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Zen Arcade Reviews: NXT Takeover – Toronto

November 19, 2016 | Posted by Jake St-Pierre
Image Credit: WWE
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Zen Arcade Reviews: NXT Takeover – Toronto  

The past 3 months of NXT have been almost universally regarded as skippable and it’s hard to not see why. The character development portion of the product has been scaled back more than perhaps any other time, and the formula of squash matches and the odd angle has made for several less-than-desirable episodes of television… and with good reason. You can usually tell when a hot name is coasting on that name rather than the merits of what that name can do, and I’d say more often than not NXT has been doing that since Brooklyn. With that being said however, it’s still been quite a decent product. The tag team division has been highlighted in wonderful fashion with the second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, giving us a few cool moments like Roderick Strong’s debut, Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic being awesome, No Way Jose and Rich Swann, and plenty others I won’t list for the sake of brevity. So while the TV program hasn’t lit the world on fire, there’s plenty to like heading into NXT Takeover’s first foray into Canada. We get the DIY/Revival rematch of their incredible Brooklyn encounter – this time 2/3 Falls – as well as a rematch of the sensational Joe/Nakamura main event that nearly eclipsed it. Add that on with a wacky surprise match of Asuka vs. Mickie James, a potential showstealer in Dillinger vs. Roode, and the tournament finals between the Authors of Pain and TM61, we have a great card on paper. And considering NXT’s track record with their specials, I think one could be justified in their excitement.

We are LIVE from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ONT.

Your hosts are Tom Philips & Corey Graves.

Bobby Roode vs. Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger has always been one of the more underrated talents WWE has employed, and one that up until recently has largely been a Jobber to the Stars. The support for the former Shawn Spears ramped up in intensity after a shockingly good performance at The End against Andrade Cien Almas, causing crowd support for Almas to falter immediately while Tye became even more of a cult favorite. Bobby Roode burst onto the NXT sene as one of its top stars immediately, gifted a relentlessly catchy theme song and protection to match. His natural heel persona makes him an easy foil for the perpetually loved Perfect 10, so it’s hard to complain with the choice of opener.

And in case you were wondering, yes, Bobby Roode’s entrance makes him look like a star ten times the stature of basically everyone on the main roster. It’s almost like when you treat and nurture a great wrestler like he’s a superstar, he projects it. What a wacky thought. The Toronto crowd is yoked for this match, as Tye stares a hole through the man who betrayed him before it devolves into a slugfest. I’m so happy they didn’t tie up. If you hated a guy, why wouldn’t you just hit him in the teeth immediately? Dillinger is a house of fire early, dumping Roode out of the ring with clothesline. Roode uses that intensity against him, but Tye fires back quickly with a backdrop to the floor. Cute spot with Bobby Roode begging off with the TEN, so Tye stomps on his hands and shows him how to do it. Dillinger follows up with the Ten Punches in the corner, and the crowd is electric for this man. Roode buys some time after catapulting Tye to the floor, running from the opposite side of the ring to blindside him into the dasherboards, establishing Bobby’s first extended taste of control thus far. Roode heads up to the second rope for a GLORIOUS~! Axehandle to the back of the head. Dillinger tries fighting back, but Roode drops the Perfect 10 with a neckbreaker for a two count. Roode looks for 10 Punches of his own, but he spends too much time minding the crowd, earning him an Atomic Drop from Dillinger. Dillinger finally builds his comeback, dropping Roode with rapid fire strikes before setting up the Tyebreaker, but Roode gets out of Dodge… only for Tye to chase him down. It pays off at first, but Dillinger runs into a spinebuster from the Glorious One that nearly ends his night. Roode desperately looks for a Superplex, and after a good deal of resistance, he finally hits it for a close nearfall. Roode pulls down his kneepad, looking for a Tyebreaker of his own, but Tye counters out… only for Bobby to nearly get the win with a rope assisted schoolboy… but the ref sees it! SCHOOLBOY FROM TYE… ROODE KICKS OUT! SUPERKICK FROM DILLINGER! ROODE KICKS OUT AGAIN! It’s a slugfest again, as both men throw leather in the middle of the ring. TYEBREAKER… COUNTERED INTO THE GLORIOUS DDT… COUNTERED INTO A SHARPSHOOTER FROM DILLINGER! BOBBY GETS THE ROPE! They trade nearfalls on small packages, but Roode dodges a running Dillinger, sends him into the post, and the Implant DDT gets Bobby Roode the win in 16 minutes. ***3/4 As close as you can get to a perfect opener, I think. It’s nothing complex, nor will it win Match of The Year votes, but that’s not what you need all the time. What WWE’s main roster doesn’t do enough is just take two guys who the crowd wants to like, and oblige them by giving them a 15 minute window to have a great match. It’s not rocket science either. Sometimes keeping it simple and letting wrestlers… well, wrestle, is the right thing to do. And there’s not a much better example of that than this match. The wrestled a safe, fairly easy match and picked their spots, showing that as long as you have the attention of the crowd and a general idea of psychology, you don’t have to risk too much to bring a crowd to its feet. So for that, I’m delcaring this match a complete and total success, and hopefully this goes a long way to elevate both Dillinger and Roode, who both can conceivably be viable main eventers here in NXT with efforts like this.

