Missed out on watching Takeover last night because of a variety of issues. The Cavs game was priority one, my apartment wifi is currently not operational (router fried during a power surge over the weekend...new one gets here some time today), and the lady friend stayed over. I probably could have convinced her to watch it streaming to my living room, but sitting at my PC with my headphones on was out of the question.
Anyway, just watched it, so here's a brief review...
Tye Dillinger Vs. Andrade Almas
This was a short match, but I enjoyed it. The obvious intent here was to make Almas look legit, and that was accomplished. They also did a good job of letting Tye get in enough offense so that he came out of it looking good as well. His superkick to Almas when he was doing the handstand in the corner was probably the highlight of the match. Overall, both guys came out of this looking good. Hopefully NXT capitalizes on Dillinger's popularity. He's a good in-ring guy and he's over with the crowd. He could easily be used as more than enhancement talent, and I think he has a reasonably high main roster ceiling as well. Probably not a WWE title guy, but I could see him becoming like the modern Miz...a good, perfectly respectable midcarder who can put on great matches when paired with the right guys. ***
American Alpha Vs. The Revival
I think my favorite thing about these two teams is that they act like actual tag teams. Both teams utilize tons of double team moves and, in the case of Alpha, synchronization. It's just fun to watch because the main roster has had such a shitty tag division for so long (until recently). These guys just work the heel/face dynamic perfectly. American Alpha rely on power and skill where the Revival rely on dirty tricks, distractions, and cheap shots. I don't think this was quite as good as their first match-up, but still an overall good match. ***1/2
Austin Aries Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
I think the main problem with this match is that it had no hope of living up to Nakamura's debut against Sami Zayn. It's unfortunate but true. And while it didn't live up to that, I thought it was a perfectly good match. I was actually surprised by how strong they made Aries look here, as he controlled for most of the match. My guess is that they plan on having him be their next big heel on the roster after Joe gets called up, presumably after Brooklyn when he (probably) drops the title to Nakamura. Regardless, this match was a bit too slow in the middle when Aries did a lot of submission holds. I would have been more okay with that if all his working of Nakamura's leg amounted to something, but it didn't so it felt kind of pointless. You can't spend a whole match focusing on one body part and then never have that come into play. Other than that, there were some great spots and overall it was a fun match. ***3/4
Asuka Vs. Nia Jax
This one was a bit better than I expected. Asuka did her thing, and she's one of the few women in wrestling that is damn near as fluid athletically as the men. Nia is still too green and slow for my taste (her new ring gear is an improvement, though), but they worked the big/small dynamic well in this one. Nia mostly used her strength and power advantages, whereas Asuka used her quickness and striking. The ending was kind of abrupt, though. It just came out of nowhere. All of a sudden Nia took four kicks and the match was over. ***
Finn Balor Vs. Samoa Joe
First off, I'm not a big fan of being able to win a cage match by pinfall or submission. I think it's dumb. A cage match should be a showdown between two guys where only one guy walks out. If you want a cage with pinfalls, use a Hell in a Cell so you get the added weapons and violence. Other than that, this was another perfectly acceptable match from these two guys. It was about on par with their Dallas match, so pretty good. The cage felt a little unnecessary, though, since Joe just won with a pin. ***3/4
All in all, the show wasn't as good as Dallas, but was better than London.
