Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano.
WWE
On Sunday WWE puts on SummerSlam, the second biggest wrestling event of the year. Saturday, though, is all about NXT, WWE’s “developmental” brand. I put developmental in quotes, because NXT’s pay-per-view style TakeOver shows are not only always more fun than WWE’s pay-per-views, they’re arguably the most consistently excellent wrestling shows out there.
NXT TakeOver, like all other TakeOvers, has just five matches. Headlining the show is Adam Cole defending his NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano in a Two out the Three Falls match; Gargano won their first bout back in April, and Cole won the return match in June, so this one, as they say, is for all the marbles.
Another standout match is the triple threat match that pits NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream against Roderick Strong and Pete Dunn. Meanwhile, Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler looks to continue her impressive 286-day reign as champ by defeating Mia Yim.
NXT TakeOver Toronto airs exclusively on the WWE Network and starts at 4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. ET. Check back to this page, as we’ll be updating with results and match ratings as the show progresses.
Street Profits defeat The Undisputed Era
The show opens with a promo explaining that the story of the night is The Undisputed Era, which consists of Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, have a chance to all end the night as champion. The first match of the night is the first chapter in that story: Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish challenge for Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford’s NXT Tag Team Championships.
O’Reilly, who sadly did not thrill the crowd with any air guitar during his entrance, starts off Dawkins. Dawkins overpowers O’Reilly at first, but O’Reilly gets an ankle-pick takedown and tags in Fish. Lots of tags in and out from both teams in short order. Ford and O’Reilly end up the legal men for a nice exchange (Ford looks like he’s been watching Kota Ibushi matches), but then Ford tags in Dawkins.
Fish takes out Ford on the outside, and the Undisputed Era hit some tandem offense on Dawkins. The Undisputed Era exchange tags, wearing down Dawkins on their side of the ring. Classic tag team rasslin’. Dawkins fights back, and Ford gets the hot tag. Lots of acrobatic offense from Ford, who is a crazy athlete. Ford lands a spinebuster on Fish, and then goes for a People’s Elbow but is stopped by O’Reilly. Ford takes out O’Reilly, and then hits Fish with a Rock Bottom. This gets a “Rocky” chant from the crowd.
Fish manages to get a tag, and The Undisputed Era hit gnarly double-team german suplex on Fish. O’Reilly puts Ford on the turnbuckle and slaps on a leg lock. He and Fish briefly double team Ford, but Ford fights back. He can’t overcome both though, and ends up being taken to the center of the mat. O’Reilly puts on an Achilles Lock, teasing a finish, but Dawkins manages to break it up.
Ford tags in Dawkins for a second hot tag. Dawkins runs wild on The Undisputed Era, brother, but ends up eating a knee from O’Reilly. O’Reilly puts on a Guillotine headlock on Dawkins, but Ford flies from the top rope to catch O’Reilly with an awesome blockbuster.
Both teams end up exchanging blows in the middle of the ring. Very good stuff here. O’Reilly and Ford end up alone, the legal men. All four men find their way back to the ring. Dawkins spears both O’Reilly and Fish, then Ford hits a huge frogsplash on O’Reilly for the pin fall.
No clean sweep for you, Undisputed Era.
Rating: 3.75 stars. Very good opener.
