NXT Takeover: Chicago

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Chicago

May 20, 2017 from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson

This is the "odd" Takeover for 2017, the one not taking place with any of the Big 4 PPVs. In fact it's happening in conjunction with Backlash, barely a month and a half after the last Takeover. Several major names were called up just after Wrestlemania (among them Shinsuke Nakamura, Tye Dillinger and The Revival) so NXT is in a bit of a roster switchover and restock.

Roderick Strong def Eric Young (w/Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain) in 13:42- Strong has been Sanity's latest target for months, with a bit of a "Roddy vs the world" story going. Strong gets one up on Sanity early, faking out his entrance and coming through the crowd to take out Wolfe and Dain before getting in the ring. Young tries to back off but Strong is all over him. He 360 clotheslines Young to the floor. The crowd is all Roddy. Back in Strong hits chops and a dropkick. Young gets a back elbow in the corner and hits a side suplex to huge boos. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Strong turns on the jets and hits a clothesline. Running corner elbows. Young does a flip over in the corner and lands on the apron. Strong knocks him down with a running knee. Wolfe tries to get Young out of the way during a Strong charge and Strong takes Wolfe out with a baseball slide. Dain crossbodys Strong on the floor as the numbers start to be too much. Back in Young goes into slowish beatdown mode. He hooks on his corner hanging dragon sleeper, then an elbow off the second rope for 2. Wolfe gets a kick in. More slow beatdown from Young. A Strong comeback is cut off with a back elbow. Young goes for the hanging sleeper again. Strong fights out of it. Young tries coming off the second rope but Strong dropkicks him in midair. That starts off a Strong comeback flurry. Backbreaker! What else would you expect from Strong? Corner high knee and flip slam for 2. Young bails to the floor. Strong follows. Young plucks him off the apron and hits the wheelbarrow neckbreaker on the floor! Both guys are down for a while. Young rolls Strong back in and covers him for 2. He goes up top. Strong grabs his foot. Young headbutts him back down and hits an elbow off the top for 2. He sets up for the finishing wheelbarrow neckbreaker. Strong counters into a cradle for 2. Dain and Wolfe get taken out again. Strong goes for the Olympic slam but Young eye rakes him mid-move. Both guys go up top and have a suplex leverage fight. Strong hits another high knee and Young falls down into the other Sanity guys! Back in Young hits a kick. Another Strong high knee. Vertebraker! That gets the pin for Strong! I believe this was the first time Sanity had ever been defeated in any real way. Quality opener. ***1/4

Jim Ross comes out to join the booth for the next match, his first match called at a Takeover. Fortunately we don't get into an AEW-style overcrowded booth situation (they really need to streamline commentary) as Phillips and Watson both leave to let just Nigel call it with JR.

 

WWE United Kingdom Championship: "The Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne def Tyler Bate (c) in 15:27- While plans are still being put together to make what would be called NXT UK a full time brand, the WWE UK title that was introduced in January gets its first defense in the US. Dunne won this title shot on another UK Championship Special that was aired the night before this show. The crowd is mostly behind heel Dunne. I'd say that's Chicago being Chicago, but no offense to Bate I think that'd be true just about anywhere. Good basic back and forth mat wrestling start. Bate tries a headscissors escape but Dunne moves his legs around to re-trap him. Another attempt and Bate is out. Reset lockup and Dunne grounds Bate again, working his arm and doing a bit of finger joint manipulation. Bate escapes, hits a dropkick and kips up. Dunne goes out to the floor. Bate follows and gets a huge forearm for his trouble. Dunne twists fingers and sets up for a stair stomp. Bate gets his hand out just in time and leaps off the stairs for a flying elbow. He rolls Dunne back in and Dunne goes right back out the other side. Bate follows and again eats a forearm. Dunne x-plex onto the apron! Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Back in Dunne hits some mocking slaps and plays to the crowd. He grounds Bate with a hammerlock and does some more finger twisting. The ref counts that so Dunne stomps Bate in the very exposed ribs. Dunne hits some more forearms and stomps to the head. Kicks to the face start to fire Bate back up. Delayed exploder suplex from Bate! Running corner uppercuts. Dunne responds with a corner dropkick. Bate flips out of another x-plex attempt and hits a standing 360 splash. He plants Dunne with a Saito suplex for 2. Bate runs and tries another 360 splash. Dunne catches him in a triangle choke! Bate tries to use the position to work Dunne into a pin, then uses his superior strength to lift him up and slam him. Bate hoists Dunne up in a fireman's carry. Airplane spin! Around and around they go! This is a 21st century style airplane spin! The crowd goes bonkers for it. Bate drops Dunne, falls on top of him and gets a LONG 2 count. Dunne flips out of a German suplex attempt. Bate tries springboarding off the second rope but Dunne knocks him out of the air with a forearm! Dunne looks like he's going for another x-plex, but switches into a sitout powerbomb for 2. The crowd's freaking unglued now, hanging on every near fall. Kneeling light strikes evolve into a full on standing pub brawl. Bate throws up bop and hits bang! Dunne enzuguri! More strikes. Bate hits a pele kick. Dunne gets a PK. Bate goes into the ropes, does his crazy leaping head first slingshot, and hits a clothesline! Cover for 2. Bate hooks up for Tyler Driver '97. He lifts Dunne but can't hold him up. Dunne takes the opening and goes for the Bitter End. Bate counters into a DDT midmove! That gets a "holy shit" chant. Dunne goes to the floor again. Bate hits an asai moonsault! He rolls Dunne back in and goes up top. Corkscrew 450 splash! Dunne kicks out! And again rolls outside. Dunne goes for a huge tope dive. Dunne dodges and splats Bate on the floor! The Bitter End hits in the ring! Dunne gets the pin and the title! British Strong Style is the best. Or at worst a close second to Japanese Strong Style. Loved the psychology of Dunne continuing to make the rolling out to the floor work to get moves in when he knew Bate wasn't patient enough to not go for it, and it eventually won him the match. The Takeover hardcore fan crowd ate up every single second of this match as well, adding even more to the atmosphere. ****3/4

 

Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in 12:30- This was supposed to be the second Fatal Four Way in three Takeovers for the Women's title, but Ember Moon, who lost to Asuka one on one at the last Takeover, got legitimately injured shortly before the show. Asuka has crossed one year as champion, is still undefeated in NXT, and was showing no sign of slowing down or losing fan support. Even with her recent attempted heel turn for the Moon match she was still cheered. With Moon out this match has a very "challengers of the month" feel, especially since Cross and Riot seemed more interested in tearing each other apart than winning the title. After intros Cross tosses her jacket at Riot and runs her down with a forearm, then goes after Asuka. Off a whip Asuka accidentally/on purpose hip attacks Riot off the apron back to the floor. Cross takes a hip attack in the ring. Crossbody from Cross and she does her crazy unhinged attack on Asuka. Cross gets tossed out. Riot casually kicks her on the way back in the ring and stares down Asuka. Lockup. Dodges and shoulderblock collision! Another one! Asuka tries some maneuvering but Riot rolls her up for 1. A Riot kick sends Asuka down to the floor. Riot's dive attempt is cut off by Cross. They fight down to the floor. Cross tries to whip Riot into the steps. Riot leaps over the steps and hits Asuka with a forearm! Cross tackles Riot from behind. That's a penalty in the NFL. The injured Moon watches the match from one of the suites up in the arena while Cross beats Riot down in the ring. Neckbreaker. Asuka comes back in with a missile dropkick on Cross, then pummels her with chest kicks. Cross hits an elbow to the gut and a neckbreaker for 2. Asuka gets a kick in and hits a codebreaker. Riot comes back in with kicks that Asuka uses to lift her into a powerbomb. Into an ankle lock! Cross, with some difficulty, breaks it up. Riot rolls into a Cross forearm. Asuka gets low bridged down to the floor. Cross plays with Riot a bit while Riot says bring it on. Riot hits chops. Clothesline. Dropkick. She flying headscissors Asuka off the second rope, then uses her legs to push Cross into the middle buckle in the opposite corner. Everyone goes out again. Cross dives off the apron into an Asuka knee. Riot hits a tope suicida! Back in she hits a senton off the top rope on Cross. Asuka comes in and breaks the pin up by lifting Riot up into a German suplex for 2. Cross blocks an Asuka German, then blocks a spinning backfist, and takes Asuka down for 2. Then Cross jumps on Riot's back and tries to put on a sleeper. Asuka lifts her up and, with a Riot kick assist, hits the German on Cross. Riot takes Asuka down with another kick. Asuka dodges the top rope senton. Asuka Lock! A Cross splash breaks it up. Cross reverse DDTs Riot on the apron. She dodges an Asuka baseball slide and does her patented ring skirt trap and beatdown. Back in Cross hits a rope assisted magic killer on Asuka. Riot breaks the pin up. Cross and Riot hit simultaneous crossbodys. All three slowly get up. Cross and Riot look at each other, asses, and both charge at Asuka with a 360 clothesline! Cross then quickly tries to roll Riot up for 2. Riot crucifix pin for 2. Cross hits a knee to the head. She goes for the fisherman's neckbreaker. Riot counters out and nails Cross with an arm wringer kick. Cross is out. Asuka comes back in, MURDERS Riot with a knee right in the face, and covers *both* opponents for the pin! Well, that's a statement. Commentary asks the obvious question: can ANYBODY beat Asuka? Well it just so happens (this is me bringing this up, not commentary) the start of the first Mae Young Classic is less than two months away, and with it a wholesale restocking of the NXT women's division. The match was good, but only just. Nothing hugely wrong, it just didn't come together the way it could have. I think it was missing that crazy Cross spot that the four way back at San Antonio had too. ***

 

NXT Championship: Bobby Roode (c) def Hideo Itami in 17:50- After missing significant parts of the past two years with multiple injuries, much hyped signee Itami (KENTA) made his return on weekly NXT TV right after the last Takeover and attacked Roode to get thrown immediately into a title shot. With his return Itami also got the GTS back as his finisher. He invented the move but WWE wouldn't let him use it in the past due to its connections to persona non grata CM Punk. The fact this match isn't getting the main event spot doesn't say much about his pedigree as challenger either, though there are other reasons for the card structure. The Chicago crowd is firmly behind Roode. Staredown and lockup. Roode gives Itami a head games clean break. He winds the arms up. "Glo.." Itami scoops him up for a GTS! Roode squirts free and gets the hell out of town. Almost all the way up the aisle out. Back in they work through some basics and Itami hits a back elbow for 2. They trade shots in the corner with Itami getting the upper hand with chops. He hits a pair of PKs from both sides. Snap mare and kneedrop. He puts a knee pad down, then jumps over Roode and kicks some dirt back on him. Then Itami has the AUDACITY to try to do Roode's "GLORIOUS" shout. Roode pushes out of a tornado DDT attempt and hits a blockbuster for 2. Chops and corner clotheslines from Roode. Neckbreaker for 2. I'd forgotten how many people were doing a Rude Awakening-style hangman neckbreaker in NXT in these days. More people should be doing it now. I'd bring it back as a finisher. Roode kills a couple of minutes with an arm stretch and chinlock. An Itami comeback is cut off with a knee to the gut. Roode goes for another neckbreaker. Itami turns it into a backslide for 2. Roode hits a clothesline and taunts Itami. Itami responds with a huge stiff KENTA-esque open hand slap! Running kick from Itami, followed by a clothesline and more kicks. Suplex. He goes for the tornado DDT again, this time adjusting to snap Roode over the top rope. Clothesline off the top for 2. He tries to scoop for the GTS. Roode fight it off and pushes Itami into the corner. Itami dodges and Roode's shoulder is posted. Itami goes right to work on it with kicks. Roode tries a rollup. Itami blocks it and grabs the hurt arm for some kind of armbar but Roode keeps it from being fully applied. They go up top and Roode fights off a superplex. Itami dodges another blockbuster attempt. Falcon arrow for 2. More kicks to the shoulder. Itami goes for the corner dropkick but runs into a Roode spinebuster for 2. Roode does the "GLORIOUS" shout with only one arm. He goes for the Glorious DDT but his hurt arm gives out. Another GTS scoop. Roode grabs the top rope and snaps Itami over it. On the floor Itami is run into the barricade. Whip reversal and Roode goes bad shoulder first into the steps. Itami goes for the diving dropkick on the floor. Roode doges and Itami hits the steps, hurting his ankle in the process. Both guys stagger back in the ring. Slugfest. Itami hits some rapid strikes. The corner dropkick hits. He gets Roode up for the GTS! His leg gives out! Glorious DDT! Slow cover from the hurt Roode. Itami kicks out! The GTS hits! Roode falls out of the ring! Itami rolls him back in and covers for a long 2. He goes for another GTS. Roode tries to roll him up but Itami stacks him up for 2. More huge open hand slaps from Itami and Roode goes down. The kneepad is down. Itami goes for another GTS. Roode counters into a Glorious DDT! That gets the pin! Really good match, but missing that little bit extra to hit the upper echelon. Given his NXT history I don't think much of anyone was taking Itami any more seriously than a challenger of the month. ***3/4

Jinder Mahal challenging for the WWE Championship? Yeah, that'd never happen. That'd be the worst title reign of the modern era if it did. The only thing that could possibly make him winning the title worse is if he successfully retained against a red hot fresh from NXT Shinsuke Nakamura, and on a Big 4 PPV to boot. In a not at all related note, I still hate Summerslam 2017.

