NXT Takeover: Respect

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Respect

October 7, 2015 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL

Commentary: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton

It's a short turnover from Brooklyn as this is only about a month and a half after. Maybe this was to appease Full Sail for them not having a Takeover for the first time. They better get used to it. Oh great, the pink ring rope is here. October show back when Shyster G Komen had all the sports leagues in the country wrapped around their little finger in October. Fortunately that's something else that's changed. They've put a lot of work into making the stage setup look different tonight. The Dusty Classic trophy is set up on the stage. This was the first ever tournament, just months after Dusty passed away, so it really does have a special feel around it rather than the yearly checking off a box it's become since. It also came at a very opportune time, as they'd put a lot of work into finally building up the NXT tag division and this was a great way to showcase it.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semifinals: NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def Dash and Dawson in 8:45- SAY YEAH! After a long time in the NXT system this is the first Takeover appearance for the team soon to be known as The Revival, and later down the road FTR, on their way to becoming the BEST TAG TEAM on this PLANET. Yes, I'm a big fan. Dash and Dawson beat the tag champ Vaudvillians in the second round, which will be important after the tournament was over. Balor and Joe agreed to form a superteam for the tournament in honor of Dusty and everyone, I mean EVERYONE, was waiting for one of them to turn on the other. No fooling around, Dawson gets right on the apron after their entrance, and Dash charges and takes Balor out while Balor and Joe were debating who was going to start! Joe takes momentum back with a series of shots. Corner charge by Joe. Dawson pulls Dash out of harm's way and Joe crashes. Double team fists a flyin' in the heel corner. Joe takes a long beating from both Dash and Dawson with commentary saying they've never seen Joe pummeled like this before. Joe dodges in the corner and hits Dash with an enzuguri. Dawson tries to cut the tag off but Joe makes it to Balor. Clothesline on Dawson and Balor knocks Dash off the apron. Receipt cashed. Corner chops on Dawson and Dash gets knocked down to the floor again. A dropkick sends Dawson outside as well. Balor tope con hilo! He rolls Dawson back in. John WOOOOOO dropkick! Dash cuts off the Coupe de Gracie. Dawson with a chop block to Balor's knee! Dash and Dawson go to work on it with quick tags and keeping Balor right by their corner. Balor's knee is posted. Brennan says they're "very mechanical in nature", a reference, maybe an automatic verbal tic, to their original name that didn't stick, the Mechanics. Saxton name drops the Brain Busters and Minnesota Wrecking Crew as inspirations for Dash and Dawson, which was music to my ears back watching this live and still learning about them. Dawson puts on a half crab and jaws at Joe a bit. I don't think that's going to end well. Balor gets to the ropes. Dawson tries to put on a figure four but Balor pushes him out to the floor. He crawls over to tag. Dash pops up behind Joe from under the ring and pulls him off the apron! Brilliant. Dash and Dawson hit the Decapitation Device! Balor kicks out! Dawson's frustrated. Balor gets a knee up in the corner (the good knee), dodges, and Dawson goes into the middle turnbuckle and falls to the floor. Dash rolls him back in, tags, and cuts Balor off again. Balor keeps fighting and gets the tag to Joe! Joe with an inverted atomic drop, big boot and senton. Scoop powerslam for 2. Uranage! He sets up the muscle buster. Balor says he wants to tag back in. Joe does. Muscle buster! Coupe de Gracie! But Balor tweaked his knee again! He manages to cover Dash and gets the pin. Damn good match. Great initial coming out party for the Revival and Balor now has a wound to watch in the finals. ***1/2

 

