Zen Arcade Reviews: NXT Takeover: Philadelphia

NXT Takeover: Philadelphia from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, PA.

Your hosts are Mauro Ranallo and Percy Watson. Nigel McGuinness is “under the weather” so Percy Watson has to do color by himself, the poor bastard.

NXT Tag Titles: The Undisputed Era © vs. The Authors of Pain
This is the former reDRagon’s first official match as a tag team on a Takeover event, a defense of the Tag Titles they won from SanitY on NXT TV. Fish and O’Reilly have long been one of the most consistent tag teams on the planet, and it’s going to be a delight to see how they mesh with one of the more underrated units on the roster here.

Akam and Rezar start by Pearl Harboring the champions and sending them packing in a huff. Fish starts with Rezar and gets tossed around pretty much immediately, and Fish cowers away and tags Kyle O’Reilly in. Kyle throws a few leg kicks and tries a single, but Rezar stuffs a takedown. He throws some Inoki vs. Ali esque leg kicks from the bottom, but Rezar slams him down and tries to pound away. Kyle tries a Triangle and eventually Armageddon, but Rezar shoves him off. Fish tags back in and keeps after Rezar’s legs, but Rezar gets him in enemy territory and tags in Akam for the first time. Kyle tags back in, but meets the same hard hitting fate as Fish did. Fish and O’Reilly try to run away, but the AOP sees it coming and wrecks their shit on the outside. Akam gets his knee clipped by a crafty Bobby Fish, who then SPEARS REZAR OUT OF THE RING in a nasty spill! Kyle goes after Akam’s leg, and it seems that the Era has this one under control finally. Akam is able to slightly weather the storm with his strength, but the ring savvy of Fish and O’Reilly is once more too much to handle on a long term basis. Fish gets a little too cocky and goes after Rezar on the apron, which allows Akam just enough time to recover and tag in Rezar once the fresher Author recovers. Rezar finally gets the hot tag and CLEANS HOUSE on Fish and O’Reilly, eventually hitting a Fallaway Slam/Backpack combo on the champions himself. Rezar tries a Powerbomb, but O’Reilly counters into a Guillotine. Rezar suplexes out of it, but runs right into an O’Reilly knee, reminiscent of the Nakamura/Sakuraba Wrestle Kingdom match. Fish HERKS REZAR UP for an Exploder, but Rezar avoids Total Elimination and tags in Akam! They look for The Last Chapter, but Fish intercepts Rezar and puts on a choke… only for Rezar to DROP FISH ON O’REILLY! Kyle and Akam are left in the ring together, and Kyle works him over with some leg kicks. HE makes the mistake of trying to give him some big boots, and he gets caught with a nasty Shoulder Capture Suplex! BUCKLE BOMB! SUPER COLLIDER… BUT AKAM’S KNEE BUCKLES! KYLE ROLLS UP AKAM! The Undisputed Era retain their titles in 15 minutes. ***3/4 A picture perfect opener with just enough excitement to supplement the awesome psychological framework. In many ways, it’s the archetypal reDRagon match, but since they’re such a damn great tag team, it just ended up being a great match anyway. It was worked with the correct strategy, trying to take out one of the big men’s knee so they couldn’t use their overwhelming strength to dominate the Era like they had for so many other teams in their NXT stint. We got to see the AOP in an unfamiliar situation, and it’s surprisingly one where they shined quite brightly as Akam sold his knee wonderfully and managed to garner sympathy for an otherwise untouchable hoss tag team. It helps that Fish and O’Reilly are so solid at the pinpoint precise limbwork, so everything came together into a logical and also high octane opener. Two thumbs up.

Speaking of hoss tag teams, we see Raymond Rowe and Hanson in the front row.

Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream
Part of me greatly laments the use of Kassius Ohno as a jobber to the stars, but it also makes for some really unique matchups like his match with Lars Sullivan and this one, with the newly made star in Velveteen Dream. He had that awesome match with Aleister Black back in November and has largely not been focused upon since, but a match with the former Chris Hero should get him back on road.

Velveteen Dream is now Marc Mero all of a sudden, and he says he’ll KO Ohno in 30 seconds… and he CRUMBLES OHNO! He is very excited for himself, but Ohno powers up and just STARCHES HIM with an elbow and a subsequent boot! Ohno tries to follow up, but he runs right into a sweet Spinebuster from Velveteen Dream! Dream tries the Cartwheel DVD, but Ohno elbows himself out and sends Dream flying with a Release Suplex! Dream makes the mistake of trading strikes with Ohno, who clotheslines him down and comes crashing on top of him with a senton. Rolling Mafia Kick scores for Ohno, but it only keeps Dream down for a 2 count. Dream whacks Ohno with a Superkick and hits a sloppy Back Pocket DDT for a 2 count. Dream goes up top, but dives right into a Bicycle Kick… but RUNS INTO A ROLLING DVD! That only gets 2. That was sloppy too but Dream did a great job of rolling with it. Ripcord Rolling Elbow scores for Hero, but Dream kicks out again. Dream counters another Rolling Elbow into a Rolling DVD, and the Purple Rainmaker gives Dream the win in 10 minutes. *** This was the rock solid undercard match you come to expect from Kassius Ohno, with a little bit of sloppiness from the inexperienced Dream crammed in there. Luckily, it wasn’t enough to actively harm the match at all, and it’s clear Velveteen Dream is a superstar in the making… and the more he works with vets like Kassius Ohno, the better he’s going to come along so I can’t find much to complain about here either.