Fozzy's "Judas" is one of the 17 official theme songs for this Takeover, proving we are definitely in a pre-AEW world.

 

Ladder Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship: The Authors of Pain (c) (w/Paul Ellering) def DIY in 20:06- This is the one on one rematch DIY had been demanding for months. Only one ladder is visible at the start of the match, which is a nice change, but you know there'll be more. Someone in the crowd has a sign that says "Authors of Poop" which gives me a very juvenile chuckle. The bell rings and the big brawl is on. AOP uses Big Guy Logic to get the quick edge. DIY counter with some speed strikes and clear the ring to the delight of the crowd. They go out and start pulling more ladders out from under the ring. Knew there'd be more. While they're trying to decide what size they want for this ladder season AOP jump them from behind. Ciampa drop toe holds Rezar into the steps. Gargano hits a canonball senton off the apron. DIY go up the aisle and grab the tallest of all ladders, AKA the Jeff Hardy Suicide Ladder. They almost drop it on the way to the ring. AOP tries to fight them getting it all the way in the ring. Gargano with a tope suicida on them THROUGH the ladder! DIY get in and climb one of the regular size ladders, which look super tiny now. Akam comes in and tries to push them off but gets a ladder in the face instead. DIY try a double team on Rezar but he catches Gargano and drops him on top of Ciampa. AOP set up and start a slooooooow climb. Ciampa attacks them with another ladder. After getting AOP down he drops the ladder on them. Rezar holds a folded ladder up. Ciampa tries to climb it while Rezar is holding it! DIY both take a ladder in the face. AOP sets up for the super collider. DIY use the position to hop on the set up ladder! AOP push the ladder down. Ciampa comes down holding his knee and talks to the ref for a minute. More on that later. He's back up pretty quickly and gets whipped into the ladder. AOP trap Ciampa in the corner with a ladder and pummel him with it. The crowd is not happy. Another AOP slow setup and climb. They see DIY getting up to stop them so they hop down to punish them some more. DIY takes some more ladder shots. AOP get a couple of fresh large ladders out and straddle them between the ring corner and barricade. They set up to powerbomb DIY off the apron through those ladders. Ciampa squirts free and saves Gargano. Superkick from Gargano. A pair of DIY knees send AOP onto the horizontal ladders that they themselves set up. DIY takes a look at the Hardy Suicide Ladder and you can see the lightbulb go off. They climb up the tallest of the tall ladders. "Please don't die" chant. Double splash putting AOP through the ladders! One ladder broke. One didn't. Thankfully the whole spot was shown on TV in one wide shot with no camera cuts or zooms. "Holy shit" chant. After requisite recovery/replay showing time Ciampa is back in the ring. He sets up one of the normal sized ladders. Akam also gets in and they both climb. Gargano sets another ladder up adjacent to the one they're on. Rezar joins him. Ciampa gets knocked off. Rezar tries to push Gargano's ladder, but Gargano hops onto the ladder right below the belts! He punches Akam off! Gargano is all alone! The crowd goes wild for his apparent clear shot at the belts. But wait, Ellering gets in the ring! He pulls Gargano down! And the ladder! GARGANO SUPERKICKS ELLERING! Elder abuse! Good sell from the old man though. He's still got it. Akam takes Gargano out and AOP check on Ellering. They clearly care. Ciampa is isolated in the ring. AOP set up another large ladder in the corner and pound Ciampa into it. They set Ciampa up for what could be a kill shot. Gargano pushes Ciampa out of the way and clearly intends to take the shot himself! AOP hesitates for a second, then nail Gargano right in the face with the top of a ladder! That was *brutal* looking. Ciampa is distraught as Gargano writhes in pain. Small criticism: a shot like that should have drawn blood. AOP reset and start climbing again. Ciampa hops up behind Rezar, teases a German, then drops Rezar down through the ladder in the corner which SHATTERS! Almost like it was made of wood. Akam is still up the main ladder. Gargano is alive and grabs his foot! DIY wobble Akam with superkicks. The folded ladder falls on his shoulders! DIY finisher into the ladder! DIY stagger to get the ladder set back up and start climbing with the crowd going bonkers. They get hands on the belts! AOP pulls the ladder out and DIY dangle by the belt hook! AOP dual powerbombs! Super collider! With the crowd serenading them with boos, AOP get up the ladder, get the belts, and win to retain. Perfectly solid modern ladder match, with DIY again making the big monsters look like a million bucks. ****1/4

AOP leave and sad DIY are left in the ring. The crowd chants for them. Ciampa consoles Gargano with Gargano still selling the wicked ladder shot to the face. They help each other up and take a minute to soak in the applause and chants. More replays break the scene up. When we come back DIY are on the entrance stage arm in arm. The copyright box comes up. Well, I guess that's all for tonight, folks. Good night.

NO, THAT'S NOT ALL! CIAMPA SNAPS AND RUNS GARGANO INTO THE TRON! He punches Gargano down. They stare at each other, Gargano shocked, Ciampa pure steel. Running knee! Ciampa's face is full in frame and that's cold Psycho Killer eyes for sure. Even the heel loving Chicago crowd is booing Ciampa. The kneepad comes off. Another running knee! Even louder boos. Gargano is laid out on the commentary table platform. "Fuck you Ciampa" chant. Ciampa drags Gargano up onto the announce table, stands up, pulls Gargano up......AIR RAID CRASH OFF THE ANNOUNCE TABLE, OFF THE PLATFORM AND THROUGH A SIDE PLATFORM NEXT TO IT! Ciampa stands back up on the announce table to soak in the crowd's hate while medics run in to check on Gargano. "Asshole" chant. The stretcher is wheeled out. Ciampa sits down on the announce table to admire his handiwork while Gargano is neck braced. The copyright box comes up again, for real this time. Fade out and end scene.

Not to kill the mood, but it's essential I get this in: Ciampa legitimately tore his ACL during the match (and still not only finished the damn match, but the whole postmatch angle), meaning this long awaited red hot feud would unfortunately have to be put on ice until next year. In the end though, it might only have helped make it bigger.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The best Takeover of the year so far. Everything delivered to at least some degree, with Dunne and Bate putting on a near MOTYC (Match of the Year Candidate, which these days you pretty much have to hit 5 stars to truly be). One nitpick I would have is that in the three "proper" NXT title matches none of the titles really felt in jeopardy going into the show, which makes having the UK title change on here all the more smart. However, that nitpick is completely erased in the final evaluation by the long expected Ciampa turn on Gargano, which was executed to perfection. This was the night that we learned on Triple H booked shows, never trust the copyright box. It's not over until the screen completely fades out.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome

Legacy Review

Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome

January 4, 2007 from the Tokyo Dome

It's the start of year two following Antonio Inoki's ouster as head of New Japan after leading the company down a blind alley since about the turn of the century. The future of the company seemed OK thanks to the new majority owners, Yuke's, but the future of the annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show, which started in 1992 with New Japan's second joint show with WCW and had become the biggest date on New Japan's calendar, was very much in doubt. To try to inject some new life into the show New Japan and All Japan agreed to hold their first fully joint show, once a regular occurrence, since Keiji Mutoh's shocking defection to All Japan in 2002. But what to call this show that was hoped to begin a new era? Well it just so happened that in '06 Yuke's released a new game on PS2 and XBox 360 that featured a roster of wrestlers from all of Japan's top three companies: New Japan, All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH. The name of that game? Wrestle Kingdom. The name was agreed on by both sides, and we were off and rolling to the Tokyo Dome. It's safe to say that name stuck. This show would also be a tribute show to New Japan legend Shinya Hashimoto, who had passed away in 2005 from a brain hemorrhage at only 40 years old, with a special main event to take place in his honor after the title matches.

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so Japanese commentary only. You'll have to bear with me on most of these undercard tag matches as I'm not very familiar with the All Japan roster.

Ryusuke Taguchi, Masanobu Fuchi and El Samurai def Kikutaro, Akira Raijin and Nobutaka Araya in 8:20- Fuchi being on the New Japan side is weird as he's a career All Japan guy through and through. Must have something to do with being opposed to Kikutaro, a comedy wrestler who wears a cartoon mask with giant ears and a pink baseball jersey. He's basically a baseball mascot come to life. Since his last 1/4 show appearance Taguchi has become the full Funky Weapon that we still know today, though with an afro that has to be seen to be believed. My "Fuchi is on the New Japan side because he hates Kikutaro" theory is validated early as the two of them go at it. Kikutaro gets his comedy spots in, like doing his own count and getting slapped by the ref. Kikutaro dares Fuchi to hit him and Fuchi hits his teammates instead. Again the ref gets annoyed with Kikutaro and attacks him. Samurai and Kikutaro trade low blows, then the ref gets low blowed. We're digging into the midget match comedy spot bag here. The AJPW team keeps trying to attack Samurai in the corner but Samurai keeps getting his boots up. Finally the frustrated All Japan guys go full 3 Stooges on each other. Nyuk nyuk. Things get serious for a minute (not Lance Storm serious) as Samurai gets knocked around and double lariatoed. Tags to Kikutaro and Taguchi, who actually do some half serious wrestling. Kikutaro misses a moonsault. He hits a shining wizard for 2. He hooks Taguchi up and gives a whole speech in the middle of the ring. Where's Chris Charlton when you need him? Finally Tacguchi reverses and hits a snap suplex. Missile dropkick and we're donnybrooking. Kikutaro takes all the finishers of the New Japan plus Fuchi team and gets pinned. Even by comedy match standards that was pretty bleh. *1/2

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Gedo and Jado def Tokyo Gurentai in 13:06- Gurentai do the Suzuki-Gun jump before the bell and everyone brawls around the ring. Jado and I think MAZADA trade shoulderblocks in the ring, then have a chop exchange. Speed run from Jado and Rongai and Rongai hits a shining wizard. Everyone in Japan was doing that in those days. There's a long stretch of Gedo in peril that takes up over half the match with nothing hugely interesting happening. Finally he gets a hot tag to Jado, who has German suplexes for everyone. He hooks on a crossface. Gedo tries to hold him back but Rongai breaks it up. Both sides tag. Gedo does a move combo into a DDT. He goes up top, gets crotched, fights off a superplex, then gets off for the frog splash but falls right into raised knees. MAZADA counters a Gedo tombstone. Another Rongai shining wizard for 2. Jado distracts the ref with a weapon and Gedo hits a low blow. Avalanche powerbomb, frog splash and it's over. **

 

GBH def D'Lo Brown, Buchanan and Travis Tomko in 9:36- Now these are guys I know. We're starting to get into the modern factions in New Japan. GBH (Great Bash Heel) formed in late '06 with Hiroyoshi Tenzan as the leader and is still hanging around in a much smaller form today. They'll be the big New Japan heel faction over the next few years. In this match they're being represented by Togi Makabe (who'll eventually take over as leader), Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii and his still weird full head of hair. Brown, Buchanan and Tomko are all ex-WWE guys now wrestling for TNA, who was New Japan's official American promotion partner at this time. You'll be seeing a lot more TNA guys at the next Wrestle Kingdom. GBH takes their turn to do the SG jump at the bell. Tomko hits a double lariato on Makabe and Yano and the TNA guys clear the ring. Slow reset as GBH recover on the floor. Makabe and Tomko go nose to nose and chop to chop. Buchanan goes for an Undertaker style rope walk on Makabe, but sees Yano coming in and dives on him instead. Elbows and kneedrop from Buchanan for 2. Brown hits a sliding lariato on Makabe for 2. He hits some jabs. Makabe counters with a powerslam and tags. Yano and Ishii double team Brown, then toss him out and Brown takes some shots with Yano's always handy chair. They go up the ramp. Brown clotheslines Makabe to cut off a double team, but then gets slammed by Yano on the ramp. Back in Ishii hits a suplex and Brown gets beat down in the GBH corner. Somewhere Yano got a hammer (The bell ringing hammer? Not sure) and whacks Brown with it. Brown turns it around with some shots on Yano. Yano dodges a moonsault. Spear from Yano! Nice spit sell from Brown on that. Brown and Yano have a long suplex fight that Brown wins and tags out. Tomko runs wild on everyone. Lariato on Yano. Brown tags right back in and hits the Low Down spinebuster on Yano for 2. Yano distracts the ref by doing the Marty McFly "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" point, hits a low blow, and tags out. Double faceplant on Makabe for 2. Buchanan black hole slam for 2. The TNA guys triple team and Buchanan hits a scissors kick. Claw! Yano saves Makabe and they hit a second rope lariato/powerbomb double team for 2. Buchanan claw slam on Makabe for a long 2. He hits the ropes and Yano nails him with his chair! Makabe lariatos Buchanan and gets the pin. Acceptable 6 man spotfest. **1/2

