NXT Takeover: The End

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: The End

June 8, 2016 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL

 

Commentary: Tom Phillips and Corey Graves

 

The "The End" name for this show (which was alternately "The End of the Beginning") mostly comes from the fact that it was the last planned Takeover to take place at Full Sail, they were all going on the road after this one. The weekly NXT show would mostly continue to be taped at Full Sail. Of course, 2020 craziness changed that but no one could predict that at the time. It also refers to this being the last match of the Samoa Joe/Finn Balor Takeover trilogy, the first matchup to main event three Takeovers.

 

In keeping with the "end of the beginning" theme the opening video focuses on NXT history from back to the very first show, alternating between NXT and main roster footage for NXT alumni like Seth Rollins, the Wyatt Family, the Four Horsewomen, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

Andrade Cien Almas def Tye Dillinger in 5:22- Big reaction for longtime NXT workhorse Dillinger in his Takeover debut. I'm pretty sure he was technically still a heel at this point, but Full Sail loved him. Almas, who previously worked as La Sombra under a mask but is now maskless, is making his NXT debut as the latest big signing. Mostly a CMLL wrestler, he'd won every title under the sun there, as well as the IWGP Intercontinental championship during one of his New Japan stints. He was also a co-founder (along with Rush and La Mascara) of the original Los Ingobernables stable in CMLL, the faction that Tetsuya Naito started his own branch of in New Japan after joining the group during a CMLL tour, completely altering his image and career forever. They do some jockeying at the start with the crowd firmly behind Dillinger, followed by basic standoffs and some really nice chain wrestling. The crowd tries to give Almas some love too with a "He's 100" chant. Dillinger cartwheels out of a hold and gives us a 10! More extended counters, leapfrogs, ending with Almas hitting a basement dropkick. A flying headscissors sends Dillinger to the floor. Almas teases a dive but does his tranquilo pose in the ropes instead. Back in Almas does a handstand in the corner, but then runs into a Dillinger tiltawhirl backbreaker. Big Dillinger chop. Almas goes for a moonsault off the second rope, sees Dillinger dodging and lands on his feet, then hits a standing moonsault for 2. Forearms and another corner handstand. Dillinger takes the opening to give him a superkick! Cover for 2. The knee pad is off! Almas fights out of the Tyebreaker. Corner elbows. Almas handspring kick. Wheelbarrow into a DDT! Almas hits the meteora! That gets the pin. The match was OK, but Dillinger was not a good pick for Almas' debut both because it was a pretty big style clash (though that opening basic wrestling exchange was really smooth), and the crowd was cheering Dillinger when they should have been cheering Almas. It was foreshadowing in a way as Almas would have a pretty rough first year in NXT before finally finding his footing in the second half of 2017 after a heel turn and the addition of a very good manager. **1/2

