Stealing the Show – NXT TakeOver: Orlando Recap and Reactions

Live from the Amway Center (2 days ago, Wrestlemania weekend is chaotic), NXT aimed to takeover a city that they’ve pretty well claimed already, and while Wrestlemania itself was a pretty damn good show, your match of the night, as expected, came from this card.

#WeGoHard, #DIY, #HolyShit

The Revival and DIY put on a clinic in what an amazing tag team match was six months ago in Toronto, it was not only my match of the year, but it topped a number of lists.  This match, save for the finish which was still kind of expected, just wow.

The Revival and DIY, as they should, worked together on the larger Authors of Pain.  It brought some incredible moments, like Gargano and Wilder putting Rezar in a double submission, Dawson and Gargano doing the double kicks of DIY which lead immediately into Wilder and Ciampa hitting a Shatter Machine.  Wilder and Gargano dove in stereo to the outside.  It was really just a great match that was so beautifully scripted, and commentary (now that I’ve gone back and watch it) only helped in that they pointed out a small mistake on The Revival’s part that separated the alliance long enough for a DIY elimination, leaving them to face AoP alone.  Authors of Pain retain, and I’m not even sad about it.  This match was fantastic.

The Rest of the Glorious Show

• Sanity defeated Dillinger, Strong, Ruby Riot and Chri…Kassius Ohno.  No Way Jose got jumped at Axxess by Sanity, which left Team 10 a man short, and since he wasn’t anywhere else on the card, let’s get Ohno in here so there’s a big man on both teams.  Was a pretty good match, they’re really just killing me making Dillinger lose constantly.
• Aleister Black defeated Andrade Cien Almas.  I had to rewatch this one, there was a crap section of the crowd that was being obnoxious, I turned for two seconds and the match was over.  Black looked pretty good, and Almas is always pretty solid in the ring.  They worked well together.  Good debut for Black.
• Asuka retains the NXT Women’s Championship by defeating Ember Moon.  The problem with this sort of thing is that by letting her retain the title forever, you essentially have to turn the next champion into just as big a beast.  So if she keeps this belt for two years, the next champion that finally beats her has to hold it literally forever.  The match was pretty decent, but the lack of an Eclipse was disappointing.
• Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the NXT Championship.  This was a pretty good match, as these two will always be.  Bobby Roode with the dueling piano entrance was great, was sort of surprised they didn’t go bigger on Shinsuke’s.

NXT continues to steal the show.  I basically just tell myself for every important event I want to go to that I should just budget an extra $100 for the TakeOver ticket.  The dark match on this one may have been my moment of the weekend though, as Ony Lorcan faced off against El Vagabundo….and yes, it’s exactly what you think it is.  I hope it is on NXT this Wednesday.