 

Giant Bernard, RO'Z, Suwama and Taru def Manabu Nakanishi, Riki Choshu, Takashi Iizuka and Naofumi Yamamoto in 15:38- Bernard is now a New Japan regular, but he was in the big heel Voodoo Murders faction in All Japan so he's siding with his former teammates here, all of whom are in the group. RO'Z is ex-WWE wrestler Rosie, known as a member of GM Eric Bischoff mercenaries 3 Minute Warning and later as the SHIT- Super Hero In Training. RO'Z is also pronounced Rosie. Another big brawl to start with everyone going to the floor and a couple even up the ramp. Once again in one of these matches the New Japan team is the Generic Black Trunks Brigade. Back in the ring Choshu murders Taru with one of his signature lariatos. All of the New Japan team take turns on Taru. Taru gets a low blow on Yamamoto (future Yoshi Tatsu) to turn things around. Random thought: I wonder if Taru and Bernard went to the same tattoo artist? RO'Z comes in and does some big man stuff. Yamamoto goes in peril for a while. The fight goes to the floor again for a bit and Suwama dumps some water on commentary. The VM team does all the heel tricks, including a wrist tape choke and holding Yamamoto upside down for a clear kick to the nads. Yamamoto does a horrible botched counter on Taru and tags out. More Choshu lariatos. RO'Z absorbs his because he's big. On a double team attempt Bernard lariatos RO'Z, allowing Choshu to finally chop him down. Nakinishi takes everyone down and puts Taru in the torture rack. Suwama tries to break it up so Nakanishi throws Taru into him. Nakanishi tries to get RO'Z in the rack, manages to get him up, but then drops him back down again almost immediately. Iizuka hits an exploder suplex for 2 and puts a sleeper on. RO'Z breaks it up and Iizuka gets knocked around. Yamamoto tags in and hits a missile dropkick. He tries to chop Bernard down. Bernard hits a HUGE Last Ride powerbomb. The pin is broken up and we're donnybrooking again. Suwama hits Yamamoto with a German for 2. He follows up with a Saito with a bridge and gets the pin. *3/4

 

Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask, Wataru Inoue, Taka Michinoku and Kaz Hayashi def CTU and Voodoo Murders in 13:01- More promotion crossover here as this match is more straight faces vs heels. Leader Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru and Milano Collection AT are representing CTU, who had been New Japan's big heel faction the past few years but were now drawing their dying breaths. The whole group would break up later in the year. Minoru is also the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in his 4th reign. Kanamoto starts with the Voodoo Murders guys (Brother YASSHI and Shuji Kondo). Early boot scrapes from Kanemoto, but the running boot scrape is cut off. Minoru and Hayashi have an exchange. Somersault tope from Hayashi! The faces clear the ring. Taka and Hayashi double team Minoru. Liger maneuvers Taka into a low blow and the heels do war drums on him. Taka and YASHHI give each other Greco Roman Nut Locks. Milano and Taka have a good back and forth. Taka gets trapped in the rope Paradise Lock! Liger surfboard on Taka. All 5 heels run in and attack. Near fall on Taka. Taka gets a series of kicks on Kondo and tags out to Inoue. He gets in a chopfest with Kondo. Fujiwara armbar! Liger breaks it up. Inoue missile dropkick for 2. Minoru and Hayashi dodge around each other and everyone's in again. More Minoru/Hayashi counters. Minoru hooks in an armbar. Rope break and Hayashi gives him a dragon screw. TM finally gets tagged in and hits a missile dropkick. Tombstone for 2. The heels attack in full again, triggering our final big DONNYBROOK. TM hits YASSHI with a series of moves, ending with the tiger suplex for the pin. **1/4

 

Toshiaki Kawada def Shinsuke Nakamura in 19:02- Now we get to the serious portion of tonight's program. Nakamura's streak of January 4th main events ends at three. All Japan legend Kawada is part of a group of All Japan guys from this period that could be called Meltzer's Favorite Wrestlers. I'm not saying Kawada wasn't great. He was. But he could take a crap and Meltzer would probably rate it 4 stars. 4.5 if it was in a Tokyo Dome bathroom. Red Shoes is working this match. Cautious start with some extended feeling out mat wrestling. Nakamura takes the first rope break. Kawada hits some chops in the corner. Nakamura responds with forearms. Huge forearm slugfest. Kawada hits corner kicks. Nakamura nails Kawada with a knee to the gut on a rope break that puts Kawada down. Both guys wrap up leg holds at the same time and we get another break and reset. Nakamura lays in some more knee strikes. Sleeper! Into an armbar! Kawada tries to block it and gets a foot on the rope just as Nakamura fully stretches it out. Nakamura holds it as long as he can and breaks at the last second. I have till 5, referee. Though with Red Shoes it's more like I have till 3 then 3 again then 5. Kawada is up and pissed. Open hand strikes. Kawada hits a slam and stomps on Nakamura against the ropes, taking his turn to play loose with the break count. Red Shoes tries to force a break and gets knocked over. Nakamura tries for a triangle choke. Kawada fights it so Nakamura switches to another armbar attempt. Kawada fights to the ropes again. Nakamura hits some kicks to the arm slowly, almost taunting Kawada. Kawada fires back up. Double lariato and no one goes down! Lariato from Nakamura and that puts Kawada down. Nakamura tries a German suplex. Kawada blocks it and hits a pele kick. He cuts a Nakamura flurry off with an enzuguri for 2. Kawada tries to hook on Stretch Plum. Nakamura gets to the ropes. Kawada kicks him and tries again, getting the hold fully on. Nakamura fades and Kawada covers for 2. Armbar from Kawada! Nakamura fights free without a break. Kawada lays in some hammy kicks. Lariato. Nakamura blocks a powerbomb and backdrops Kawada. Kawada gets right back up with a big boot and backdrop driver! Nakamura pops right back up! Inverted exploder! Kawada pops back up! Backdrop driver 2! Nakamura up! German! Kawada up! Backdrop driver 3! Nakamura almost stays down but he's up again! Tiger suplex! Both guys are finally spent. What a sequence. After some recovery time both lay in strikes with Nakamura getting the edge. Kawada hits an open hand slap for some space. Lariat...no! Nakamura grabs the arm and spins into an armbar! Kawada gets a rope break and they go into a crazy armbar reversal sequence. Nakamura switches gears and goes for the triangle. Kawada stomps his face to get free. Another armbar attempt by Nakamura but he can't quite get the right position or leverage. After a rope break Nakamura lifts Kawada up for Landslide. Kawada fights free but Nakamura lifts him into a powerbomb for 2. Kawada uses the position to hook on a triangle! Nakamura uses the position to try for a pin and Kawada lets go. Classic hard mat knees from Nakamura. He gets Kawada up again for Landslide. Kawada fights it again but Nakamura manages to hit it at about 50% and covers for 2. More hard forearms and more hammy kicks from Kawada. Nakamura forearms fire Kawada up and he responds. Running enzuguri! Kawada kneedrop for 2. He tries for a powerbomb but can't quite fight Nakamura up. He lets go, hits some kicks, and tries again. After a big leverage fight the powerbomb hits! Nakamura gets right back up! Brain buster from Kawada! Nakamura JUST kicks out! Kawada knee to the face! Nakamura ducks but then runs into one last huge stiff kick. An exhausted Kawada falls on top of Nakamura, and gets the pin! I'd say that's a dream match that lived up to the hype. ****

 

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) def Yuji Nagata in 17:22- One of Japan's ultimate forever feuds comes to the Tokyo Dome for the first time. And not for the last. When I say forever I do mean forever, they first crossed paths at a wrestling tournament in high school. I still can't believe they fist bumped at Destruction earlier this year (as I write this). Suzuki is in his first reign with All Japan's top title that would last just a few days short of one full year. In this day the Triple Crown title was still represented by three different belts, one of which is so old it still has a buckle. The bell rings, both guys charge in and here we go! Forearms are flying. Nagata mixes in kicks. Suzuki grabs his leg and uses it to push him down. Corner whip and charge. Suzuki runs, leaps in front of Nagata, stops, slaps him and smiles! Nagata slaps back and spits on Suzuki! Huge strike flurry from a pissed Nagata. Suzuki tries to hide in the ropes but Nagata's not stopping. Suzuki stretches out the rope armbar! The fight goes to the floor. The All Japan ref goes down into the fray to try to get some control but only ends up on his ass instead. The back of Nagata's head gets rammed into the post. Suzuki gets a chair and swings it right in Nagata's face! Suzuki rolls back in and chills while Nagata is checked on. As Suzuki plays to the crowd we see Nagata is busted open. Nagata slowly crawls back on the apron. Suzuki charges and kicks him off back to the floor! The fight is on out on the floor again. Suzuki wants another chair. The ref goes full death wish and tries to take it away. Suzuki fights him off, but Nagata uses the opening to kick the chair into Suzuki's face! Now Suzuki is bleeding a bit. Nagata brain buster on the floor! He rolls Suzuki back in and gives him a hard kick. The ref backs him off and starts a KO count. Suzuki is up and 4 and Nagata is instantly back on him. Corner whip and helluva style kick followed by some forearms. Suzuki twists a whip around and hooks on a sleeper! Nagata grabs his arm and snaps it to get out! Kicks to the arm. Nagata Lock! The eyes roll back! He cranks for all he's worth but Suzuki manages to slowly fight to the ropes. Nagata licks some blood off his hand and hits some more kicks, followed by another KO count. More kicks in the corner and Suzuki actually looks hurt. Nagata goes for a Saito. Suzuki rolls in midair, jumps up, and nails Nagata with a knee to the face! Kneeling headbutt exchange. Both guys get up swinging open hand strikes. Suzuki looks happy again. Possibly even aroused. He pummels Nagata with slaps. The Gotch style piledriver hits! Suzuki is slow to follow up from all the previous damage and by the time he covers Nagata is able to kick out. Cobra twist from Suzuki. Nagata flips out and we get another staredown as both guys try to find their extra fuel tank. More open hand slugging. Nagata grabs a Suzuki kick, backs him into the corner, and nails him with a high knee. Brain buster! Nagata doesn't cover. Instead he takes his time lifting Suzuki's lifeless carcass up. Saito! Cover. NAGATA PULLS SUZUKI UP AT 2! Ooooooh, I don't know about that at all. I think someone's letting his emotions get the better of him. One more hard kick from Nagata to finish him off. Suzuki pops back up at 1 and is swinging! Nagata strikes back and Suzuki gets wobbled. Decapitation kick! Nagata is still refusing to cover, staring Suzuki down. He goes for another Saito. Suzuki eye rakes out! Sleeper! He flips Nagata over! Nagata fights up, tries to grab an arm and snap it to get out again, but slowly fades back down. His eyes roll back, not by choice this time. The ref calls it! Suzuki wins and retains! Absolutely magnificent. I might be biased because I'm a huge fan of both these guys but I don't care. ****3/4

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) def Taiyo Kea in 17:09- The first Wrestle Kingdom, and the first time the Ace walks into the Tokyo Dome as Heavyweight champion. There's some great symmetry there. Tanahashi is in the first of his record eight reigns, winning the vacated title the previous July in a tournament following the Brock Lesnar controversy (which I went into detail on in the last 1/4 show review so I won't get into it here). Kea is actually Hawaiian and has spent pretty much his entire career in All Japan, which was successful but not quite as dominant as some of the other bigger names over there. Red Shoes tags back in for this one. Lockup! Clean break. Some feeling out grappling, extended headlock/headscissors exchanges and a simultaneous dropkick attempt follow. Tanahashi does not break clean on the next lockup, getting a slap in. Big shoulderblock. A Kea German attempt is blocked. Kea hits an armdrag and a kick combo rocks Tanahashi. Tanahashi gets a corner back elbow and springboard crossbody for 2. A dropkick sends Kea to the floor. Kea dodges a plancha! Chop/forearm exchange on the floor. Kea pulls the floor pad off. He falcon arrows Tanahashi onto the bare floor! Tanahashi barely beats the count back onto the apron at least, and Kea is all over him again. Apron suplex fight. Kea switches gears and gives Tanahashi a dragon screw in the ropes! Now he hits the suplex. Kea does a bit of work on Tanahashi's back. He dodges a dropkick and hits a basement lariato for 2. Setup slam and Kea goes for a Vader bomb. Tanahashi gets his knees up and goes up top. Kea meets him and hits a superplex for 2. Powerbomb for 2. Tanahashi fights out of a TKO attempt. Open hand slap. Flying forearm. Kea backdrops Tanahashi over the top rope. Tanahashi skins the cat back in! Slingblade! Missile dropkick. Rare sloppy enzuguri from Tanahashi. German for 2. He hooks up for the dragon suplex. Kea tries to counter into a Saito. Tanahashi blocks it. Kea nails him with a lariato. Russian leg sweep for 2. Kea corner elbow and huge lariato for 2. Brain buster for 2. Tanahashi dodges a kick, hits an elbow and senton. Kea DDT for 2. He goes for the TKO again. Tanahashi counters into a dragon sleeper that he turns into a reverse DDT. Kea blocks another slingblade attempt and hits a Saito. Half nelson suplex! Slugfest. Enziguri trade. Kea hits strikes, and the TKO hits for a LONG 2. Sit out powerbomb! Tanahashi kicks out! Kea hooks on a cobra clutch. Tanahashi powers out, traps Kea's arms, and hits a straitjacket German for 2. Dragon suplex! Tanahashi goes up top! For the first time ever in the Tokyo Dome.....HIGH FLY FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW! That gets the pin! Good match but not on the same level as the previous two. Tanahashi continues to improve and impress but he's still not quite at Ace level yet, while I honestly wasn't overly impressed with Kea. One match, small sample size, but still. ***1/2

