NXT TakeOver Review
NXT TakeOver
May 29, 2014
Adam Rose vs Camacho
With Rose starting his entrance out in the parking lot, I think it'd be kind of cool to see an outdoor 2 hour special for NXT. I guess this took place shortly before Camacho's release. Throughout the match, Camacho showed some good personality, which makes the fact that his only brush with the main roster was a silent and expressionless role as Hunico's bodyguard, pretty odd. Rose was super over here with the crowd continuously chanting different things in support of WC's favorite wrestler of 2014. Camacho struggles to deal with Rose's wacky antics including grinding his ass against Camacho and jumping into his arms. I know everyone just loves Rose, but I don't mind him at all. The match was a fine opener, obviously not as good as NXT ArRival's opener, but it certainly wasn't bad. Rose won with the Party Foul. ** 1/4
The Ascension (c) vs Kalisto and El Local - NXT Tag Titles
I think I'm about ready to just admit that I think the Ascension sucks. Their matches that I've seen, which admittedly aren't a lot, have all just sucked. You have Kalisto, easily one of the coolest motherfucking high flyers in years, yet you kept him grounded for nearly the entire match. The Ascension on offense isn't entertaining. El Local isn't very good. You're certainly not playing up to Kalisto's strengths. The match sucked terribly and it was legitimately difficult to stay awake. The Ascension pinned El Local after their shitty Fall of Man finisher. At this point, I think Demolition in 2015 could put on better matches. If nothing else, you get to listen to some bad ass music before the dud of a match begins. *
Sami Zayn vs Tyler Breeze - #1 Contender's Match
Earlier in the night, they showed video packages for both men, highlighting why both men want the NXT Title. Being that this was the first Breeze match I ever saw, I have to say I have one gripe about him that I saw during the video package. His finisher is a spinning heel kick? A spinning heel kick? Seriously? It's not even something different like a spinning heel kick from the top rope or to the back of his opponent's head. I like the actual gimmick though and Breeze seems to be a pretty decently talented guy. With that being said, I would need to see Breeze wrestle against a lesser talented opponent to truly gauge how good he is. Having a good to great match with Sami Zayn? That's not exactly difficult. Anyways, I really liked this. Zayn controlled the early going until Breeze got lucky and shoved Zayn off of the top rope to the floor below. Breeze's character trait of getting more and more aggressive the longer the match goes is nice. Based on the commentary, it seems as if Zayn was busting out some old Generico moves for the first time on NXT TV. If you never saw El Generico, they're just awesome moves. If you were a Generico fan, it adds importance to the match that Zayn has to try some new stuff as a call back from a past life. I really liked the finish with Zayn going for the Helluva Kick that would likely finish the match, but Breeze threw his arms up to protect his face, but he accidentally caused Zayn to receive a low blow. What makes it great is that due to Breeze's character, it's believable that he wasn't trying to cheat. Again, Zayn loses a big match, but everyone still loves him. Hell of a first Breeze match for me to see. *** 3/4
Rusev and Lana comes out to soak in some praise after their initial impact that they've been making on the main roster. Mojo Rawley comes out to try and shut Rusev up. Mojo runs into the ring and instantly gets his with a super kick. Ha. One splash later and Rusev then locks in the Camel Clutch. Even with Mojo tries to escape by crawling up the entrance way, Rusev goes after him again, locking in the Camel Clutch yet again.
WWE Divas Champion, Paige, comes out to thank the fans for their support. She hypes the upcoming finals of the NXT Divas Title tournament. She's proof that if you win the NXT Divas Title, it can lead to becoming WWE Divas Champion.
Charlotte w/Ric Flair vs Natalya w/Bret Hart - NXT Women's Title
Throughout the night, they had been hyping this match up beautifully. They legitimately made this match feel like one of the biggest of the year. It's amazing to think this is how the WWE is booking woman's division. I do have one gripe about the booking leading into the match. Why is Natalya in this? She's already on the main roster. Paige's whole point about how the NXT Divas Title can lead to winning the WWE Divas Title is completely lost since Natalya has already held the WWE Divas Title too. It seemed like they sacrificed one story (The women of the future battling) for the sake of a second story (Flair vs Hart, the next generation). Despite the overwhelming praise this match received, I wasn't impressed much. It is botched free and again, it feels super important. However, neither girl looked very good out there. They tried to have this epic match, but it fell short for me. I hated the main Figure Four spot where Natalya somehow reversed the pressure despite being in the exact normal position. Just as the commentary is mentioning how the only way there would be a new champion is by pinfall or submission, the referee is conducting a ten count with both women on the outside. What was going to happen had neither girl been able to get back into the ring? After Charlotte failed to make Natalya submit to her own Sharpshooter, she surprised Natalya with Hail to the Queen, which looked so weak that I would have expected it to come from The Ascension. The match is better than the Diva matches on the main roster, but I won't say it's anything special beyond that. ** 1/4
Adrian Neville (c) vs Tyson Kidd - NXT Title
Like Tyler Breeze, Kidd wants to be NXT Champion, but for a reason other than just being champion. Due to some set backs and injuries, he sees being NXT Champion as his way back to the main roster. I suppose in hindsight, all Kidd needed to get back on the main roster was for the WWE to completely blow it with Cesaro. They told a story with both men trying to be mirror images of each other by either going for the same move at the same time or repeating a move at a later point. Obviously, both wrestlers are pretty killer, so it's really enjoyable. If I do have a criticism, it's that the match got pretty spotty the longer it went. They'd hit a big move and then they'd lie around for a bit until the next spot. The spotty moves they do hit in the second half are great looking and if you are going to have a spotfest, you might as well have a hell of a highlights show. Neville's top rope Frankensteiner followed up by his Red Arrow was an impressive ending. I'd say it's roughly the same quality as the Neville/Dallas ladder match from the first NXT special. *** 1/2
Overall
NXT's second two hour special once again shows that the WWE knows how to put on an event that feels truly special. The NXT Title, NXT Women's and the #1 contender's match all succeeded in a big way at feeling huge. It didn't even matter that Charlotte/Natalya didn't live up to my expectations, you're not going to find a match in WWE main roster history that had the feel that that match had. Whether they're a heel or a face, every wrestler has reasons for their actions and they're logical for their mindsets. Meanwhile, the main roster is absolutely hopeless at making anything feel as if it matters in the long run. Once again, Sami Zayn scores the MOTN on this NXT special. As I said, I'd need to watch Breeze against a lesser opponent to get a better gauge of how good he actually is, but he seemed pretty talented in his match. The NXT Title match again earned the second best match of the night. The Ascension sucks though and the idea that the WWE debuted Devitt and KENTA against those two sacks of shit is disappointing. Out of the first two NXT specials, I enjoyed ArRival the most. Still, TakeOver was a worthy follow up and makes me want to see more of these NXT specials.
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It was a odd decision to have Natalya in the finals because you knew she wouldn't win, anytime NXT do a Women's tournament they have to fill it with a few main roster girls because they don't have 8 on-air NXT girls, so Alicia Fox and Nattie always seem to return. I think at this stage of her development, they didn't want Charlotte in there for 15 minutes live on the network with another rookie, she needed to be in there with an experienced hand who could help her through the match. Plus they really wanted to do the Flair/Hart angle with it. It struck me as completely unnecessary because Paige was both on this show and continued to work some tapings after this, AND Charlotte would pin Paige on a future episode of NXT, so why not just have Paige lose the title to Charlotte in the first place? 
Originally Posted by RaiZ-R
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