NXT TakeOver: San Antonio was a professional wrestling show in the
NXT TakeOver series that took place on January 28, 2017, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The event was produced by WWE for its
NXT promotion, and was streamed live on the WWE Network.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event,
Bobby Roode defeated
Shinsuke Nakamura to win the NXT Championship.
Sanity's Eric Young def. Tye Dillinger
Tye REALLY needs a better look for these Takeover events. That vest thing looks fucking stupid.
Watching this opener, I was having deja vu back to their match on the weekly NXT tapings a few weeks ago. There really wasn't much to write home here about this. The match left a bad taste in my mouth where they did the two-man interference spot and finisher reversal to the near-fall, which should have been the finish yet they continued with the match anyway.
I don't know what was more moronic here - the fact that it took interference from BOTH members of Sanity at ringside or the fact that Dillinger lost another one of these Takeover matches. Who's dog did Dillinger kill in the front office that they are holding a grudge not to give this guy the ball and run with it? Good lord man, after Toronto I thought that NXT would scrap the rocket on this guy's back and shoot him up to the moon but nope, he continues to be the Dolph Ziggler of NXT, having stellar in-ring bouts but never winning when it matters the most. I dunno where they are going with this next. I hope WWE knows that if they keep doing this that people are going to give up on him JUST LIKE FUCKING ZIGGLER.
As for Sanity, I get that they are heels and EY is supposed to be building these guys up but holy shit they looked pathetic here, collectively as an unit. If you can't beat a guy with a shitty of a win/lose record as Dillinger without help then something is CLEARLY wrong.
The whole wannabe Aces & Eights thing with Sanity still isn't doing anything for me by the way...
Roderick Strong def. Andrade 'Cien' Almas
This was easily the second best match of the night. I remember seeing a lot of people saying on social media this past week that Almas would get a great match out of Strong and they weren't lying at all. Even though I tire of that rope resting spot from Almas (TJ Perkins does it, Dragon Lee in Ring of Honor/CMLL does it, a few guys in Lucha Underground do it, and even one guy in TNA did it a few months ago, so yeah it's pretty stale at this point...), you can't deny that Almas is one hell of a worker even though his gimmick isn't worth writing home about. Roddy started busting out the backbreaker variations that he's known for and that's when I really was getting hyped about this match. A few sloppy spots here and there, but it still came together nicely by the time it was all said and done.
Sad to say but there were a lot of sloppy performances on this show tonight worse than what was seen here.
The Authors of Pain def. DIY (c) to become the NEW NXT Tag Team Champions
Good grief, AoP got exposed as being green as grass here. DIY were wrestling circles around them to the point those guys were CLEARLY winded and DIY had to slow down to accommodate. DIY was carrying them from bell to bell here which managed to be AoP's best match to date here in NXT, but that's not saying much when those guys have been in majorly squash matches up until the Dusty Classic finals back in Toronto.
I figured that DIY were going to lose the gold here, as NXT has a history of the babyface tag champions losing the gold shortly after winning them. LuchaDragons, Vaudevillains, American Alpha, and now DIY.
Seth Rollins calls out Triple H
While most people were shocked at this turn of events, I was sitting here laughing during this segment. So it took Rollins MONTHS after the fact to realize that if he wanted to reach HHH he had to show up at NXT? Of course, HHH ignored Rollins and sent out his henchmen, err security
goons to do his handiwork.
(Sighs) At least WWE is starting to care about continuity...
Asuka (c) def. Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Nikki Cross to retain the NXT Women's Championship
I mentioned this on Twitter for the past week, but I had like no faith nor passion about this match in the least. NXT did absolutely NOTHING to make me care about the build-up to this match. Nikki Cross' gimmick is still in its infancy, so you know she wasn't getting a title shot - thank god she wasn't the one pinned. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce as wannabe Adam West Batman-themed villains crossed with Mean Girls weren't winning either, so who cares? The marks on social media rave so much about Billie and Peyton's gimmick but it's fucking stupid and just the same as almost every other dime a dozen female heel duos. I would love to know what is up with WWE Divas' fixations on being inspired by Batman's female villains for their heel personas. The only person who isn't pulling that shit is Charlotte but she's ripping off her dad and Stephanie McMahon enough as it is, so I guess she doesn't have to.
