Hawke’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2018 Review

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August 19, 2018
Brooklyn, New York

 

The Undisputed Era(c) (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) vs. British Strong Style (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) [NXT Tag Team Championship]

This was a match that had a lot of positive things going for it, and it also had some significant issues that held it back in regards to this match’s placement in the best NXT tag title matches.

The strongest components of the match were the work on top by Roddy and Kyle, and the magnificent babyface work by Bate. Roddy and Kyle have just mastered controlling a match at a blistering pace where it never feels like they are just going fast for the sake it. Their blistering pace is simply a part of their strategy to maintain dominance in a match.

Tyler Bate single-handedly proved worthy of matching these guys in the ring. The way he executes his comebacks is simply marvelous. The way he flies through the air and pulls off his “I’m a strong boy” spots really just make him one of the best babyfaces going today.

While all that stuff was marvelous, the match really did lose momentum and get a tad awkward in the crucial final sequences. It was far from a match-destroying issue mind, but it did weigh the match down.

The other big problem was a late spot was very distracting and took you out of the match. Bate was trapped in a submission, and Seven teased running to get a towel and THROWING IT IN despite in the context of all modern tag wrestling one can simply walk in and touch the wrestlers to get something broken up. I understand it was designed as a callback and part of NXT’s bizarre sudden attempt to enforce previously unknown rules, but if you cannot integrate callbacks organically then you’re just George Lucas shoving shit onto the screen because you can. And if you are not prepared to do some serious long-term work to establish newly important rules, then you’re just the main roster. [TUE won cleanly.] (***1/2)

 

Hanson & Raymond Rowe attacked the champs after the match.

 

EC3 vs. The Velveteen Dream

This felt like what would have happened if FCW got presented like NXT and somehow became just as big of a deal. You have two great wrestling characters, and neither have the skills to carry a less experience/limited in-ring performer. This was made clear in two key aspects of the match.

The first (and most important) issue was that the actual execution of the action was SO sub-par. This essentially played out as an incredibly shitty-looking brawl. Everything EC3 does looks like shit. His punches suck, nothing he does looks like it hurts, and his lack of coordination infects everything he does. To be fair, EC3 working like he’s never trained, studied, or watched professional wrestling is some Galaxy Brain character work so perhaps I should not be so cynical about it.

The other glaring issue was the structure of the match was the layout. When you break it down in its broadest strokes, the match played out like many successful matches. EC3 got control early on and was in control for a bit. Dream hit a big move (his twisting DDT on the floor – which admittedly looked very good), and then he fought back. They then proceeded to go back and forth until one of them won.

The issue was that it came across in a completely inorganic manner. The back-and-forth sequence in particular seemed to go from move to move with no rhyme or reason. It just felt like someone’s idea of a great match but without the talent to pull it off.

Dream will be fine in the long run. EC3 on the other hand has been in WWE and TNA for over a decade, and he works like he has never progressed beyond someone in their early years of developmental. It is hard to envision a scenario where he somehow puts it together and becomes a competent wrestler. [Dream won after a diving elbow.] (*)

 

Adam Cole(c) vs. Ricochet [North American Championship]

After a year of being hidden from actually having to produce a regular singles match on a TakeOver, Cole finally was forced to show what he’s truly got on a big stage when the smoke and mirrors are not made available to him.

With that in mind, this was probably a mostly fair representation of Adam Cole as a performer. He does not do a whole lot in the way of interesting in-ring work, and he instead relies on broad character roles to keep crowds from falling asleep while he’s on top.

Then during the closing stretch of the match, he does Movez that get pops from the crowd but do not really mean anything beyond the moment each one is over. That does not make him the worst wrestler in the world, but it does make his all sizzle and no steak in the best of circumstances.

The match had something going for it though, and that was they utilized Ricochet’s biggest strengths particularly well in the closing stretch. Ricochet had to keep going for progressively bigger and bigger high flying stuff, while Cole was doing everything in his power to avoid it. Cole hit a (perfect) superkick to the neck to block a Lionsault. He then rushed to the apron when Ricochet threatened to flatten him with a top rope move.

Ricochet knew where the money was though. He managed to pull off a gorgeous leaping hurricanrana from inside the ring to the apron to the floor. He then crushed Cole with a 630 to win the match and end the oh-so-forgettable TV title reign of Adam.

This match was a decidedly mixed bag, but at least these two knew they were not in Reseda, California and had to put on an actual match. (***)

 

Slight interruption to once again ask you to consider contributing to this medical GoFundMe.

 

Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane [NXT Women’s Championship]

This was a delightfully simply and satisfying contest.

Shayna got control by going after the knee. It was great and focused work. Sane was limited in her quickness because of this, but she managed to hobble around enough to pull off a Hiroshi Tanahashi trio of elbow drops.

With Kairi gaining a little in the way of advantage, Baszler lost focus and started trying to choke out Sane instead of returning to Sane’s knee. This prevented Baszler from regaining control.

Kairi went to finish her with yet another elbow, but Baszler managed to block it perfectly so Kairi went flying. Shayna again though went for the choke instead of the much-injured knee or the now-injured arm. Kairi had it scouted and reversed the leverage to keep Baszler down for a three count to win. GREAT match. (****)

 

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa [Last Man Standing]

The program between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa is the NXT equivalent of WWE’s main roster program between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. The production and presentation is infinitely better so it does not seem obvious at first, but when you take a step back it’s clearly there.

Gargano and Ciampa were never really made to be a tag team. They got looks by WWE at the same time, and it just sort of made sense to make them a filler tag team because they were both on weird deals or unsigned and still working on the indies. While their indie tag work was mostly fucking terrible (this was during a stretch of years when high profile indie wrestlers learned they could get away with working incredibly lazy matches in the name of working for the live crowd), their work in NXT immediately worked and gradually made their team one of the best acts in the world.  (On a main roster scale, the Bray and Orton tag team dramatically over-delivered and became a great team immediately.)

Much like the main roster with Orton and Bray though, NXT did not recognize that the actual greatness of the team was an ends in it of itself. The whole company’s systemic hatred of tag team wrestling and putrid internal talent assessment forced far inferior in-ring feuds that exposed the wrestlers as not being capable of delivering the kind of the heated and hated matches that truly excel.

As was pointed out though, NXT is obviously an infamously better operated program than anything on the main roster (save for Main Event: THE REBORN of course). The first Gargano/Ciampa battle was artistically poor, but it clearly delivered the kind of match that provided a satisfying conclusion to the story chosen to be told for the fans it was made for. (That does not automatically make it good of course.)

Much like the far inferior main roster though, NXT did not recognize that more was not better and kept the feud going. While the second match improved artistically in a bubble in some respects (most notably the dudes spending the majority of the match actually trying to beat each other up), it was clear that NXT lost the greater thread on this.

All of that brings us to this completely unneeded third match. Much like the feud itself, the match was dramatically overlong, campy in its execution for something presented as serious (picture watching FACE/OFF only the movie thinks it’s The Third Man), and with a non-ending ending that was honestly too funny for words. This feud will historically be remembered as one of the most unintentionally funniest storylines and will be the punchline to many a jokes. BAD BAD BAD BAD. (*1/4)

 

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