NXT

[Prime Time]

Didn't watch the show but I'm not sure there's a bigger example of my '.... and then, alas, the bell rang' in modern wrestling than Adam Cole. I totally get what they see in him in general and why several different bookers have put him in a prominent position, but my god I don't think I've enjoyed any of his matches, ever.

[comfortablynumb]

I have to say I really enjoyed the show as I played video games on my other TV. I can't say I disagree with your criticisms but personally I wasn't too bothered by them.

I definitely think Cole-Ciampa was hurt by the rest of the card being all top-shelf main-event type matches though. It also seems that WWE wanted this Takeover to be beefier since it was slotted like a usual WWE PPV on a Sunday with more advertised matches than any previous Takeover. Maybe a shorter seventh match and knocking off 10 minutes on two previous matches been better if they wanted this to go three hours? I don't know.

The tag match and the Lee-Dijakovic were my two favorites, with the latter being one of my favorite matches this year.

If both the men's and women's NXT titles are being defended at Wrestlemania, Ciampa-Gargano could possibly be the Takeover headliner if they really get the hype train behind it. I was not a fan of the ending of that match last night, but the feud always was supposed to have that one final match to end it all.

[Oliver]

I actually liked the way they handled Gargano, specifically, last night. There was that moment in the Balor/Gargano match, when he hit the dropkick into the barricade, where I flashed back to the look he had during his descent into madness opposite Ciampa and how that all pulled together into explaining why Gargano acted like he did. It might have only been a small moment, but that association came to me immediately. And then it ties into the ending of the main with Ciampa/Cole, and Gargano going straight back to being against Ciampa because he started to lose faith in himself again.

I'm not really against them going back to the Ciampa/Gargano well for one (hopefully) last time, as their story certainly wasn't finished when it was cut short. But I don't like that they did it without much more than that one moment in the Balor match, and that I'm really sure I'm extrapolating myself and actually has little or nothing to do with the story itself. I mean, I tied that together, and they might well have had the bigger story in mind through that bit of acting in the match. But it feels like they're pulling the trigger on something that could, and should, be a lot more complex given the history.

We'll see. I'm happy to wait and see on that, because their previous work and storytelling has been so good.

I don't think Cole should defend the title on the Mania card - unless they do a showcase match in the same way they did with Dunne at Survivor Series, which had little build but could be banked on to deliver. Having the Tampa Bay show without Ripley and the women's title is one thing. Having it without both top singles championships? That's a completely different thing all together, and I don't think it works.

[Team Farrell]

I agree with Pen in getting board as the show wore on. That's been a problem for me with Takeover for the better part of two years now, though. The shows are structured really poorly in that they aren't structured at all, it's just six main event matches.

The last two were a chore to get through. I have no idea why anyone in that company would allow Ciampa to take that wheelbarrow bump into the table. Are they not hoping to make money with that guy, or is he expendable? I was immediately done with the match at that point. Unfortunately it went on for four more years after that spot.

I truly don't understand. With a few more basic wrestling exchanges and a little more selling, they could have eliminated a lot of the sequences in that match. In terms of story telling, they did like five matches worth of stuff. That table bump is the number one, top, countout finish bump in one match. The ARC on the apron is a finish of another match. The Destroyer on the floor is the finish of a third match. The interference stuff into the Last Shot is the finish of a fourth. And the actual finish is the fifth.

Why do it all? Is it just to stretch to 33 minutes?

Again, you can do that with a few more down spots and more wrestling up front.

I think I'd be a lot less down on it if they'd cut the entire sequence with the ARC on the apron into the floor Destroyer into no-selling the floor Destroyer. And maybe kill the interference entirely if you're going to do a ref bump anyway.

For a program with fairly little build, they certainly acted like it was the final match of a years-long angle.