Tye struggles up and gets a standing ovation, telling the crowd he’s sorry before he walks to the back. It’s amazing what can happen when a crowd cares about the wrestlers.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: The Authors of Pain vs. TM61
This is one of those matches where I’m probably more excited than the general wrestling populace. I actually think the Authors of Pain are great talents who have all the potential in the world to be a tremendous monster tag team. Their match with DIY was great stuff, and if they’re doing so well this early into their televised career, further development and seasoning is only going to do them well. And while the creative team has largely failed TM61 in terms of bringing them along as characters, they are quite adept in the ring nevertheless, so I have a hard time believing this match would be anything less than at least “good.”

In gloriously corny fashion, Paul Ellering will be suspended above the ring in a cage to prevent interference. Akkam bumrushes Nick Miller immediately, trying to put him away with an early storm, but Miller and Thorne use their speed to send the big men outside. Razar puts Shane Thorne on his shoulders the climbs the mechanism that supports the cage, but Thorne punches him off… and SOMERSAULTS ONTO EVERYBODY TO THE FLOOR! That was an awesome spot. The Authors eventually isolate Shane in the ring though, making the Aussie pay for that dive. Nick Miller is eventually able to tag in, and he goes insane with power moves on Akam and Razar. He pops Razar with a Sliding D and hits a moonsault for a two count. TM61 look for stereo ten punches, but the AOP slip under and look for the Powerbomb sandwich, only for TM61 to hit stereo ranas! THUNDER VALLEY ON RAZAR! TOPE CON HILO FROM THORNE! Ellering drops a chain from the cage to Razar, but Thorne dodges it and sends it into the crowd… only to run into a big Spinebuster, and the Last Chapter hands the Authors of Pain the trophy in 10 minutes. ***1/4 Based on what we got here, I’m of the opinion that they could have given us something really great if they were given the platform, but as a sprint, this was just fine and quite tremendous given the short window of time. As bland as they’ve been at times, the speed with which TM61 works is always impressive, and I highly enjoyed that dynamic against the raw power of Akam and Razar. It was an easy story to tell, but that doesn’t always mean it’s told well. Here, they told it incredibly well in proportion to what they were given, and I think my rating reflects that. Selfishly I wish they’d have gotten a few more minutes to flesh things out because I truly think they had a showstealer in them, but they still made quite the impression regardless and sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Triple H, William Regal, and Dustin Rhodes present Paul Ellering and the Authors of Pain with the Dusty Rhodes trophy. Neat.

2/3 Falls for the NXT Tag Team Titles: The Revival © vs. DIY
These four had one of the best matches all year in Brooklyn three months ago, and with a match that good, sometimes going to the rematch is tricky. You know what they say about sequels, after all. But given the story and where they went from there, I think the rematch is necessary. Gargano & Ciampa recognize that they lost clean, but want one last chance at the belts because they know they’re good enough to pull it off, and so do the fans. That’s an easy babyface story to tell, and when it comes to being a babyface, Johnny Gargano has it on lock. And it’s incredibly hard to find better heels than Dash & Dawson in 2016, so this is a match made in tag team heaven.

Gargano and Dawson start things off, and Gargano nearly gets an early fall, to the point that Dawson breathes an enormous sigh of relief that he scaped the Oklahoma Roll. He backs Johnny into the corner, but forgoes a clean break to gain an upperhand. Gargano gets a flash tag to Ciampa, allowing DIY to try their way on top, but the underhanded tactics of Scott Dawson put Ciampa in the same place as his partner. Johnny tags in and is a house of fire, sending both of the Revival down with various suplexes, before dropping them both once more with a bulldog/clothesline combo. He measures Dawson in the corner, but Dash tags in and the Revival COUNTER A SLINGSHOT SPEAR INTO THE SHATTER MACHINE! The Revival pick up the first fall in 5 minutes.

