NXT Takeover: Toronto

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Toronto

November 19, 2016 from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto

Commentary: Tom Phillips and Corey Graves

Bobby Roode def Tye Dillinger in 16:28- This is very much a placeholder match for Roode before a main event spot opens up for him. These two randomly teamed up for the Dusty Classic but couldn't coexist long enough to make it through one match. Them turning on each other was Dillinger's official face turn after months of being the new cult darling at Full Sail. Roode gets a full chorus for his entrance while the whole crowd sings his theme again, heel or no heel. Dillinger, on top of being the new NXT homegrown darling, gets a huge almost hometown reaction. In fact both these guys are originally from Ontario. They stare down after the bell to let the crowd soak the moment in. GLORI...no, Dillinger attacks! Back and forth start. Dillinger clotheslines Roode 360 to the floor, immediately throws him back in, then clotheslines him 360 out again on the other side! Chops on the floor. Roode gets whipped into the barricade and Dillinger backdrops him on the floor. Back in Roode begs off. Dillinger is disinclined to acquiesce to the request. Means no. 10! Classic mounted punches from Dillinger, of course with a big pop for 10. He goes for another 360 clothesline but Roode backdrops him to the floor. He sneaks around the ring and runs Dillinger into the barricade, then drops him on it. Roode hits a couple of apron shots and chokes Dillinger in the corner back in. Corner clothesline. Clubbing blow off the second rope. GLORIOUS pose. Dillinger counters a neckbreaker into a backslide for 2. Corner whip and Roode hits the neckbreaker off the rebound. Kneedrop. Now Roode goes for mounted punches, very slowly, clearly mocking Dillinger. After a few Dillinger counters with an inverted atomic drop and goes into full comeback mode with rapid fire forearms, a clothesline and kneedrop. Corner stomps. The kneepad is off. Roode sees and rolls out to huge boos. He tries to walk but Dillinger chases and brings him back in. He runs into a Roode spinebuster for 2. Superplex from Roode. He gets cocky again, flashes 10 at Dillinger and also takes his kneepad off. Roode sets up to give Dillinger his own Tyebreaker! Dillinger escapes. Roode blocks a superkick, rolls Dillinger up and puts his feet on the rope. It clearly would have been a pin but the ref just barely catches the feet on the rope before hitting 3. Roode argues and Dillinger rolls him up for 2. Superkick! Roode kicks out! Both guys are slow to recover. Slugfest that starts slow but ends up being a pretty headed forearm exchange. Dillinger scoops for the Tyebreaker. Roode escapes and hooks up the Glorious DDT. Dillinger gets out, rolls, and hooks on a Sharpshooter! Roode teases tapping but manages to get to the ropes. Small package from Roode. Dillinger rolls it over for 2. Roode runs Dillinger into the post on both sides. Glorious DDT! That gets the pin. The first half was a bit meh but they got going good in the second half and the character work was great throughout. Dillinger stays in the ring after Roode leaves to soak up some crowd love. ***1/4

 

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) def TM-61 in 8:20- TM-61 is TMDK toward the start of their frankly unspectacular NXT run. They're in New Japan full time now, where TMDK is now a full blown stable led by Zack Sabre Jr. AOP were clearly being groomed as the next big team in NXT, and had defeated DIY in the tournament semifinals which would be important later. Very little reaction for either team on their entrances, especially TM. Paul Ellering is being suspended in a shark cage for this match, for two reasons outside the obvious: it's a tie in to a new toy set WWE just put out that had a shark cage with the ring, and it's a callback to The Last Battle of Atlanta, which had recently been found on an unmarked reel of film in the old WCW library after being thought for decades to have not been recorded at all (which I'd love to review sometime if WWE Network could get their shit together and put all the Hidden Gems that are on the "regular" Network on Peacock). After the extremely dramatic cage lowering Ellering gets in with surprisingly little argument. Akam jumps Miller at the bell. TM blind tag and double team AOP. Thorn falls out of the ring while giving Rezar a 360 clothesline, then Miller tope suicidas Akam. Rezar pops back up and knees Thorn. He puts Thorn on his shoulders and starts to climb the crane that's holding the cage in what can only be described as an obvious spot setup, there's no logical reason for this. Thorn fights him off and continues the climb. Dive off the crane on AOP! Again Rezar is up quick and flips Thorn ass over top on the apron. Thorn goes Mighty in peril while AOP work big guy offense on him. Ellering is still coaching from the cage. The crowd keeps trying to talk themselves into getting into the match but can never quite muster up the enthusiasm. Thorn continues to get tossed around. Finally he dropkicks Rezar into his corner, sneaks under his legs and tags. Miller slams and suplexes Akam, then hits a back suplex on Rezar. Diving forearms. The crowd is still pretty blah about it all. Moonsault on Rezar for 2. TM do stereo mounted punches. AOP lifts them up for the big collision, but TM both hurricanrana out. Thunder Valley hits! Akam makes the save. He gets tossed out and Miller hits a plancha. Thorn follows right up with a tope con hilo! TM is trying, I'll give them that. Ellering drops a chain into the ring. Rezar gets it and goes to punch, but Thorn blocks it and the chain flies all the way out into the crowd! That didn't go as intended. Thorn does a weird half sunset flip into a roll up for 2. Powerbomb from Rezar. The Last Chapter hits and it's over. Pretty bleh. **