 

Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono def Tencozy in 18:43- This is billed as Super Dream Tag Match, and as I mentioned in the open is a tribute to the late Shinya Hashimoto. On one side is Hashimoto's fellow original Three Musketeers, forever rivals Mutoh and Chono, putting their differences aside for one night and forming a team no one ever expected to see. A rough modern equivalent would be when Okada and Tanahashi teamed up, or Okada and Kenny Omega teaming at this past year's New Year Dash. On the other side is Tencozy, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima, doing another "one night only" reunion as Kojima, like Mutoh, was now full time in All Japan. Adding more layers to this is the epic Chono/Tenzan frenemies story, which is long enough to write a novel on. At this stage they're adversaries again after Tenzan turned on Chono to form GBH. As I always like to note, Tenzan also won the '06 G1 Climax, his third tournament win in four years. Mutoh and Tenzan start. Mutoh jumps right in with basement dropkicks to the knee! Shining wizard! Shining wizard to Kojima! Tencozy go to the floor to recover. Reset lockup back in. Tenzan hits a shoulderblock and Mongolian chops. Ugly suplex from Tenzan and Mutoh rolls out. Both sides tag and Chono and Kojima trade shots. Chono takes a rope break out of an armbar. He ends up in the wrong corner and takes a Tencozy double team, but then escapes and tags out. Mutoh snap mare and classic elbow drop. Double shoulderblock on Tenzan. Chono hits a dragon screw! He puts on a figure four! Kojima comes in to break it up. Mutoh dragon screws him into an STF! Serious mutual respect here with Chono and Mutoh using each other's holds. Mutoh's STF is the second worst ever after Cena's, but it's the thought that counts. Tenzan's knee gets picked apart some more and figure four expert Mutoh locks it on. Tenzan gets to the ropes. Kind of dull beatdown on Tenzan after that until Tenzan hits some Mongolian chops on Mutoh and tags. Kojima gives Mutoh the machine gun chops. Elbow off the top for 2. Mutoh hits a dropkick to the knee. Kojima blocks a shining wizard and hits his own dragon screw. Hurricanrana off the top for 2. Mutoh rolls under a lariato, hits a dropkick and tags. Chono tackle off the top rope. Corner sort of shining wizard kick. Half shining wizard half Yakuza kick. Kojima wins a leverage fight for a brain buster. Full Yakuza kick! Kojima hits the Kojicutter! Tenzan comes in with Mongolian chops. Corner clothesline. Top rope kneedrop. Chono hits an inverted atomic drop. Tenzan follows with a spinning heel kick and a sort of chokeslam for 2. Everyone in the pool! Double team Kojicutter on Mutoh. Kojima lariato on Chono for 2. Now it's Tencozy's turn to lock in stereo submission holds. Chono gets a rope break. 3D style Kojicutter on Chono. Mutoh breaks up another double team with a shining wizard. Shining wizard on Tenzan. Kojima hits a lariato and everyone's down. Except the ref. Tenzan Samoan drops Chono and hits the headbutt off the top. Mutoh breaks the pin up. Kojima takes Mutoh out. Kojima's elbow pad is off! Lariato on Chono! He hits a plancha on Mutoh. Chono is out in the ring. Tenzan Driver! He pulls Chono up at 2! Man, did he not learn from earlier? Moonsault from Tenzan! Chono kicks out! Mutoh fights out of a double team and hits wicked overhand chops on Kojima. DDT! I think that was supposed to be a Hashimoto style leaping DDT but it didn't have nearly enough leap. Chono DDT on Tenzan. Double shining wizard! Chono gets the STF on Tenzan, while Mutoh locks Kojima up in the figure four. Tenzan taps out! Sometime after the bell (the video is clipped) Mutoh and Chono put on Hashimoto style headbands while the crowd chants for Hashimoto. Fine but at times sloppy match, and not Tokyo Dome main event or "super dream tag" worthy, especially following the great singles matches that came before it. It had kind of a house show feel with everyone hitting their, and each other's, spots and not worrying too much about a cohesive story. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- All the undercard tag matches offer nothing much worth watching, but also don't have anything that will make you want to gouge your eyes out so we'll call that a wash. The main event is a bit of a letdown, but the three big singles matches delivered in spades and showed what Wrestle Kingdom could and eventually would be. On the strength of those I'll call this first show a moderate success. The slow rejuvination of the January 4th show, and with it all of New Japan, is on.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-

NXT Takeover: Orlando

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: Orlando

April 1, 2017 from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson

It's Wrestlemania 33 weekend and NXT is taking over (pun intended) the large Raw-sized arena for the first time on the big week. This is also the first Saturday Takeover during a WM weekend, pushing the Hall of Fame ceremony back to Friday. NXT has been in a bit of a holding pattern since the last Takeover with Vince and co waiting to do main roster callups until after WM so there's some similarities to the card for the last Takeover. This is also the night that all of NXT's title belts were replaced with the versions still in use today (more or less), signifying it is indeed the start of a new era. McGuinness is making his Takeover debut in the booth. Along with his Blue Peter badge, always love that he wore that for shows.

Triple H opens the show with a quick mini speech, either pre-record or from the back since he's not in front of the crowd, saying NXT is taking WM week over and NXT has come home. After that the opening video focuses on NXT's history, mostly on events that took place in the promotion's home base of Full Sail University, which is down I-4 in Tampa.

Mixed Tag Team Match: Sanity def Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, Ruby Riot and a mystery partner in 12:23- This grew out of the Eric Young/Dillinger match that opened the previous Takeover. No Way Jose was scheduled to be in the match but Sanity took him out at Axxess that afternoon. His surprise replacement is....Kassuis Ohno (Chris Hero)! Ohno returned to NXT for his second stint, mainly as a player/coach, in December '16. The faces line up on the floor, Ohno shrugs, they all charge in and the big brawl is on! The men clear the ring while the two women brawl, and being the last two in the ref rings the bell for the official start. Cross hits a crossbody and does her crazy unhinged attack on Riot. Hair toss. Corner dodges and Riot knees Cross into the middle turnbuckle. Cross tags out to Wolfe. Wolfe does his crazy unhinged dancing, not seeing Ohno tagging in. Ohno floors Wolfe with a straight right hand! Senton for 2. Ohno works Wolfe's arm a bit. Young distracts, allowing Wolfe to nail Ohno with a forearm and tag. Ohno gets stuck in the heel corner. Young yells across to Dillinger that it's "your fault". It's not like Dillinger could really have joined Sanity, they'd already hit their Vince-mandated max of four members. Ohno dodges a Wolfe elbow drop and tags Strong. Strong is instantly all over everyone. Olympic slam. Backbreaker. Wolfe hits him from behind and gives him a German suplex. From the German. Dain tags in for the first time and works Strong over with his big man high impact offense to a "shave your back" chant. Young does his hanging dragon sleeper. Sanity quick tags and keeps Strong in peril. Young hits an elbow off the top rope. Dillinger breaks the pin up to a huge reaction. Young punches Dillinger and Ohno off the apron. Strong tries to fight back. Dodge and Young crashes in the corner. Tag to Dillinger! Flying forearm. 360 clothesline on Young. DDT to Wolfe. Riot cuts Cross off in the ring. Dillinger crossbody off the top rope. Tope suicida! Dain hits him from behind and the bodies pile up all over the floor. Ohno teases a dive, flips over the apron, and gets a punch in before being taken out by Dain. Riot gets a wild hair and looks to dive on the guys but Cross cuts her off and they brawl in and out of the ring again. Dillinger and Young get back in. Dain gets a blind tag. Dillinger superkicks him! Wolfe breaks the pin up. They do the everyone takes everyone else out with one move bit. Strong and Dain stare down. Cross jumps on Strong's back! Riot jumps on Dain's back! Riot and Cross eliminate each other from the equation yet again. Dillinger gets Dain up for the Tyebreaker! Wolfe comes in and breaks it up. Dain hits Ulster Plantation and it's LOL Sanity beats Dillinger again. Solid opener, though I'm not sure if there was much point including the women as they didn't have very much to do. ***

Edge and brand new Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix are ringside. Wonder which one signed with NXT?

 

Aleister Black def Andrade Cien Almas in 9:35- Black (now Malakai Black in AEW) wrestled a special non-tournament match at the UK Championship Tournament in January under his indie name Tommy End, but this is his official NXT debut. Almas seems to have settled into the Tyler Breeze role of putting the new guys over. Black's entrance is really cool. Not quite Demon Finn Balor, but still cool. Lockup! Nice basic start that ends in several dodges and an Almas tranquilo pose. Standing switches and Almas ends up in the ropes with the rope tranquilo pose. Black backdrops Almas to the floor, teases a dive but springboards off the ropes instead and sits in the middle of the ring, telling Almas to bring it. Back in Black outmaneuvers Almas to get kicks in. After some headlock tradeoffs Almas gets Black down in the corner. He teases a meteora but hits the brakes and slaps Black instead. Not sure how smart that was. A suplex fight puts Almas on the apron and he hooks in a rope dangling armbar. Missile dropkick for 2. Almas works on the arm some more. Black kicks his way out and hits a quick strike combo. Almas gets kicked to the floor. Black asai moonsault! Back in they go through some suplex counters and Black gets a cradle for 2. Almas responds with forearms and his own kicks. Black ends up in the ropes and Almas does the rope armbar again. He goes up top for another missile dropkick. Black dodges it, but Almas works over into a Fujiwara armbar. Black takes a rope break. Corner poundown from Almas. Black dodges a meteora and gets a small package for 2. Almas cradle for 2. Simultaneous kicks and both guys are down. Almas does a crazy double foot Pele kick for 2. The meteora hits! Black counters out of the hammerlock DDT. Almas turns around into a straitjacket suplex for 2. He charges but runs into a Black knee. Hard kicks from Black to Almas' head. Black lifts Almas up with his foot. Black Mass! It's over. Good but not blowaway debut for Black. Over the summer Almas would get paired with the newly signed Zelena Vega as his manager and finally start getting some momentum that he had sorely lacked in his NXT run to this point. ***1/4

 

Triple Threat Elimination Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship: The Authors of Pain (c) (w/Paul Ellering) def The Revival and DIY in 23:50- GM William Regal presents the new belts before the match. Not new championships. It's the same championship, just new belts representing it. Another reason I hate the "don't call them belts" rule. Both challenger teams stare down....then turn to face the champs. The bell rings and the brawl is on. Everyone goes to the floor with DIY working on Akam, Revival Rezar. The camera focuses on the DIY side as they drop toe hold Akam into the guardrail. DIY get a table out! Akam fights back but DIY run him into the stairs. The challenger teams get back in the ring and stare down. Revival try to jump first but DIY is ready for them. Dash takes some knees in the corner. The match settles in for the first time with Dash and Gargano legal. Akam blind tags Dash and double clotheslines DIY. Rezar catches Ciampa coming off the second rope. Ciampa slips away and hits a superkick. He goes for a tag in Revival's corner but they both jump off the apron, refusing to tag. Rezar hits Ciampa from behind. Revival sneaks in and Dawson DDTs Rezar. Ciampa covers for 2. Now Revival tag in to work Akam over. Dawson gets in trouble, goes to tag in DIY's corner and they repay the favor by jumping off the apron themselves. Revival low bridge Akam to the floor. Before that Gargano had blind tagged in, and he hits a slingshot spear for 2. DIY take AOP out on the floor. Gargano hits the slingshot DDT on Dawson! Cover for 2. Gargano goes for a plancha but AOP catch him. Ciampa tries a tope suicida and AOP use Gargano as a shield! They toss Gargano into Dash and everyone is down on the floor except AOP. Rezar tags in to beat down Gargano. AOP decapitation device for 2. Akam puts Gargano in a torture rack and cranks. Gargano wiggles free, hits an enzuguri, but the tag is cut off. He pushes Akam into Dawson, and gets the tag to Ciampa. Ciampa takes both AOP out. German on Akam! Open hand strikes, knee and another German! Running knee! Akam kicks out! Ciampa tries a sunset bomb on Rezar. Rezar holds on so Gargano comes over to help. Still no luck. Revival come up, push Rezar, and he goes through the table! All 4 challengers celebrate. Akam is alone in the ring and literally cornered. But Akam, because he's big and strong, fights all four off. Ciampa fights out of a powerbomb. Dawson clips Akam's knee and puts on a reverse figure four! Gargano considers, then adds on a Garga-NoEscape! The other two try to hold Rezar back, but he overpowers them and breaks it all up to huge boos from the crowd. They want a title change tonight bad. Rezar gets worked down. Gargano and DAWSON team up and do DIY's finisher! Revival Shatter Machine on Akam! Both AOP roll out of the ring before they can be covered. The challenger teams once again stand off. Ellering eggs them on and they go at it again! For a moment. Dash and Ciampa team up to tope suicida both AOP! Ciampa goes up top. Dawson joins him. DAWSON SUPERPLEXES CIAMPA DOWN TO THE FLOOR ONTO EVERYONE ELSE! After sufficient recovery time Rezar tags in and clotheslines Dawson. Ciampa is isolated in the ring. Last Chapter! Ciampa is pinned and DIY is eliminated. The crowd is not happy about that, booing and doing a loud "bullshit" chant. AOP beat Dash down. Dash gets Rezar on his shoulders, and Dawson comes off the top with the Steiners super bulldog! European uppercut into a German on Rezar for 2. Rezar chokeslams Dawson. AOP goes for Last Chapter on him but Dash breaks it up. By getting clotheslined. Still worked. Dawson does a Bret Hart-like sleeper trap pin for 2. AOP stereo powerbomb Revival. Now the crowd is chanting "No one likes you" at AOP. Dawson deadweights Akam for some space, then small packages him for 2. Akam buckle bombs Dawson, mostly off camera and probably a good thing because it didn't look pretty. AOP hit the super collider, and get the pin to retain. Once again Revival and DIY did the work to make AOP look like unbeatable monsters, and that's four guys that will always deliver on a stage like this. ****

