At one point over the past few weeks, I was seriously considering not bothering to cover this event. I barely watch or follow NXT these days, a far cry from when I used to watch the show religiously. I do enjoy watching Takeovers though, and I enjoy writing these recaps, so they stick around for now.
-The opening eight-person mixed tag was pretty fun. Sanity is a great stable, and Tye is really over, so this was never going to go terribly. I do feel like including Ruby and Nikki into this match held it back a little bit, as their spots seemed to drag down the overall flow. Still, it was a fun little opener.
-Aleister Black has a big future here in NXT(not Ring of Honor, Nigel), and an awesome entrance, so you knew he was getting a strong push. I think we've seen better from both men in the past, and this match did fall a little bit flat.
-Tag team wrestling has been the high point of NXT for the past year and a half, and surprise, surprise, these guys stole the show again. Again, that's not a surprise from DIY or The Revival, who are some of the best wrestlers in the world today. Big shout-out to the Authors of Pain here. They held up their end of this match. These two guys get better every time they compete. Not much more to say about this match. If you missed it, you have to watch it, it's simply that good.
-It was always going to be tough to follow that tag match, but Asuka and Ember Moon did a good job of winning the crowd over. The problem with booking an unstoppable champion is it makes the rest of the division seem so much worse by comparison. The only point of this match was to make Ember seem like a legitimate threat, and I think they accomplished that. Bonus points to Asuka, who's character work was fantastic.
-Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura may have great entrances, but that's not a guarantee of a five-star classic. Although what they did in San Antonio and on this night in Orlando was good, it was far from great. A lot of NXT's singles feuds can feel pretty repetitive, and I just didn't really have a lot of interest in this match. Shinsuke should be great on the main roster, regardless of whether he heads to Raw or SmackDown, but his year spent in NXT ended up being somewhat uninspiring. As for Roode, hopefully he gets a more well-suited opponent up next, with my money on either Roddy Strong or Johnny Wrestling.
6/10
Although most of this show wasn't particularly great, nothing was particularly terrible either. I loved the tag match, and enjoyed the rest, but one match generally can't save a show. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: the main event will always make or break any show, and NXT has failed time and time again to deliver consistent, quality main events.
-The opening eight-person mixed tag was pretty fun. Sanity is a great stable, and Tye is really over, so this was never going to go terribly. I do feel like including Ruby and Nikki into this match held it back a little bit, as their spots seemed to drag down the overall flow. Still, it was a fun little opener.
-Aleister Black has a big future here in NXT(not Ring of Honor, Nigel), and an awesome entrance, so you knew he was getting a strong push. I think we've seen better from both men in the past, and this match did fall a little bit flat.
-Tag team wrestling has been the high point of NXT for the past year and a half, and surprise, surprise, these guys stole the show again. Again, that's not a surprise from DIY or The Revival, who are some of the best wrestlers in the world today. Big shout-out to the Authors of Pain here. They held up their end of this match. These two guys get better every time they compete. Not much more to say about this match. If you missed it, you have to watch it, it's simply that good.
-It was always going to be tough to follow that tag match, but Asuka and Ember Moon did a good job of winning the crowd over. The problem with booking an unstoppable champion is it makes the rest of the division seem so much worse by comparison. The only point of this match was to make Ember seem like a legitimate threat, and I think they accomplished that. Bonus points to Asuka, who's character work was fantastic.
-Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura may have great entrances, but that's not a guarantee of a five-star classic. Although what they did in San Antonio and on this night in Orlando was good, it was far from great. A lot of NXT's singles feuds can feel pretty repetitive, and I just didn't really have a lot of interest in this match. Shinsuke should be great on the main roster, regardless of whether he heads to Raw or SmackDown, but his year spent in NXT ended up being somewhat uninspiring. As for Roode, hopefully he gets a more well-suited opponent up next, with my money on either Roddy Strong or Johnny Wrestling.
6/10
Although most of this show wasn't particularly great, nothing was particularly terrible either. I loved the tag match, and enjoyed the rest, but one match generally can't save a show. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: the main event will always make or break any show, and NXT has failed time and time again to deliver consistent, quality main events.
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