Takeover:
Fatal Four-Way
Date: September 11,
2014
Location: Full Sail
University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Renee
Young, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
For once I'm actually
looking forward to a WWE special. This is the third two hour live
event that NXT has run and the first two were knocked out of the
park. The main event tonight is a four way with NXT Champion Adrian
Neville defending against Tyson Kidd, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze in
what should be a classic. Let's get to it.
The regular WWE video
plays but an NXT video hacks in. You might even say it takes over.
Opening sequence with
only shots of people appearing tonight.
Tag
Team Titles: Sin Cara/Kalisto vs. Ascension
Sin Cara and Kalisto
won a tournament to get this show. They also now have their own
music which starts with someone shouting LUCHA LUCHA LUCHA!
Ascension has held the titles for nearly a year and have barely ever
broken a sweat in a defense. Viktor knocks Sin Cara up against the
ropes but gets caught by a standing Lionsault for two. That's fine
with Viktor though as he sends Cara out to the floor so Konnor can
drive him back first into the apron.
Back to Viktor for a
hard slam for two as the champions are already dominating. We hit a
double chickenwing before Cara escapes a powerbomb. Konnor knocks
Kalisto off the apron though and Cara can't make the tag. An
enziguri stops Konnor but he puts on a front facelock and just drives
Cara back into the corner. That's fine with Cara as he flips over
and makes the tag to Kalisto.
Everything speeds up
with a spinning slingshot plancha. A semi-botched sunset bomb gets
two on Viktor as Cara dives on Konnor. Both champions go outside and
catch Kalisto in mid air. Sin dives on both of them for a huge crash
and the fans are WAY into this. Back inside they load up the Fall of
Man but Cara trips up Konnor. Kalisto rolls out of the way and hits
Salida Del Sol (standing sitout Sliced Bread #2) on Viktor for the
pin and the titles at 7:48.
Rating:
B-. Power vs. speed is
something that is going to work no matter how many times you try it.
They had to get the belts off of Ascension at some point and putting
them on Lucha was as good of a way as they could have done it. This
frees up Ascension to go after the Usos, which makes sense given that
they already debuted on Main Event this week.
The
new champions dub themselves the Lucha Dragons.
We
get a quick pause in memory of 9/11.
Video
on Adrian Neville about how tough a year it's been for him but he
hasn't lost a single match. Everyone will remember that he's the man
that gravity forgot. He's beaten all of his challengers and now he
has to beat them at once.
CJ
Parker vs. Baron Corbin
This
is an added match. The much bigger Corbin shoves the Eco Warrior
Parker into the corner....and then plants him with a very powerful
one armed Downward Spiral for the pin at 32 seconds. He made it look
even better by rocking Parker forward and then snapping him back.
That's a good way to start a push.
Video
on Tyson Kidd where he lists off some of his facts, mainly talking
about each man in the main event tonight. He will walk out as
champion. Fact.
Enzo
Amore vs. Sylvester LeFort
Enzo has new music
which he might sing himself. This is Jersey Shore vs. France in a
hair vs. hair match. Amore even has “hair cream” to get rid of
Sylvester's hair. Before the match, Enzo suggests a few hairstyles
for LeFort, including a combover and a mushroom, complete with the
fans shouting HOW YOU DOIN after every suggestion. According to
Cass, after the match, Sylvester's hair will be S-A-W-F-T.
Enzo grabs a headlock
to start and ruffles LeFort's hair to really mess with him. A
shoulder puts Sylvester on the apron but he snaps Enzo across the top
rope to take over. We hit the chinlock on Enzo followed by a hard
kick between the shoulders. Amore fights back with some stiff
punches but a Marcus Louis distraction lets Sylvester nail a
clothesline for two. Cass takes out Louis, allowing Amore to grab a
rollup (and tights) for the pin at 5:46.
Rating:
D+. The wrestling was bad but
what are you expecting from someone like Enzo? He's a comedy
character and has never had a match go more than a few minutes. This
was a way to give the fans a good laugh and there's nothing wrong
with that. Cass and Amore are just a loveable team and they beat up
the snobs. What more can you ask for?
Sylvester is being
taken to the chair but Marcus makes a save. Amore and Cass get up
though and LeFort runs off, leaving Marcus to take the cream on the
head.
Tyler Breeze says the
new champion will be gorgeous. Every outfit he wears goes with gold.
