NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II

August 20, 2016 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY

Commentary: Tom Phillips and Corey Graves

One year after Takeover: Brooklyn made history as the first large arena Takeover, Brooklyn II is the start of every Takeover taking place in a large arena. This is the night before Summerslam, the Takeover schedule will be tied to major main roster PPVs for a while. Graves has already made his move up to commentate for Raw, but will be doing double duty with NXT for a bit longer.

Austin Aries def No Way Jose in 10:42- NO WAY! JOSE! NO WAY! JOSE! Jose is making his Takeover debut a few months after his TV debut. He's got a giant fan conga line going all the way around the ring on his entrance. Aries tries to play keepaway after the bell. He ducks a lockup into a waistlock, takes Jose down and easily wins a mat wrestling exchange, letting Jose know by slapping him on the back of the head. Jose is up hot and Aries hides in the ropes. He offers a handshake. Jose takes it and slaps him! The crowd sounds more pro-Aries at this point. Chops from Jose. Aries dodges a big right hand and bails to the floor. Back in he gets hit by another right hand and falls back down to the floor. Jose double ax handle off the apron. Aries begs off back in. Both guys go up top. Aries fights Jose off and drops him face first into the top turnbuckle. Aries goes on the attack as now the crowd's booing him. What is it they want? Elbow to the back of Jose's head off the second rope for 2. Jose fights out of a chinlock but runs into a back elbow. He starts to hulk up and tosses Aries to the floor. Aries is run into the turnbuckles from the apron and Jose give him chops on the apron. Aries wraps up the bottom rope to try to get a breather. Jose pulls him off. Aries uses the opening to hit a kneebreaker and floats over into the Last Chancery! Jose gets to the ropes. He ducks the discus elbow and hits a TKO for 2. Aries fights off a full nelson slam and Jose rolls to the floor. Tope suicida! Aries gives Jose a neckbreaker in the ropes. Corner dropkick. Aries hooks up for a suplex or DDT, but Jose counters into an x-plex for 2. Aries blocks the full nelson slam again. The discus elbow hits! Jose bounces off the ropes and hits a clothesline! Aries continues to block the full nelson slam and hits a crucifix bomb. Another corner dropkick for 2. Aries goes up top. Jose uppercuts him and joins. Fight on the top rope. Aries sunset bomb! Into Last Chancery! Jose taps! Decent match. Jose was clearly limited in what he could do, which would be why despite his entrance and charisma he wouldn't make a big mark in WWE before being one of the many let go during the pandemic releases. **3/4

After the bell Aries continues attacking Jose. Hideo Itami's music hits! He's here! Itami (KENTA) was finally cleared to return after being on the shelf with an injury for more than a year, murdering any momentum he might have had in NXT. He and Aries have a very hard time getting on the same page on what to do, then Itami lays in some strikes. The crowd chants for the GTS. Itami hits it! Finally that move has been unbanned because of its association with you know who.

 

Ember Moon def Billie Kay in 4:35- Two Takeover debuts here. Kay had been in the NXT system for nearly a year but had failed to get any traction despite nearly a decade of experience on the indy circuit, making her debut in her native Australia when she was just 18. The Booker T trained Moon (currently Athena in AEW/ROH) is making her full NXT debut as the Next Big Signing in the women's division. Small reaction from the crowd for her. Lockup! Hammerlock exchange and Moon tosses Kay with a headscissors from the mat. She blocks a Kay hiptoss and armdrags her. Kay counters with a hard elbow for 2. Moon springboard crossbody off the middle rope for 2. Kay does a Mia Yim eat defeat (defeet?)-like move for 2, then lays in some ground elbows, showing some fire. She tries to lift Moon up, can't hold her, resets, and puts Moon in a Canadian backbreaker. Moon tries to power out but Kay slams her on her face for 2. Flash roll up from Moon for just 1. Elbow exchange and Moon starts to get some momentum. Neckbreaker/double underhook suplex combo. Handspring corner clothesline. The as yet unnamed Eclipse (top rope cutter) hits and it's over. The crowd is still lukewarm after the win, clearly not sold on Moon yet. OK debut. Botch aside Kay looked as good as Moon did. **

 

