NXT Takeover: Toronto (November 19, 2016) -- Results and Afterthoughts

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.

NXT Takeover: Respect -- Results & Afterthoughts

On Wednesday, October 7, 2015, WWE held NXT Takeover: Respect exclusively on the WWE Network at their native home at the Full Sail University. This event served as the finale to the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament with the Rhodes family in attendance to present the winners with the commemorative trophy. This event also marked the first ever Ironman Match between two women on the WWE roster as Sasha Banks and Bayley face off in what (should be) many believe to be their final encounter over the NXT Women's Championship as this event's main event. Please note that this is the first event where the NXT Championship is NOT on the line.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Final Match - NXT Champion Finn Balor & Samoa Joe def. The Mechanics

I’ve openly expressed this a lot lately and I don’t see the reasoning why should the NXT Champion be in a TAG TEAM tournament when the damn actual Tag Team Champions (the Vaudevillains) were already eliminated EARLY into the tournament? Oh wait, it’s because WWE hasn’t bothered to build up any other Superstar up to Finn’s level, so we’re doing filler until we figure shit out? They would have challengers if NXT doesn’t automatically push every “insanely over” indie guy they sign to the moon and somehow have them in the NXT title picture within a month. Kevin Owens was on NXT for less than 6 months and made it to the main roster. I would have had Finn and Joe lose early in the tournament – much like the team of Solomon Crowe & Neville (GOD this would’ve been an AMAZING 1v1 solo feud) - due to Joe turning on Finn and inserting himself as the next challenger to his title. It’s obvious we’re never getting that “proper” Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Owens feud that was teased at Takeover a LONG while back so let’s go in this route until Hideo Itami is healed up.

This match wasn’t bad as the Mechanics are a pair of heavy-hitters – I’m still not too crazy about their ring work as they are a bit sloppy and look rather unsafe (that match from one of the TV tapings with them versus the Hype Bros. where they dropped Zack Ryder on his damn neck/head from the move without any way to land properly out of the corner). They played up Finn getting “injured” while Joe played the support role as the Mechanics segregated the ring. My only problem with this match was the fact that Finn did his finisher without any problems to say that his knee/leg was fucked up. So much for playing up the injury, buddy.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Final Match

 - Baron Corbin & Rhyno def. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable

This was the match that ruined my mood for the rest of the night. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Baron Corbin is as exciting as watching paint dry. To say that WWE is determined to get this guy over by feeding him countless Superstars (many of which who are FAR more talented than him) to job to him just continues to piss me off that this undeserving clown continues to get pushed to the moon just because of his physique. Perfect example was tonight’s match where Chad Gable, who I have NO problem admitting that I have quickly become a fan of, worked his ass off (along with Jason Jordan, who is already one hell of a worker) in this match to no avail.

The best ending for Jordan/Gable’s storyline was to have them overcome the odds, beat Corbin/Rhyno (whose pairing makes little to NO sense to begin with after Rhyno lost to the guy and never got a rematch) and defeat a weakened Finn and Joe in the finals. Joe gets upset at Finn’s “weakness” and goes heel by turning on his partner after Jordan/Gable’s celebration. Do we get this scenario? Nope. What we get is Gable pulling out everything under the sun to try to defeat Corbin, including the freakin’ CHAOS THEORY (Rolling Bridging/Deadlift German Suplex – thank you, Doug Williams), yet STILL jobs to this fool? I’m sorry but FUCK Baron Corbin. Never liked that dude, never will.

That being said, I’m ready, willing and GABLE for a NXT Tag Team Championship feud between Jason Jordan and Chad Gable versus the Vaudevillains down the road. Well… I’m down for anything to get the Dubstep Brothers out of the #1 contender spot.

Asuka def. Dana Brooke (w/ Emma) in her NXT debut 

Before we actually talk about this match, let's talk about how WWE pulled a first here on NXT, where we had the Divas interrupting a Superstar during his interview backstage as we saw an overly confident Dana Brooke interrupt Apollo Crews. Bravo on this WWE. I would love to see more of this with Superstars interacting with Divas and vice versa instead of acting like they exist in two different realities in WWE.

