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NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day - 2/14/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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I'm not sure they've decided what they're doing with Kross yet. My inkling is that they will do a cluster, probably a ladder match, to avoid pinning him and then send him to the main roster. Cole vs O'Reilly vs Balor vs Kross, though Escobar might sneak in the mix as well.

 

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Watched the opening tag. I liked it, but there did seem to be some close calls during some of the more dangerous spots (most of them involving Shotzi). The opening stretch, with Ember and Shotzi working over Dakota Kai's leg, felt unnecessary. Sure, it establishes that Dakota Kai really need Raquel, but that could have been done in any number of ways. "Working the leg" also went nowhere, as Kai was kicking and sprinting just fine late in the match. Ember Moon looked great at times: easily the most athletic person in the match, though Raquel looked really impressive. For some reason, this felt like a Southern style tag sprint (but I'm not even sure that's a thing) – which is odd, since that style is driven by actual heat.

Skipped through the other matches. Didn't care about the other Dusty tag. Didn't care about the triple threat match, though Mercedes looked really great in the bits that I saw. Would be into a confrontation between Raquel and Mercedes down the road. Maybe.

Gargano is unwatchable. This match basically killed any possibility of submission finishers. (Not really, I know. But you know what I mean. If Kushida can't get a submission from a crossarm breaker after working over Gargano's chicken-leg arms for 20 minutes . . . well, then. He must really suck, at submission wrestling. Good thing that's not his gimmick. Wait . . .)

Main event was great. To compare it to other self-indulgent NXT main events is an insult. Yes, it was self-indulgent, but these two (again, from my perspective) are way better than Cole (who makes me cringe). Better than Gargano (likewise). Better than Ciampa. Better than Lee. I'd rather watch them wrestle for 30 minutes against each other than any combination of these other dudes. But that might be because NXT just totally burned me out on Cole–Gargano–Ciampa matchups.

 

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Good show. I liked pretty much everything but every match did also go a few beats too far than it should have done which is a problem when EVERY match on the show is trying to be some sort of epic.

Womens tag had a lot of good action, but also a really weird layout. Who's idea was it to start with a long section with Dakota Kai getting worked over by the faces with legbars because that was no good. Gonzales is still a little green, but she's also the most exciting female prospect in wrestling and I really enjoy what she brings to the table as a powerhouse. All of her big spots were great and I thought Ember and Shotzi also busted out a lot of cool stuff. Final section was really strong and the right team won.

Wasn't paying attention to Gargano vs KUSHIDA but what I saw was decent. Agree they should have put Kushida over though.

Mens tag was good, and 1000% better than anything the Rascals would have done if they'd gone to Dynamite and been paired with a bunch of the similar spotfest teams. Solid structure, all their spots were cool and stood out and they brought enough personality and emotion to this to draw you in. There were like 3 spots that should have finished things though, or at the least had a partner make the save rather than a guy kick out, which was a shame. Too far into overkill but I did enjoy it on the whole.

Womens triple threat was as paint by numbers as expected. They really need to get the belt off Shirai because her run has been a letdown. Let's get Gonzales crowned next Takeover.

Loved the Cameron Grimes promo and the rap killed me

Main event wasn't as good as the Balor vs O'Reilly matches but I am still fully onboard with this theme of ground-based matches with guys targeting unusual body parts. Some of Dunne's strikes were embarrassingly bad but they kept the stuff on the mat interesting and sold the damage and exhaustion really well. Dunne's finger break spot is usually something he does just to get a pop so it was very cool to see it actually be the story of the match. I think they went overboard at the end but still a good match on the whole. Balor has been a vanilla workrate geek his whole career but I'd agree this run has been the best he's ever had by far.

Don't care about the Undisputed Era stuff. Hopefully it leads to Cole and some of these other guys getting shipped off to another brand to freshen things up

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Hell of a show. I've missed a few Takeovers during the pandemic but in the period before it hit I thought there was a couple that weren't quite on the level they used to be and I'd generally become a bit apathetic towards the brand. Especially lengthy Adam Cole matches. This one delivered in a big way though, even without a full crowd.

Opener had some sloppy moments early on but it got better and they went all out. Raquel killed it and is clearly in line for a big push this year. Was surprised to see her and Kai win but I like it. I hope the NXT women win it. Would be refreshing and they'd have more challengers on NXT.

Johnny/Kushida was a blast. Bit too long for me but nothing major. I was pulling for Kushida but I did expect Gargano to retain. What I didn't expect was that would it be a clean win. Guessing Dexter will be the one to dethrone Gargano now? I fear that Kushida will be forgotten again but hopefully that won't be the case.

 It'll be good to have a good promo guy like Ricker in NXT. 

Men's Dusty cup final was just fantastic, my match of the night I think. MSK and especially Wes Lee were on fire - a star making performance from him really. Glad they won, booking a new act to win something major so quickly feels like something WWE don't do enough of. GYV lose in the final again but I don't think they needed it as much as MSK.

Women's title was the weakest match of the show although I am enjoying seeing Mercedes having her time in the spotlight. Surely they should be building to her winning the title, would be a great story. The table breaking was so awkward.  Nice dive from Io off the lighting thing however.