Gargano nearly puts Dash away with a flash schoolboy after failing to get to Ciampa, but Dash kicks out, allowing for more Revival destruction. Dawson hits a slingshot suplex for two, followed by some CLUBBERIN~! and a Gory Special. Johnny fights out and tries to eliminate Dash, but Dawson chases him down… only for Johnny to kick Dawson down while DDT’ing Dash! Dash distracts the referee, which causes the referee not to see a crucial tag, and that allows The Revival to hit a Hart Attack for a close nearfall. Dash looks for a back superplex, but Johnny counters into a body press for two.. and here comes Ciampa! Dawson eats a missile dropkick and a barrage of strikes, hitting a reverse Rough Ryder for two! Dash tries to save his partner, but Ciampa disposes of him and throws three Germans! RUNNING KNEE! DAWSON KICKS OUT! Ciampa spends too much time trying to get Gargano into the ring which nearly allows the Revival to hit a double team, but Ciampa saves and NEARLY gets the win with a crossbody! DIY hits the Knee/Superkick combo and get the second fall at the 14 minute mark.

Ciampa and Dash trade strikes in the middle of the ring, and they’re throwing heavy leather. Tommaso kncks Dash loopy, but Dawson blind tags in… only to get the Star Armbar… but Dawson battles out and nearly gets the win with a rollup. Ciampa scores with a rope-hung Flatliner, but eats an uppercut from Dash mid-Tope! Dash runs into an apron superkick from Gargano, WHO SLINGSHOTS IN WITH A DDT ON DAWSON! DAWSON KICKS OUT! Dash grabs Dawson to prevent a rollup, and they KILL JOHNNY WITH AN UPPERCUT/GERMAN! CIAMPA DIVES IN WITH A BIG SAVE! That was nuts. Dawson posts Ciampa and tags in formally, toying with Johnny before starching him with an uppercut, which pisses Johnny Wrestling off. SMALL PACKAGE FROM JOHNNY.. GETS TWO! Ciampa Cactus clotheslines Dash out, which allows Dawson to hit Johnny in the knee with a title belt! INVERTED FIGURE FOUR FROM DAWSON! That’s how they won in Brooklyn! JOHNNY GETS THE ROPE! Dawson is at a loss at what to do, but Dash tags in and tries to do the Knee/Superkick… but DASH SUPERKICKS DAWESON! SHATTER MACHINE FROM DIY!~! DAWSON SAVES HIS PARTNER! What a phenomenal sequence. Dawson plays possum and tries to win with a rollup of the tights… but the referee catches him. Dash posts Ciampa and CHOP BLOCKS GARGANO! That’s what got them the win last time. SMALL PACKAGE FROM GARGANO! DASH KICKS OUT! THEY TRADE PINS… BUT GARGANO LOCKS IN GARGA-NO ESCAPE!~! CIAMPA PUTS DAWSON IN THE STAR ARMBAR! THE REVIVAL TAPS!!! DIY ARE THE CHAMPIONS!! Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are the new NXT Tag Champions in 22 minutes. ****3/4 I didn’t want to say it outright just because I don’t like to be your typical cynical wrestling reviewer, but I was pretty skeptical that these two could top their first effort. I thought the match from Brooklyn was magic, and it’s almost impossible for even the best of workers to top what most consider their best. But it becomes clearer and clearer with every match that DIY and The Revival aren’t your run-of-the-mill tag teams. For 22 minutes, they went out there and wrestled one of the best matches in NXT history, and did it so intelligently that it’s hard to find a tag match under the WWE banner that can match the sheer quality of psychology these four dished out. A lot has been said about The Revival the last few months, and the more I watch them wrestle, the more apparent it becomes that they may be the best tag team on the planet today. There hasn’t been a tag team in years that so seamlessly blends the old Brainbusters style of gruff technicality with the modern pace and intensity that fans of today expect. They can work with any team and adapt to their style all while advancing their own, and while The Young Bucks are masters at doing that in their own way, I’m not sure they can do it to the grandiose results The Revival have continued to. But let’s not pretend that Dash and Dawson could wrestle a match this great with just any team. Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano have been utterly sensational in this entire feud, and they peaked as a team at exactly the right time. There’s been dissension (the CWC), there’s been heartbreak (the Brooklyn loss), and there’s been overwhelming triumph like tonight. But never throughout these two’s journey did they ever look like idiots, or did they look like they were in over their head. You knew that they could beat any team on any given night, and this just so happened to be the night where it all came together for them. As for this match specifically? Where do I start? The one thing that sent this match over the top to me was the constant callbacks to the Brooklyn match. Whether it was the chop-blocking of Johnny Gargano, the inverted Figure Four that won The Revival the previous match, or Dash running Tommaso into the post, everything worked into this match seamlessly and didn’t feel gimmicky. It came off as The Revival having tried everything, but not accounting for the fact that DIY had scouted their old tricks and closed up their holes in the game. And with that, The Revival didn’t have much left, and it was DIY’s match to lose. I thought this match was as close as you can get to perfect tag team wrestling and it’s going to be hard for anybody in the world to top this masterpiece. This is as good as it gets.