 

NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Ember Moon in 12:10- Asuka's hitting exactly one year as champion. This is the first time in a while the title's truly felt in jeopardy, ever since Moon's debut the previous year she's felt like the heir apparent. Asuka's done a quickie heel turn for this match, acting more and more like an arrogant entitled champion. We get the next belt swap after super special intros. Very cautious start. Rough lockup, clean break, and a roll around lockup. They're bringing the intensity for sure. The crowd is split 50/50 with dueling chants while armdrags are traded in the ring. Simo dropkicks and stalemate. Asuka offers a handshake, then pulls away when Moon goes for it. She hits a kick. Moon counters and we get some more counter grappling. Shoulderblock collision! That's what I'm talking about, you almost never see that from the women. Another one! They yell at each other and go for another. Asuka flips the script with a hip attack! Moon pops right back up and hits a dropkick. She hits a series of kicks and Asuka goes to the floor. Asuka dodges a baseball slide. She hip attacks Moon off the apron onto the guardrail. Mocking arrogant kicks from Asuka back in. Spinning backfists! The crowd continues to be nuclear for this match. Moon gets a faceplant on Asuka and pummels her with forearms. Asuka hits another hip attacks and lays in some stiff kicks. Moon blocks a German. Asuka goes for the Asuka Lock. Moon flips out and hits a HUGE forearm. Asuka rolls out again. Moon springboard dive to the floor! She goes up top, probably looking for the Eclipse. Asuka gets out of the drop zone, hits some strikes, and gets a shining wizard for 2. More hard Asuka kicks. She goes for the Asuka Lock again. Moon tries to counter. Asuka mostly gets it on, but not fully. After a long fight Moon drops Asuka backwards. Another hip attack is dodged. Moon superkick! Both women are down. Kick dodges. Moon takes Asuka down and hits a basement dropkick. Backfist and knee from Moon. Fallaway slam and kip up. Corner handspring elbow. Asuka turns and hits a German for 2. Open hand slugfest. Moon hits a forearm, wraps Asuka up, and hits an exploder suplex for a long 2. She goes up top again. Asuka leaps up to join her. Moon pushes her back down and Asuka is right in the drop zone. Asuka pushes the ref into the corner to knock Moon down! Huge kick to the head from Asuka decapitating Moon, and she covers to once again retain. Hell of a match. It was honestly much better than I expected based on what I'd seen from Moon to that point, and very physical and stiff for a women's match. ****1/2

Drew Galloway McIntyre is here! Cool. Well I'm not doing that joke anymore, it's been run into the ground.....what?.....he DID sign with NXT?

 

NXT Championship: Bobby Roode (c) def Shinsuke Nakamura in 28:20- This is a rematch from the last Takeover. Since defeating Nakamura for the title on that show Roode, character wise, has done the best impression of 1980's Ric Flair since, well, 1980's Ric Flair. That alone turned me into a fan, as I've never been a TNA/Impact watcher. No super special entrance for Nakamura tonight. Roode gets a couple of pianos playing him in, and his robe game tonight is an absolute A+. 50/50 dueling chants from the crowd as we get a look at the last of the new title belts. The chants continue after the bell rings. Both guys hit some weak exploratory kicks. Roode dives for the knee Nakamura hurt in the last match. Nakamura rotates around to ride Roode amateur style. He puts on a hammerlock. Roode counters into a headlock. Rope break and Nakamura does the head waggle. Roode can't be bothered, and laughs when Nakamura gives him the "COME ON!". He says "This is my NXT!". "GLORI"....shove kick from Nakamura! Another! Now that's got Roode annoyed. Back and forth basics until Nakamura hits a snap mare and kneedrop. Good vibrations is blocked. Enzuguri from Nakamura. Now he does good vibrations. Nakamura teases suplexing Roode from the apron to the floor. Roode blocks it, dropkicks Nakamura, then charges and knocks him off the apron. Roode beatdown mode, activated. He stomps Nakamura down in the corner and gets a warning from the ref. "GLORIOUS!" Corner chop and corner clothesline. Neckbreaker for 2. He changes things up a little by putting on a Nerve Pinch of Not My Usual Hold +1. A Nakamura comeback is cut off and Roode hits elbow and kneedrops. Now he does a neck crank. He tries a sleeper but Nakamura quickly counters out. Misdirection kick from Nakamura, followed by forearms and more kicks. He hits the corner draping knee. A baseball slide sends Roode to the floor, where Nakamura hits both the running and diving apron knees. Back in Roode counters suplex attempts and hits a HUGE clothesline. Nakamura gets a boot up in the corner and hits a running knee. He sets up. Roode dodges the Kinshasa and clips Nakamura's bad knee! Time to go to school kids! If Flair is the graduate course in knee work, I'd say Roode is...high school. Nothing to be ashamed of. He posts Nakamura's knee and picks it apart. Figure four! Nakamura fights and reverses. Roode quickly grabs a rope. He gets back on the knee. Another figure four attempt is countered into an armbar! Roode tries to block but Nakamura gets it on. Roode rolls and Nakamura puts on a triangle choke. Roode lifts him up. Nakamura counters back into the armbar! Roode fights and slowly gets to the ropes. Nakamura kicks him right in the face. Stiff angry Nakamura kicks and now he gets backed off by the ref. He goes for the draping knee again but Roode gets out and he knees the turnbuckle. Not the smartest idea, going for that. Nakamura fights back by kicking Roode's hurt arm. Roode ducks into a backstabber for 2. Slugfest. Roode kicks the bad knee again and sets up for the Glorious DDT. Nakamura knees his head in midair! Faceplant and short Kinshasa. Roode kicks out! Nakamura sets up for the finish. Roode sees what's coming and flops out of the ring. He snaps Nakamura's bad knee over the rope. Glorious DDT! Slow cover. Nakamura kicks out! Roode has a long think and rolls out. He gets the bell! The ref argues and takes it away. Nakamura kick to Roode's head! Inverted exploder! KINSH....NO, Roode counters into a spinebuster for 2! Slow crawl up and Roode lifts Nakamura. Nakamura backs him into the corner. Roode chops blocks the bad knee! He climbs up to the second rope holding Nakamura. Super Glorious DDT! That gets the pin and Roode retains. Good match, but not as good as San Antonio. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- While not *quite* as good as Dallas, once again NXT steals Wrestlemania weekend. As I mentioned in the open this was mostly a roster transition/hold everything else show for NXT, as signified by there being no title changes. After WM the delayed callups of Dillinger, the Revival and Nakamura finally happened, fully bringing us into another new era of NXT the rest of the year and into the next.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-

NJPW Toukon Shidou Chapter 1

Legacy Review

NJPW Toukon Shidou Chapter 1

January 4, 2006 from the Tokyo Dome

It really is "Chapter 1" as a new day was dawning for New Japan. In late 2005 Yuke's purchased a majority share in the company, and one of their first actions was to oust Antonio Inoki from power. Since about the turn of the century Inkoi's increased obsession with trying to blend worked pro wrestling and shoot fighting into some kind of worked hybrid had been mostly a disaster, putting on horrible matches, making bad decisions on title runs, and turning fans away to the point that New Japan almost went out of business. The company he created in the end had to be saved from him. This is the first major show ever put on by New Japan without Inoki in charge. But, as the saying goes, Rome wasn't turned around in a day.

As usual this is from the New Japan World archives so Japanese commentary only.

Ryouji Sai def Naofumi Yamamoto in 8:18- Yamamoto is the future Yoshi Tatsu not long removed from Young Lion status. Not much to say about Sai, he had a short career that was mostly spent in ZERO-ONE. This is kicking off a series of NJPW vs ZERO1 battles that will run off and on through the whole show. They go nose to nose during intros and charge in at the bell. Long forearm exchange. They switch to open hand slaps and Sai is the first one to go down. Kick from Yamamoto and Sai rolls to the floor, holding his ear. The large gaggle of seconds from both promotions get shovey with each other but it doesn't escalate beyond that. Sai does an amateur waistlock and traps Yamamoto in the corner, refusing to let go. He shoves Red Shoes aside! After a kick exchange Yamamoto takes it to the mat with some leg work. Both guys try to work the leg and get in a sitting open hand slugfest. More fight for leg leverage and both guys seem to agree a rope break is in order, but don't agree to actually break anything. They take literally almost a whole minute to slowly untangle themselves. Sai tosses his mouthguard away! I guess shit's getting real now. Both guys take constant swings but Sai is the first to really connect with anything, a heel kick. He puts Yamamoto in a rear choke into a sleeper with full grapevine. He switches to an armbar attempt that Yamamoto blocks and gets a foot on the rope. More kicks from Sai. Yamamoto blocks a knee. Sai dodges a dropkick but misses a kick swing. Yamamoto gets a kick but Sai blocks a back suplex, rolling it into an ankle lock. He tries to pull Yamamoto back to the middle but Yamamoto gets to the ropes. Sai runs into a kick. PKish kick from Yamamoto for 2. Sai hits a double stomp off the top for a long 2. Kick to the head for 2. High angle back suplex from Sai, and that gets the pin. Very simple match as both guys were clearly still learning, but they brought the intensity. *3/4

 

Masato Tanaka, Kintaro Kanemura and BADBOY Hido def CTU in 10:03- Representing CTU is faction leader Jushin Thunder Liger, along with Gedo and Jado. The trio opposing them is made up of deathmatch company regulars, with Tanaka probably being the most well known from his ECW run. Screw your intros, we're fighting! They brawl around ringside. The deathmatch guys quickly get tables out. Liger gets set up on one, and Kanemua splashes him through it off the top rope! That looked fantastic. Jado also got put through another table on the other side of the ring off camera. The plan works as Gedo gets isolated in the ring. Gedo tries to hulk up by throwing a double bird but I think that only made the deathmatch guys mad. He does manage to hold his own for a bit with a hurricanrana and flying headscissors until Hido lariatos him from behind. Liger and Jado are alive and back on the apron. Liger is trying to introduce a chair but getting nowhere thanks to the other side working the ref better. Kanemura and Tanaka full on kiss each other before dropping an elbow on Gedo. Hey, I'm not judging. After some more CTU in peril work Gedo dodges a Kanemura moonsault but Hido cuts the tag off. Lariato from Hido and a cover. Everyone runs in to break the pin up. Liger and Jado get tossed out and Gedo is isolated again. Tanaka goes for a splash off the top but Gedo gets his knees up and finally gets a tag to Liger. Shoteis for everyone! Sit out powerbomb on Tanaka for 2. Kanemura holds Liger on top and Tanaka superplexes him. Lariato for 2. A shotei is no sold. Liger gets Tanaka wobbled with a shoulderblock, and the next shotei is sold. Jado tags in. Hido has a barbed wire bat! Jado ducks a shot with it and hits a trio of rolling German suplexes. Kanemura gets a low blow in. Jado puts on a crossface but Tanaka breaks it up. The seconds for the deathmatch guys distract the ref and Kanemura whacks Jado with a piece of broken table. Jado is right back up! Man those tables really are little more than cardboard. Tanaka hits a top rope cutter, Kanemura follows up with a senton off the second rope, and that's it. **

