NXT reviews are back! It’s the go home show for Takeover Toronto and the card is filling out quite nicely.
Liv Morgan vs Peyton Royce
Nice start to the match with the two women just beating the hell out of each other. The best way to get this feud over is to keep ramping up the aggression. Cool submission by Royce using the ropes. Reminds me of the Tarantula that Tajiri used to do. Gotta love Morgan using the Guillotine choke as well (UFC 205 was awesome by the way).
Rating: D+
Ember Moon is so head and shoulders above everyone else involved in this segment. Not sure what her motivation would be to save Morgan and Aliyah other than that they’re all babyfaces. Do we get some type of tag match at Takeover?
Really well-made video package recapping the entire Dusty Rhode’s Tag Team Classic leading up to the finals on Saturday. Not nearly as much star power in this year’s final as opposed to last year. But it’s still a decent all-be it overused storyline. The monster heels vs the underdog babyfaces. And its awesome that they’re brining back the old school shark cage gimmick.
In his return to NXT, Elias Sampson vs Nathan Cruz
Not really sure if I get Sampson’s character. Is he supposed to be this terrible music character so the fans will hate him? If it is, that seems to be working because the fans HATED him when he came out. But, then Graves was making fun of his singing, if Graves is hating on him that must make him a face right? I’m going with heel though. Match was a squash.
Rating: N/A
The backstage interview with Aliyah, Morgan, and Moon was atrocious, even Moon’s piece. Moon is awesome in the ring, but the “let the fire die” line made me cringe. I have never heard a Morgan promo that I’ve liked and this might have been the first time I’ve heard Aliyah speak. At least there is some intrigue for the third woman on the heel team.
The theme of great video packages continues with the DIY-Revival iteration. Nothing like a real slow build in wrestling, it’s so rare now a days. This feud has been build perfectly since Brooklyn. And we’re all ready for them to tear the house down in 2 out of 3 falls.
Okay okay these packages are really great and all. But, you couldn’t have at least thrown something in between the last two to break it up a little bit?
Andrade “Cien” Almas vs Cedric Alexander
Not the high-flying match you’d expect from these two. Instead we got a really stiff, hard-hitting, and intense match and it really worked. They were really supposed to have a hatred for each other and that was conveyed through how they worked. Almas’ focus of the right arm was really solid. Just wish Alexander sold it a bit better. Nevertheless, a good match
Rating: B
It was a very video package heavy show with four in total. But, the goal of a go-home show is to make people want to see the pay per view or special event and the packages did just that. I’m sufficiently excited for Saturday, so I guess they did their job. On top of that, there was a solid main event that got a lot of time, so I can’t really complain. Only a few more days till Toronto! I’ll have a review up Sunday morning.
