Scott Stanford and Sam Roberts hosted the Pre-show with video link input from Booker T. Nothing exciting to report, although Pat McAfee and Adam Cole have both agreed to leave their friends in the locker room. I’m struggling to hyped for this TakeOver and the bland chatter didn’t really help. There was a Pre-show match though. That helped.

 

Results

Breezango def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and Legado del. Fantasma – Pre-show match

Finn Balor def. Timothy Thatcher

Damian Priest def. Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Velveteen Dream, and Cameron Grimes

Adam Cole def. Pat McAfee

Io Shirai def. Dakota Kai

Karrion Kross def. Keith Lee

 

 

 

Review

Breezango vs Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs Legado del Fantasma (Wilde/Mendoza) – Number One Contender’s match for the NXT Tag Team Championships – Preshow match

I thought it was a bit odd having a match on a half-hour Pre-show, but I’m glad they did because it was chaotic and fun and infinitely better than hearing the host speculate about the matches.

Breezango won, Tyler Breeze pinned Oney Lorcan, which put me in a better mood for the rest of the show.

 

Vic Joseph and Corey Graves were the commentary team in-situ, with Beth Phoenix contributing remotely. TakeOver came from Full Sail, so no Amway Center or Thunderdome to deal with and just a small crowd as a backdrop.

 

Finn Balor vs Timothy Thatcher

A lot of bending limbs and joints in the wrong direction interspersed with moments of intense violence. I kind of loved it. Definitely one of the more interesting matches Balor has had since his NXT return. Balor took some damage to his left leg, which slowed him down in places, but not enough. He held it a bit after landing a Coup de Grace, but was able to recover enough to deliver 1916 for the win.

 

Bayley and Sasha Banks were in the crowd, wearing their masks like good role models and carrying all their belts, possibly for the last time.

 

Damian Priest vs Johnny Gargano vs Bronson Reed vs Cameron Grimes vs Velveteen Dream – NXT North American Championship Ladder Match

Velveteen Dream qualifying for this match instantly ruined it for me, which is a shame because it was a damned fine ladder match.

Bronson Reed had a great match, including an enterprising splash into the corner that sandwiched all his opponent between ladders except Velveteen Dream, who took on to the face. He was at the top of the tower of doom as well. Cameron Grimes took a nasty spill off a ladder. Damian Priest came close a few times, as did Gargano, who was bouncing around all over the place for much of the match.

Velveteen Dream threw a ladder into the plexiglass, which scared the crap out of the crowd on the other side, and took out Damian Priest with the rebound.

Ladder matches are for big bumps and ridiculous moves, and there were plenty. Candice LeRae got involved and Cameron Grimes raised his hand to her. That’s as far as he got before she started hitting him and kept going until Gargano hit him with a ladder. Then she got to take him out properly.

Gargano and Reed met at the top of the ladder. Reed got to keep the place at the top but LeRae climbed in his back and tried to take the title. Reed’s response was to turn around and splash Gargano from the ladder with LeRae in his back. Priest and Reed at the top of the ladder came to nothing.

Velveteen Dream had a hand on the title at one point but faffed around so much Damian Priest knocked him down. Gargano took Cameron Grimes. Velveteen Dream delivered a Dream Valley Driver to Gargano onto Priest who was laid on a suspended ladder. Bronson Reed tipped Velveteen Dream off the top of the ladder and through some tables the other side of the barricades.

Damian Priest and Johnny Gargano both ended up holding the title at the top of the ladder, but Gargano couldn’t hold on. Damian Priest is the new NXT North American Champion.

 

Adam Cole vs Pat McAfee

Pat McAfee had a rant backstage before he came out, something about opening Superbowls and having strong legs. I don’t know. Ego nonsense. McAfee did have his backup with him. Adam Cole didn’t bring Undisputed ERA with him, but they turned up when McAfee’s minions got involved. Security appeared to split everyone up and McAfee launched himself off the top turnbuckle to the outside skittling everyone.

Honestly, Pat McAfee was a lot better than I expected him to be when he eventually shut his mouth and got on with it. He almost pinned Cole off a superplex, and that was after landing on his feet when Cole pushed him off the turnbuckle ten jumping straight back to the top.