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival def American Alpha (c) in 16:00-This is a rematch from the Dallas Takeover, where Alpha won the titles. Alpha come out in their Team Angle inspired entrance gear. Gable and Dawson start. Leverage fight and a quick Revival tag. Lockup! Dash works a top wristlock with Gable doing a nice bridge. Dash lets go and drops Gable. Chop from Dawson. Gable fights out of the corner. Dawson hits shoulderblocks. Gable gets a spinning armdrag and flying headscissors. Jordan tags in with dropkicks. He works an armbar on Dawson. Dawson fights out and we have a 2v2 standoff. Slugfest! Crazy extended double counter sequence and Alpha put on stereo ankle locks! Revival escape to the floor. Jordan outwrestles Dash into a 2 count. The champs works on Dash's arm. Dawson distracts the ref, giving Dash an opening to eye rake out and tag. Gable backslide on Dawson for 2. Gedo clutch for 2. A HUGE Dawson uppercut sends Gable over the top to the floor. Revival drag Jordan in. Gable comes off the top with a double clothesline! Alpha dropkicks! Double 360 clotheslines on Revival! Alpha strikes the Steiners pose as the crowd barks. Back in Gable hits an atomic drop. Dawson takes advantage of a Gable headscissors to work him into a double team hot shot! That was good. Double corner beatdown on Gable. Revival drop toe hold/elbow drop combo for 2. Dawson keeps Gable from tagging and gives him a basic slam. Gable dodges elbow drops, fights Dash off, and gets a sunset flip for 2. I really like how both teams are working in lots of old school simple moves. The basics of wrestling never go out of style. Ideally the moves are often less important than who's doing them, and why. There's a deep insight lesson for you. Dawson cuts off another Gable tag attempt and turns him over into an Arn Anderson spinebuster! He drops Gable on Dawson's knee for 2. Dash continues to work the old school ARMBAR. Another Gable tag is held back. Dash sets Gable up top, but makes the mistake of turning to jaw at Jordan, and when he comes back Gable grabs a hanging armbreaker! Very Minoru Suzuki hold there. Gable doesn't get out of it as gracefully as Suzuki does though and both guys fall to the floor. Dawson rolls Dash back in to tag. Off the charts tag wrestling IQ move. Gable dives for a tag but Dawson cuts him off with a dropkick! Alabama Jam! Gable kicks out! Gable fights off another double team, crawls under both Dash and Dawson's legs and gets the tag! Jordan hot tag run. The straps are down! Corner spear! Exploder suplex for 2. Dash drop toe holds Jordan face first into the middle turnbuckle. Dawson sunset flip off the top rope with a clothesline assist for a long 2. Uppercuts. Jordan counters into a backslide and blind tag. Alpha dropkick/German suplex combo for their own long 2. Dash pulls Jordan off the apron. Gable blocks a Dawson DDT! Ankle lock! Dash gets him free and Dawson gets a tights roll up for 2. Dash sets Gable up on his shoulders. Dawson comes off the top rope, but Gable grabs him and twists into a belly to belly suplex! Now that was a Steiner Brothers move. Cover for 2. Jordan corner spear! Alpha set up for Grand Amplitude. Dawson pushes Gable out of the ring! SHATTER MACHINE! Revival get the pin and become the first ever 2 time NXT tag team champions! In fact they're the first two time any kind of NXT champion. That was a masterclass in tag team wrestling that raised the bar even higher from their Dallas match, and the scary thing is we still haven't had the Revival's best match on a Takeover in 2016 yet. ****1/2

After the Revival leave Alpha are attacked from behind in the ring by two huge guys wearing all black! Commentary has no idea who they are, but it was the debuting Authors of Pain. After the beatdown Paul Ellering himself, the legendary former manager of the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom, appears on the entrance stage, clearly the brains behind this operation. This would end up being Alpha's last Takeover before moving up to the main roster, where'd they'd have some of the usual NXT guys going to the main roster issues, be broken up for no reason, and then Jason Jordan's incredibly promising career (even taking the awful Kurt Angle's son angle into account, he would have recovered from that) was tragically cut short by a career ending neck injury. He has stayed with WWE as a road agent ever since so I'm glad he's still involved in some way. Gable continues to chug along to this day, always one of the most underrated guys out there but he gets regular TV time and good matches at least.

Meanwhile, while Asuka is warming up she's wished luck by the woman she beat for the title, the injured (she had another match with Nia Jax) Bayley.

 

