Csonka’s NXT Takeover: XXV Review

Csonka’s NXT Takeover XXV Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Matt Riddle defeated Roderick Strong @ 14:50 via pin [****¼]
– Fatal Four-Way Vacant NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits defeated Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, The Forgotten Sons, & Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish @ 21:45 to become the new champions [****]
– NXT North American Title Match: Champion Velveteen Dream defeated Tyler Breeze @ 16:55 via pin [***½]
– NXT Women’s Title Match: Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Io Shirai @ 12:20 via submission [***¾]
– NXT Title Match: Adam Cole defeated NXT Champion Johnny Gargano @ 31:50 via pin [****½]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– We open the show, looking back at the history of Takeover events.

– Nigel, Mauro, & Beth are on commentary.

Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong: They lock up, working to the mat and Riddle takes early control, looking for the bromission, but Strong makes the ropes. Strong rushes Riddle to the ropes, follows with knee strikes and then chops. Riddle quickly hits rolling gut wrench suplexes, and they work to the floor and brawl. Riddle then jumps off the steps with a flying forearm. He follows with kicks, but Strong fires back as they work to the apron. They trade again, but Strong posts him and hits an apron back breaker. Back in and Strong follows with chops, and then dumps him to the floor. Strong follows and rolls him back in, covering for 2. He lays in more chops, and then a back breaker to cut off Riddle, and covering for 2. Strong follows with grounded strikes, and then bends Riddle around the post. Riddle tries to fire back, but Strong pummels him with strikes and covers for 2. Riddle fires back, and rolls into a cradle for 2. Strong then hits the Angle slam for 2. The Gory special is countered and Riddle follows with a fisherman’s suplex. Strikes and kicks follow, sand then running forearms and then an XPLODER. The broton connects and the PK gets 2. Riddle lays in kicks, but Strong counters and hits a knee strikes. But Riddle hits bro to sleep and a German for 2. Strong counters the tombstone, and follows with an enziguri. The superplex connects and Strong covers for 2. They trade, working into counters, and Strong runs wild and follows with the back breaker for a great near fall. The crowd loves this. Strong looks for the Stronghold, but Riddle kicks him to the floor and then hits knee strikes and a powerbomb and knee strike for 2! Riddle up top and the floating bro eats knees. Sick kick by Strong and the powerbomb gets 2, but the Stronghold follows and cranks back. Riddle counters out with up kicks and then the bromission follows and elbow strikes. Strong powers up and eats more elbows and the flattened tombstone finishes it. Matt Riddle defeated Roderick Strong @ 14:50 via pin [****¼] This was a great, hard-hitting, sprint style match that worked perfectly as the opener for the show with an absolutely great pace. Strong’s work of the back and ribs was a good play following his parking lot attack on Riddle leading into this match, and the homestretch was spectacular. Strong is greatly under appreciated, and it was great to see him shine in a Takeover singles match.

– HBK & Road Dogg are in attendance.

Fatal Four-Way Vacant NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs. The Forgotten Sons vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish: They all brawl at the bell, spilling to the floor and Fish & O’Reilly work over Ford, and then Cutler, and then Blake. They now battle with Lorcan & Burch, trading strikes, and Burch lays in head butts as Lorcan lays in chops. TUE cut them off, and clear the ring. They look to climb, grabbing ladders, and Blake hits a suicide dive and about dies, hitting the ladder headfirst. We get mass brawling and Dawkins hits a dive onto the pile. Ford gets the ladder and they look to climb and TUE cut them off and Blake cuts them off. The Sons run wild with ladder shots, taking everyone out until Lorcan & Burch hit Germans. The Profits cut them off, and the spine buster and frog splash follow. They double team Blake, and hit the AWA special on the ladder. Flapjack to Cutler onto the ladder. O’Reilly now flies in with a missile dropkick and TUE double teams Ford and Germans him onto the ladder. Fish takes out Blake and climbs but Cutler powerbombs O’Reilly into the ladder to stop that. O’Reilly or Blake are getting broken here. The Sons set up a ladder over O’Reilly, Cutler climbs, but O’Reilly locks on a heel hook in the ladder, but Blake makes the save. They dump O’Reilly, and then double team Fish with the stomp/DDT combo off the ladder. The Sons climb but Dawkins & Burch cut them off and Lorcan flies in with a doomsday uppercut as Ford hits the doomsday blockbuster. Ryker arrives and powerbombs O’Reilly into a ladder, chokeslams Lorcan, and dumps Ford. The uranage on Ford follows, cuts off Dawkins and smashes him with the ladder in the corner. He then backdrops Lorcan onto the ladder. Ryker then levels Ford, but O’Reilly is back and he and Fish attack Ryker as the others join in. They beat on him with the ladder and TUE clears the ring. They then take Ryker to the floor with a ladder shot. Ford then follows with the tope con HELLO. Lorcan then follows with a dive (Ryker didn’t really catch either dive) and Burch dropkicks the ladder into TUE. Fish gets posted and Lorcan hits half and half on O’Reilly. It breaks down and Lorcan & Burch smash the Profits with ladders. They then toss the ladders, taking out all three Forgotten Sons. They climb now, but TUE cut them off and now they climb. Lorcan and Burch follow, they all brawl on the ladders, and go crazy fists until the Sons topple the ladders over. They climb, but Dawkins makes the save and Ford springboards in onto the ladder, knocks off Cutler and the Profits win the titles. The Street Profits defeated Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, The Forgotten Sons, & Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish @ 21:45 to become the new champions [****] This featured really strong work from all involved, as well as some really outside of the box thinking spot wise, which is difficult in 2019. I think that the Ryker stuff hurt the momentum a bit, but it was an overall great match, with the Profits finally getting their moment to shine as the new champions. Bonus Bobby & Kyle for their bumps and being the glue here.

NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Breeze: Dream takes his time getting ready, Breeze outwrestles Dream early and teases an unprettier. He follows with knee strikes and a backstabber for 2. He then dumps Dream but Dream cuts off the suicide dive. Dream takes control with the double sledge and lionsault for 2. They work to the floor, but Breeze posts the knee of Dream. The apron forearm follows, but Dream cuts off the second. Back in and Dream’s knee gives out and Breeze locks on the half crab until Dream makes the ropes. Breeze then lays the boots to him, and dropkicks him to the floor. Breeze follows and walks into a superkick. Dream rolls back in and then drops back down and repeatedly slams Breeze into the announce table. He grabs the phone of Breeze and takes a selfie with the title and Breeze. Dream poses and celebrates, allowing Breeze to hit a superkick. They roll back in and Breeze runs into the dream valley driver for 2. Dream heads up top but Breeze rolls under the ropes. Enziguri by Breeze follows, and then gets a high cross but Dream rolls through and covers for 2. Breeze cuts off the Dream DT and the supermodel kick follow for 2. Breeze looks for the unprettier, countered, and Dream follows with back elbows. He then flies into a dropkick from Breeze. Dream cuts off the unprettier with the Dream DT for 2. Dream now heads up top, but Breeze crotches him but Dream fights him off but runs into a knee strike. Breeze teases a tombstone, but Dream counters and they keep teasing it and Breeze misses an enziguri by a mile; Dream the rolls into an unprettier for 2. Commentary tried to cover Breeze, he’s bleeding from the ear and said he lost his balance. Breeze counters the purple rainmaker with the knees, hits Cheeky Nandos and the unprettier gets 2. Dream cradles him for 2, but Breeze hits the beauty shot but Dream rolls to the floor. Breeze follows, but can’t get Dream back in and breaks the count. Breeze stops the belt shot, but the Dream valley driver and purple rainmaker finishes it. Champion Velveteen Dream defeated Tyler Breeze @ 16:55 via pin [***½] This was very good overall, with Breeze bringing the fight to Dream to the point that Dream had to dig into his bag of tricks to retain. The overall lack of smoothness at times hurt the match a bit for me.

– Post match, Dream takes a selfie and poses, mocking Breeze. Breeze wants a selfie with Dream, they take it and Dream bails after the moment of respect. Breeze should have busted his face with that phone.

– We get a Damian Priest/Punishment Martinez video package.

NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler vs. Io Shirai: Shirai attacks at the bell, but Baszler takes her down and they work to the ropes. Baszler teases kicks and Shirai takes hr down and she follows with slaps. The basement dropkick follows and Baszler powders. Back in and Shirai heads up top, but Baszler cuts her off and slams her to the mat and lays in kicks. She stomps away on the arm, and follows with a kimura. Back to the arm and Baszler keeps Shirai grounded. Baszler continues to attack the arm, maintaining focus, and then follows with kicks, covering for 2. Baszler keeps things grounded, but misses the stomp on the arm. Shirai battles back and hits a sweet German on Baszler, but can’t hold the bridge, due to the bad arm. Shirai follows with strikes, the 619, and then the springboard missile dropkick for 2. They trade and Shirai locks on the crossface, but Baszler powers up and hits a side slam to escape. Baszler then works a hanging kimura, but Shirai escapes with kicks, and then dropkicks her to the floor. She heads up top and the big moonsault follows. Back in and Shirai connects with the missile dropkick and then the double knees. Shirai heads up top and Duke & Shafir arrive, but Candice attacks with kendo stick strikes. WAR CANDICE! Baszler then cradles Shirai for 2. Shirai fights off the clutch, hits the shotei and then the top rope moonsault misses, she lands on her feet, counters the clutch and hits a head kick. The bridging cradle gets 2 as Baszler counters into the clutch. Shirai fights, the crowd tries to rally her to her feet but Baszler rolls and keeps her down. Shirai fades.. and the ref waves it off. Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Io Shirai @ 12:20 via submission [***¾] While I think we needed a title change here, the match was really good, with a smart layout, good work from both women, a protective finish for Shirai, and Baszler continuing to dominate.

– Post match, Shirai kicks ass with a kendo stick and a moonsault and then a chair-assisted moonsault on Baszler. WAR IO! The crowd then chants, “you deserve it” for Shayna.

– On August 31st, NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff takes place with a 3PM ET start time; the same day as All Out& NJPW’s London show.