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Baron Corbin and Rhyno def Chad Gable and Jason Jordan in 10:28- Ready, willing, and Gable. This is the team that will soon be known as American Alpha and Full Sail already loves them. They had some wonderful quick backstage promo bits on weekly TV while their team was being put together. Corbin and Rhyno decided to put their differences aside after their match a couple of Takeovers ago to try for the Dusty Cup. Unusual for Corbin as he clearly didn't play well with others. This is going to be a definite clash of styles. Jordan and Corbin start. Lockup! Jordan gets some waist takedowns. Corbin uses a waistlock to swing Jordan to the floor. Jordan pops right back in, hits the ropes, Corbin tries to hip toss him but Jordan flips through and lands on his feet! Corbin wins a shoulderblock exchange. Jordan deadlifts Rhyno! Amateur pin for 2. Tag and Gable leaps over with a sunset flip while Jordan holds Rhyno. Rhyno lays in shots in the corner. The crowd starts to chant "Gable" to the theme of Kurt Angle's music. I've been saying for years WWE has had the next Kurt Angle in Gable. Full Sail knew it too. Not to take a thing away from Jordan, he was fantastic before his unfortunate career ending neck injury (and before main roster booking got a hold of him but I'm not going into all of that). Gable does some maneuvering into a hammerlock on Rhyno and they trade arm wringers. Rhyno has enough and runs Gable over. Tag to Jordan and the faces quick tag and stay on Rhyno's arm, sticking to game plan on the bigger man. Double suplex for 2. Rhyno tries to get Gable into the ropes. Gable flips over the ropes and stretches an armbar! Gable was a fantastic amateur wrestler, but that was a page right out of Minoru Suzuki's book. Charge from Rhyno and Gable flies off the apron. Corbin runs Gable into the apron. Cover for 2. The heels go into somewhat slow beatdown mode but generally keep things moving. Gable slips out of a slam, tries for a tag, but Corbin pulls him back by his hair! Big boot. The ref was distracted by Jordan arguing and is slow to get over for a 2 count. Rhyno goes up top. Gable dodges the headbutt. Graves: "That's why Rhyno generally stays away from the top rope". Tags. Jordan with dropkicks. He tosses Rhyno out. Saito suplex on Corbin. The straps are down! Corner spear! Tag to Gable. Corbin fights out of the corner before they can get their finisher. Deep six on Gable! Rhyno with a belly to belly suplex on Jordan. Gable roll up deadlift German suplex on Corbin, with a bridge! Rhyno breaks the pin up! Gore on Jordan! Gable does a tiltawhirl around Corbin.....right into End of Days! Cover for 3. Solid match, fantastic finish sequence. ***1/4

 

So the tournament only superteams will be in the finals of the tournament, but the immediate future of the tag division is very clearly set with the semifinal losers. In fact, between here and the next Takeover Dash and Dawson used their tournament win over the champs to get a title shot on weekly TV and won, the first of the famous seven stars for 7 Star FTR. Top guys, out.

Really good video package for Asuka, the former Kana, making her hugely hyped in-ring debut tonight. Lots of footage from beautiful and historic Korakuen Hall in there. OK, maybe not beautiful as you would normally define it, but it's holy ground for wrestling in Japan and WWE needs to run a televised show there one day.

 

Asuka def Dana Brooke (w/Emma) in 5:25- As I mentioned before, Asuka is my favorite women's wrestler of all time, so if any bias shows here or in the future it's just because of that. Brooke and Emma had been arrogantly lording over everyone else in NXT, so this is their natural comeuppance. "Asuka's gonna kill you!" chant at the start. Asuka offers a Code of Honor handshake. Brooke slaps it away. Some jockeying before locking up. Asuka wrestles rings around Brooke while focusing on the arm. Brooke back elbows out and gives Asuka her famous condescending head pat. Not a smart move. Asuka slaps. Brooke slaps back harder. Really not a smart move. Asuka smiles! "You fucked up" chant from the crowd. Asuka strike flurry. Hip attack. Asuka mocks Brooke's entrance pose! Brooke's pissed. She charges. Asuka grabs her by the arm and grounds her. Brooke gets to the ropes. Kicks to the back from Asuka. Brooke rolls out. Asuka follows with more kicks. Emma grabs Asuka from behind and Brooke gives her a cutter in the ropes. Cover for 2. Some corner work from Brooke. Short clothesline. Body scissors. Asuka easily escapes and grabs an ankle lock. She suplexes Brooke by the ankle! Armbreaker! Brooke tries to roll out. Asuka kicks her in the head! Emma gets on the apron. Asuka knocks her off with a spinning back fist! Sliding kick on Brooke. Asuka Lock! Brooke taps! After the bell Brooke starts jawing again so Asuka kills her with a spinning kick to the head! The way she's holding her head while she's down Asuka might have caught her stiff on that. Asuka and Emma stare down on the floor and Emma wisely backs off. So begins the longest undefeated streak in the history of wrestling. Hashtag better than Goldberg. Brooke was still nowhere near good but she was a perfectly workable punching bag for Asuka's debut. ***

