The stars of NXT -- including Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, Ember Moon, and more -- put on a hell of a show in Orlando last night as part of their quarterly TakeOver PPV/Event series and, as usual, all eyes were on the big match results as the winners and losers of the TakeOver before 'Mania is a good indication of who might get called up to the main roster starting Monday (Nakamura, The Revival, etc).
So let's break off a piece of TakeOver: Orlando and see how these matches went and what they might have meant for the company.
Filling in for the (storyline) injured No Way Jose here was Kassius Ohno, as these eight competitors gave a nicely worked four-on-four mixed tag match. NXT's mid-card is pretty strong right now, it's just a matter of who's going to get pushed up to challenge Roode for the title. Dillinger's a good first bet, though he'll have to stop losing to SAnitY at some point.
SAnitY, by the way, is awesome. Great packaging and expert captaining by Eric Young. I don't know what their overall goal is in the promotion (eventually the guys could start challenging for belts like Nikki did) but I wouldn't be surprised if they got called up to the main roster before they actually "accomplished" anything in NXT. Kind of like how the Drifter's probably coming to RAW or SmackDown after losing to Ohno this past week.
Winners: SAnitY
Formerly Tommy End over in the UK and Europe, Aleister Black made his impressive debut in a winning effort against Almas - who himself is just now starting to catch on a bit more as a heel. This was a fine introductory match the Black, though he'll need to work hard to truly distinguish himself from the other bearded, tatted, dark-hearted guys on the roster (see: SAnitY) in order to corner or create his own particular market.
Black's this imposing, menacing figure (the "floating up" entrance was a lot of fun) who's also very technically sound. He's a hybrid brawler, flyer, and grappler so it'll be interesting to see how much he gets over and how fast he rises.
Winner: Aleister Black
In the match of the night -- since DIY and Revival are incapable of having anything less than truly excellent matches together -- The Authors of Pain battled back from several united DIY/Revival combo attacks to retain their tag belts - which were new. Yes, all the champs got newly designed belts tonight. At first it seemed like DIY and Revival had the Authors' number as, many times, they put aside their differences to join forces in order to take out the giants.
But, overall, the DIY/Revival feud only worked, logistically, to cancel both teams out so that the Authors could dominate them in the end. There was a crazy table spot and an even crazier "suplex to the outside from the top rope" spot, but since Revival took the final, deciding fall in this elimination match, they're the top candidates to possibly go up to RAW (or SD Live). DIY's too fresh to leave just yet.
Winners, and still NXT Tag Team Champions: The Authors of Pain
Ever since Bayley left NXT last summer, we've all been wondering what would become of the women's division a dominating force like Asuka on top. Well, we're still kind of wondering. Asuka's streak, which has to have beaten Goldberg's by this point, is about to get extended as she enters heel territory. She was already working slightly heel-ish on the build up to facing Ember Moon, but now, after this match, it seems that this sea change will work in her favor and keep the belt on her shoulder until... TakeOver in August?
Many of us thought the enigmatic Moon would be the one to topple the Empress of Tomorrow, but Asuka shoved the ref into the ropes, causing Moon to crash and burn off the top buckle and that was all she wrote. It was a good match, though hopefully as Moon keeps challenging Asuka, their bouts will get even better.
Winner, and still NXT Women's Champion: Asuka
Would Nakamura be able to re-capture his title, becoming NXT's first ever three-time champ? Or would he lose to the Glorious One, signaling a main roster call-up for Monday? Or Tuesday? Again, there's the SmackDown-After-RAW to think about too now.
The Nakamura/Roode TakeOver matches haven't exactly been barn-buners since Roode works a less-flashy ground-and-pound style most of the time, but they do, naturally, pick up during the final five to ten minutes when the near falls start and the kicks-outs come down to the wire. Roode worked over Nakamura's injured knee and it was enough to help him best the King of Strong Style - after the second Glorious DDT.
And of course, there's the fact that these two have tremendous entrances and overall packaging. NXT's eased up a bit on the elaborate TakeOver aisle walks, but Roode still got some live piano love. Part of me feels like Roode will have better matches with Dillinger, Strong, and the rest of the NXT guys as they rise up to challenge him. His match with Ohno a few weeks back was excellent.
Winner, and still NXT Champion: Bobby Roode
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.
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