Bobby Roode def Andrade Cien Almas in 10:22- After being teased the last two Takeovers and making warm up appearances on NXT TV, Roode is making his big in-ring NXT debut here. It's easy to forget now since Roode has been just a guy on the main roster for years, and seemingly content to stay that way as he winds his career down, but this was a *massive* signing for NXT at the time, getting one of the biggest stars in TNA/Impact history and another guy nobody thought would ever be in WWE. Probably NXT's second biggest signing in all of 2016, after Shinsuke Nakamura, in terms of pre-NXT star power. His entrance lives up to the hype, with Roode descending down a high platform like Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 while the whole crowd sings his already legendary music. Almas gets absolutely nothing on his entrance, the crowd is 100% Roode. "This is glorious" chant after the bell. They let the moment breathe a bit before locking up. Roode armdrags out. "GLORIOUS!". Basic exchange and Roode dodges a dropkick. "GLORIOUS!". Cheap kick from Roode out of a corner break. He tosses Almas but Almas grabs the ropes into his tranquilo pose. Big Almas chop and basement dropkick. He headscissors Roode to the floor. Back in Almas ducks a clothesline, flips over the top rope and lands on the apron, and shrugs at Roode. Roode tries to stay composed but the mind games are clearly pissing him off. Almas goes up top. Roode runs into the ropes to knock him off. Chop exchange. Roode delayed suplex and knees to the back. Almas flips out of a back suplex. Roode gets on the second rope but Almas dropkicks him to the floor. Corkscrew plancha! Almas springboard forearm back in for 2. Bulldog for 2. He sets up for the meteora. Roode cuts it off with a huge clothesline for 2. He sets up a German superplex. Almas fights it off. Roode tries again and Almas lands on his feet! Almas straitjacket German for 2. Roode gets his knees up on a springboard moonsault. He sets up a fisherman's suplex but Almas counters into a small package for 2. Boo/yay elbows. Almas heel kick. The meteora hits! Counter exchange and Almas hits a big boot. Roode spinebuster! He hits the Glorious Bomb (a simple pumphandle slam) for the pin. That finisher needs to be upgraded, and will be. Fairly good match, but a, dare I say, glorious debut for Roode. ***

Promo for the soon to debut Sanity. After that Triple H unveils the trophy for the Cruiserweight Classic, the finals of which will take place in September. I need to review that sometime, I've been wanting to watch it again for quite a while. Mauro Ranallo and a few of the cruiserweight wrestlers are ringside for the next match.

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival (c) def Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in 19:10- Gargano and Ciampa, two of the hottest names from the indy scene and close friends in real life, had been floating around NXT for a while but had only recently signed full time deals. Backstage before the match Ciampa presented Gargano with a "#DIY" t-shirt, which would be their team name after this. The Revival at this point had almost fully turned all their doubters into believers, becoming the first 2 time NXT tag champs at the last Takeover and stealing the show while doing it. Ciampa and Dawson start. Lockup! A rough one. After that is some intense arm work trade off. Dawson hits the first chop. He ducks a Ciampa shot and goes to the floor. Revival do the classic planning session/stall and let the crowd get riled up. Back in Dawson and Ciampa do some more nice counter wrestling. Ciampa hits chops and Gargano gets a shot in from the apron. DIY hit a couple of double teams. Huge "Johnny Wrestling" chant for Gargano. Revival work the ref and Dawson hair pulls out of an armbar. After some standing switches Gargano hits a shining wizard style kick. Dawson tags in and walks right into armdrags. Back elbow on Gargano. Gargano slides under a double team, everyone comes in and we have a 2v2 standoff. Slugfest! Dawson gets clotheslined 360 to the floor while Gargano superkicks Dash. DIY set up their finisher. Dawson pulls Dash to safety. Gargano TOPE SUICIDA! Did Mauro shout "MAMMA MIA" from the crowd? I hope so. Total side thought: I once had the idea to create a Twitter account to count Mauro's "mamma mia"s during Takeovers. I called it the Mamma Mia Meter. Never got around to actually doing it before he left again though. Anyway, once you've stopped laughing at my dumb idea, Dash does some clever maneuvering around DIY to get a tag. Dawson Saito suplex for 2. Revival beat Ciampa down in their corner. Drop toe hold/elbow drop combo for 2. Ciampa fights over to his team's side of the ring but Dawson lifts him up to cut off the tag. Ciampa rolls into a sunset flip for 2. Again Ciampa fights the champs off, reaches for a tag, but just as he's about to get there Dash pulls Gargano off the apron! Double team Revival front suplex for 2. Ciampa jawbreakers out of a Dash sleeper. He reaches for a tag but Dash *just* holds him back inches away from Gargano's fingers. Dawson tags in, mocks Gargano and kicks Ciampa. Bodyscissors. Ciampa gets up and pushes Dawson toward his corner. Dash "accidentally" falls over the top rope into the ring to create a distraction! Brilliant! Ciampa backdrops out of a Dawson piledriver and gets the tag, but the ref is still tied up with Dash and won't let Gargano in! That's how you take an ancient spot everyone's seen a thousand times and make it fresh again. Total genius. Huge boos from the crowd. Revival decapitation device! Ciampa kicks out! Dawson hits forearms that fire Ciampa up. A HUGE Dawson clothesline puts him down again. He pushes Gargano off the apron again. Ciampa dodges and Dawson crashes in the corner. Dash runs in but Ciampa dodges him too. Tag to Gargano! Snap belly to belly on Dash. Dawson hits a back elbow. Gargano hits the roll kick and a neckbreaker for 2. On a corner charge Dawson lifts Gargano on the apron. Gargano gives Dash an apron PK to cut him off, then hits Dawson with the slingshot spear! Cover for 2. Revival blind tag. Dawson suckers Gargano into a DDT for 2. Gargano rolls Dawson up for 2. Tag to Ciampa. He avoids Dawson's DDT attempt and flips over into an armbar! Dash gets free from Gargano and breaks it up. Revival go for a double suplex. Gargano spears Dash and Ciampa rolls Dawson up for 2! The crowd's going ape shit now. Ciampa/Dawson slugfest. Ciampa hits a stiff open hand slap and high knee. Stiff punch response from Dawson. Revival sets up for Shatter Machine. Gargano superkicks Dawson and Ciampa jackknife covers Dash! Dash *just* kicks out! Oh, the crowd bit hard on that one. DIY finisher! Ciampa covers for 3! NO! Dawson got Dash's foot on the rope just in time! The ref immediately waves it off and the match continues. Another old spot used to perfection. Dawson gets knocked around. Ciampa gets pulled out to the floor and posted. Dash clips Gargano's knee! Stomp to the knee off the second rope! Revival had "injured" Big Cass the exact same way not that long ago. Dawson hooks on a reverse figure four! Gargano tries to fight but has to tap out! The crowd deflates pretty bad, they really wanted DIY to win it, but I can't say it's a bad call. Afterward Ciampa helps Gargano out to a crowd ovation. What a match. Brilliant teamwork, stiff, physical, everything you could want. The tag title match steals Takeover again. And this isn't even the best match these two teams will have. ****3/4