The first thing that I was surprised about watching this match was the fact that Asuka didn’t have a “stereotypical” entrance theme and music like how WWE traditionally tends to treat the Japanese wrestlers who cross over into their kingdom. The second was that they allowed Asuka to wear her ring gear that’s borderline lingerie. I thought the toe-shaped sneakers were a nice touch to give her more that “lioness” flair that she was going for since the woman formerly known as Kana is taking up the joshi legend Lioness Asuka’s name in WWE. Bravo, WWE. That was definitely a nice touch.

I could almost literally hear the toilet flush as Dana Brooke's momentum
goes down the drain...

As for the match itself, this was one of two matches that I wasn’t too crazy about having the newcomers come in and throw your established talent or rather in Dana Brooke’s case, your work in progress, underneath the bus. From all of the momentum that Dana Brooke was starting to garner with her new attitude and starting to get a few wins underneath her belt after being thrown to the bottom of the ladder by Charlotte on the way out of the door to the main roster, this loss just sets her right back to square one in my eyes. Asuka punked out Emma post-match so there’s not going to be a rematch that’s going to remedy the embarrassment that Dana Brooke suffered here. One could argue that she’s a heel and heels are supposed to be humiliated, but in Dana’s case, this was more than humiliation. It seemed like WWE was “humbling” her with a match against an opponent like this. Asuka went out of her way to humiliate her gimmick and character and dominate Dana in every aspect of the match.

Emma got punked out quicker than guys scared of Deebo on Friday...

(Laughs) Even I’ll admit that Dana’s had that coming for MONTHS now though… I bet Devin was watching that match backstage with a bag of popcorn.

Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Asuka goes on as a dominant heel going forward, while the pairing of Emma and Dana Brooke is left on the sidelines for the time being.

Apollo Crews def. Tyler Breeze

This was the second match that I wasn’t too crazy about having established talent thrown underneath the bus against a newcomer. Tyler Breeze NEVER seems to get a break in these Takeover events and I would love to see him win at least once for crying out loud. To say that NXT were heavily invested in this guys’ character at one point, only to have him lose again and again is really making me question what does NXT have planned for Breeze in the long-term. This guy is constantly being shafted when it comes to being the next guy to challenge for the NXT title.

If WWE aren't going to use the guy to his full potential, I humbly suggest pairing Breeze with Dolph Ziggler and go for Midnight Rockers 2.0.

As for Apollo Crews, he's an amazing athlete so I don't want to sell the guy short but I feel like WWE is pushing him too fast too soon. I don't want to see him end up like how Big E was after his stellar NXT run. As much as people may love the New Day right now, I seriously doubt that WWE has ANY aspirations to allow any member of that faction challenge for the gold. We all know how WWE treats their black wrestlers by now...

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals – NXT Champion Finn Balor & Samoa Joe def. Baron Corbin & Rhyno to win the tournament

The entire match revolved around Finn's half-selling of the "injury" that he suffered in the first match until he was able to get the hot tag to Samoa Joe. I felt like this was deja vu from the first matches from both teams as they recycled a lot of the same spots, i.e. the Black Hole Slam counter by Corbin, Joe coming in off the hot tag and cleaning house with the Powerslam, Running Senton, and Corner Chokeslam signatures, then Rhyno getting that desperation Gore off during the "go-home" sequence of the finish.

I don't want to complain about Finn and Joe winning but it seemed like the dynamic and drama was lost by this point - at least for me it was that way. Hell, I was still in a sour mood after Jordan and Gable were wrongly eliminated from this tournament. Would it have killed them to at least book at least ONE legitimate tag team instead of two slapped together last-second additions for this thing that are going to split up the second this tournament is over?

Lord forgive me but that trophy looks as stupid as the Ultimate
Warrior Award statue at WrestleMania this year...