-Some asshole is rapping over Cole’s entrance and accompanying him to the ring, ruining my jam.

NXT Champion Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole: This is a very pro Adam Cole crowd here so far. They lock up, working to the ropes and Gargano follows with a shoulder tackle, but Cole cuts him off, and misses the last shot (he pinned Gargano with that in NYC) as they end in a stalemate. They lock up and Cole looks to ground things, but Gargano is the one that grounds him. They trade strikes, Cole takes him to the buckles as the action intensifies, and Gargano then hits a RANA and follows to the floor and hits the apron cannonball. Back in and Gargano avoids the enziguri and hits a double stomp onto the arm of Cole. Back in and Gargano continues to attack the arm, grounding things and working for covers. Gargano then works a tequila sunrise, but Cole fires back and they work up top. Cole slips out, superkicks the knee and stars attacking it grounds Gargano. Cole maintains control with a kneeling knee bar, but Gargano escapes and Cole cuts him off with a dropkick to the knee. The dragon screw follows, as Cole continues to work the leg in the ropes. Gargano gets a small package for 2, and then cuts off the missile dropkick with a sitout powerbomb. They trade strikes, Gargano follows with clotheslines and an overhead suplex. The rolling kick and enziguri follows, and the flying flatliner gets 2 for Gargano. Gargano teases the slingshot spear, fakes out Cole and then hits it and covers for 2. They work up top, and Cole teases the Panama sunrise, and then turns it into a backstabber and covers for 2. Cole looks for ushigoroshi, Gargano counters, but Cole hits an inverted ushigoroshi for 2. Cole heads to the ropes, and Gargano cuts him off, and they trade strikes, superkicks, and Cole looks for Panama sunrise but flies into a superkick. They spill to the floor, and work into a double down after superkicks. Back in and Gargano hits the slingshot DDT for 2. Gargano goes back to the arm, hits the double stomp and Cole bails to avoid the superkick. v follows, gets cut of and Cole hits the OG last shot on the floor. He then hits it in the ring and covers for 2. Cole heads up top but Gargano slams him off, sending him shoulder first into the mat and locks on the Gargano escape, but Cole counter out and locks on the figure four. Gargano fights, attacks the arm of Cole and turns the hold until Cole makes the ropes. Gargano cuts of the chop block, looking for Gargano escape, but Cole lays in ground and pound and then attacks the knee. He stomps away at the knee as the crowd chants. “Johnny knee brace.” Gargano hits a desperation DDT, Cole rolls to the floor, and Gargano’s suicide dive is ended with a superkick to the face! Cole then hits the Panama sunrise off the apron and to the floor. Back in and Cole covers for 2. Cole monologues like typical villain, misses the last shot but locks on the Gargano escape. Gargano counters out and he hits the last shot, covering for 2. They trade strikes from their knees, working to their feet, and Cole follows with bicycle kicks but Gargano decapitates him with a lariat. They trade superkicks, REVERSE RANA by Gargano but Cole rebounds up and into the last shot for a GREAT near fall as the crowd loses their shit. Cole argues with the ref, and grabs a chair. Gargano then accidentally takes out the ref with a suicide dive, and then superkicks the chair into Cole’s face. Back in and he covers, but there is no ref. Gargano looks for TUE to arrive, grabs the chair, but it was a trap as Cole piledrives him coming back in and covers for 2. Gargano is down, Cole picks him up and Gargano snags him in the Gargano escape. Cole fight, crawls for the ropes, and Gargano rolls him back but Cole attacks the knee and escapes. He superkicks the knee, Panama sunrise is countered, but Gargano can’t follow up and the Panama sunrise and last shot connect and Gargano is done. Adam Cole defeated NXT Champion Johnny Gargano @ 31:50 via pin [****½] While not quite on the level of their Takeover NYC match, these two put on an excellent match here, with a great layout, string pacing, and good early work on the arm and knee that paid off in subtle and small ways down the stretch before Cole got completely ruthless and started just dismantling the knee of Gargano to the point that he had issues standing during the home stretch. Add in a hot crowd, great swings in momentum, Gargano’s babyface fire and selling juxtaposed against Cole’s desperation and ruthlessness and they delivered once again to the surprise of no one.

– Undisputed Era celebrate to close the show.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 24. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka; the guys will preview NXT Takeover 25, discuss Jon Moxley’s appearance on Talk is Jericho & the problems within WWE, Moxley’s upcoming debut with NJPW, and then play catch up with NJPW BOSJ reviews. The show is approximately 115-minutes long.

* Intro
* NXT Takeover 25 Preview: 5:15
* Jon Moxley on Talk is Jericho: 37:45
* Jon Moxley Heading to NJPW: 115:55
* NJPW BOSJ Day 10 Review: 129:05
* NJPW BOSJ Day 11 Review: 146:20

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 on Wrestling Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

To the surprise of absolutely no one, NXT Takeover: XXV was another great Takeover event with all four titles on the line a big moment for some stars that have been waiting for their chance on the big stage, and a new champion being crowned as the power in NXT shifts.