NXT TakeOver: Toronto was a professional wrestling show in the NXT TakeOver series that took place on November 19, 2016, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event is produced by WWE for its NXT brand, and streamed live on the WWE Network.
Bobby Roode def. Tye Dillinger
This was a solid opener for this event, but if I'm perfectly honest, I'm not really blown away from anything Bobby Roode has done since his arrival in NXT. I'm not knocking the guy - it's just that I have been bored with him since his last run in Impact Wrestling and Global Force Wrestling. That goes double for Austin Aries too. It just seems like those guys are riding off the same old shit that they were doing in TNA for the last decade or more and the WWE marks who haven't bothered to watch anything outside of Vince's kingdom don't know any better, even though NXT is supposed to be the smarky audience.
To say that Roode dominated the majority of this match to a minor comeback by Dillinger, only for Roode to ultimately win at the end (with a fucking Impaler DDT no less) just seems like another blow to Dillinger as NXT continues to chop that guy's legs out from underneath him. Despite how stupid he looked in his entrance and he had to follow behind Roode's fucking mass choir singing along with his GLORIOUS entrance theme, Dillinger didn't allow that to shake him and the crowd was really behind the guy - even carrying on his memory throughout the weekend. I just wish WWE would give him a chance to shine instead of allowing him to fizzle out like most of their homegrown talent in NXT in favor of the established "indie darlings".
Dusty Tag Team Classic 2016 Finals - Authors of Pain def. TM61 with Paul Ellering confined within a shark tank hanging above the ring
Speaking of indie darlings, this is one case where the established indie guys should have gone over. The Authors of Pain have been lame since their debut and having Paul Ellering in their corner has done them absolutely no favors. They pulled that shark tank stipulation right out of their asses too as who saw that one coming. I guess they wanted to hype up that new playset for the kids with the holidays right around the corner.
Outside of that crazy dive spot off the structure at ringside, I couldn't have cared less about this match. Both teams tried but this year's Dusty Classic has been a complete waste just to feature the former CWC talent in pointless tag team matches as filler while taking away the focus from deserving new and established teams in NXT. Goddamn, this tournament has been such a wasted opportunity this year.
I'm guessing that they gave Paul Ellering's team the win since they are trying to brown nose him into sticking around even though his daughter recently signed with Ring of Honor for their women's division.
By the way, Paul Ellering would be one hell of a Hall of Fame induction sooner more than later. He's MORE than qualified at this point.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match - DIY def. The Revival (c) in a Best of 3 Falls Match
After the first fall, I stood up and applauded as I thought that was the finish. I had NO fucking idea that this was a Best of 3 Falls Match like Revival's last encounter against American Alpha. That Shatter Machine counter to Gargano's Slingshot Spear was fucking beautiful. That being said, Revival and DIY put on a tag team clinic in this match. It was as great as their last Takeover match, despite a few miscues and botches but it came together by the end. This was the ONLY match the entire weekend that had me emotionally invested from bell to bell.
I predicted that DIY would win the gold here, but at the same time, I was a little heartbroken to see Revival lose the titles. I hope they are getting a call up to the main roster sooner more than later as both brands could benefit from a tag team of their caliber on their rosters. If it is time for Revival to move up, then the division is in good hands with DIY on top.
NXT Women's Championship Match - Asuka (c) def. Mickie James
I don't get why the Canadian crowds were chanting that Mickie "still got it" when she honestly never quit wrestling much other than during her pregnancy. Just because you leave WWE for roughly the last few years doesn't mean that you haven't been wrestling period. Geez, folks. Give TNA some credit for keeping her memory alive after all of WWE's work lately to drag the post-Lita and Trish era of WWE Divas in the mud until the Bella Twins came around.
This match just seemed off. It wasn't as bad as Gail Kim and Mickie James' lack of chemistry from throughout the years, but to me, it felt like that Asuka and Mickie James were struggling to click with each other on this one. At the same time, I couldn't help but think in the back of my mind that Trish Stratus turned down this match because there wasn't no way in hell she would have come back just to get stiffed by Asuka and job out in her homeland. Yeah, I'd get knocked up too if that meant I would have an excuse not to fight her. Mickie did enough to keep this one interesting but not at one moment I felt that Mickie was going to win here.
Sadly, this match had a rushed/sloppy finish that just came off awkward in the middle of their reversal exchange. That alone left a bad taste in my mouth as we didn't get a true "decisive" win here. Instead, it just looked like a botch and the girls went with it. On top of that, this seemed like a missed opportunity to not have Asuka's next challenger make herself known after this match but I guess they didn't want to take the spotlight away from Mickie's "glorious" return.
As for Mickie James, I doubt she'll come back to a full-time WWE schedule when she's got a kid at home and her husband is still working the indies as well.
NXT Championship Match - Samoa Joe def. Shinsuke Nakamura (c) to become the first ever 2-time NXT Champion
Outside of not dislocating Samoa Joe's jaw again, I felt that this was about the same as their first match. Not saying that was a bad thing, but if you enjoyed their first encounter then it was a lot of the same here. I was really surprised to see Joe bust out the Chimera Plex in this match, but I guess that was to cater to the New Japan fans. I was even more surprised to see Nakamura lose here. I thought they would have given the two-time NXT Champion spot to Balor before he left but I was definitely wrong on that one. Samoa Joe seems like he's going to be one of Triple H's pet projects for a long time. If handled well, Joe could be a more dominating and unstoppable force than Owens and Lesnar combined. That would definitely make up for how TNA handled that guy's main event push.
I have to wonder if Nakamura is getting the call up sooner than we are expecting. I mean c'mon the guy is FAR too big of a star too keep him down in NXT for two WrestleManias in a row. Then imagine the crowd reaction for his entrance at WrestleMania, let alone for the Rumble next month if they debut him like they did AJ Styles last year. Just imagine that crowd reaction for Nakamura if he showed up in the Rumble match. It would be crazy if Nakamura and Styles have their Wrestle Kingdom rematch at WrestleMania next year.
After seeing people mention this online, I have to agree with the predictions that Nakamura will more likely get the belt back when NXT tours in Japan next month. That makes perfect sense for Samoa Joe's last hurrah and for Nakamura to regain the gold back in his homeland. I'm fine with that as long as they don't start tossing the belt back and forth like a hot potato like how Sasha Banks and Charlotte were doing on the main roster for the last few months.
Closing Thoughts
If I were to give this show a grade, I would give it an average B. That's it. It was your average run of the mill NXT episode stretched into two and half hours. The best match was easily the best match of the night and I'm sure people will be buzzing about the entrances for months to come, but there's nothing much else to write home about this event. Sad to say, but this was EASILY the best thing that WWE offered during Survivor Series weekend. If forced to pick between the two to watch, I HIGHLY recommend watching this show over wasting 3.5+ hours of your life watching that mess that was Survivor Series.
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