Then the celebration seemed a bit bittersweet as there wasn't any turns of teams dissolving like everyone was expecting that would happen. Baron Corbin and Rhyno didn't seem too upset over the win, which was rather strange that they openly stated that they were merely paired up just out of circumstances of that tournament. It was even stranger for the winners as there was no heel turn from neither Finn Balor nor Samoa Joe either. Instead, Samoa Joe and Finn Balor were all smiles and hugs after winning the tournament.

On a positive note, that was a powerful speech by Cody Rhodes on behalf of his late father and I'm proud to be a member of the Rhodes family, even if it was just for that shared moment like this.

30 Minute Ironman Match for NXT Women’s Championship – Bayley def. Sasha Banks 3 to 2 to retain the title

When I posted my predictions for this show on social media prior to the event, I had little faith that this match would surpass their bout at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn two months ago and I have to admit that I was correct. In that match there was a lot more drama to behold in that match, but here the match merely chugged along with a lot of bad spots and miscues/awful timing, but it wasn't a complete flop. Both Bayley and Sasha Banks are talented workers and play off brilliantly off of each other in-ring, but wrestling for 30 minutes didn't seem to do them for any favors.

So much for the training montage when their endurance was cut in half here. Where it took them roughly 18 minutes to score a single pinfall on each other at Brooklyn, it took less than 10 minutes to pinfalls on each other during this event.

I have to mention the crowd at this point and say that bringing the Takeover special back to Full Sail University didn't do them any favors in my eyes as the chants were distracting to the match itself. We get it, you’re excited and want to express your excitement for the ladies of NXT getting an opportunity this big, but sometimes the Japanese approach to wrestling fandom is the appropriate one where you SHUT THE FUCK UP and enjoy the awesomeness in silence and out of respect.

Sasha Banks... making her haters cry, one kid at a time.

My favorite part of the match was when Sasha took it onto herself to get a massive amount of heel heat by making Bayley's #1 fan in the front row start crying. WWE were cold-blooded to keep recording the kid's reactions throughout the match as that just tossed more fuel on the fire of Sasha's red-hot heel antics. I tip my hat to Sasha Banks for acting like a proper heel in a match like this. A LOT of WWE's so-called heels tend to forget that they are supposed to be trying to getting booed instead of cheered.

The final fall came down to the wire where Bayley locked in what looked like a variation of Perry Saturn's Rings of Saturn submission hold, which forced Sasha Banks to submit (well it wasn't really clear with the bad camera angle...) with 3 seconds left on the clock to allow Bayley to retain. Cool, but I felt that they tried to replicate the Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels dynamic enough here from the multiple rest holds during the early phase of the match to the array of submissions thrown around left and right during the final moments.

Closing Thoughts

I'll agree with most critics and say that this event was miles above and beyond what we've been given on Monday Night RAW and Friday Thursday Night Smackdown! over the last few months. Seriously, that's not really saying much though. The Dusty Classic garnered some excitement while NXT's newest additions definitely made an impact tonight and Sasha and Bayley delivered on a main event platform.

You would think that Sasha was going into the Hall of Fame after this post-match
celebration. I know Lita's going like damn...

Did I think that the flowers and post-match celebration with the ENTIRE roster, staff, and crew applauding from the entrance ramp was necessary? No, I felt that was a little overboard, especially after Sasha, along with Charlotte, Bayley, and Becky Lynch, killed kayfabe at Takeover: Brooklyn when they celebrated in the ring post-match. So I'm supposed to just ignore all of that and act like you two have a "heated" rivalry again? Sorry, but you single-handedly killed the dynamic that made the match at Brooklyn so great with that. If they wanted to congratulate and celebrate with the Divas on their triumph moment on a main event platform they could have done this backstage and off-camera (or even film it for one of those wonderful WWE:24 specials on the WWE Network) keep kayfabe alive for those of us who like to be caught up in the characters. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the ladies for their achievement here at this level, but with the women completely breaking character afterwards is making the product look bad as a whole if I'm being perfectly honest.

How can WWE expect their viewers to get invested in their product when their wrestlers can't even keep invested in playing these characters themselves? Is this supposed to be the main draw of this "Reality Era" of WWE, that we as fans are supposed to be content with heel and face ailments have no weight whatsoever?