Here's General Manager
William Regal with something to say. He talks about how great it is
in NXT right now and introduces the biggest international signing in
NXT history. We get a video on Kenta, with various WWE wrestlers
talking about how awesome he is. Kenta comes to the ring to a VERY
strong reaction and he gives a brief welcome in English before going
into Japanese. He says this is a dream come true and he's starting
over with a new name: Hideo Itami, a tribute to one of his heroes.
His goal is to be NXT Champion....and here are the Ascension to
interrupt.
Itami is thrown to the
floor and Konnor demands a rematch for the titles. Hideo gets back
in the ring and takes off his jacket. A kick and forearm put
Ascension down and a double dropkick does it again. Itami gets a
chair and stands....well not that tall actually but it's a good
debut.
Bull
Dempsey vs. Mojo Rawley
Not much to this one as
they were in the tag team tournament and lost, causing Dempsey to
destroy Rawley. Dempsey hammers him into the corner to start as the
fans want Kevin Steen. Mojo spears him down and hammers away but
Dempsey runs him over with a splash. A top rope headbutt ends Mojo
at 1:07. If Rawley wasn't finished before, he certainly is now.
Dempsey adds another
headbutt for good measure.
Enzo and Cass want to
see someone bald. They see Marcus with a towel over his head and
carry him into the arena for the big reveal. Enzo rips off the
towel, revealing little bits of hair on Marcus' head and no eyebrows.
Nice touch. Enzo says he is B-A-W-L-D.
We recap Bayley vs.
Charlotte. It's another simple story with Charlotte being the girl
that feels she's here by birth and Bayley being the biggest fangirl
in the history of wrestling who just loves to be here.
Women's
Title: Charlotte vs. Bayley
Bayley now has
streamers on her arms. Charlotte offers a handshake to start but
Bayley drives her into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs. A
quick cross body gets two for Bayley but Charlotte counters a
backslide with a neckbreaker. We hit the figure four headlock on
Bayley and Charlotte even flips forward a few times and slam Bayley
onto the mat. They trade a few rollups with Bayley countering a
Figure Four attempt for two. Charlotte dropkicks her back down and
nails a hard knee to the ribs.
Bayley comes back with
a hard series of forearms, only to miss a charge into the corner and
get slammed down onto the mat for two. Charlotte goes up top but
gets caught in a top rope hurricanrana to put both girls down. The
delayed cover only gets two but the Belly to Bayley is countered into
a rollup. Charlotte nails her in the face, knocking Bayley head
first into the bottom buckle. A moonsault doesn't quite hit as
Charlotte landed on her legs instead of on Bayley and only gets two.
Natural Selection (the new name for Bow Down to the Queen) is enough
to retain the title at 11:55.
Rating:
C+. This was a far cry from
Charlotte vs. Natalya but they had to have a heel win somewhere in
there. I'll give them this though: they had me wanting to see Bayley
suplex Charlotte through the floor and take the title. The story was
perfect here though and that's as good as they could have hoped for.
The match wasn't bad at all either and that hurricanrana looked
great.
Post
match Sasha Banks comes out to beat on Bayley but Charlotte makes the
save. Bayley is confused.
Sami Zayn talks about
having to be ready for his opponents. He and Neville are friends,
but he wants to beat Adrian to become champion.
Hideo Itami makes his
in ring debut next week.
NXT
Title: Tyson Kidd vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Adrian Neville
Neville is defending
and this is one fall to a finish. After the big match intros, they
have about half an hour for this if necessary. Kidd's trunks now say
FACT. The fans start their dueling chants and aren't sure who they
like best so far. After a minute of circling each other we're ready
to go with all four heading to the floor. That goes nowhere but they
do tease Neville vs. Zayn to a BIG response. They head back to the
floor with Neville kicking Kidd and Sami chopping Breeze.
Sami and Kidd go back
inside with Zayn grabbing the Koji Clutch until Tyler makes a save.
Now they head to the stage where Adrian's knee is taken out and a
double suplex plants him on the stage. Sami picks off Kidd but gets
a double suplex of his own on the ramp. Back to the ring now with
Sami getting double teamed by the villains. The fans tell Kidd that
Nattie is better as Adrian gets knocked off the apron.
Sami gets stomped in
the corner and Tyler covers after a suplex, triggering the brawl with
Kidd. Tyson sends him to the floor and gets two off a neckbreaker to
Zayn. Off to a chinlock on Sami but he quickly jawbreaks his way to
freedom. Kidd puts him in the Tree of Woe though as Adrian is
knocked to the floor again, followed by a kick to the face from
Tyson.
