wrestling / TV Reports
Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NXT TakeOver – Brooklyn II
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Brooklyn, New York
August 20, 2016
Commentators: Corey Graves & Tom Phillips
Austin Aries vs. No Way Jose
This was a fun and energetic opener, and it was by far the most comfortable Austin Aries has looked since joining NXT in January. Both guys were pretty over with the crowd and that allowed them to just go out there and work a basic match in terms of structure. They both got in their shit, played to the last row in the crowd, and then timed everything in a manner to keep the match humming. Also, if you use some mathematical properties, you can make a theorem about how this match being better than Aries/Nakamura proves that No Way Jose is a superior wrestler than Shinsuke Nakamura. Aries won after hitting a sunset flip powernomb and then transitioning to the Last Chancery. ***½
Aries went to attack Jose after the match, but Hideo Itami showed up. His style is kick. He had some gorgeous shoes. They had a very awkward moment before Itami kicked him in the head with his beautiful shoes.
Billie Kay vs. Ember Moon
This was a flat match overall unfortunately. Kay controlled the whole match. She wasn’t exactly bad at it, but the crowd noticeably fell silent. Ember got to stand out with all her athletic spots which probably compensated for the lack of overall match quality.
Predictably, The O-Face got over very well and made the impact on the crowd that you would want. Let’s hope that Ember is booked well from here. (*¾)
Bobby Roode vs. Andrade Almas
Bobby Roode is an over-the-hill performer who was never all that special in the first place. Anrade Almas is possibly in his prime and was signed at the perfect time. Roode is incredibly over because of his entrance music, and Almas is un-over because of poor ring entrance gear. This matchup is like a on-the-nose lesson on the importance of presentation in professional wrestling.
Roode has wisely embraced the inexplicable overness and is taking full advantage of it. He’s playing an exceptionally broad version of his character, and it’s working. Almas thankfully got to redeem himself a bit in this match and had the performance he needed to get back on track. He got enough moments to stand out here with his facials and fun spots.
As a result, we got ourselves a solid match. Roode winning was questionable at best, but he was obviously the more over guy so it’s harder to give the company crap about it. Roode won cleanly with the Glorious Bomb. (***)
The Revival(c) (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa [NXT Tag Team Championship]
This match was structured largely how you would expect given the previous big matches from The Revival. The first third of the match was shine for the babyfaces. (The less said about this the better. John Boy & Tomato Camper are no American Alpha.)
The Revival did a typically solid and extended heat segment. The match then had a very fun and lively back-and-forth sequence to finish the match. Unsurprisingly, Gargano and Camper were at their best during this portion of the match. It seemed like Gargano and Camper had all the momentum on their side.
However, The Revival played the numbers game and then isolated Gargano. They started targeting one of his legs out of nowhere and that led to a submission victory. This finishing stretch was so brilliantly done that it basically made up for the earlier portions of the match.
[Note: This match has seemingly ended up with a higher star rating than any Revival/American Alpha match that I’ve reviewed. That doesn’t feel right, but Gargano/Ciampa being infinitely better at closing sequences might explain it which just reveals my own bias about what I care about. Wrestling is weird. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to re-watch the big AA/Revival matches at least.] (****)
Asuka(c) vs. Bayley [NXT Women’s Championship]
This was very fucking good. Asuka kept attempting to establish firm control, but Bayley always managed to find a way to keep fighting back so that Asuka never dominated her for any significant stretch of time. That was basically the story of the match, and it worked out so well.
The match threatened to fall apart after a botched powerbomb. However, they transitioned into a great sequence where Asuka kept going for the Asuka Lock which is how she made Bayley pass out two TakeOvers ago. Bayley always found a way out of it…only for Asuka to knock her the fuck out in the end.
If this was the end of Bayley in NXT, she went out on a high note. She probably had the best overall NXT career of anyone. (***¾)
Samoa Joe(c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura [NXT Championship]
This was an embarrassing effort from these two who should at least know at this point that they need to give the appearance of trying on a TakeOver main event. Right before the bell rang, they looked as if they were getting ready to kill one another. Then they proceeded to have an extremely plodding and dull match for reasons that completely and utterly boggle the mind. Nothing about the match truly felt like it mattered. The big fight feel disappeared almost immediately and never even threatened to come back. There was no urgency. No sense of violence. It was just listless. If Samoa Joe truly cannot go anymore, then he needs to go. If Shinsuke Nakamura continues to not try more than 1-2x a year, then he cannot be champion. He legit just needs to try 4-5x a year to qualify. Nakamura won cleanly after Boma Ye. (*½)
Watch some wrestling for free.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Johnny Gargano vs. Akira Tozawa
Bobby Roode & James Storm vs. The Dudley Boys