NXT Women’s Title: Ember Moon © vs. Shayna Baszler
In a way, this is a match of two halves for me. Ember Moon is a fantastic in-ring competitor truly, but leaves so much to be desired outside of it that I have a hard time buying her as a worthy successor to Asuka. Her promo excerpts in the pre-match video package here make John Laurinaitis look like a real main eventer, quite frankly. Her opponent here in Baszler is a little green, but she has the presence that the former Athena so badly lacks and has the aura of a legitimate champion. She’s also been built up fabulously on this latest run of NXT TV too, so she’s coming into this match being the most fresh Women’s Title challenger since Asuka beat Bayley two years(!) ago. But at any rate, it’s better than another bland four-way and it’s refreshing to have a legitimate program with the women for once.

The Philly crowd loudly chants “Dallas Sucks” after Ember’s introduction, hilariously. Shayna lands an early takedown to try and neutralize Ember, who bursts out and lands a barrage of dropkicks to send the challenger packing… only to come right back out on top of her with a Lope! Ember tries the Cartwheel clothesline in the corner, but Baszler catches her, flips her over, and gives her a barrage of knees that send poor Ember flying. Baszler goes to work on Ember’s arm ala Dakota Kai, and she’s in firm control after that. Ember goes up top and lands a Crossbody, and she manages to land the Eclipse… only for her arm to give out doing so. The girl sure is selling for the people in the cheap seats. The doctors come out and try to check Ember out, but Ember is not having any of it… and she walks right into a Cross Armbreaker from Shayna! Ember tries her damndest to defend, and she rolls up Shayna to get the flash pin in 10 minutes. **3/4 Another rock solid undercard match, marred by borderline hilarious overselling from Ember Moon and a slight lack of palpable excitement. Those are slight nitpicks at any rate as this was booked exactly as it needed to be, with the right length and the right finish to not only keep the belt on Ember, but protect Shayna in the process. Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling.

Shayna is not very happy about that result, and she chokes out Ember before leaving with a grin on her face.

Just as my bewilderment for Asking Alexandria’s continued existence peaks, we get to see Ricochet in the crowd too.

Extreme Rules: Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black
This match stems from Adam Cole costing Aleister Black a chance at tonight’s main event, so it’s a pretty simple feud mostly carried by the enigmatic personalities of both men. It’s a cool little stipulation to have in Philly as well, and it’s going to be fun to see Aleister in this sort of environment.

They meet each other in the center of the ring and slug it out until Black sends Cole packing, and the criss cross Moonsault only pisses Cole off more, to the point where the Panama City Playboy goes to get a chair. Black stays cool and dodges a chair shot casually, taking it off the mat and sitting in it to mess with Cole further. Cole comes back in a huff, and Black tosses the chair and slugs it out with Cole on the floor. Cole is able to chuck him off momentarily and grab some more chairs, and for some reason there’s a monitor under the ring. Both men grab Kendo Sticks, but Aleister throws his away to Cole’s delight. Black tries a Quebrada, but COLE HITS HIM IN MID-AIR! He follows with a gnarly looking stick-assisted Backstabber for a two count. The crowd calls for tables, so Cole sets one up at ringside with his always wonderful shit-eating grin. Cole threatens Superplexing Black through the table at ringside, but Black slips under and slams him off the top rope. A running knee scores for the Dutchman, but only for 2. Aleister grabs a table himself and sets it adjacent to the one Cole had, and he tries to fetch a ladder only to get it kicked in his face. Cole sets up the ladder in the corner and tries the 10 Punches on Black, but postures a little too much and gets tossed ASS FIRST ON THE LADDER. Black dodges a Shining Wizard and hits Cole with a nasty standing Double Stomp before setting his head on the seat of a chair… but Cole throws the chair at him and SUPERKICKS HIM THROUGH THE TABLES OUTSIDE! Cole brings in another chair and puts them back to back, but Black SCOOPS HIM UP AND FU’S HIM ON THE CHAIRS~! Eat your heart out, Necro Butcher. A chair-assisted Sliding Knee scores for Aleister, but here comes The Undisputed Era! They save their leader and give Black Total Elimination on the floor before just dragging him and setting up the announce table, but here comes SANITY! Killian Dain gives EVERYBODY A HUGE TOPE SUICIDA! Cole sees a prone Aleister Black outside and tries to suplex him through the announce table, but Black shoos him away and GIVES HIM METEORA THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Cole recovers as they get into the ring and superkicks Black as he tries to get through the ropes. He tries a chair shot, but HE RUNS INTO BLACK MASS~! Aleister Black wins in 22 minutes. ***3/4 While this suffered from the usual limitations that these glitzy WWE “street fights” usually suffer from, there was enough intensity, character work, and chaos to make this match into something great. This match was mostly – and smartly, might I add – built upon the juxtaposition of these two’s personalities rather than just gritty work. While the argument can be made that this match needed more grit than personality, I don’t necessarily agree in this case. Adam Cole is not a guy who is supposed to come off all intense and badass; that’s what Aleister Black is there for. His draw is his heel charisma and he showed up in grand form here, using his fantastic facial expressions and presence to make the big spots mean something. He had a perfect foil in the stoicism of Black so was able to play up his wackiness to full effect. The obvious interference of Fish and O’Reilly paid off logically and also furthered a storyline, so it’s hard to justfiably say the overbooking harmed the match. Everything had a purpose and fulfilled that purpose wonderfully, even if there was a little too much laying around for me to really go over the top with my praise. But as it stands, it’s a very formidable semi-main and lived up to the hype the crowd set for it.