 

Tiger Mask and Minoru def Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii in 12:11- Ishii is making his Dome debut, recently signed full time to New Japan after bouncing around the smaller Japanese indy scene the first decade of his career. He also has hair, which is slightly disturbing. Takaiwa was one of the group of wrestlers to leave New Japan with Shinya Hashimoto when he left to form ZERO1. Minoru and Tiger Mask actually wrestled each other at the previous year's show for the Junior Heavyweight title, with Minoru under a mask as Heat. Minoru and Takaiwa start with some back and forth grappling. Chop exchange. Shoulderblock standoff. Takaiwa catches a Minoru leapfrog and powerslams him. Minoru gouges Ishii's eyes and tags out. TM kicks chop Ishii down. I should point out that somehow at this point Ishii was classified as a junior. I know. Speed run and Ishii hits a backdrop. Slam and elbow drop for 2. Takaiwa puts TM in a single leg crab. TM gets a rope break. Offensive flurry from TM and he tags out. Minoru thrills us all by putting on a chinlock. Takaiwa counters into a hammerlock. Suplex standoff and Minoru hits a blatant low blow right in front of that useless Marty Asami. Takaiwa lifts TM and literally carries him over to his corner. Double shoulderblock and Ishii stretches his arms out. TM hits a high kick in the corner. Ishii fights off a superplex but misses an elbow off the top. He gets a powerslam on TM and tags. TM flips out of a backdrop and hits the leaping knees to the gut for 2. Minoru and Ishii start fighting on the floor. Takaiwa catches TM coming off the top and goes for a DVD. Minoru missile dropkicks him from behind to break it up. Takaiwa says OK and Minoru takes the DVD. TM blocks a lariato into a crucifix for 2. He flips over an attempted Takaiwa powerbomb for 2. Ishii and Takaiwa hit a doomsday device! Minoru fights Ishii's block off to break the pin up. Takaiwa lariato for a long 2. TM gets a glancing rolling kick. Both sides tag. Minoru tries to work on Ishii's knee. Ishii hits a back suplex for 2. Buckle bomb from Ishii! Corner lariatos on Minoru. Takaiwa hits his triple powerbomb, and lifts Minoru into an Ishii brain buster. TM breaks the pin up. On an attempted double team Takaiwa lariatos Ishii! Minoru hits a dragon suplex and kicks. TM comes down with a missile dropkick, then tope suicidas Takaiwa to take him out! Minoru kicks Ishii's head off and gets the pin. **1/2

 

Riki Choshu, Kohei Sato, Kamikaze, Daisuke Sekimoto, Takashi Uwano and Yoshihito Sasaki def Tatsumi Fujinami, Hirooki Goto, Osamu Nishimura, Toru Yano, Hiroshi Nagao and Takashi Iizuka in 12:16- This giant 12 man match is also NJPW vs ZERO1, with Choshu on the visitor side for some reason. A chaotic match this size on the Dome undercard I'm not going to get into too deeply. Big brawl to start, usual tag stuff, and a Choshu Scorpion triggers the next big run in brawl. There's a funny moment later in the match when Yano tries to put a Scorpion on and that PISSES Choshu off big time. He comes in and kills Yano with a lariato. Old man Fujinami gets his stuff in. In the end Choshu lariatos Nagao into a German suplex that gets the pin. **1/4

 

Akebono and Yutaka Yoshie def Hiro Saito and Black Strong Machine in 9:18- That's a lot of beef in the ring. Hope its been reinforced. Black Strong Machine is Junji Hirata, AKA Super Strong Machine. This is the same Akebono that had that disaster of a sumo match with Big Show the year previous at Wrestlemania 21. He's a legitimate sumo legend, the first foreign yokozuna ever, but that doesn't necessarily translate into the world of pro wrestling. He had gone through some training matches with All Japan after working WM but this is his first New Japan match. Yoshie was a highly touted prospect from roughly the same class as Nakamura, Tanahashi and Shibata but didn't have the goods and would leave New Japan almost immediately after this show. The play by play guy is very, very excited about Akebono. Very excited. Akebono starts with BSM. BSM does the bouncing off a brick wall shoulderblock attempts. Akebono attacks with those quick hand sumo slaps. Saito runs in to try to break it up and gets shoved down. BSM gets slammed. Saito trips Akebono from the floor and Akebono sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly goes down. That was like watching a tree fall underwater. Both heels hits sentons for 2. Akebono gets back to his feet, clubs both guys down with one shot, and tags. Lariato from Yoshie. Slam and butt splash for 2. Yoshie gets eye raked and caught in the heel corner. Saito hits a DDT and another senton for 2. Uninspired heel offense follows with awful, almost nonexistent, Yoshie selling. Finally Yoshie says screw this, miraculously recovers and hits a shoulderblock, and tags. BSM tries to slam Akebono and that goes as well as you'd expect. Saito comes in and they try a suplex but get double suplexed (very broad definition) themselves. Akebono does the Andre stand on both heels. Hip toss slam on BSM for 2. After a tag the faces try a double team but Yoshie bounces off Akebono instead. BSM corner lariato and DDT. Saito hits a, what else, senton. Yoshie blocks a German and backs Saito into the corner. Both heels get squashed and avalanched in the corner by both faces. Powerslam from Yoshie. Saito dodges a big splash and hits the match's 47th senton for 2. Double back suplex on Akebono! Yoshie takes one too. Akebono hits a black hole slam on BSM. Choke slam on Saito. Yoshie splash off the top and it's mercifully over. Yoshie was bad, Akebono was horrific, and Saito & BSM were both getting past it and were never guys that could carry anyway. DUD

 

Yuji Nagata def Kazunari Murakami in 9:18- Inoki's gone, but we're still booking peak Yuji Nagata in shitty fake shoot fights with MMA guys. Did Inoki sneak in the back door and scribble this on the rundown when no one was looking? Murakami at least already had a decent amount of experience working in New Japan, being one of Inoki's MMA ringer regulars. Nagata attacks at the bell and shoves Red Shoes aside in the corner to lay on more damage. That's a trend tonight. Murakami slugs back and double stomps Nagata in the corner. Nagata dodges a PK and hits an exploder suplex. Murakami ducks a PK and we have a stalemate reset and staredown. A Murakami knee to the face gets Nagata down. He kicks Nagata to the floor and pounds away while he's down there. Red Shoes gets tossed again. Murakami takes out one of the New Japan seconds that was getting lippy with him. He chest kicks Nagata while he's against the ring. Nagata slowly gets back to the apron. A straight right from Murakami puts him on the floor again! Nagata slowly gets up and beats the count back in. Tackle from Murakami and more corner pummeling. Boot choke. A PK hits for 2. Sleeper. Nagata backs him into the corner. Murakami stands on the bottom rope to hang Nagata and Red Shoes has to force a break. More shots from Murakami. Nagata grabs a leg, shoves Murakami into a corner and hits a high knee. Big pop for that. Nagata lock! The eyes roll back! Murakami fights and very slowly gets to a rope break that Red Shoes has to physically force. Nagata was in the zone, man. Red Shoes had to snap him out of it. Stiff kicks from Nagata. They go to the floor and Nagata pummels Murakami with rapid fire knees to the face. One of the MMA seconds takes issue and argues with Nagata. They get back in and Murakami is busted open. Nagata headbutts the cut, followed by more knees to the face. Big boot and brain buster. Straight kick to the head! Murakami gets a foot on the rope. He tries to punch back but his strikes don't have much behind them anymore. Nagata picks his spot, ducks, and hits a German! Saito suplex with a bridge! That gets the pin! Surprisingly good match. Nagata dominating the entire stretch run didn't take away from this at all. To me, it only made it more satisfying. Like driving a stake through the heart of Inokism. ***

 

Shinjiro Otani def Koji Kanemoto in 10:47- Now this is a (soon to be) Wrestle Kingdom midcard worthy matchup. This is a battle of two guys who would have been the undisputed aces of the junior division in their era if not for the existence of one Jushin Thunder Liger. Not to undersell Otani and Kanemoto, they're both legit legends. This is another NJPW vs ZERO1 battle as well, with Otani being another of the group that went with Hashimoto when he started the promotion. Otani looks like he's aged at least 10 years since his last Dome appearance, which wasn't nearly that long ago. He's much bigger and balding. Even accounting for lost weight from hair loss I don't think he'd be a junior anymore. He's also got a katana with him, which I don't think is legal. Big charge at the bell! Chopfest. Kanemoto kicks to the leg land. Dragon screw! He wraps up Otani's leg and Otani gets a rope break. Strike combo from Kanemoto. Otani hits a spinning heel kick. Dragon suplex with a reverse sell from Kanemoto. Powerbomb. More chops are exchanged. Otani gets lippy and demands Kanemoto fight harder you egg sucking dog. A hard forearm connects and we get more chop swap. Otani stomps Kanemoto down and gets in his very crowd pleasing classic boot wash. More chopfest. Kanemoto goes limp on a corner whip. Otani still wants more fight out of him. Big boot in the corner. That wakes Kanemoto up! He lands some kicks. Otani Saito suplex. Kanemoto blocks a dragon suplex and hits a snap belly to belly. Falcon arrow. Otani dodges a senton. Kanemoto rolls into an ankle lock! Rope break. Another kick flurry from Kanemoto. Setup slam and the moonsault hits! That gets a long 2 count. PKs from Kanemoto for 2. High knee in the corner. Now it's Kanemoto's turn to do the boot wash. But he goes for it once too often and Otani counters with a German! Springboard dropkick! In his New Japan regular days as a junior Otani lived off those springboard moves. Spinning powerbomb for 2. Kanemoto gets the ankle lock back on! Grapevine. Otani has a long fight but manages to just get to the ropes. Heel kick from Otani. Kanemoto blocks the dragon suplex again. Tiger suplex from Kanemoto! Otani kicks out! Straight right hand from Otani. The dragon suplex hits! That gets the pin! Like the Kanemoto/Liger match the year before this felt like a condensed greatest hits version of one of their classic matches, but was still good. ***1/4

 

Katsuyori Shibata def IWGP U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in 11:59- Hell yes. No introductions needed here. No belt for Tanahashi as the title isn't on the line here. Tanahashi tries to come in with a kick at the bell but Shibata cuts him off with rapid fire open hand strikes. Another ref shove to continue the punishment as Shibata kicks Tanahashi out of the ring. As soon as Tanahashi gets back in he's pummeled with stiff kicks. He manages to grab Shibata's leg and twist a dragon screw. Dropkick and reset staredown. Forearm slugfest. Shibata's known as the superior striker but Tanahashi is holding his own in stiffness. Until Shibata puts him down with a wicked open hand slap. More mocking kicks while Tanahashi is down. Tanahashi fires back with forearms in the corner. Both guys pull hair! Corner forearms and kicks from Shibata. Tanahashi might have a bit of blood in his mouth. Shibata running corner dropkick! Tanahashi gets a back elbow in the opposite corner and tries a springboard crossbody, but Shibata gives him a knee right in the gut instead. Tanahashi tries to recover on the apron. Shibata kicks him down to the floor. Tanahashi back in with a flying forearm! Shibata dodges an elbow drop and hits a short PK for 2. Rear choke from Shibata. Tanahashi gets in the ropes. HIGH angle Saito from Shibata! Dropped Tanahashi right on his head. Cover for 2. Shibata goes for another rear choke, then puts on a dragon sleeper. Full PK. No, Tanahashi blocks! German! Missile dropkick. Tanahashi hits his own running corner dropkick. Charge right into a Shibata open hand slap. Tanahashi responds with his own. Open hand slugfest. Shit these are stiff. Tanahashi tries an enzuguri but Shibata says fuck that. After taking a few shots Tanahashi goes for another enzuguri and this one has an effect. German with a bridge for 2. Shibata blocks a dragon suplex, which was Tanahashi's finisher at the time. Sleeper from Tanahashi. Into his own dragon sleeper. Shibata works free into a guillotine. PK for 2. Shibata big boot. Tanahashi bounces off and hits a slingblade! First one on a Dome show, that was new in his arsenal. He goes for the dragon suplex again. Shibata uses the ropes to get free and kicks Tanahashi's head off! It takes him a bit to recover and cover and Tanahashi kicks out. More stiff Shibata kicks. Tanahashi's hulking up off them. Shibata continus the assult and Tanahashi goes down again. The ref pulls Shibata back to do a KO count. Tanahashi is up at 8 and immediately gets decapitated with another kick, and that gets the pin. Fantastic match. Like the Tanahashi/Nakamura main event the year before, this was clearly the future. ***3/4

 

The U-30 title would be retired later in the year, which I'll get into later. New Japan wouldn't attempt another midcard title until the creation of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

 