Speaking of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, here's the thing that just ruined the ENTIRE narrative to this match for me where I pretty much mentally tuned out for most of this match. Right off the bat, it was established that Billie and Peyton didn't care which one of them won the title, but not for ONE FUCKING SECOND did these two "geniuses" think about pinning each other, especially while Asuka and Nikki Cross were out cold at ringside.
The double suplex through the table on Nikki Cross (who didn't really do much here at all) and the double team moves from Royce/Kay weren't bad either but this was another match wasn't really much to talk about either. They could've done this match on the TV taping for NXT this past week if they were going to do that.
Most people were complaining on Twitter that the in-ring segment with Rollins/HHH took away some of the time for them, but I doubt that when the show is on the Network and they could go as long as they wanted tonight.
Bobby Roode def. Shinsuke Nakamura (c) to become the NEW NXT Champion
The best match of the night, without a shadow of a doubt. While I have openly expressed that Bobby Roode has bored me since his last run in TNA, I have never said that he wasn't a talented worker. That was shown off here why he's one hell of a hand to have on any roster. The guy carries himself like a main eventer, but I still feel like the guy has stagnated since his days in TNA. I fear that if his entrance wasn't so over, the same people who didn't give a flying fuck about his World Heavyweight title runs and main event push in TNA yet are dick-riding him hard right now wouldn't care about him right now in NXT either. He would be in the same collective rut that Aries and Strong are in post-ROH and TNA where their hype levels have fizzled out.
Major props to Nakamura to playing out the injury angle in the finish flawlessly. I have to wonder why did they go with this again when they just did an injury angle during the feud with Samoa Joe a few months prior? Roode barely worked Nakamura's legs until that point and just kept hitting his finisher (which targets the head more than the legs...) and then that Single Leg Boston Crab, but Roode and Nakamura's facial expressions were on point. I cannot stress enough how valuable that aspect is important to ANY wrestler selling a narrative.
Closing Words
I felt that this show was pretty average at best, with the finish to the main event saving it from being entirely mediocre from start to finish. There was flashes of brilliance here, such as how well the injury finish was executed in the main event and the hard-hitting, back and forth contest between Strong and Almas was, but this show struggled with a lot of VERY predictable and questionable booking decisions. If I were to give it a grade, I would give it a C+ until the main event, whereas the finish bumps it up to a strong B-. For once, I'm confident that the main roster will actually outperform NXT on the following night with the Royal Rumble.
Where do they go from here? Well, they have a lot of options, I'll say that much.
Anyone who thinks that Nakamura will be in the Royal Rumble tomorrow night, or rather tonight as you're reading this, are fucking stupid as he just played up this major injury and lost the title. He's not getting a main roster call up after that. They are setting him up for a rematch after benching him for a few weeks or months to lead up to the Takeover rematch during WrestleMania weekend in Orlando.
For Asuka, I say it's now or never to pull that trigger on the next few tapings to have her feud with Ember Moon. They've put that off long enough. They could do a singles feud between her and Nikki Cross for filler between these months between now and April, but after tonight I'm under the impression that Nikki Cross would want revenge on Billie Kay and Peyton Royce more than anything else to get her credibility back.
DIY losing the tag titles here doesn't hurt them in the long run as they function better when they are in the chase for the gold as it gives the fans someone to cheer for as the "underdogs" since they are still in the title hunt. I'm guessing that NXT will set up a triple threat between the Authors of Pain, DIY, and The Revival for WrestleMania weekend since TM61 are derailed with that injury to one of their own. With both DIY and Revival (alternatively, Sanity) in that match, it would help hide the Authors of Pain's lack of experience MUCH better there than they did tonight.