Ad for Shyster G Komen. I'm so glad everyone wised up to the fact that almost none of the money that was pouring into them in donations was going to actual cancer research and stopped promoting them so heavily every October. After that we see Balor with the trainers, working on his knee. Promo video for Nia Jax, coming next week. Oh, joy.

 

Apollo Crews def Tyler Breeze in 8:50- Fairly split crowd here as Breeze has been an NXT staple since the FCW days, and Crews has had that "not quite ready for prime time" look about him since his debut in Brooklyn. Rough lockup and basic start. Crews hits a dropkick and Breeze rolls out. Crews runs him over on the floor! Long delayed suplex back in for 2. After some corner reversals Breeze hits a kick and uses a cradle to roll Crews to the floor. He tosses Crews into the apron. Breeze targets Crews' back and goes to work on it. Whip reversal, Breeze ripcord knee and modified vertebraker for 2. Breeze goes up top. Crews grabs him and presses him off. Breeze escapes, does a leg takedown and hooks on a Sharpshooter! Crews teases tapping before fighting to the ropes. Breeze argues with the ref and Crews hits a clothesline. Breeze goes back to the back. Mounted punches. Crews lifts him up and carries him. Breeze turns it into a hurricanrana! He charges but Crews hits a standing enzuguri. Breeze backdrops Crews over the top rope but he lands on the apron. Flip back in. Breeze superkick! Crews kicks out! Springboard dropkick from Breeze that looked a ways off target but Crews sells it anyway. Breeze comes off the top again. Crews catches him and powerslams him for 2. Gorilla press. Breeze grabs Crews' leg. Crews shakes him off and goes for the standing moonsault. Breeze gets his knees up! Small package for 2. Series of running elbows by Breeze. Crews counters with a big boot. Power bomb! That gets the pin. Pretty underwhelming match that will do noting to dispel the notion that Crews, for all his obvious athletic talent, wasn't quite on the level of the other big name indy singing that have been coming in. He was still learning. On the other side, another solid performance by consistent and underrated workhorse Breeze in what would be his last NXT match. He'd move to the main roster later in the month, gain zero traction, and would end up teaming up with Fandango for a pairing best remembered for their hilarious Zucker Brothers/Police Squad style comedy bits called Fashion Files. Which were really, really funny. **3/4

The still injured Hideo Itami is in the crowd, along with FUNAKI! SMACKDOWN #1 ANNOUNCER!

 