Giant Bernard def Manabu Nakanishi in 9:53- Giant Bernard is Matt Bloom, who'd wrestled in WWF/E for years as Albert, Prince Albert, and A-Train, and after his New Japan run would go back to WWE as Lord Tensai. He's now the longtime head trainer at the PC under the name Jason Albert. He's making his debut for New Japan after spending about a year in All Japan right after leaving WWE. Lockup! Been a rare thing tonight. And stalemate because they're both big strong bois. Nakanishi dodges a rope break cheap shot and cranks a headlock. Shoulderblock standoffs. Lots of screaming and both guys run into each other full speed with no one moving. Bernard finally wins the exchange, knocking Nakanishi down. Headbutts in the corner from Bernard and yet another ref shove. The refs need to be getting hazard pay tonight. Nakanishi kind of blocks an avalanche and lays in chops. He needs two lariatos to send Bernard 360 to the floor. Bernard drags Nakanishi out with him. Whip reversal and Bernard gets posted. Chop exchange on the floor. Nakanishi gets the edge and does some slow beatdown. Bernard blocks a German. A Nakanishi slam attempt goes nowhere. Slam and big splash from Bernard for 2. Big corner lariato. Nakanishi pops out of the corner with a spear. He lays in some more chops. Badly timed corner lariato. He tries to chop Bernard down with double ax handles and finally gets there. Torture Rack! He gets Bernard up! Bernard fights out and we get another chopfest. Choke powerbomb from Bernard for 2. Vader bomb that Nakanishi tries to dodge but Bernard lands on him anyway. I have no idea what the hell they were trying to do there but that clearly wasn't it. Lariato no sells and Nakanishi finally hits the German for 2. Bicycle kick from Bernard. He has a LOT of trouble getting Nakanishi up for a powerbomb, falls against the ropes, gives up and hits a short lariato instead. A sloppy Vader bomb where Bernard's knee fell right on Nakanishi's throat ends it. As much as you could expect from these two. *

 

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Cho-Ten (c) def Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori in 19:28- Chono and Tenzan had some differences over the last few years but finally put them aside, reformed their team, and won the tag titles from Nakamura and Tanahashi in October for what would be their 5th and final reign. They still hold the record for most total days with the tag titles. Chono also won his record 5th and final G1 Climax in '05, ending Tenzan's G1 winning streak at two (Tenzan would make it three wins in four years in '06). Koshinaka, a former New Japan regular, and Omori are representing ZERO1. Koshinaka and Tenzan really want to go at it after intros but the ref holds them back until he can ring the bell. Pretty basic start with Koshinaka blocking a psinning heel kick but running into Mongolian chops. Snap mare from Koshinaka into hip attacks. Both sides tag. Omori and Chono feel each other out with some strikes. Chono cranks a headlock for a bit. Omori hits a big boot. Chono responds with a big boot/Yakuza kick. More cautious feeling out and Omori gets caught in the champs' corner. He and Tenzan slug it out. More Koshinaka hip attacks on Tenzan as Tenzan gets picked apart a bit by the challengers. More big boy "you can't run me over stuff" between Tenzan and Omori until Omori gets run over and Mongolian chopped. Omori responds with European uppercuts and a dropkick. Tenzan and Omori fight on the apron. Omori piledriver on the apron! Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Omori walks up the ramp and charges back down with a running lariato. Back to the ring with the challengers staying in control. Koshinaka Russian leg sweep for 2. Tenzan stays in peril with nothing overly interesting happening. He manages to his Omori with a spinning heel kick and tags. Chono runs wild. Tackle off the top on Omori. Inverted atomic drop into a single leg crab. Transiton to the STF. They lie there for a bit not doing much of anything until Koshinaka breaks it up. Omori puts on a cobra twist. Chono cobra twists Koshinaka and cradles him for 2. Tenzan lariato. Corner lariato. Top rope kneedrop for 2. Superplex. Koshinaka pops right back up! Some maneuvering and the challengers get back in control. Koshinaka German on Tenzan. He tries to get back up but Omori lariatos him back down. Koshinaka hip attack off the top for a long 2. Another hip attack for 2. Omori swinging neckbreaker on Tenzan. Chono tries to come in and eats a lariato. Koshinaka powerbombs Chono. Omori package piledriver on Tenzan! Tenzan kicks out! Kneedrop off the top for another long 2. Lariato standoff and both guys try spinning heel kicks and run into each other. Tags on both sides. Yakuza kick! Double flapjack on Koshinaka. Tenzan corner lariato and Chono Yakuza kick. Tenzan's headbutt off the top hits. Chono shining wizard! Omori breaks the pin up. Both challengers are planted. Koshinaka tries to fire up but another Yakuza kick puts him down. Koshinaka dodges another Yakuza kick into a roll up for a *very* long 2! Standing shining wizard from Chono! That gets the pin! Decently fun stretch run but most of the match was pretty meh. **1/2

 

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) def Shinsuke Nakamura in 8:58- The Beast is here. Lesnar quietly appeared ringside during last year's 1/4 show with wife Sable, his first appearance at a wrestling show since leaving WWE. He would later sign with New Japan, and in his first match with the company in October win the Heavyweight title. Nakamura is already on his way to legend status despite being less than 5 years into his career, main eventing the 1/4 Dome show for the third straight year. In many ways this is the battle of Next Big Things. All of Lesnar's matches have been scrubbed from New Japan World, but fortunately I was able to find a copy of this match elsewhere on Al Gore's interwebs. Brock is in all red gear. So weird. Lesnar charges in and attacks first. Nakamura gets a boot up in the corner and tries some hammy kicks. An elbow to Lesnar's face gets nowhere. And enzuguri gets his attention a bit. Lesnar grabs another kicks and lariatos Nakamura down. Nakamura tries one of his patented stiff knees. Lesnar blocks it and turns it into a belly to belly suplex! Nakamura slips out of another suplex attempt and tries a German. Lesnar blocks it and hits back elbows. Nakamura tries to spin into an armbar but again Lesnar is again too strong and Samoan drops him. Nakamura rolls to the floor. Lesnar double as handle off the apron. Nakamura gets some strikes in on the floor but it doesn't last long. Lesnar runs Nakamura's back into the ring apron. As they're getting back in Nakamura kicks wobble Lesnar off the apron onto the ramp. Nakamura hits the ropes.....stops....thinks.....seems to set his mind and charges with a tope suicida! Lesnar looks like he's going to catch him but does a super slow sell instead. That was awkward. Again, dives, not Nakamura's wheelhouse. Nakamura tries chops on the floor. Lesnar shrugs them off and runs him into the post. Nakamura dodges an elbow drop back in and puts on a sleeper. Lesnar lifts him up and runs him into the corner. Tiger Hattori gets Lesnar to back off in the corner without getting shoved, the first ref to accomplish that tonight. Corner shoulderblocks from Lesnar. Nakamura gets Lesnar in the rope dangling armbar. Lesnar sells it for maybe 5 seconds. Nakamura snaps Lesnar's neck over the top rope and hits a missile dropkick. Nakamura German! Spin into an armbar! Nakamura transitions to a triangle choke. Lesnar pretty easily lifts Nakamura up and drops him. Huge Lesnar lariato. F5 and it's over. They worked together fine but that was way too one sided for a Tokyo Dome main event. After years of seeing it in WWE I know unmotivated Brock when I see it (see his matches with Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe). That was unmotivated Brock. **1/4

 

Keep reading after the show wrap up for more on the Heavyweight title.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Definitely one of the worst 1/4 Dome shows. Maybe the worst. New Japan was in a time of transition at the tail end of a down period, and historically this show kind of falls into a gap between the Inoki era Wrestling World shows and the first Wrestle Kingdom, which will be the following year. The Tanahashi/Shibata match is worth a look, but that's about it.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

 

Now, some final words on the Heavyweight title's journey in '06. Of course, Brock being Brock controversy would soon erupt. Over the summer Lesnar had visa issues that prevented him from making a scheduled title defense. New Japan, under standing rules and precedent still used today, stripped him of the title. If you can't make a scheduled title defense for any reason, whether in the wrestler's control or not, you will be stripped. Lesnar refused to play ball, keeping the belt, so New Japan fired him. After that he took the belt with him over to Inoki's new promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation. New Japan made a new belt, the legendary V4 belt that was used all the way up to the creation of the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in 2021, and held a tournament for the vacant title won by Hiroshi Tanahashi for the first of his record 8 Heavyweight title wins. After winning the top belt Tanahashi would vacate the U-30 title, and New Japan would fully retire it rather than put it on someone else, its purpose having been served. Lesnar would hold the V3 belt, AKA the IWGP Third Belt, until June '07 when he dropped it to Kurt Angle. The two belts would eventually be merged in early '08 when IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Angle during the February post-Wrestle Kingdom tour.

NXT Takeover: San Antonio

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: San Antonio

January 28, 2017 from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, TX

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Percy Watson

2017 is the first year the entire Takeover schedule was synced with main roster PPVs, with this being the first Takeover to take place the Saturday before the Royal Rumble. This is also the start of another turnover in commentary. On the preshow Corey Graves announced this would be his final NXT event before moving over to join the Raw commentary booth. Percy Watson had joined the NXT booth at the end of '16 and would be making his Takeover debut tonight.

 

Small personal note no one cares about but me but it's my blog: I didn't watch this show live because we were at a main roster house show in my hometown. It was a great double weekend: house show on Saturday, and the next day we drove to San Antonio to attend the Rumble. And then we would top it in November.

Eric Young (w/Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe) def Tye Dillinger in 10:55- The crowd is *bonkers* for Dillinger. Longtime TNA/Impact star Eric Young had been with NXT off and on since mid-'16 but was now signed full time with Sanity coming together over the last part of the year. It's kind of crazy, but all the things that Vince tried to accomplish with the COVID-era epic flop that was Retribution, he'd already had right in his hands with Sanity and let it slip away. Nikki Cross is also with Sanity but she has other business later tonight. They're doing the DDP/NWO story here, with Sanity trying to get Dillinger to join and Dillinger refusing. After the bell Young says he's giving Dillinger "one more chance" and tosses his jacket at him. Dillinger picks it up, pretends to think, tosses it at Young's face and attacks him. Young reverses a corner whip but Dillinger pops out with a clothesline. Young bails. Dain and Wolfe form human shields for him to recover. Rough lockup back in. Dillinger gets the upper hand again. Young tosses him out. Sanity tries to corner him on the floor but he slips back in the ring. Corner whip and Young does the flip over the top rope. Back in Dillinger goes to mounted punches. Young gouges his eyes to stop that. Dillinger ends up on the floor. Dain crossbody on the floor! He rolls Dillinger back in and Young hits an elbow off the top rope. Young mocks Dillinger's "10" and punches him. He lifts Dillinger up into a hanging dragon sleeper on the ropes. Neckbreaker for 2. He goes for the hanging dragon sleeper again but Dillinger fights out. Young blocks a superplex and knocks Dillinger back down to the mat. He comes off the top. Dillinger dropkicks him in midair! Boo/yay punches and chops. Young floors Dillinger with a straight right. Dillinger grabs Young's beard and headbutts him! Dillinger turns up the jets and strings some fast moves together to build momentum. Corner running chop. Young does the Flair flip over the top run across and go up the top on the other side. Dillinger leaps up to join him and superplexes him! Cover for 2. Corner stomp down. The kneepad is down! Wolfe knows what's coming and gets on the apron. Dillinger flips him in. Tyebreaker on Wolfe! Dain comes in and takes a superkick. Young hits Dillinger from behind. He goes for the wheelbarrow neckbreaker but Dillinger counters into a roll up for 2. Tyebreaker! Wolfe puts Young's foot on the rope! Dillinger plancha on Wolfe and Dain! He goes for a crossbody off the top but Young reverses it for 2. Again Dillinger goes for the seconds with a baseball slide. He tries to do a fancy flip back in over the ropes, but Young grabs him in perfect position, hits the wheelbarrow neckbreaker, and gets the pin! Man that was a shock, at least to me. I really thought it was Dillinger's night. So did the crowd. It maybe still should have been, all the air went out of the arena with that result. I get that Sanity was destined to be a big thing throughout the year, but I don't think giving Dillinger his Takeover victory moment here would have hurt them any. And he'd never get another shot in a singles match. The match was a solid enough opener but nothing blowaway even minus the crowd deflating result. **1/2

On the plus side for Dillinger, he'd make a very hoped for "surprise" appearance in the Royal Rumble the next night, naturally coming out at #10, with the crowd going absolutely nuts for him. Not only was I in the arena for that, but my cousin and I are actually on screen freaking out over it.

Samoa Joe is ringside! He's signed again! What a shock!