 

NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Bayley in 14:07- Bayley was scheduled to get a rematch with Asuka at Takeover: The End and presumably move to the main roster after, but everything was delayed after she was injured in a match with, who else, Nia Jax. There was a ton of chatter online about why Bayley hadn't moved up already, but presumably Trips wanted to give her one last sendoff after healing. This is that sendoff. Bayley shows a lot of early fire, pushing Asuka out of lockups. Asuka doesn't looked fazed in the slightest. Dueling chants from the crowd. After a test of strength Bayley rolls through some flash pin attempts. Asuka takes refuge in the corner and Bayley hits her with a corner clothesline. Bayley comes off the second rope, but Asuka counters with a knee strike to the face. Bayley rolls out holding her nose. As soon as she gets back in Asuka is on her with knee strikes again. Corner hip attack. Asuka hooks on a cobra twist in the ropes. They trade off buckle shots, with Bayley going hard into the middle turnbuckle. She hangs in the ropes and Asuka kicks the hell out of her, including one vicious looking one where Asuka holds her foot then lets it go, snapping right on the back of Bayley's neck. Running knee on the floor from Asuka. More buckle shots wake Bayley up and she pounds Asuka into the buckle. Suplex. Diving back elbow and diving clothesline. Bayley Buddy elbow. Asuka lifts Bayley to the apron. She tries a running hip attack but Bayley dodges! Nice callback to the last match. Bayley pounds Asuka from the apron and snaps her over the second rope. Crossbody back in for 2. She goes for another one off the top but Asuka dodges. Shining wizard for 2. Bayley blocks a superplex, slides under, and puts Asuka in the tree of woe. Corner elbow drop. Forearm exchange. Asuka's going to win that every time. Running shot tradeoff. Asuka trips Bayley and puts her in numero dos! Bayley turns it over into a cradle for 2. Euro clutch bridge from Bayley! Asuka gets out before 3. Ankle lock! Bayley uses her free leg to kick Asuka to get out of it. A big punch floors Bayley. Asuka chest kicks. Bayley grabs her leg and tells Asuka to hit her again! Ooooh, that's not smart. Asuka does. Bayley grabs an arm into a backslide for 2. She gets her own strikes in. Asuka back fist! Bayley grabs Asuka's legs and lifts her, can't hold it, lifts her again, and faceplants her for 2. That didn't go 100% according to plan. Asuka goes for the Asuka Lock! Bayley fights but Asuka cinches it in! Bayley screams! Not this time! She fights out. Bayley to Belly! Asuka kicks out! Bayley goes for another. Asuka Lock! Bayley rolls over into a cover for 2. Kick to the head from Asuka. Bayley gets right back up! Bushido! Kick from Bayley! Harder kick from Asuka that puts Bayley on her knees. Asuka kicks Bayley's head off! That gets the pin! Another fantastic match from these two. I love the ending. After last time Bayley had the Asuka Lock scouted, so Asuka had to murder her to finally put her down. After the match Asuka helps Bayley up and they hug it out. Bayley gets her well deserved sendoff moment from the crowd as she was finally main roster bound to rejoin the other Four Horsewomen. ****