Zayn tries to get back
up but Kidd just pounds him down in the corner and puts on the
chinlock again. Neville finally gets back in but Tyson sends him to
the floor for about the fourth time. Adrian pops back in though and
backdrops Kidd down. Breeze returns from the dead, only to get
clotheslined down by Sami. Zayn loads up a dive to the heels but
Adrian hits a HUGE top rope Asai moonsault to put them both down.
That leaves Neville vs.
Zayn and the fans get even more into this all of a sudden. A big
kick to the champion's head gets two as Kidd is back in for the save.
Kidd throws Neville into Sami to knock the champion to the floor and
the Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza gets two on Sami.
Tyson can't get the Sharpshooter on Sami and the springboard elbow
hits knees. Sami loads up the Helluva Kick but Tyler nails the
Beauty Shot to knock him down. Neville tries to come in off the top
but gets dropkicked out of the air for a VERY close two. Tyler gets
two on Kidd as well and frustration is setting in.
Adrian goes up top but
Breeze and Kidd load up a double superplex. That's not enough for
Sami as he makes it a HUGE Tower of Doom. Kidd somehow gets up at
two and Breeze falls out to the floor. Sami punches Tyson into the
corner and gets all fired up but charges into a boot from Neville. A
Shooting Star from Adrian crushes Sami but Breeze comes in to steal a
two count and make the fans gasp.
Tyler misses a Beauty
Shot to Sami and gets caught in the Sharpshooter. Tyson drags him
back to the center of the ring and Tyler loads up his hand to tap but
Adrian grabs his hand to hold it up in a great move. Sami makes the
save and the fans are very thankful. Sami and Adrian finally get to
slug it out until Neville gets backdropped to the floor.
An exploder suplex puts
Kidd in the corner and Zayn dives through the ropes to take out
Adrian. In an even better move Sami dives from the floor, over the
bottom rope and into a tornado DDT on Tyler on the floor. The
Helluva Kick looks to finish Kidd but Adrian pulls the referee out of
the way. A superkick drops Sami and the Red Arrow to Kidd retains
the title at 23:58.
Rating:
A-. If Sami had won the title
there it's even higher. I'm not wild on Adrian seemingly turning
heel but in theory this sets up Neville vs. Zayn in the big showdown
for the title. Thankfully Sami didn't get pinned here and the huge
spots worked really well, especially that Tower of Doom and the
diving tornado DDT. This was more than worth the wait and now it
looks like Sami is getting his chance very soon. Notice
that they didn't really let Sami and Adrian fight other than a brief
exchange, even though the fans were begging for it. That's a sign
for the future.
Sami
looks at Adrian with frustration on his face to end the show.
Overall
Rating: B+. This wasn't quite
as good as Arrival and Takeover but these things are still as good as
anything else you're going to see in wrestling today. NXT has
mastered this idea of setting something up and then executing it
rather than meandering forever until they figure out what they want
to do and expecting us to keep watching. I
love this promotion and it holds up incredibly well week after week.
Zayn vs. Neville is going to rock and the future looks bright with
some major debuts on the horizon.
Results
Sin Cara/Kalisto b.
Ascension – Salida Del Sol to Viktor
Baron Corbin b. CJ
Parker – Downward Spiral
Enzo Amore b. Sylvester
LeFort – Rollup
Bull Dempsey b. Mojo
Rawley – Top rope headbutt
Charlotte b. Bayley –
Natural Selection
Adrian Neville b. Sami
Zayn, Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd – Red Arrow to Kidd
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
I don't want Neville vs Zayn as it keeps Sami in NXT and he's long overdue for a call up.
ReplyDeleteYou weren't looking forward to Summerslam?
ReplyDeleteYeah say what you will about the actual build up but the majority of the big WWE events have delivered this year.
ReplyDeleteDammit, dammit, dammit, I really thought Kenta would be able to avoid the WWE Name Generator. I really did.
ReplyDeleteNeville vs. Zayn has potential to be something really special. By the way, that's how you make crowds want to see two guys go at it. Maybe someone should teach that to the writers on the main staff before they go booking another one-on-one Royal Rumble showdown to crickets.
ReplyDeleteThey'll never trademark someone's real name again.
ReplyDeleteAnd he picked the name anyway.