It’s Saturday Night, which is quite alright for fighting, as the song goes. And tonight, live from Toronto, WWE is fixing to give us a good bit of fighting in the form of NXT TakeOver: Toronto. Are you ready? You should be, considering it’s a really good lineup. It has something for everyone. Want a match between established veteran and rising star? Check. Tag team tournament finals action? Check. Two out of three falls for the tag titles? Yep, got that too. How about a women’s title bout featuring a returning star and an undefeated one? Sure, why not. And, a rematch with the King of Strongstyle, too.
Told you folks, Saturday Night’s alright for fighting, and we’ve got five good ones on tap.
Best Match of the night:
There were a few worth being in the discussion. There really were. But even before the main event happened, I was leaning in a particular direction. Now, the main event nearly changed my mind, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough to sway me. So what got it done? Why, that, of course, would be the instant classic NXT tag title match, best two out of three falls, between DIY and The Revival. How good was this match? Impressive. Thrilling. And, a reminder that, even after having the division raided by the brand expansion draft and other call-ups earlier in the year, the NXT tag team division still has some impressive teams.
Worst match of the night:
I keep saying I should rename this to least good match of the evening, for the sake of the NXT events. Because, something always has to land here, and especially when it comes to TakeOver events, hardly ever is a match a dog.
Tonight, the least good match? Sadly, it was Authors of Pain versus TM61. I can’t quite decide what bugged me, if it was the shark cage and being too cute, or if it was the lack of runtime (the match went about 9 minutes by my timing). I think these two teams could have done so much more than they were allowed to do tonight.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
NXT! NXT!
Glorious
ten! ten!
This is awesome
DIY! DIY!
Johnny Wrestling
holy sh!@
welcome back
Asuka’s gonna kill you
Let’s go Asuka
Let’s go Mickie
You still got it
Joe! Joe! Joe!
Nakamura
Star of the Night
I am in a giving mood for this one, I really am.
My first choice? New tag champions Ciampa and Gargano. They earned it tonight.
However, Mickie James deserves a mention, for coming in 6 years after fading away, and having an excellent match with an undefeated champion in Asuka.
And, I have to at least give a shout out to Joe and Nakamura, for yet another really strong match.
Spot of the Night:
Asuka drilling Mickie with a German on the outside. Nasty looking bump.
Some of the knees in the main event.
Joe’s trio of suplexes.
Joe’s slam of Shinsuke on the steel steps.
Jobber of the Night:
I somehow doubt we will ever see a jobber on a TakeOver card.
Upset of the Night:
Not really an upset, but man oh man did Samoa Joe’s win stun many in the crowd, as well as some of us watching at home (myself included). I really had figured Joe would lose and make his way up to the main roster.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Folks, we have blood! The Revival got busted open during the tag title match.
DIY and Revivial, using their opponents finishers. And then DIY locking in submissions in stereo to win the gold!
OK. Be honest. How bad-ass was Nakamura’s entrance? In Brooklyn he had what, one live violin player? Tonight he had a veritable violin army, and the crowd loves…LOVES..his entrance. And who said playing the violin couldn’t be cool?
Joe gets the win and the title back. Wow.
Botch of the night:
Maybe there was one, but I really didn’t have any jump out. I suppose some spots during the Dusty Classic final could have landed here, but that’s about it.
Commentary of the night:
Honestly folks, with the action coming fast and furious, I did not have any lines jump out at me begging to be immortalized. Don’t get me wrong, Graves and Phillips were as good as always, but their commentary accentuated the matches, it didn’t outshine any, and as such, I’ve got nothing for commentary of the night.
LOL Moment of the night:
It was a serious night, so nothing worth laughing about.
Noteworthy Moment:
I almost put this up a few segments, but good ol’ JR is in Toronto taking in NXT TakeOver. Someone get him a mic!
Overall lowlights:
Very little. Very very little. Like, nothing.
Overall highlights:
Wow, what a show. I mean, top to bottom, that was just about as good a five match card as you could ask for, in terms of actual quality. Right from the opening bout, things were happening at a furious pace. Four of the five matches garnered serious consideration for match of the night, and the fifth wasn’t even that bad.
The best, for me, was the tag title match, but the women’s title match and NXT title match were right there with it.
Another TakeOver in the books, and it did not disappoint.
After the final bell:
Well, this was an interesting evening. I expected the tag team title change, and that’s a good thing. The question now is, will The Revival jump up, or will they actually be given a shot to become 3-time champions?
The bigger questions? Will Mickie James stick around, considering how excellent she looked? And, what next for both Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura, with Joe once again the NXT Champion. That’s one thing we can always count on NXT for-to keep things interesting.
Results
Bobby Roode is gloriously victorious over Tye Dillinger.
The Authors of Pain win the 2nd annual Dusty Classic, defeating TM61.
Gargano and Ciampa, Team DIY, claim gold from now-former champions The Revival in a best two out of three falls classic.
Asuka gets pushed to the limit by a returning Mickie James, but the champion manages to submit the veteran.
Samoa Joe stuns the crowd and Nakamura, and becomes the first ever 2 time NXT Champion
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