Joe's got the full security entourage for his walk to the ring. Wait, who's that? Why, that's current AEW World Champion MJF! And Joe shoves him on his way out! Now we know what MJF has been pissy about all these years. During the video package we see the build for this had one of the seminal moments in NXT history: Nakamura stealing Joe's nose. Vicious, blood feud stuff.

 

NXT Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura def Samoa Joe (c) in 21:14- How do you top the huge entrances Nakamura's had at his first two Takeovers. Why, with a live violin player of course! It's spectacular. The crowd comes absolutely unglued for Nakamura. This is another first time matchup of legends outside WWE taking place in an NXT ring. Joe shoves Nakamura before intros. Nakamura goes right into cool mind games mode. After the bell the crowd sings Nakamura's music again. Rough lockup and Joe scrapes Nakamura's face with his arm in the corner. Knucklelock and both guys try to hit kicks. Joe slaps! Nakamura gets a takedown. They jockey for position on the mat, with Joe showing he can mat wrestle as well as murder you. Arm wringer from Joe with a little added headbutt to the wrist spice. Nakamura does the elaborate escape and another mat wrestling stalemate. Joe cranks a headlock. Nakamura grabs his nose to back Joe into the corner! Nice callback to the build. He does the head waggle. Joe ducks kicks. Come on knee from Nakamura. More knees in the corner and good vibrations. Joe rolls out for a breather, then pulls Nakamura out with him. Huge Joe chop. Nakamura runs Joe into the apron. Another big Joe chop. Back in Joe does the corner elbow/enzuguri combo. Nakamura kicks Joe from the apron. Running floor knee. Joe dodges the apron knee and Nakamura splats knee first on the floor. Joe TOPE SUICIDA absolutely bowls Nakamura over! Back in Joe hits a back elbow, chest kicks and an elbow drop. He wraps Nakamura's head and cranks his arm right out of the socket. Nakamura gets to the ropes. Knee and forearm from Nakamura. Joe sweep kicks him. Hard powerbomb for 2. Joe transitions into a Boston crab, then an STF, then a crossface. Nakamura rolls him over for a 2 count. Enziguri and misdirection kick from Nakamura. Both guys are down. Nakamura starts getting momentum with strikes. Corner knee. Joe blocks the inverted exploder. Inverted atomic drop from Joe. Big face kick but Nakamura dodges the follow up senton. Nakamura guillotine. Joe lifts out. Nakamura takes him down and hits his grounded knees to the top of the head. Uranage in the corner from Joe. He didn't hit that 100%. He sets up for the muscle buster. Nakamura fights it off. Kick off the second rope. Forearms lead to a hard strike exchange. HUGE Joe clothesline with a 360 Nakamura sell. He tries a spinning clothesline but Nakamura rolls it into an armbreaker! Joe blocks it. He tries to escape but Nakamura transitions into a triangle choke. Joe counters into a cloverleaf. Nakamura gets to the ropes. Joe goes for the coquina clutch. Nakamura backs him into the corner. He runs into a huge Joe knee for 2. Ground elbows from Joe. He gets the clutch on! Nakamura barely manages to save himself by just getting a foot on the rope. Joe goes for the muscle buster again. Nakamura fights it off and hits a German suplex! Joe landed on his head. Kinsha....no, Joe snap powerslam for 2! Another muscle buster fight. Joe enzuguri. The muscle buster hits! Nakamura kicks out! Another setup. Nakamura gets free. Short kinshasa! Joe's holding his jaw after. Second rope knee. Full KINSHASAAAAAAAAAAAA! Pin and new champ! The crowd goes nuts. Joe immediately rolls out and the ref throws the X up. Nakamura hit Joe flush with that first short kinshasa and dislocated his jaw. It's Joe so he'd be back like a week later. Not a blowaway match by any means, but it's certainly a worthy Takeover main event. It's also another very non-WWE style match in an NXT main event. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The first half is more solid than great, with decent matches and debuts of varying success. Once the title matches hit in the second half though, it's gangbusters. NXT delivers in Brooklyn once again.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-