him out after the avalanche brainbuster, so why the fuck did he kick out? Why not win with the move that looked like you killed him? The announcers and the fans thought Webster was legit hurt after the package powerdriver.

I'm fine with a bit of overkill in big blowoff/momentous matches like this one and the Golden Lovers/Young Bucks match from a few weeks ago.

[The Unholy Dragon]

 

17 hours ago, Valcourt said:

Only gripe is how long ember moon hangs in brutal submissions against a legit fighter. Shayna GETS pro wrestling. She’s amazing. 

They played it as Ember having worked Shayna's arm enough that she couldn't sink it fully. Worked for me.

7 hours ago, A Guy Named Tracy said:

I think the announcers tried to make it clear that Roddy made his decision to join UE mid-match, hence Cole and KOR’s shocked expressions. Biggest problem I have with the tag match is that Undisputed Era wins the Dusty Rhodes tag classic without ever being in the tournament. 

I mean, isn't that a perfect tribute to Dusty? Felt like something he'd book.

Honestly? I was talking to a buddy about the card preshow and I was like "...oh shit, Cole is gonna win the NA title then Strong will turn in the tag in order to become tag champ by Freebird rules." I freaked out when I was right.

Big Lars needs more work. He rushed the Muso to Dain off the ladder and nearly killed him by dropping his neck on the ropes. 

My only complaint about the ME is that, personally, I was missing the chops. Ciampa chopped Johnny across the mouth in the CWC and it was meaner than 90% of the stuff in that match. That said, what a perfect combo of indie excess, WWE storytelling, and general wrestling theatricality. Perfect stuff. I especially loved that the murder kickouts got time to breathe. They didn't have Ciampa hit Project Ciampa off the top, nearfall, then yell and pick Johnny up for another only to be countered to the Gargano Escape or something like the main roster is hot on. Each one had time to breathe and each big one felt earned which made me bite on like three, more than I have for any WWE match in maybe five years. Just terrific stuff.

[DeathyBoy]

Drew vs Black is going to be a stiff as Hell fight. 

[Beech27]

@maciej I think the one-handed crutch attack was supposed to be a near-stabbing, but the crutch broke too cleanly, and so it looked like Gargano was just threatening and then backing off of a less deadly strike than many he’d already hit.

I’m with you on preferring the women’s match, especially having watched both again, though I do give the main credit for being a bloodfeud where they dress as a plucky cyberpunk JRPG protagonist and evil wizard, respectively.

[maciej]

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant the one where he's running at Ciampa and then Ciampa ducks and sends him over the rope.

[turk128]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

...but the ladder match, which I liked well enough for the characters and effort in there, felt like it lasted forever in the moment. 

For me, it felt long because so many were dying left and right, it was practically a graveyard. The "please don't die" chant was half legit when they started chanting it.

3 hours ago, maciej said:

Ricochet's bumping was even better than his dives.

They couldn't get Ibushi but Ricochet is a Durant level consolation prize.

[Jamal]

5 hours ago, Eivion said:

How is Vega as a wrestler? I only saw the one Stardom tour she did, and she looked ok there. Never saw her TNA work.

She’s pretty decent. Did some good work with Shine, which I thought was improved over her early TNA Stuff. 

[Brian Fowler]

I've become a huge fan of women's wrestling, but please, can we just keep Vega as the best valet/manager possible?