Geektified's NXT Takeover: Orlando Review 4.1.17

Geektified's NXT Takeover: Orlando Review 4.1.17

By Anton Ware

Official Results

-NXT Takeover is LIVE from Orlando, Florida.

-Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson, and Tom Phillips are your hosts for this evening.

-Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, No Way Jose and Ruby Riot vs. SaNitY: In a rivalry that started out between Tye Dillinger and Eric Young over Dillinger’s refusal to join SANitY has now turn into a multi -person dispute. Along with targeting Dillinger for weeks, SaNitY also attacked Roderick Strong and No Way Jose. The three eventually joined forces and included NXT’s newest female competitor, Ruby Riot to even the score against SANitY’s leading lady, Nikki Cross. SaNitY attacked No Way Jose during WrestleMania Axxess and put him out of action. Dillinger and company needed a replacement and recruited Kassius Ohno as their teammate. As one would expect with an eight-person tag, this started off calmly enough before breaking down into a free-for-all. SaNitY would get control of the match by beating down Roderick Strong until Tye Dillinger got the hot tag and cleaned house. Things broke down and bodies started to fly everywhere until it was down to Dillinger and Killian Dane where SaNitY would once again use the numbers game against Dillinger and get the win! Dillinger has yet to win a Takeover match.

-Challenge Match: Aleister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas: This is Black’s NXT debut. He was previously spotted on the UK Championship Tournament in a non-related singles match against Neville. Vignettes aired for weeks hyping up his debut, but Almas wasn’t impressed and planned to make an example of out of Black by ruining his debut with a loss. Competitive matchup between the international standouts. We got chain wrestling early on with both men showing off their agility. Throughout the match, Almas would go for Black’s arm while Black would showcase his kickboxing background with kicks and strikes. At one point during the match, Almas hit a running knee in the corner followed by a snap suplex, but it wasn’t enough to put away Black. Black regained control and hit a devastating Roundhouse Kick for the win. 

-Triple Threat Elimination Tag Team Title Match: Authors of Pain(c) vs. DIY vs. The Revival: At the Takeover: Toronto show in November, DIY defeated The Revival to win the NXT Tag Team Titles. At the Takeover: San Antonio show, The Authors of Pain defeated DIY to win their 1st NXT Tag Titles. So with both The Revival and DIY claiming a shot at the titles, NXT General Manager William Regal gave both teams a shot at the gold in this match. Great match! Each team brought a particular style to the contest. DIY used high-flying and strikes, The Revival brought their technical and trademark tag mechanics, and The Authors of Pain brought the power game. Lots of fun moments including AOP member Akam being powerbombed through a table by both opposing teams, DIY and The Revival teaming up to take out the AOP by switching tag partners and hitting both teams’ finishers, Scott Dawson superplexing Tomasso Ciampa onto the other participants at ringside, and Johnny Gargano and Scott Dawson using stereo submissions on Rezar to eliminate AOP (they were unsuccessful due to Akam recovering and breaking up the pin). The AOP regrouped and hit The Last Chapter clothesline to eliminate DIY. The Revival put up a good fight, but it wasn’t enough to keep the big men down as AOP hit The Collider for the pin and win. Awesome chemistry between the three teams!

-NXT Women’s Title Match: Asuka(c) vs. Ember Moon. Undefeated Streak vs. Undefeated Streak. No one in the NXT Women’s Division has yet to make either of these women submit or take a pin fall for the three count. Now they’ll go against each other to determine who the best woman in NXT is. This was a fast-paced chess match as both women seemed evenly matched and neither could get the upper hand for a long period of time. For every strike Asuka had, Ember Moon answered with one of her own. Moon one-upped Asuka throughout the match as her agility and aerial skills threw off the champion. Asuka’s survival instincts kicked in when she shoved the referee into Moon while she was setting up her Eclipse Stunner. Moon fell off the top rope which allowed Asuka to hit her patented knockout kick for the win to retain the title. Another great matchup and arguably Asuka’s best match to date. Moon’s undefeated streak is over while Asuka’s reign as NXT Women’s Champion hits the one year mark. 

-NXT Title Match: Bobby Roode(c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: At Takeover: San Antonio, Roode defeated Nakamura to win his 1st NXT Championship. He would also injure Nakamura’s leg and put him out of action for several weeks. Nakamura returned to action and invoked his rematch clause which leads us to this matchup. Out of all the NXT Title matches, this was the weakest of the three. By no means was it a bad match, but it never kicked into high gear or had that big match urgency fans are accustomed to. This match was basically a repeat of their previous match with Roode doing his Glorious taunting and working over Nakamura’s knee and Nakamura himself working through the pain to deliver his trusted arsenal of knee strikes in order to hit The Kinshasa for the win. Roode applied The Figure Four Leg Lock and hit his Glorious DDT, but it wasn’t enough to put away Nakamura. Frustrated, Roode went outside and grabbed the ring bell. The referee caught him red-handed which allowed Nakamura to take advantage of the situation. However, the opening didn’t last long as Nakamura ran into a Spinebuster from Roode for a two count! Roode hit a Tornado Glorious DDT to finally put away Nakamura to retain the NXT Title.

-End Scene

-Final Thought: For a show that didn’t look intriguing on paper, this turned out to be a great showing for NXT. NXT stuck to their formula of a simple, paint-by-the-numbers show by showcasing quality action, quality commentary, and a big time presentation. The Women’s Title and Tag Title match are two matches one should hunt down and watch because they left you wanting more. Even with the lack of star power, NXT continues to be the brand that consistently delivers and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next leading up to the next Takeover special this summer. 

-What did you think of the show? Hit or miss? Let me know in the comment section. Thanks for reading!

-Anton