NXT Women’s Title: Asuka © vs. Mickie James
I know I literally just talked about how I dislike being cynical, but when this match was announced, I couldn’t help but contradict myself a little bit. I really never thought Mickie James was much of a good worker even when she was in her prime, to be frank. She had a good match with Trish Stratus at Wrestlemania 22 admittedly, but beyond that, I’d be hardpressed to find any effort of hers in WWE or TNA that I’d consider close to even what Asuka could do on autopilot. Of course, I would love to be proven wrong because who doesn’t love good pro wrestling, but I’m coming into this with tempered expectations.

Mickie keeps up with Asuka on the mat in the earlygoing, hitting her with a nifty basement dropkick that sends the champ retreating. Asuka isn’t exactly happy that Mickie is keeping up with her so well, so she sends her to the floor with a hip attack and holds the ropes for her like Mickie did for her! Mickie is a little less becoming of that gesture, so Asuka gives her another nasty hip attack that sends her back outside but Mickie recovers and ranas her on the floor. Mickie is looking fantastic so far, it must be said… and as I say that, Asuka MURDERS HER with a German Suplex on the floor! Mickie lumbers back into the ring, but Asuka keeps on her with a dropkick in the corner. Asuka goes to town with kicks, but Mickie won’t go down, to the point where she counters a PK into a Half Crab… right into a Muta Lock! Asuka is eventually able to break and find the ropes. Mickie drops the champ with a neckbreaker, and she starts building a head of steam, dodging a crossbody from Asuka and hitting a flapjack and a seatedsenton for a nearfall. Asuka locks in a cross armbreaker, but Mickie immediately finds the ropes, much to Asuka’s chagrin. MICKIE WITH A HUGE SPINNING BACK KICK! Asuka is able to find the ropes, and another pinfall only gets a nearfall. Asuka looks for the Asuka Lock, but Mickie is able to roll out… but she eventually has to tap at the 13 minute mark. ***1/4 Hey, sometimes it’s better to be wrong. I thought Mickie wrestled the best match I’ve ever seen her have, and not only did she just “keep up” with Asuka, she matched her toe-to-toe for the vast majority of it. They told a wonderful story of Mickie being the wily veteran who had Asuka’s number throughout the bulk of the match, but like every opponent before her, she couldn’t take the heat when it came down to it, and she had to give up. This one does suffer slightly just because everyone and their dog knew the result beforehand, but they did enough to mask that inevitability and make the match about Mickie keeping up rather than just beating us over the head with what we all knew deep inside would happen. So I’d say this was a rousing success and I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Mickie on the main roster or NXT, both of which have major depth trouble.

Mickie offers a handshake, but Asuka just raises the title belt in her face and grins. ASUKA IS THE BEST.