Triple H, William Regal and Dustin Rhodes all come out for a quick trophy presentation. Everyone stands in the ring and poses for ringside photographers New Japan style.

 

Two out of Three Falls Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship: DIY def The Revival (c) in 22:18- These two teams tore the house down at the last Takeover in Brooklyn, why not do it again.

FIRST FALL- Revival have their pink and black Bret Hart/Hart Foundation trunks on for the Canada show. Dawson and Gargano start. Lots of crowd atmosphere soaking before the LOCKUP. After some basic headlock/headscissors stuff Dawson misses an elbow drop and Gargano rolls him in a magistral cradle for 2. Reset. Dawson gets a shot in on a corner break and beats Gargano down a bit. Blind DIY tag, Gargano inverted atomic drops Dawson and DIY double dropkick Revival. Quick Ciampa cover on Dawson for 2. Dawson eye rakes to get the edge back. Dash and Ciampa slug it out stiff back and forth. Slam and double team legdrop on Ciampa for 2. Dash goes for a bulldog but Ciampa pushes him into the corner. Gargano dodges Dash and gives him a snap belly to belly. Running Gargano corner chops on both Revival and he bulldogs Dash while clotheslining Dawson! Leaping neckbreaker for 2. Gargano gets caught in the wrong corner and tries to fight out. Slingshot spe....NO, DAWSON CATCHES HIM! INTO SHATTER MACHINE! Revival get the first fall!

SECOND FALL- Gargano's still wobbly but he gets a flash roll up on Dash for 2. Revival stop screwing around and pound away on Gargano. Dash clotheslines him 360 off the apron back into the ring. Slingshot suplex from Dawson for 2. Huge beatdown in the heel corner. Within the 5 count of course. Drop toe hold/elbow drop combo. Dawson wraps up a bodyscissors and scrapes Gargano's face with his forearm. Then he hooks Gargano up in a Gory Special. Gargano gets free and tries to fight out of the corner but is cut off again. Corner flipover, Gargano tries to crawl under Dash's legs to tag but Dawson sees and blocks him. Gargano tiltawhirls around Dash, nailing Dawson with a knee to the head as he goes around! Dawson does a phenomenal delayed flop sell. Always love those. DDT on Dash! Gargano slowly crawls by his fingernails to try to tag with Dawson also slow crawling to cry to cut him off. Dash does his usual sneak under the ring to pull Ciampa off the apron, but Ciampa's ready for him and fights him off! Tag! But the ref is arguing with Dash about his under the ring move and doesn't see it! Once again, an ancient tag spot made fresh. While Ciampa and the ref argue Gargano is beat down in the heel corner. HART ATTACK ON GARGANO! Gargano kicks out! Dash tries to back superplex Gargano but Gargano rolls over to cover for 2. Dawson tags in and grabs Gargano's tights to keep him from tagging....but Gargano back elbows Dawson and reaches Ciampa to tag! Shotgun dropkick off the top from Ciampa. Corner running knee. Fameasser for 2. Ciampa catches Dash coming in. Dawson tries a roll up off the distraction but Ciampa's quickly out. Ciampa German suplex! Rolling Germans! Running knee! Dawson kicks out! Revival try to set up a double team but Ciampa crossbodys Dawson off the top for a long 2. Dash is taken out again. DIY finisher! Pin! We're tied up.