That Balor/Dunne video package is something else. "They see the poster boy for European wrestling, I see a geezer with a glass jaw" is such a class line. I liked that they included the Edge promo too. Made the match feel like an even bigger deal. Really liked all the mat stuff here and I didn't feel like it went on too long at all. Definitely about time TUE broke up, they seem like the stalest thing in NXT. I much prefer KOR to Adam Cole so I'll be happy to pull for him as the babyface.

Edited by Tuna Boss
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Three great matches in Balor vs. Dunne, MSK vs. GYV and Gargano vs. KUSHIDA. Balor vs. Dunne was my MOTN. I'm all in for dueling limbwork with Balor on Dunne's knee and Dunne targeting the jaw and arm injuries of Finn. Give me this match format and Balor vs. O'Reilly over the overblown Cole/Gargano/Ciampa style.

Really enjoyed Gargano vs. KUSHIDA but needed five to seven minutes removing from it. KUSHIDA should have won. So too GVW vs. MSK. The results going the other way left me with a meh feeling.

Edited by The Natural
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13 hours ago, just drew said:

So, I wish I knew who it was in the front office that felt the need to corporate-brand the living shit out of anyone who's even slightly out of the box. Shotzi Blackheart is fantastic. I love her look. I think her work matches her gimmick really well. But calling her a "Ballsy badass" just reeks of "please like her! She's edgy and trendy like those girls working at Hot Topic you all seem to like so much! Buy a 'Ballsy Badass' thermos on WWEShop.com and show everyone at school how cool you are!" It absolutely stinks to high heaven that they just refuse to let her be her without getting their shitty "try hard" energy all over it. She deserves better. They all do, really. 

Yeah, similar to what @Morgantisaid.. she's actually been calling herself the Ballsy Badass long before WWE entered the picture. I hope she had the sense to trademark it herself.

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I agree with @Burgundy LaRueon the women’s match, except I might be a little harsher on it.  I haven’t been watching NXT in a while, so I was going to ask if Ember had been teasing a heel turn. There were a couple of extended spots of her arguing with the ref, which just made her look stupid. You’ve got the opponent downed in your corner, just tag your partner again.

It wouldn’t be a Takeover without a Gargano match going too long. The thing that bums me out about his style of match is that they almost build up to a completely believable nearfall that would be a perfect end to the match, and then they just keep going and end on a worse finish.  Adding on to what someone else said, I think NXT started overusing submissions back when Ember Moon held on too long in a Baszler hold after having her elbow stomped, despite the stomp previously putting her on the shelf.  I think at this point, it doesn’t make the guy in the hold look tough, it just makes the person putting on the hold look weak (never mind the fact that there’s no reason for chickenshit heel Gargano to be the tough, resilient guy in the match anyway).

MSK/GYV and Dunn/Balor were good, I enjoyed both of those a good deal.

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12 hours ago, Ziggy said:

I'm watching Takeover now,  Why is Kushida always dressed like he working a Street fight when I see him?

Because this is WWE and they don't do anything subtle. It's not enough that he names his moves based off of Back To The Future, he's gotta dress like Marty McFly now pal. We're making movies. Even when we rip off other movies.

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2 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Because this is WWE and they don't do anything subtle. It's not enough that he names his moves based off of Back To The Future, he's gotta dress like Marty McFly now pal. We're making movies. Even when we rip off other movies.

I think he was doing all that while in New Japan so I don't know if I'd put that on WWE.  For one of the Wrestle Kingdoms him and Shelley even came out in a DeLorean.

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40 minutes ago, NikoBaltimore said:

I think he was doing all that while in New Japan so I don't know if I'd put that on WWE.  For one of the Wrestle Kingdoms him and Shelley even came out in a DeLorean.

Fair point. But there's a difference between special entrances for a big event & using an in character entrance jacket vs wrestling in jeans and the futuristic moon boots like Marty McFly. Those are new to his presentation since joining WWE, he used to wear actual wrestling gear. Maybe it's just one of those things that annoys me, but not the majority of wrestling fans. Street clothes as gear should be rare exceptions when they fit a specific type of character, or story. Not the norm. We're so far in the bubble sometimes we forget this is supposed to resemble a worked real sport. When has the NBA or NFL let dudes play in jeans? Any UFC fights or Tyson fights where guys wore jeans?

/end of old man rant

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Finally watched the rest earlier today and it was a really good show. It reminded me of the earlier Takeovers where they closed with a post Main Event angle that leads to the next big angle. The matches on Takeover are always quality overall but this one was the first Takeover in a very long time that made me feel like I need to start watching the TV.

I'm liking Gargano and his faction , he seems to be really good as a heel right now. I'm also liking the Kings of NXT faction. I hope McAfee comes back.

It'll be interesting to see where they go with Adam Cole and this Undisputed Era.

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10 hours ago, just drew said:

Really? Ugh. That's awful. 

See my post about Shotzi TryHard in the NXT thread, everything she does screams wannabe. Maybe I’m just a grumpy elder goth/punk but she just reverberates mall goth/hawt topic punk to me. Which is why teaming her with Ember Moon  seems perfect to me with her dopey rubber werewolf head hood gimmick. They both come off like the worst kind of poser ever. No, really the liar guy was in a band before he started doing spoke word?! Tell me more?!

Edited by WholeFnMachine
Malfunctioning washing machine & internet have made me cranky and judgemental
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