Shinsuke Nakamura def Austin Aries in 17:05- NXT is bringing us a first time matchup of two guys who've been big names outside WWE for years but somehow never crossed paths before. No one outright says it but you can figure this is a de facto #1 contender's matchup, there needs to be a fresh face in the main event at the next Takeover. Aries' ribs are taped up going in and no one knows why. After Nakamura's entrance Aries does some light mocking of his stretching routine. The crowd sings Nakamura's music after the bell. There's dueling chants for both guys, but the crowd is probably about 75% pro Nakamura. Midring leverage fight and Nakamura gets a takedown. Clean rope break. Nakamura does the classic World of Sport escape from a wristlock into another good basic wrestling exchange. Both guys dodge kicks and it's a stalemate again. Another rope break and Nakamura does the head waggle. Aries shoves him and Nakamura does the "come on" gesture. Aries does right into a knee strike. Why do guys keep falling for that? Aries works into an armdrag and basement dropkick, then tells Nakamura to "come on". Nakamura does with more knee strikes. Snap mare and kneedrop. Good vibrations! Twice! On the try for a third Aries grabs Nakamura's leg and hits a kneebreaker into a dragon screw. He dropkicks Nakamura's knee against the ropes. Second rope elbow to the back of Nakamura's neck. Aries goes into slow picking apart mode. Nakamura reverses a whip into a ripcord knee and hits a kick. Huge forearm and more kicks. Aries is doing some crazy selling of these kicks. Nakamura corner knees and the roll back knee. Aries blocks a reverse exploder attempt. Chop. He goes for the discus elbow but Nakamura cuts it off with a knee. Aries works around into a rollup for 2. Facelock knees to the head from Aries. The discus elbow hits! Nakamura falls out to the floor. Aries tope suicida! He rolls Nakamura back in immediately and covers for 2. Then for some reason Aries stands around for a minute adjusting his rib tape. Nakamura pulls him down into a triangle choke! Aries gets a leg on the ropes. Hard ground knees from Nakamura. Reverse suplex. He sets up to finish it. Aries blocks the Kinshasa, hits another kneebreaker and floats over into the Last Chancery! It's fully applied. Nakamura fights and manages to work it loose and get a foot on the rope. Aries hurricanrana off the second rope. Corner dropkick. He goes for the 450 splash. Nakamura dodges but Aries adjusts and rolls through. He blocks a Nakamura corner knee and pulls him out onto the apron. Forearm exchange on the apron. Nakamura enzuguri! Aries catches Nakamura leaping and gives him a DVD on the apron! Hardest part of the ring! While Nakamura's recovering on the floor Aries goes for another tope. Nakamura dodges and Aries crashes into the barricade! Knee off the second rope! Reverse exploder! KINSHASAAAAAAAAAAAAA! It's all over. Really good match with a red hot crowd, but it was missing that little something extra to get it to the next level. Probably the "Austin Aries in WWE" effect. ***3/4

 

NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Nia Jax in 9:12- As mentioned earlier, Jax beat Bayley in a #1 contender's match to get this shot, putting Bayley on the shelf in the process. This is the first Takeover ever that doesn't have a member of the Four Horsewomen in the women's title match (or first since Arrival if you count that as a Takeover). Asuka tries some stick and move early that frustrates Jax. Asuka is oozing confidence. Jax headbutts out of a wristlock and tosses Asuka across the ring. Asuka tries to fight out of the corner but Jax backs her into it. Corner clothesline. Asuka rolls around Jax and tries to wrap her in a cobra twist. She's way too big for that. Back kick from Asuka, then she runs into a Jax backbreaker. Jax stretches Asuka out in the ropes and tries to mock her by rubbing some of her facepaint line off. Asuka gets bent over Jax's knee. She escapes and puts on a guillotine. Jax has been beaten enough by that and even she's figured out a counter, suplexing Asuka out of it. Cover for 2. Asuka ducks a short clothesline, spins around in a headscissors into an armbar attempt. Jax escapes, but Asuka stays on her and tries for a triangle. Jax lifts and drops her in the corner. Running knee. She stretches Asuka's back around the post. Shots from Asuka are shrugged off and Jax grabs a bear hug. Asuka fights out into a sunset flip. Jax tries to counter but Asuka works her over into a kneebar. Jax gets to the ropes. Asuka is up with kicks. Jax hits a spinebuster. She goes for the legdrop but Asuka dodges. Running knee! Missile dropkick off the second rope. Back fists! Hip attack for 2. Jax grabs a kick and slams Asuka. Cover. Asuka turns it into an armbar! Into a Fujiwara armbar! Jax stands up. Asuka tries for the Asuka Lock but again Jax is too Yokozuna sized. By women's standards. Kick to Jax's head! Spin kick! A combo of kick's to Jax's face! She's out and Asuka pins her! The undefeated streak continues. After the bell Jax looks legit woozy and medical checks on her. Asuka got as much out of Jax as was humanely possible. ***

Earlier tonight, GM William Regal was being interviewed. During said interview Bobby Roode walks behind him. A PA comes up and whispers in Regal's ear and he has to hastily excuse himself.