THIRD FALL- Both sides get recovery time and we restart with Ciampa and Dash upright and throwing haymakers. Big open hand slap from Ciampa. Dawson blind tags in and tries a DDT, lots of arm counters, Ciampa tries a Fujiwara armbar, but Dawson counters with a crucifix for 2. Gargano blind tags in and Dawson runs right into a kick from him. Dash wipes Ciampa out with an uppercut but Gargano cuts him off with an apron PK. Gargano over the top rope DDT! Dawson kicks out! Another counter run. Revival outmaneuver Gargano and hit an uppercut/German suplex combo. Ciampa makes the save. Dawson posts Ciampa's shoulder. Gargano gets caught in the wrong part of town again. He tries to fight out and pounds Dawson with forearms. Gargano flips out of a backslide and gets a small package on Dawson for 2. The crowd is completely eating up every near fall now. Dash gets one of the tag belts and leaves it in the ring. Ciampa Cactus clothesline on Dash! Gargano goes for his rolling kick on Dawson. Dawson blocks the kick with the belt! Gargano's knee is hurt again! Inverted figure four! This is what won the last match. Gargano fights, almost taps, fights again, crawls, and gets to the ropes! Dash tags in. Oh no. Revival want to do DIY's finisher. Gargano dodges and Dash superkicks Dawson! DIY HIT SHATTER MACHINE! DAWSON SAVES THE PIN! Dawson plays possum Bret Hart style while things cool down. He gets a flash roll up on Gargano, with a handful of tights! Right before the ref counts 3 he sees the tights pull! Dash posts Ciampa. Gargano superkick on Dawson! Dash comes from behind and clips Gargano in the bad knee! Gargano gets a small package for 2. Dash jackknife cover for 2. Gargano cruicifix for 2. Into the GargaNo Escape! FUJIWARA ARMBAR FROM CIAMPA ON DAWSON! Revival grab each other's hands.....BUT THEY BOTH TAP OUT! MASSIVE POP! DIY do some crowd celebrating after. An absolute tag team masterpiece. Great story, nuclear hot crowd, incredible wrestling. This is still the standard by which all NXT tag title matches should be judged. *****

 

NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Mickie James in 13:07- The still undefeated Asuka demanded some real competition after putting all the other women in NXT away, so in stepped WWE legend Mickie James, making her return to the company after a long run in TNA. The NXT women's division was in flux at this point, with the Four Horsewomen all up on the main roster now and the holes they left hadn't been completely filled yet (that would be the main purpose of the first Mae Young Classic tournament the following summer). Nice pop for James for her return. All the fans on the entrance aisle are wearing Asuka's dollface mask on her entrance. Correction, everyone ringside is. Small "welcome back" chant for James on her formal intro. Big "Asuka's gonna kill you" chant after her intro. Cautious jockeying start into the lockup. A rough one. James and Asuka take each other down and never let the lockup go! Finally they break after the most epic lockup ever. Fantastic. The crowd loves it. Code of Honor handshake with some jawing. James cranks a headlock. Shoulderblock standoff. Takedown counters and Asuka does some arm work. James cartwheels and armdrags out. Shining wizard from James and Asuka rolls out to recover. James holds the ropes open for Asuka to get back in. She does cleanly. Hammerlock exchange. James tries to snap mare out but Asuka hangs on. Finally James gets a fireman's carry takedown into an ARMBAR. Asuka counters with a headscissors. After James escapes both lay in the first strikes of the match as things crank up. Asuka hip attack! James goes to the floor. Now Asuka holds the ropes open for her. Asuka does not let her get in clean. Another hip attack sends James back to the floor. James dodges a hip attack off the apron. Superkick! Flying headscissors on the floor. Asuka grabs a kick and puts on an ankle lock. She German suplexes James on the floor! James is a crumpled heap on the floor. She slowly crawls back in. Asuka tosses her across the ring by the hair and hits a corner dropkick to James' arm. Ground and pound from Asuka. Another hip attack against the ropes. She cobra twists James in the ropes. James dodges another rope hip attack. Chest kicks from Asuka. James grabs a running kick into a single leg crab. Into a Mutalock! Asuka gets to the ropes. I love how James kept the hold on completely and Asuka was legit carrying all her weight while she crawled toward the ropes. Forearm exchange. Asuka starts getting strike momentum. James ducks the spinning back fist and slaps Asuka! Uh oh. Now Asuka's got that MurderAsuka look. James effed up. But she ducks a strike into a neckbreaker. Running forearms from James. She dodges an Asuka splash attempt off the second rope. Flatliner and kip up. Splash off the top rope. Asuka kicks out. Asuka blocks a DDT into an armbreaker. James quickly grabs a rope. James ducks a kick and hits a huge roundhouse kick for 2. James goes for the DDT again. Counter into the Asuka Lock! James tries to counter and roll out, gets on top of Asuka for a brief cover, but Asuka gets her fully over and trapped. James taps! James offers a handshake after but Asuka sticks the belt in her face instead. James would end up going back to the main WWE roster full time at the start of '17 for a run as a player/coach. Perfectly good match though they had some communication trouble a time or two, and a very nice return for James, but the outcome was never in doubt. ***1/4

 