He made a mistake trying to kick Cole’s head into the steps. Cole moved and McAfee’s kick moved the steps. Less than a minute later Cole had him in a figure four. He got to the ropes, but there was a lot of screaming.

McAfee almost pinned Cole again with a punt kick after delivering a low blow the ref didn’t see. But he took too much time posturing when going to the top turnbuckle and got superkicked in the face as he came down. There trash talk and Cole looked like he was going for a Last Shot. Instead, he climbed the turnbuckle and waited for McAfee to get up so he could give him a Panama Sunrise for the win.

 

Drew McIntyre joined Joseph and Graves between matches. He called Randy Orton a ‘Very talented piece of crap’.

 

Io Shirai (C) vs Dakota Kai, with Raquel Gonzalez, – NXT Women’s Championship match

I’m still sulking about the presence of Raquel Gonzalez at ringside. I was genuinely looking forward to seeing Kai vs Shirai one on one.

Shirai had a weird landing on something innocuous early on and it seemed to rock her for a minute. But that came seconds before Gonzalez caused the first distraction and Shirai was sent into the ringpost as Kai took control of the match. Shirai was guarding her left elbow after that and Dakota Kai took full advantage throughout, including a couple of near submissions with an armbar.

Shirai eventually got back into it and tried to prove she only needed one arm to beat Kai, but she struggled to put her away. The arm was a definite factor, slightly slower or more considered movements, a less secure cover. And after spending too long in Kai’s second armbar  it was clearly hurting her.

Kai would have got the pin from a GTK if she hadn’t been close enough to the ropes for Shirai to get a foot over them. A misplaced kick from Kai took the ref out, so he missed the perfectly legal pin from Shirai’s moonsault. Gonzalez came in and put Shirai down then dragged Kai and the ref into position, but Shirai kicked out.

Io Shirai took down Gonzalez and Kai with a moonsault to the outside then rolled Kai back into the ring. Happily, the ref had got his senses back by the time Shirai’s next moonsault got her the win.

Raquel Gonzalez started beating Shirai down after the match and Rhea Ripley came to make the save. There was a staredown then Gonzalez and Kai left. Ripley stood staring in the background as Shirai celebrated.

 

Cesaro was in the crowd.

 

Damian Priest celebrated his win in a hot tub with a couple of friends. They appeared to be in the parking lot.

 

Keith Lee (C) vs Karrion Kross, with Scarlett

Karrion Kross’ entrance is spectacular, but was somehow diminished by the polite little ripple of applause that followed. Scarlett’s gloves have claws. I love them.

I was looking forward to this one and it didn’t let me down. Proper big lads match. Keith Lee punched a plexiglass panel loose. Karrion Kross trapped Lee’s hand between barricades with a kick, which gave him a target. Once the target was acquired, Kross zeroed in on it, but it can’t have been that injured because he lifted Kross with him and slammed him into the mat to give himself some recovery time. Kross appeared to pick up a shoulder injury during the match as well, possibly legit.

The phrase ‘hard-fought match’ is much overused. But I can’t think of a better one here. ‘Irresistible force meet’ immovable object’, likewise. Clichés are clichés for a reason. Like Keith Lee not letting his arm drop in the Kross Jacket when it looked like he was out.

He got to the ropes to get out of that, but he was the worse for wear. Kross kicked out of a Spirit Bomb. They ended up on the second turnbuckle. Kross brought them down with a Doomsday Saito suplex and slammed Lee into the mat for the win.

It was an oddly abrupt end to the match, but we have a new NXT Champion.

 

 

 

Final word

Triple H confirmed after the show that Karrion Kross needs an MRI on his shoulder to see if it’s separated, so the new NXT Champion might immediately be out of action. Hopefully not.

It’s a shame Keith Lee’s title reign was so short. I’m guessing there are still big plans for him, either in revenge or on the main roster. Of all the current NXT talent, Lee is among those with the best chance of succeeding on RAW or SmackDown, and the WWE Draft is coming up.

The rest of the show exceeded my, admittedly low, expectations. I’m glad to see it looks like Rhea Ripley will be back in the title picture and I’m very happy Raquel Gonzalez wasn’t instrumental in the result of tonight’s match.

It wasn’t the very best of the TakeOvers, but it was a solid show which left some interesting unfinished business and loose ends. And Tommaso Ciampa returns to NXT on Wednesday.