NXT Title: Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Samoa Joe
I’ve actually been a huge fan of the build-up to this match, almost as much as I was a fan of their first match in Brooklyn. I’ve heavily enjoyed Samoa Joe’s turn for the psychotic, destroying literally everything to get under William Regal’s skin and to get his title back. Shinsuke has been positioned tremendously, not having to carry the promo load. Instead, he gets more over by just showing up and trying to stop the rage of the former champion. It’s easy, simple booking – like most of NXT – but it works wonders when you have two men as talented in every facet of pro wrestling as Samoe Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Shinsuke comes out firing right out of the gate, but Joe fires back with a leg kick that wobbles the champ… only for Shinsuke to battle back, causing Joe to clinch in to stop the pain. Nakamura struts a little bit, which works in his favor as it brings an angry Joe right into his clutches for the SHIMMY BOOT. Joe is overwhelmed early, and has to head outside to catch his breath. Nakamura chases him down, which proves to be a bad idea until Nakamura is able to boot the challenger over the barricade. Shinsuke throws Joe back over into the ringside area, and chucks him back into the ring in firm control. Joe battles back with the running elbow in the corner, followed by the enzuigiri. Joe gives the champ a few face-washes in the corner, but runs into a Kitchen Sink knee from Swagsuke. Joe drops the champ though with the ST-Joe, and is able to catch his breath a little bit. Joe goes right after Nakamura’s knee, rolling into a kneebar before breaking and just throwing leg kicks to keep the champ on the mat. Nakamura tries to escape, but Joe FOLDS HIM with an Elbow Suicida. Joe brings out the steel steps to try and injure the champ again, but Nakamura isn’t letting that happen easily. Nakamura tries to battle back, building up a big comeback with the one legged dropkick and the running knee in the corner, but Joe kicks out. Nakamura tries to choke Joe out with a front facelock, but Joe powers out with the atomic drop, big boot, and senton combo for a nearfall. Joe hits the powerbomb, right into the inverted Boston Crab… right into the STF… right into the Crossface! Nakamura rolls out for a nearfall and tries a cross armbreaker, but Joe escapes and catches a running Nakamura with a powerslam for 2. Nakamura climbs to the top and drops Joe with a knee, but can’t take advantage. Shinsuke hits a strike combo and drops Joe with the Superman Elbow, but Joe escapes the inverted exploder and attempts a suplex… but Nakamura battles out and hits a deadlift German! Nakamura measures for Kinshasa, but Joe dodges and sweeps Nakamura’s bum knee! Nakamura rolls out of a Muscle Buster and HITS KINSHASA! Joe kicks out. Joe counters another Kinshasa into the Coquina Clutch! DRAGON SUPLEX! FLORIDA KEY FROM JOE! NAKAMURA KICKS OUT! Joe is busted open, and very angry. Nakamura dodges a lariat and HITS KINSHASA TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! Nakamura hurt his knee, and Joe is able to roll to the outside. The ref checks on Joe while Nakamura measures for another Kinshasa on the outside, and Joe hits Nakamura low! ST-JOE ON THE STEPS! MUSCLE BUSTER! JOE WINS THE BELT BACK! Wow, wasn’t expecting that at all. ***1/2 I didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as I did their Brooklyn match, but I do think it had a lot of things going for it that the Brooklyn match didn’t. First and foremost, I thought Nakamura’s selling of the knee was a lot better this time around than it was in Brooklyn, which might put it above their previous effort for some. Unfortunately, they didn’t really give me as much to sink my teeth into as they did last time. In Brooklyn, it felt like they were working a gutter fight with both men working until they just couldn’t go anymore. There was more excitement and better counters and overall a more urgent pace to the final moments. Although in this case, they did work a bit faster in terms of bell-to-bell speed, it just didn’t feel as memorable. But in a psychological sense, I suppose that makes a fair bit of logical sense. After all, Joe didn’t exactly win cleanly, and he won because he shut down the intensity of Nakamura which brought so much fun to their match the last time. So in terms of storytelling, I think this match trumps their Brooklyn effort, but I don’t expect that many people to find it as memorable, including myself. The result is a bit of a head-scratcher to be quite honest as I’m not sure Shinsuke gets called up any time soon, but considering it’s NXT, I’m willing to wait and see. Given the cage match they’re having in Melbourne next month, I might just have my answer right there. Either way, this was a great match but a couple notches below their sensational main event from three months ago.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
This show reminds me a lot of Takeover: Dallas, actually. There's one utterly incredible, near five-star effort surrounded by a bunch of great matches and a slightly underwhelming main event. That incredible effort happened to involve The Revival and DIY this time around, and if Zayn/Nakamura from Dallas didn't happen, it's probably your Match of the Year. Beyond that, we got Tye Dillinger's coming-out party in the opener, Mickie James impressing against impossible odds in Asuka, and a tremendous little sprint between the Authors of Pain and TM61. Your mileage may vary a little bit on the main event - kind of the like the Balor vs. Joe matches - but at the very least, it was a memorable finish and a good enough exclamation point to another tremendous NXT Takeover show.
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