 

Roderick Strong def Andrade Cien Almas in 11:40- Almas is still having trouble finding his footing in NXT nearly a year after his debut. To that end he gets almost no reaction at all from the crowd, even in normally very pro-hispanic San Antonio. Given a crowd still getting over Dillinger losing. Longtime Ring of Honor stalwart Strong came to NXT in the fall, debuting as Austin Aries' tag partner in the Dusty Classic, and is making his first Takeover appearance. Lockup! Mat wrestling! Almas ends up on the wrong end and goes for a rope break. Standing switches, Strong pushes, and Almas does the tranquilo pose in the ropes. Speedy back and forth and Strong hits a spinning heel kick. Backbreaker! Nothing from commentary on that. Come on guys, Messiah of the Backbreaker! No? Almas snaps Strong's arm over the middle rope. He stays on top of Stong aggressively in the corner. He teases a meteora but slams on the brakes and slaps Strong instead. Suplex leverage fight, Almas ends up on the apron and puts on a hanging armbreaker in the ropes. Back in Almas does some more picking apart of the hurt arm. Strong tries to catch Almas but Almas turns it into a snap mare. Running kick. Cover into a Fujiwara armbar. Armbar slam. Almas goes for a moonsault. Strong dodges but Almas lands on his feet. Strong gets an Olympic slam! Stiff chops, enzuguri and clothesline from Strong. Front suplex and corner knee. Another backbreaker from Strong. Now commentary talks about how Strong has a million different ways of hitting you with a backbreaker. Suplex counters and Almas hits a German for 2. Almas tights pulls Strong into a deadlift slam. Chop and forearm exchange. Almas gets a kick in and goes for the meteora. Strong counters with a high knee. More forearm shots. Almas blocks a backbreaker and hooks on a very ZSJ-like double arm stretch. Strong gets a foot on the rope. Almas goes up top. Strong pushes him down and they trade shots on the top rope. Strong lifts Almas and drops him in a backbreaker across the top turnbuckle! Ouch. Cover for 2. Strong counters out of a hammerlock DDT attempt. Almas hiptosses him upside down into the corner! Strong dodges another meteora attempt but runs into a huge clothesline. The meteora finally hits! The hammerlock DDT is blocked again. High knee from Strong. Sick Kick! That gets the pin! Very nicely stiff match and definitely good, but not without a few slightly rough spots. ***1/4

Michael PS Hayes is ringside! Oh my God the Freebirds have signed with NXT!....OK, that joke will get old at some point.

 

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) def DIY (c) in 14:30- AOP steamrolled everyone in the Dusty Classic and are still undefeated in NXT. After a slow start Ellering has gotten back in his managerial groove and has added a ton to the team. Ciampa and Rezar start. Rezar ducks Ciampa to try to attack Gargano but Ciampa gets him away. Back elbow from Ciampa. Rezar blocks a German suplex attempt, which is probably not the smartest thing for Ciampa to be going for this early. Ciampa tries to grind Rezar down to the mat but Rezar is too strong. Ciampa blocks a powerbomb, escapes and tags. Gargano tries to come in with the slingshot spear but Rezar swats him away. Gargano is quickly overpowered and has to escape from the heel corner. All four guys are in. Gargano hits a superkicks and DIY clear the ring of big men. Gargano tope suicida! Back in and another one on the other side! Ciampa flying knee off the apron! Gargano tries for the slingshot DDT back in but Rezar blocks it. Gargano gets pushed off the apron into the guardrail. Akam carries him back into the ring and tosses him down. Beat down in the heel corner. Akam puts Gargano in a Canadian backbreaker. Gargano manages to wiggle free. He dodges in the corner and goes for a tag. Akam pulls him back. Gargano tries an enzuguri but it has zero effect. AOP double team side suplex/second rope stomp for 2. Gargano dodges on the floor and Akam clotheslines the post. Gargano manages to maneuver around in the ring and gets the tag to Ciampa! Ciampa chops down Akam. Corner clotheslines on both AOP. One German suplex! Two German suplexes! Running knee for 2. Ciampa chops Akam while Akam is on his knees. Akam wants more. Kick. Akam still wants more. Another kick. Still more. Ciampa slaps. Akam clothesline! Cover for 2. Now it's Ciampa's turn for a corner beatdown. He slips out of a double team and DIY hit a double slingshot spear for 2! Gargano goes nuts with punches and chops in the corner and won't stop. Akam dodges a corner double team. AOP double team powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for a LONG 2. They go for the Last Chapter but Gargano cuts it off with a superkick! Ciampa roll up for 2! Armbar! Gargano puts on a crossface! DIY classic stereo submission holds! Both AOP guys fight. Rezar gets free from Gargano's crossface, lifts him up, and slams him on Ciampa to break the armbar up! All four guys fight on their knees. Double DIY high knee. They set up for their finisher. Cut off! AOP super collider! Last Chapter on Ciampa! It's all over. The most predictable result of the night, though the crowd certainly hoped for something different. AOP played their role as monsters to perfection with Gargano and Ciampa carrying the rest like their usual awesome selves. ***1/2

While commentary is doing a stand up someone gets in the ring behind them. It's Seth Rollins! Rollins calls out Triple H! After a minute Trips himself comes out. Rollins gets ready for a fight. Trips stares, teases, then gestures for security goons and leaves. Rollins tries to fight them off but eventually gets overwhelmed and dragged off with the crowd chanting "bullshit". This was a nice surprise and good build for their eventual Wrestlemania match. The tightrope that had to be walked when Trips was very publicly NXT's head booker (I like the old school terms) but also still wrestling as a heel on the main roster is endlessly fascinating.

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the NXT Women's Championship: Asuka (c) def Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and Nikki Cross in 9:55- Like with Asuka defending against Mickie James at the last Takeover, the women's division is still retooling post-Four Horsewomen and wouldn't really be fully restocked until after the first Mae Young Classic during the summer. Heir apparent Ember Moon was also still being warmed up, therefore this is a "throw everyone we've got at Asuka" type of match. Kay and Royce both started wrestling at a very young age in their native Australia and had years of indie experience but were widely seen as NXT projects. Cross was a bit more of a known commodity in the indies, as Nikki Storm, before signing with NXT in mid-'16. She started out as a face but, after a short repackaging hiatus, hooked up with Sanity when they first came together while also debuting her new psycho character. All during intros Royce and Kay hold hands and try to look as small as possible in the corner. After the bell they cautiously come out, go back to back, try to muster up the courage.....and roll out to the floor. Asuka and Cross say that's fine, they'd rather fight each other anyway. Asuka starts out in dodge mode. The Iconics take the opening and come back in to attack. Cross gets dangled in the tree of woe while they try to take out Asuka. Bad move. Asuka hits a hip attack on Kay and double clotheslines both. Cross and Asuka try to go at it one on one again but get jumped by the Iconics again. Royce tries to German suplex Asuka with Kay helping for leverage. Asuka holds onto the rope, standing switches behind both women, and Germans them both! The Aussies roll back out and Asuka and Cross start all out brawling. Huge Cross headbutt. Asuka hits her with a German for 2. A casual hip attack knocks the Iconics off the apron back to the floor. Cross ducks an Asuka kick and hits a straitjacket neckbreaker for 2. Reverse DDT for 2. Asuka low bridges Cross to the floor. Cross ducks a kick and trips Asuka on the apron (Hardest Part of the Ring TM). Hanging neckbreaker on the floor! Cross climbs up top, but she's not looking or aiming at Asuka. Crossbody to the floor onto the Iconics! The Aussies get the edge on Cross, run her into the guardrail, and they brawl up the aisle over to where commentary is stationed. Cross climbs commentary's platform and gets on the table. Kay trips her from behind. She calls for Royce and all three set up on the announce table. The Iconics double suplex Cross off the announce table through another covered table that's next to commentary for no reason whatsoever! The Iconics are very pleased with themselves and turn their attention to Asuka, who's been out on the floor this whole time. Man, someone really should have rolled her in and pinned her. Double team knee to the face on Asuka. Double cover. Asuka kicks out! The Aussies are shocked. "Asuka's gonna kill you" chant from the crowd, the first time they've sounded invested the whole match. The Iconics set up for another double team. Asuka counters and takes Kay out. Royce ducks Asuka's kick and hits one of her own. Widow's Peak from Royce! Asuka kicks out again! Royce goes into full on bear poking mode, pushing Asuka around. Asuka responds with a kick to the head. Fuck around, find out. Another kick to the head finishes Royce and Asuka covers for the pin. As Asuka leaves Cross is still out on the commentary platform, but sees Asuka and smiles. They definitely need a one on one match. This match was solid enough with everyone playing their roles right, but never hit any kind of real high gear and the outcome was never in doubt. **3/4

Newly crowned WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate is ringside. I fully intend to review that tournament one day. Let me get done with all the Takeovers first.

 

NXT Championship: Bobby Roode def Shinsuke Nakamura (c) in 27:15- Find someone who loves you as much as Corey Graves loves Bobby Roode. Roode has a very Flair-like entrance with all the women on his arms. And some of them are actually hot! Real life amateur surfer Nakamura gets a cool little surfing in entrance. It's not the live violin but it's something different. The crowd is super into it, the first time they've felt fully engaged in the show since the opener. Dueling chants after intros that sound about 70/30 pro Nakamura. Both guys let things breathe and the crowd starts singing Nakamura's music again. More dueling chants follow that now sound around 60/40. Both guys move in cautiously. Nakamura swings an exploratory knee that Roode dodges. "This is glorious" chant. Nakamura leads in with some basic arm work. Roode escapes and we get the headlock/headscissors counter. Lockup and rope break. Nakamura starts to do the head waggle but Roode almost immediately pushes him off. "COME ON!" "NO!....GLORIOUS!" Nakamura is not impressed. More cautious jockeying and Roode hides in the ropes. Countering Nakamura's famous mind games with some of his own, which is getting Nakamura frustrated. Nakamura gets a go behind and Roode backs him into the ropes for a break. Cheap back elbow from Roode on the ropes. Now he cranks on Nakamura's arm. Nakamura does a super elaborate escape and they do the headlock/headscissors again with positions swapped. Roode dodges kicks. He goes for another "GLORIOUS" and Nakamura takes the opening to attack. Kneedrop. Roode counters good vibrations. Nakamura hits a misdirection kick. The fight goes to the floor for a minute with Nakamura in control. Knees in the corner from Nakamura back in. Roode counters a charge, places Nakamura on the top rope, and dumps him down to the floor! Nakamura gets thrown into the stairs and the back of his neck is hurting. Roode goes into beatdown mode back in. Double ax handle off the second rope for 2. More work targeting Nakamura's hurt neck. Nakamura tries to fight back but Roode pulls him down by the hair. Kneedrops to the hurt neck for 2. Roode does his own good vibrations. Nakamura rolls to the apron and gets a kick in from there. Running apron knee. Apron kneedrop. Strike combo and kicks from Nakamura. More corner knees and Nakamura gives us the real good vibrations. He sets Roode up top for the running draping knee. Roode dodges and Nakamura knees the top turnbuckle. Nakamura dodges another double ax handle off the second rope. Roode blocks an inverted exploder attempt but runs into a knee. Another setup and this time the running knee hits. Inverted exploder! Nakamura sets up for the Kinshasa. Roode won't get up. Nakamura gets frustrated again. He walks over and Roode rolls him up for 2! Vertebraker from Roode for 2. He goes for the Glorious DDT but Nakamura gets free. Roode spinebuster for 2. He sets Nakamura up top. Nakamura blocks a superplex and drops Roode back to the mat. Flying kick off the second rope. He sets up to finish it again. Charge but Roode gets a boot up in the corner. He tries for a leverage pin! The ref catches him! Roode corner chops on Nakamura. He bends over and does the head waggle! Now Roode's frustrated. Nakamura smiles. Roode shoves. Another "COME ON!" suckers Roode into a stiff Nakamura strike flurry. He stomps Roode's head while in the ropes. Nakamura spins into an armbar! Roode blocks it, so Nakamura switches to a triangle choke. Roode lifts him up. Nakamura rolls through and hits a running knee to the gut for 2. Nakamura gets on the second rope again. Roode rolls to the apron. Nakamura retargets and hits Roode with the knee off the second rope to the apron! But Nakamura hurts his own knee on the landing! He gets Roode back in the ring. KINSHASA! But that only hurt Nakamura's knee more! Roode's out but Nakamura's across the ring in agony. The ref calls a trainer in as the crowd boos. Nakamura can't stand. Roode comes to and chills in the corner while Nakamura is checked out. Nakamura signals he wants to keep going. He crawls back in. As soon as he does Roode runs over and plants him with the Glorious DDT! Nakamura kicks out! Roode is stunned. Nakamura's knee is still killing him. Roode puts on a single leg crab and punches the knee! Nakamura tries to get to the ropes but Roode drags him back to the center. Nakamura manages to fight over and tries to put the triangle on again, but his knee won't support it. Another Glorious DDT! Roode gets the pin and the title! I'm just about the biggest Nakamura fan in the world, but going that far to protect him in losing was a bit much even for me. Still, the rest of the match is great and another worthy Takeover main event. ****

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Definitely middling as far as Takeovers go. I still say Dillinger losing in the opener was a bad booking call because it deflated the crowd horribly and never fully recovered until the main event. Watson added absolutely nothing on commentary. Maybe less than nothing. NXT as a whole was in a bit of a retooling phase. Things would pick up again around midyear with the aforementioned very successful first Mae Young Classic (another one on the to review list), some more huge signings, and a long awaited breakup that would lead to a year long feud.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B