NXT Championship: Samoa Joe def Shinsuke Nakamura (c) in 20:12- This is Joe's rematch after Nakamura beat him for the title at the last Takeover. What's bigger than having one live violin player for Nakamura's entrance? Why a whole group of them of course! It's cool but the one guy that became Nakamura's big entrance regular when he was still being booked like Nakafreakingmura was better. They all seem to be playing different things too. Holy moly the crowd is nuts for Nakamura. I miss these days. As soon as the bell rings Nakamura unloads kicks. Joe strikes back. Good back and forth brawl. Rope break and Nakamura head waggle. Joe tries to use the opening for knee strikes but Nakamura squirts away. Come on knee, snap mare and kneedrop. Good vibrations. Joe rolls out for a think. Nakamura walks into a big chop. He kicks Joe over the barricade into the crowd! Crowd brawl! It's 1999 all over again! Joe gets flipped back over the barricade to ringside. Back in Joe reverses a corner whip and hits a back elbow and enzuguri. Corner boot scrapes. I really thought he was going to do his own good vibrations then. Joe goes for the running corner boot but Nakamura's seen it before and cuts it off with a knee to the gut. Ground knees to Joe's head. Nakamura runs into a Joe uranage! High impact offense sequence from Joe. Unique slam from Joe where he drops Nakamura's knees right on the mat. Kneebar from Joe. Nakamura manages to fight out with no rope break. Joe tries for a single leg crab but Nakamura fights it being put on all the way. Nakamura gets tossed to the floor. Joe TOPE SUICIDA! That always looks like an interior defensive lineman spearing a very small QB for a sack. Joe sets the stairs up. He looks to slam Nakamura on them but Nakamura fights away. Back in Joe looks like he's in full playing with his food mode. Nakamura gets a ripcord knee and misdirection kick. Both guys are down. One foot Nakamura dropkick. More knees and a kick to the face. Enzuguri. Corner knee. Nakamura hooks on a guillotine. Joe body slams out. Inverted atomic drop, big boot and senton from Joe for 2. Powerbomb for 2, into a Boston crab. Into an STF. Into a crossface. Nakamura escapes into an armbreaker try. Joe snap powerslam for 2. Nakamura sets up for the second rope knee strike. Joe Pele kicks him off and onto the apron! A kick from Nakamura puts Joe down again. Apron running knee. Second rope mini-kinshasa! Nakamura landed bad and both guys are down again. When they get up there's another stand up strike exchange. Joe is first down. Joe fights out of a reverse exploder attempt. Nakamura slips out of a suplex and hits a German! He sets up to finish it. Joe dodges and Nakamura runs knee first into the turnbuckle! Sweep kick from Joe. Muscle buster setup....Nakamura barely squeaks away in the middle of the ring! KINSHASA! JOE KICKS OUT! Nakamura definitely didn't get all of that one. Another go. Joe grabs the coquina clutch! The crowd sings Nakamura's music to inspire him. He backs Joe into the corner to get out. Joe keeps a waistlock and BURIES Nakamura with a German! DRAGON SUPLEX! Straitjacket German! Nakamura kicks out! Nakamura ducks a forearm. Kinshasa to the back of Joe's head! Joe falls out of the ring! The ref goes out to check on him. Nakamura loads up for another kinshasa on the floor. Joe shoves the ref aside and low blows Nakamura! Uranage onto the previously set up stairs! Joe throws Nakamura back in. MUSCLE BUSTER! Pin and new champ! Wow. I distinctly remember how shocking this was. Everyone thought Joe would put Nakamura over one more time before going up to the main roster. Instead, he becomes the first ever two time NXT Champion. I think this was very much a thank you from Triple H for all the work Joe had done, main eventing five straight Takeovers, easily the most ever to that point. It also allowed Nakamura to win the title back in his home country two weeks later during NXT's first ever tour of Japan, also making Nakamura a two time champion and marking the end of Joe's NXT run. He would move up to the main roster right after the '17 Royal Rumble. Even though I like the result less (nothing against Joe, Nakamura's one of my all time favorites), this was definitely the better of the two matches and a great Takeover main event. ****1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- NXT closes 2016 with another superb Takeover. As the year ended they remained the hottest thing in all of wrestling, although at this point New Japan was starting to catch up thanks to the popularity explosion of Bullet Club/The Elite in hardcore circles, and the incredible Omega/Okada matches bringing more eyeballs to their product. Over the course of the year NXT had also shown remarkable skill at constantly refreshing the roster, bringing in huge new names as more guys moved up to the main roster. Sadly that wouldn't work forever as the talent pool available was not infinite. But NXT still had a least a couple of years left as the red hot product in the industry.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-