NXT Title: Andrade Almas © vs. Johnny Gargano
These two had a total barnburner back in the opener for August’s Brooklyn show, and putting the rematch as a Takeover main event only made logical sense after that show-stealer. Gargano has been in a sad cloud of losses since his betrayal by Tommaso Ciampa (whose shadow looms over tonight’s proceedings as well), and that heartbreak has also indirectly caused him to lose to the man he faces tonight. But he’s made a damn great run of things since November, pinning Aleister Black in a 4-Way to win the opportunity for his first singles NXT main event. Given Gargano’s obvious talent and the incredible turnaround we’ve seen from “Cien”, we’re bound to see something special.

It’s a mad scramble on the canvas in the earlygoing, with neither man getting any sort of advantage. Both men trade early attempts at their finishing maneuvers, but they’re too fresh to make any sort of headway. Gargano hits a sweet Frankensteiner, a dropkick, all followed by an armbar… only for Almas to escape and crumble Gargano with a nasty overhand slap. Gargano is able to fight back and clothesline Andrade out of the ring, only to BOUNCE OFF THE FLOOR after missing a senton off of the apron. Safe to say, Gargano is on the worse end of the proceedings after that. Johnny is able to fight his way back and hit his rolling Enzuigiri on the mat, but Andrade ties him in the Tree of Woe… only to miss the double stomp and get suplexed into the turnbuckles! He dives off the top rope with a sweet spinning Flatliner for a nearfall. Andrade gets Johnny to the apron, but he runs right into a Slingshot Spear for a close 2 count. Andrade counters a Tilt-a-Whirl Headscissor swiftly into a Facebuster for a nearfall of his own. Andrade goes up top for a moonsault, but misses… and FOLLOWS WITH THE KOTA IBUSHI FAKE-OUT! That gets 2. Almas lands some nasty Misawa-esque elbows as things devolve into a slugfest, only for Almas to land a SICK spinning back elbow for 2… and Johnny fights right back with a Superkick. They both crumble each other with slaps as they work their way up. Almas puts Gargano up top for an avalanche Hammerlock DDT, but Gargano slips under and hits the Cheeky Nandos kick! Johnny heads up top for a Sunset Powerbomb, but he dodges the Double Knees and hits the Slingshot Spear…. COUNTERED INTO THE GTR! INVERTED TORNADO DDT! JOHNNY KICKS OUT! The crowd goes BANANA for that sequence, as they should. They both crawl out to the apron where Almas tries the Hammerlock DDT, but Gargano dodges and gives him an enzuigiri… and a SLINGSHOT DDT ON THE APRON! Johnny gets 2, and he struggles to try and get Garga-No Escape on, but Almas jawbreakers his way out and elbows him into the corner for the Double Knees… COUNTERED INTO A LARIAT! LAWN DART~! He sets him up for a superkick, but Zelina Vega distracts… Hammerlock DDT… COUNTERED INTO A SMALL PACKAGE FOR 2! SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE! SUPERKICK FROM GARGANO! ALMAS KICKS OUT! Gargano goes up top, but Almas trips him up and hits the Tree of Woe Double Stomp on the APRON! He just BASHES poor Johnny Wrestling against the video apron. DOUBLE KNEES! JOHNNY POWERS OUT~! Almas paintbrushes Johnny with some disrespectful slaps, but Johnny wills himself to fight back. SUPERKICK… REVERSE RANA FROM GARGANO~! TILT-A-WHIRL GARGA-NO ESCAPE~! ZELINA VEGA SAVES! ALMAS RAKES THE EYES! Johnny counters the Hammerlock DDT and sends Almas outside for a TOPE SUICIDA TO THE BACK! ZELINA RANAS JOHNNY INTO THE STEPS! HAMMERLOCK DDT! JOHNNY KICKS OUT!!!!!!! Zelina gets up on the ring apron to protest as Almas and Gargano attempt to recover, and Johnny rolls to the floor. Zelina goes to put a beatin’ on him, but CANDICE LERAE JUMPS VEGA~! Candice chases Zelina out of town, and it’s one-on-one. Johnny HITS A SLINGSHOT DDT IN THE RING! ANDRADE KICKS OUT… RIGHT INTO GARGA-NO ESCAPE! ALMAS GETS THE ROPES! Good LORD. Andrade takes out to the apron and HITS THE DOUBLE KNEES ON THE RINGPOST~! HANGING HAMMERLOCK DDT! Andrade retains his belt in 32 minutes. ***** Every now and then in pro wrestling, the stars align perfectly. The right wrestlers meet in the right ring, in front of the right fans, at the right time. It’s happened in NXT a few times even. Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville, Sasha vs. Bayley, Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura… some of the finest matches WWE has ever produced. These sorts of matches are incredibly rare and need to have the perfect amount of context, excitement, and crowd understanding to get to that truly elite level. Fortunately for everyone involved, Johnny Gargano and Andrade Almas managed to create a masterpiece on par with each of those matches and perhaps in time, it will prove to be NXT’s magnum opus beyond them. It was simply that incredible. I’ve seen the match twice already and I continue to marvel at how perfectly everything came together. The thing is, everybody is aware of Johnny Gargano’s greatness. Many have been aware of it for several years, before he touched the WWE banner. But even though he’s had countless elite matches in DGUSA, EVOLVE, PWG, and the like, nothing he’s done ever worked to this extent. He wasn’t the best babyface in professional wrestling back then. He didn’t have the support of a 10,000 deep audience screaming, willing him on. He hadn’t willed himself up from one of the most heartbreaking tag team breakups in wrestling history. That’s where the “stars aligning” comes in here. All of that heart-wrenching sadness, the slump Johnny Gargano was in… it endeared him to the crowd to the point where they lived and died by every single movement and facial expression Johnny Wrestling made. His glassy eyed glaze was perfect. His fatigued firing up was perfect. It’s quite clear that on January 27, 2018 Johnny Gargano was the best wrestler on the planet for 32 minutes. And that’s not even mentioning the incredible performance from his foil, Andrade Almas. The turnaround this man has completed is actually a fabulous story. His debut almost two years ago was overshadowed by corny costumes and Tye Dillinger’s performance. It wasn’t long before he was just jobbing to Bobby Roode in 10 minutes and generally doing nothing, garnering reports that he’d soured on his decision to leave CMLL for “greener pastures.” Almas has always been a good talent… even in his least desirable moments in NXT, but the second half of 2017 has shown him to be the elite worker that many thought he was as La Sombra. He’s realized his potential to the point that he just wrestled one of the best matches in WWE history and pulled off one of the finest subtle heel performances in recent memory. I know that everyone and their mother is going to heap praise onto this match, so it’s hardly going to be surprising to read my glowing praise of this match. In fact, it’s probably a broken record. But at any cost, I urge you to seek out this match. It’s as good as wrestling gets quite frankly, and it’s going to take a banner year in WWE for this to be challenged. It’s that good.

The Philadelphia fans give Johnny Gargano a standing ovation as his wife Candice walks him up the aisle. He looks up at the crowd as the show fades out… but here’s TOMMASO CIAMPA~! He whacks poor Johnny Wrestling in the back with a crutch, and the show fades out with Tommaso simply limping away as Candice holds a pained Johnny Gargano in her arms.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

In terms of undercard, this is actually one of the weaker Takeover events you're liable to see. There really weren't any blowaway, show-stealing matches like Black vs. Dream, Asuka vs. Ember Moon, or DIY vs. Revival. But this show still manages to become great through the sheer strength of its main event, which is one of the best matches WWE has ever produced and will likely go down as its Match of the Year. That's not to say the undercard sucked or anything close to it, as we had two borderline-great matches and two others that did a fine job of fulfilling their purpose. But the match this show will be remembered for is Almas/Gargano, which any pro wrestling show would be pretty goddamn lucky to have. But at any rate, if you want an easy 2 and 1/2 hours of pro wrestling, NXT Takeover once again proves it's the best bang for your buck.