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NXT Takeover: New York - 4/5/2019


Dolfan in NYC

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Just now, Matt D said:

The story of the last 10 years or so is one of Meltzer's ratings going from helping to steer me to matches to watch to helping to steer me to matches not to watch.

I hope you still watched Gargano/Andrade

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14 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I hope you still watched Gargano/Andrade

That i saw in real time. Favoritism trumps grumpiness.

I was trying to see if I wrote anything about it. I couldn't find much.

I'm not 100% sold on the main yet (I just need to digest it. I just finished it), but I do think what made it work so well were three things:

1.) The counter stuff/athleticism felt next level at times, and so many things were built up and paid off.

2.) But it was always grounded in the characters and who they were. Even when it got a tiny bit too dancey or slightly too pop-uppy, it was always Gargano as the arch-babyface and Almas wrestling like a rudo (which isn't necessarily the same thing as a heel). The roles mattered and they drove the match.

3.) They gave it both highs and lows. They had time to make things breathe and to build and build and build and payoff.

If there's a four, it's Gargano's quasi-concussed dead-eyed facial sell.It's almost uncomfortable to watch him sell, and that's just artistry. He can take that to the bank.

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On second watch, I think I may like Andrade vs Gargano just a tiny bit more and here's why and it's something that really disappoints me about his main roster run so far.

When Andrade made his heel turn and aligned himself with Zelina Vega, he developed such a viciousness and mean streak and I don't think I've seen that out of anyone else in WWE or NXT. It's so visceral and violent and he attacks with such ferocity. In that match with Gargano, he doesn't go through the motions to the next spot or transition. No. He goes a like a kid playing a racing game, pedal to the metal all the way, banging off of guard rails, tearing up the grass, smashing into other cars, etc. BAM, Andrade kills Gargano with a move, ZOOM, he's goes full speed to his next spot, BAM, he hits Gargano again, ZOOM, there he goes again to the next spot with Gargano looking dead, BAM, he hits Gargano again.

And that was damn near every match with Gargano and I fucking loved it. It felt so organic, so real, and so intense. He just attacked, attacked, attacked and again, I've just never seen someone go for the throat like that before.

I still put Gargano vs Cole at at least 5 stars, but they moved through their spots more methodically almost as if to not botch anything. They were both very careful and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is something incredibly fucking impressive about someone like Andrade who doesn't need to be that careful and who has an almost superhuman ability to hit any spot he wants any time he wants as fast as he wants and as violently as he wants and his opponent is protected the entire time. I want to see more out of that from Andrade on the main roster, but seeing Andrade work like that for those few months in NXT made me think he was one of the top 3 workers in the entire world.

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With the talk about Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano from NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia 2018, I watched it back earlier this year. There's a risk doing that to someone you regard as you may like it less than previously. That wasn't the case. Almas vs. Gargano is the best match in NXT history. Runner up is the Revival vs. #DIY from NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2016. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn from NXT R-Evolution 2014 takes the bronze.

 

Edited by The Natural
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To continue the Andrade love, I agree that his best quality is his ability to go from 0-60 if he sees an opening to finish the match. It really gives a sense that he's in a fight and he knows he will only get so many chances to actually win it.

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I finally got around to watching some of this show, and wow Riddle/Dream was an absolute Riddle clinic.  Really made Dream’s actual in-ring work look amateurish by comparison.  Riddle just brought so much intensity and sharp execution, and all Dream has to offer was his lame nostalgia pop comedy offense.

Fortunately, Dream won with a flash pin, so it kinda worked with the story of the match.  He definitely came across like a guy who was just surviving out there and could not have won any other way.

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