 

Steel Cage Match for the NXT Championship: Samoa Joe (c) def Finn Balor in 16:10- After losing to Balor two straight Takeovers Joe finally wrested the title away at a house show in Lowell, MA in late April. Balor should have brought the Demon. He does tonight because it's Takeover. This is NXT's first ever steel cage match, and it's being used for what it was designed for- settling a long running heated feud. It's pin or escape rules tonight. Feeling out start. Joe turns and goes for the door, more to sucker Balor in than actually try to get out, and it works. Joe pounds away with jabs. Balor blocks a cage shot, hits kicks and a shotgun dropkick. Joe goes into beatdown mode. Balor gets both boots up in the corner, hits chops and a diving clothesline. Chops all around the world. Joe tries to go to the top rope but Balor kicks him off, and Joe's head falls on the rope coming down. Balor climbs and Joe pulls him back down. He throws Balor into the cage back first. Twice. I think they're being extra cautious about anyone getting accidentally busted open after what happened in Dallas. Shame, since it's a cage match it could use a bit of blood. Corner elbows into an enzuguri from Joe. Corner beatdown and boot scrapes. Running kick. Balor fights back and we have a slugfest. Joe tosses him to the cage again, again Balor taking it back first. He goes for the door but Balor stops him. Rapid fire strikes from Balor and he tries to dive for the door. Joe grabs him by the leg and drags him back in. German suplex from Joe for 2. He climbs and Balor joins him. Joe kicks Balor in the back and both guys fall down! Big Joe chop. Balor dodges and Joe crashes into the cage! Joe gets stuck on the ring apron between the ropes and the cage. Running chop from Balor. Another. Joe ducks a third, Balor runs into the cage, and Joe tries to hook on the coquina clutch. He's still on the apron so Balor snaps him over the top rope to get out. Shotgun dropkick from Balor. He starts to climb over Joe. Joe grabs a boot. Balor gives him a PK from the top rope! Balor loses his balance and falls down crotch first on the rope! After some recovery time Balor runs into a uranage. Joe hooks up for the muscle buster. Balor gets free and cradles Joe for 2. Forearm exchange. Balor swings a Pele kick as he's going down and both guys are down. When they get up both climb again. Chops and forearms on the top rope. Balor slingblades Joe off the top rope! Delayed cover for 2. Regular slingblade! Joe dodges the John WOOOOOO dropkick and hits a senton. The muscle buster hits! Balor kicks out! Joe is shocked, then angry. He shouts to Balor he's going to finish him. Stiff kicks. He tries to Razor's Edge Balor into the cage but Balor escapes and runs Joe into the cage. Another slingblade. John WOOOOO hits! Coupe de Gracie! Joe kicks out! They've kicked out of each other's finishers. The crowd chants "up", clearly wanting a CDG from the top of the cage. Balor sets up for Bloody Sunday. Joe counters into the coquina clutch! Balor works over, climbs the corner to flip out, and hits a double stomp. He looks up and starts climbing, fighting Joe off in the process. He gets one leg over as Joe grabs the other leg. Balor gets the second leg free and over, and dangles over the top of the cage as Joe holds onto him. Joe works Balor over into muscle buster position! Super muscle buster! That gets the pin! Demon Balor suffers his first ever NXT loss. The usual good stuff between these two, but there was also a little something off or missing. Part of it might have been, again, them being super careful not to get busted open after all the blood and stoppages in the Dallas match. In the end the first match of the Joe/Balor trilogy back in London was the best. I think the match also went a little short, as there's a lot of vamping and stalling the last few minutes of air time. This would not surprisingly be Balor's last Takeover. He'd move to the main roster over the summer and be pushed to the moon, winning the inaugural Universal title at Summerslam. But he'd also get hurt in that match and have to relinquish the title the next night on Raw, something that will lose you favor with Vince real quick. Since then Balor's been more a solid hand and upper midcard guy than a main event player. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Pretty middle of the road as Takeovers go. Everything is watchable and most of it is good, but the tag title match is the only must see classic, not the last time the tag title match will steal a Takeover in 2016.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+