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def Baron Corbin and Rhyno in 10:57- The big question going in is, will Balor's knee hold up? Balor's severely breaking wrestling etiquette by not having his knee all taped up to say to everyone "HERE'S AN INJURY, TARGET IT". Brandi "Eden Stiles" Rhodes is back to do ring announcing for this match, with commentary openly acknowledging her marriage to Cody so she's a Rhodes by marriage. Balor and Rhyno start. Balor ducks under and rolls Rhyno up for 2. Shoving. Corbin tags in. He and Balor jockey and feel each other out for a bit. Finally Corbin kicks the bad knee. Balor hits a dropkick and tags out before any more damage can be done. Fists of fire from Joe. Kick and kneedrop. Corbin hits a flash powerbomb! He follows that with some ground and pound. Rhyno belly to belly suplex. Joe goes in peril and the heels go into slow beatdown mode. Interesting call having Joe be the mid-match FIP guy instead of Balor with the bum knee. Corbin hits avalanches and a big boot. Joe reverses a corner whip and hits an enzuguri. Tag to Balor. John WOOOOO dropkick on Rhyno as he comes in. Forearm on Corbin that maybe was supposed to be a slingblade and they just didn't pull it off right. Balor's knee twinges again and Corbin gives him a big boot. Rhyno clips Balor's knee while he's on the apron. Corbin posts it and start working on it. Balor fights out of the heel corner but runs into a deep six. Slingblade outta nowhere! Tags on both sides. Joe runs over Rhyno but does the exact same hot tag move combination he did in the semifinal match. GORE! GORE! GORE! (copyright Paul Heyman) Balor breaks the pin up! Corbin goes for End of Days but Balor swings around and turns it into a DDT. He clotheslines Corbin 360 to the floor and gives him an apron PK. Rhyno knocks Balor off the apron. He sets up for another gore on Joe. Joe counters with a kick. Tag to Balor and they do the muscle buster/Coupe de Gracie combo again to get the pin and win the tournament! This wasn't nearly on the level of the semifinal matches. It's almost as if the two best teams lost those matches. I think the fact they got through the whole thing without either Balor or Joe turning on the other took the wind out of the sails for some people too. **1/4

The Dusty trophy is in the ring along with all the Rhodes kids, including Cody and Dustin, both of whom were still with WWE at this point. Cody cuts a nice little promo. Man he's come a long way on the mic since those days.

Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Lita and the inventor of women's wrestling Stephanie McMahon are ringside for the first ever women's Takeover main event, a truly deserved honor after they tore the house down in Brooklyn. It also helped that the NXT Champion was doing the Dusty tournament instead of defending.

 

30 Minute Ironman Match for the NXT Women's Championship: Bayley (c) def Sasha Banks-

FALL ONE: Both women soak up the atmosphere with the crowd giving them all the love. Long lockup stalemate. Banks grabs a headlock with dueling chants going. She rolls through some quick pin attempts. Bayley shoulderblock and she also goes through some quick pin tries. More quick covers from both as they both try for an early lead. Banks ends the run with a dropkick. Staredown. Bayley hits some Japanese armdrags, including one that almost drops Banks on her head. Flying headscissors from Banks. Corner counters and they both block each other's finishers, a testament to how well they know each other by this point. Bayley helps Banks back up. Banks responds by grabbing Bayley's hair and yanking her down to the mat! There's the Boss. No more playing nice. Cover for 2. "Like a boss" chant. Bayley gets a back elbow in the corner. Series of elbows and dropkick. Banks rolls outside. Bayley corner baseball slide! Twice! Faceplant back in for 2. Banks rolls Bayley up and puts her feet on the ropes but the ref catches her. Both women almost squash the ref in the corner (I wouldn't complain). Banks uses her position blocking the ref's view to give Bayley an eye poke, rolls her up and gets a pin! 1-0 Banks with 21:28 left.

FALL TWO: Banks lays on the aggression. Bayley gets a leg takedown, setting off a mat brawl. Buckle shots for Banks. Banks turns and Bayley crashes into the middle turnbuckle. She sets Bayley up for the corner double kneedrop. Bayley catches her coming down and drops her over the top turnbuckle. Banks pops up with a forearm. Bayley to belly! Pin for Bayley! We're tied 1-1 with 19:05 left.

FALL THREE: Banks goes to the floor. Bayley tries the corner slide again. Banks catches her, pulls her out and SWINGS her into the stairs! Roll in and cover for 2. Banks tosses Bayley out again and throws her into the stairs again. And again. Banks yells at Izzy at ringside! She was a well known young Bayley superfan, her and her family were Full Sail regulars. Another cover for 2 and another toss out. Banks points at Izzy, goes up the ramp....and throws Bayley right into one of the tron boards set up on the stage! Horrible camera work on that too, it was in close up on Bayley the whole time. The ghost of Kevin Dunn strikes NXT. The board shorts out and Bayley is dead. Banks walks back to the ring and pulls a bow out of Izzy's hair on the way! She puts the bow on and struts around the ring! Bayley is counted out and it's 2-1 Banks with 15:47 left.

