I watched the Takeover specials before I watched the TV show. So I’m going to add notes to my original reviews now that I have the full context. I’ll put them in red.
January 27, 2018 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly def. Akam & Rezar {NXT Tag Team Championship Match}
Nigel McGuinness is sick, so Percy Watson is going to have to actually talk on commentary on this show instead of sitting there quietly like he usually does. The problem here is that the Authors of Pain never really turned babyface, and the crowd rarely gets behind them. Still, they’ve gotten good enough in the ring that they don’t need their hands held, and the match was fun despite the heel/face dynamic being backwards. ***½ I can’t believe they had this good match right after the garbage match they had against the Street Profits on TV.
Velveteen Dream def. Chris Hero
I really like how Dream’s gear is customized to the angle he’s involved in. In this case, Dream has promised to knock Ohno out in 30 seconds or fewer so he’s wearing boxing shorts and a mouth guard. The crowd starts counting and gets to 25 before Dream socks Ohno. That was a great way to start the match. The rest of the match was boring and sloppy. Dream’s whole, “I’m going to beat you at your own game so you respect me,” gimmick slows his matches down and I wonder if there’s a better balance. ** In this case, the gimmick didn’t work as well as it did against Amsterdam Black. I think part of the issue was this match was built on an off-hand comment from Dream on TV weeks ago and a quick promo on the kick-off show. Ohno never once addressed Dream on TV in the build.
Ember Moon def. Shayna Baszler {NXT Women’s Championship Match}
I loved the finish to this match, as it was dramatic, made me buy into a possible title change, and paid off some less-than-thrilling moments in the match. Strong stuff, though Baszler has a little ways to go yet. ***¼ And Ember Moon is no Kairi Sane when it comes to giving Baszler what she needs to be successful.
Amsterdam Black def. Adam Cole {Extreme Rules Match}
The first half of this match was a solid hardcore match, and then it got dumb. What drugs are people taking that this boring, stilted, disjointed, contrived match got high marks from basically everyone when it came out? The crowd chanted “this is awesome” before the match even started, and I’m starting to believe that NXT fans basically made up their mind about this before it began. Not great. *** Unlike Black’s match against Dream, this did not benefit from a second viewing.
Andrade Cien Almas def. Johnny Gargano {NXT Championship Match}
Okay, that was amazing. Given my feelings on the previous match, I was starting to worry that a lot of these heavily hyped NXT matches would be disappointing. This was the opposite. There were moments when it looked like Almas was about to botch a spot, but they incorporated those moments into the match to move control back to Gargano. Everything played out perfectly here, with Gargano outmatched with the exception of those Almas mistakes, but Celina Vega’s interference giving Almas the advantage again. Candice La Rae’s involvement had me freaking out too. And while the finish was a bummer, it cemented Almas as a killer champion and had made Gargano a permanent crowd favorite. After the match, Tommaso Ciampa attacks Gargano with a crutch. ***** This is still the best match in NXT history, not that there’s been so much time and so many matches since then. That said, 2018 has been such a great year for NXT that some matches have come close. Update in 2019: This is no longer the best match in NXT history.