The whole show was like that for me, though. Lee and Dijak was a really fun match. I don't care for the Olive Oyl girls in the hardcore match, but I hope they're getting paid better than I've heard NXT deals pay the lower end folks. GIRLS DON'T NEED TO DO EVERYTHING GUYS DO so quit it with the unnecessary, and dangerous, table bumps. That one girl is lucky to be alive and not seriously injured. Gargano and Balor was a lot of fun and a well-wrestled match with a lot of great psychology. The Women's title match was off the charts good.

And I wish they'd just ended the show there with Charlotte coming out and doing her thing.

[meandi]

Sounds like I turned it off at just the right time. I made it through the Balor/Gargano match, and while I enjoyed it all up until then... it seems like, with the exception of the Belair/Ripley match, I didn’t really miss much else. Speaking of Belair, while I was impressed with her during the Rumble (first time seeing her), I have no desire to watch her again. I see nothing but a Sasha Banks wannabe, and... Sasha does it better. However, Tegan Nox is now on my radar, and I definitely want to see more of her.

[Team Farrell]

I don't see anything in Nox or the other one.

They're average girls. I know a half dozen of these girls. Average skills, average charisma, physically not built for pro wrestling, but they're so much more over than anything about them warrants because they're pretty, skinny, a little nerdy and come off as "gettable". Guys will fall all over these highly average girls because they're good looking, but not so good looking that they feel unattainable and girls will get behind them because they aren't a threat.

[Powder]

Dakota Kai is pretty? Ok...she's all yours.

[meandi]

I honestly wasn’t basing that on looks or attainability. I’m just a sucker for a girl that throws a shining wizard.

[Oliver]

Sounds like I turned it off at just the right time. I made it through the Balor/Gargano match, and while I enjoyed it all up until then... it seems like, with the exception of the Belair/Ripley match, I didn’t really miss much else. Speaking of Belair, while I was impressed with her during the Rumble (first time seeing her), I have no desire to watch her again. I see nothing but a Sasha Banks wannabe, and... Sasha does it better. However, Tegan Nox is now on my radar, and I definitely want to see more of her.

The tag match was, I thought, really good and probably my match of the night on a rewatch. Very easy to watch, good pace, and excellent in ring.

As for Bianca - honestly, I sort of get the Sasha comparison when it comes to character but they are completely different wrestlers. I think Bianca has 'it' more than any woman on the NXT roster.

[Oliver]

Ok, so we need to talk about NXT last night.

Was it just me, or was it REALLY bad?

[PEN15v2]

No, it was ok. But they've set a high bar, and didn't reach it, so it feels bad.

That's my view of it. They definitely messed up the ending. I think there was a timing issue, and everything became rushed.

[Powder]

NXT has it's own issues. For instance, Dijakovic has been placed as Keith Lee's potential career rival, like Cena and Orton. And last week they had Dijakovic position himself to get one more shot at the NA Championshop, then last night, the WWE had him lose to Cameron Grimes. Why? If the plan is to keep Dijakovic strong and even face Lee one more time, why have him lose on TV to Grimes, even with an 'injury spot'.

A 6'7", 270lb powerhouse who is also a high flyer should not be losing cleanly to Cameron Grimes that easily.

Then the entire entrance of Ripley. She spent way too much time doing her entrance, waiting for the appropriate time to stomp her foot to finally go after Charlotte. I know that is the lack of experience showing, but someone should have told her that once your music hits, go straight to the ring and attack Charlotte. It was clear that Charlotte was looking at her with the look on her face saying...come on already.

[PEN15v2]

Cleanly? Didyou forget he got a baton strike to the back of the leg from Damian Priest?

[Powder]

I guess I completely missed that, I changed the channel during the match.

[PEN15v2]

It's funny (I am suddenly HHH), because you were just saying how Brock should be making Ricochet look better (in the Showdown thread, I think), but don't like how Dijak helped make Grimes look better. There are so many ways to tell stories in wrestling. Sometimes the dominant guy loses to make a new star, and something the dominant guy dominates to stay the big star so he puts over the next guy as the new star.