FALL FOUR: Banks is still mocking Izzy. Izzy is bawling while her dad his holding her! Now THAT is heel work. Absolutely phenomenal. Bayley tries to get back in but Banks gives her a baseball slide. She rolls Bayley in and covers for 2 as we hit the halfway mark. Banks mocks Bayley's tube man wave while dishing out more punishment. She pulls Bayley into a backbreaker. Boston crab from Banks, and she leans back into almost a full Walls of Jericho old style. Bayley slowly crawls to the ropes. Banks goes for it again. Bayley flips her over and gets a cradle for a pin! Tied again 2-2 with 12:38 left.

FALL FIVE: Izzy's good again. Banks sets Bayley up in the corner upside down. Bayley still dodges the double kneedrop! Running double ax handles from Bayley. She faceplants Banks with a move that I don't think went how they planned. Corner elbows. Diving back elbow off the second rope for 2. Bayley suplexes Banks into the tree of woe. Springboard elbow for 2! 10 minutes left. Both go up top. Banks slides out and puts Bayley in the tree of woe. Springboard double kneedrop! Cover for 2. She puts Bayley in the tree again. Charge, dodge, and Banks posts her shoulder. She falls to the floor. Bayley follows and smashes Banks' hand onto the steps! Receipt from what Banks did to her at Brooklyn. Bayley adjusts the steps and gives Banks more hand smashes. Bayley runs up the steps and comes off with a flying clothesline. Banks pushes and Bayley goes backwards hard into the steps. Banks tope suicida....Bayley catches her! Bayley to belly on the floor! Roll in and cover. Banks kicks out! 5 minutes left. Bayley sets Banks up top. Both are moving slow as we get deep into the match. Banks fights her off. Bayley springs back up. Super Bayley to belly! Banks rolls to the edge of the ring and JUST gets a foot on the rope to prevent a pin! Bayley sets Banks up top again, backwards. She's looking for the super poisonrana again. She does it, but Banks rolls through and lands on her feet! BANKS BAYLEY TO BELLY! Bayley kicks out! But Banks goes right into the Banks Statement! 2 minutes left. Bayley fights. Graves points out Banks can't fully lock the hold on because of the hand Bayley hurt earlier. When they get close to the ropes Banks pushes off with her foot and flips them over. Bayley tries to escape during that but Banks gets the hold back on. 1 minute left. Bayley grabs Banks' bad hand and smashes it on the mat! 30 seconds left. Banks goes for the Banks Statement again. Bayley rolls through it into an armbreaker! She stretches Banks' bad hand! Banks submits with 4 seconds left! Time expires and Bayley wins 3-2! It's not quite on the level of their Brooklyn masterpiece but it's still a fantastic match worthy of a Takeover main event. I'm a sucker for Ironman matches too, it's one of my favorite stipulations and we need another one. A 60 minute one. ****1/4

After half the match is replayed (I just watched the match, I don't need to see it all again) we see the whole NXT roster is on the stage applauding. Triple H and GM William Regal have flowers. Regal gives Banks flowers on the floor and she breaks down crying. Trips gets in the ring with Bayley, raises her hand and gives her the flowers. Bayley celebrates in the ring as the show closes. This would be Banks' last NXT match. She'd join Charlotte and Lynch on the main roster full time while Bayley kept the 4 Horsewomen flag flying in NXT.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Outside the main event it's all more good than great. There's nothing outside the Ironman match that anyone needs to go out of their way to see. Full Sail brings their all after the last Takeover went on the road, the crowd is nuclear all night long. All in all a solid midrange Takeover.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+