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| Starring Patrick Duffy |
| By: Matt Ederer NXT is a beautiful unicorn floating on a lily pad. In today's overproduced, over-saturated, pick-and-choose era of wrestling, I really hope fans are picking and choosing NXT. NXT Takeover Specials are the safest bet in sports-entertainment. I don't think there's ever been a bad one, and you could make a strong argument that Dallas is the best NXT Takeover, top to bottom. |
American Alpha v The Revival
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| ^ Super real |
I want to propose a rule: during the entrances for a title match, when one participant/team comes out visibly more jacked up than usual, IE. far more than their usual entrance and past the point of general wrestling hooplah, you can safely say they might be winning the title tonight. You know it when you see it. This was a definite Entrance Rule match.
"Which one's Dawson? Which one's Dash?" chants. Savage.
The Dallas crowd is amazing.
This is a very good, smart match. The Revival are great at using the nuances of tag team wrestling to enhance their matches, like Baldvival sneakily tagging Hairvival when the good guys weren't looking, and then killing poor young fresh-faced Chad Gable with a clothesline he didn't see coming.
In the end, American Alpha pull the exact same secret tag move that the Revival hit them with minutes before, and win the tag team titles. The story is that Revival have been smashing indy geeks in NXT, because they're crafty, clever veteran wrestlers who are great at working together. But they finally met a team of real professionals who can match, and ultimately top, their technical rasslin' knowledge. Awesome. A great match, and a prime example of how to put an act "on the map". American Alpha are officially on the map. They were just guys a few months ago, and now because of this build and the result of this specific match, they matter.
One last thing: what a moment for Jason Jordan. He was legit crying as he held up the title here. This guy has been in NXT literally the entire time it's been a thing, and FCW before that. Jordan's been in the WWE's minor leagues for 5 years, working hard and waiting patiently. He has GREATLY improved, he's finally has found his niche, and along with Chad Gable has become one half of the best tag team in wrestling right now. Fake as it may be, there was absolutely zero fake about that celebration. Very nice, genuine moment that added to a fabulous opener. Go get em kid.
This is a very good, smart match. The Revival are great at using the nuances of tag team wrestling to enhance their matches, like Baldvival sneakily tagging Hairvival when the good guys weren't looking, and then killing poor young fresh-faced Chad Gable with a clothesline he didn't see coming.
In the end, American Alpha pull the exact same secret tag move that the Revival hit them with minutes before, and win the tag team titles. The story is that Revival have been smashing indy geeks in NXT, because they're crafty, clever veteran wrestlers who are great at working together. But they finally met a team of real professionals who can match, and ultimately top, their technical rasslin' knowledge. Awesome. A great match, and a prime example of how to put an act "on the map". American Alpha are officially on the map. They were just guys a few months ago, and now because of this build and the result of this specific match, they matter.
One last thing: what a moment for Jason Jordan. He was legit crying as he held up the title here. This guy has been in NXT literally the entire time it's been a thing, and FCW before that. Jordan's been in the WWE's minor leagues for 5 years, working hard and waiting patiently. He has GREATLY improved, he's finally has found his niche, and along with Chad Gable has become one half of the best tag team in wrestling right now. Fake as it may be, there was absolutely zero fake about that celebration. Very nice, genuine moment that added to a fabulous opener. Go get em kid.
Awesome match with a super hot finishing sequence.
Holy fucksauce NXT is great.
*4.25
*4.25
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| Congratulations Baron Corbin I too aspire to be presented by DiGiorno |
Fine match. Aries came out swinging, charging Corbin immediately. I really liked that. The first three seconds of Aries' NXT career and he's out there swinging.
One thing I quite liked about this match was that last week on NXT, Corbin beat a jobber with his spinning suplex thing that he calls the End of Days. He usually doesn't win matches with that move, but last week he did. In this match, he absolutely shithoused poor Austin Aries with that suplex on the floor. They made it into a count out spot, which unlike most count outs, was actually pretty good and believable. They took the time to put that move over the week before, and it paid off here. Really smart little thing to add to the match, one which rewards consistent viewership.
Breaking news: NXT is great.
Good Corbin match, left you wanting to see more of Austin Aries. Baron is almost ready for WWE. Aries was ready 11 years ago.
*3
Sami Zayn v Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke's entrance
Watch this match. Listen to this crowd. This is the reason why we watch wrestling.
*5. for the match, the moment, the crowd, the music, the Nakamura Debut, the Sami send off, the everything. About as perfect as pro wrestling gets.
Shinsuke's entrance
Watch this match. Listen to this crowd. This is the reason why we watch wrestling.
*5. for the match, the moment, the crowd, the music, the Nakamura Debut, the Sami send off, the everything. About as perfect as pro wrestling gets.
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| <3 br=""> |
They shouldn't have stood a chance following the last match, but god bless them they did get the crowd back. I thought this was ballsy as heck, to put this match out there and let them tell that story following what might very well be the best match in the history of NXT. Really liked the subtle heel Asuka leanings here, her not bothering to shake the hand or care at all about the safety of the fallen ex-champion after she lost. Asuka doesn't give a fuck about yer rainbows and unicorns. Asuka is a fighter and she will kill you. Good match. I really liked the slow-but-still-out-of-nowhere finish, though I could understand it being pretty polarizing. I need to re-watch this to be honest. I needed a pack of cigarettes and a nap after Zayn/Nakamura.
*4
Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
I'm of two minds about this match. In the first 10 seconds, Samoa Joe got cut by an errant punch, and the story of the match quickly became the numerous stoppages for blood. Joe dealt with the no blood PG 2016 thing incredibly, even subtly nodding along with a LET JOE BLEED chant. Somehow, making Joe stop and start made him feel even more unhinged, as if temporarily caging this monster only pissed him off further. However, while the blood really helped the feud and any eventual rematches, the stoppages did serve to cool down what was a very hot match. The finish was a bit out of nowhere too. This was altogether weird, but in the cool and unique way, not the bad way. As much as I am ready for Balor and Joe on the main roster, they have to do this match again.
*3.75
NXT is the bessssssst u guyz.
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