NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way (September 2014)

Original Airdate: September 11, 2014

From Winter Park, Florida; Your Hosts are Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Renee Young

Opening NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Ascension v The Lucha Dragons: Viktor starts with Sin Cara, and overpowers him, but runs into a pair of springboard bodypresses, followed by a springboard moonsault press for two. Dropkick puts Viktor in the corner, but Konnor gets involved before Sin can continue the onslaught. The champs cut the ring in half on Cara, but he manages a counter a slingshot powerbomb from Viktor with a rana, then catch Konnor with an enzuigiri. Tag to Kalisto, and he's a casa of fire! Brawl quickly breaks out, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Dog pile sequence on the outside goes the Dragons' way, but Kalisto gets clobbered on the way back in. Fall of Man looks to finish, but Cara saves him from taking it, and Viktor eats the Salida Del Sol at 7:47 - which is fitting, as the Dragons are like airplanes. * ½

Baron Corbin v CJ Parker: Corbin looks oddly like WCW-era El Gigante here. Total squash, as Corbin hits the End of Days at 0:29. DUD

Hair v Hair Match: Enzo Amore v Sylvester Lefort: Lefort's gear makes him look like Bob Holly in 1995. But he's not a TWO SPORT SUPERSTAR, so fuck him. Enzo dominates in the early going, but gets his throat snapped across the top rope, and Lefort bodyslams him for two. Chinlock, but Amore escapes, so Lefort punts him in the lower back. Lefort's mullet is pretty epic. Between that and the gear, he'd fit right into 1995. All he needs is a fanny pack stuffed with enough pills to kill a small horse, and he's golden. Lefort with a clothesline for two, but he gets distracted by Colin Cassidy beating up Marcus Louis on the outside, and Enzo rolls him up at 5:42. Total nothing match. ½*

Mojo Rawley v Bull Dempsey: Rawley tries to come in all fired up, but Dempsey ignores him, and batters him in the corner. Note to Mojo: guys that white should not wear bright neon green gear. See, it worked for Razor Ramon because he had a tan, and everything. Bull quickly finishes with a flying headbutt at a brisk 1:10. Anyone order squash? DUD

NXT Women's Title Match: Charlotte v Bayley: Charlotte insists on a handshake to start, but Bayley ignores her, and instead decides to blitz her in the corner. Charlotte responds with chops, so Bayley throws a bodypress for two, then a pair of elbows gets two. You know, I don't normally find Charlotte particularly attractive, but she's looking like a total smoke show tonight. That tush, yo. Bayley tries a backslide, but Charlotte is too tall, and blocks. Series of kneedrops gets the champion two, and she takes Bayley down for the headscissors into the facebusters. Bayley bridges back into a cradle for two, so Charlotte throws a leg lariat, and stomps her down for another headscissors. Charlotte's leg strength is just incredible, and she really knows how to use it. This time Charlotte turns it into a cradle for two, but Bayley reverses for two. Sunset flip, but Charlotte counters to the figure four - countered back by Bayley into an inside cradle for two. Charlotte cuts her off with a dropkick, however, and a delivers a knee for two. Flying moonsault, but Bayley brings her down with a rana off the top for two. Bayley-to-Belly, but Charlotte blocks. German suplex, but Charlotte counters by slamming her head into the ropes - scrambling her brains enough to setup the flying moonsault for two. Bayley's still fighting, but the Natural Selection quickly finishes at 10:45. Solid enough, but quite disappointing compared to the women's matches from the first two NXT specials. **

Main Event: NXT Title Fatal Four-Way Match: Adrian Neville v Tyler Breeze v Tyson Kidd v Sami Zayn: First fall wins it here. Big four-way stare down to start, with everyone cautiously sizing each other up. The settle into a brawl, and Zayn catches Kidd with a reverse STO into the koji clutch, but Breeze saves. That leads to a brawl between all four guys over to the entrance stage, and Tyson teams with Tyler for a tandem vertical suplex on Neville. One for Sami follows on the ramp, and this new duo take Zayn inside to finish off. They work him over, but of course things fall apart once they remember that only one of them can win. Kidd superkicks Breeze out of the ring and tries to finish Zayn off on his own, but a neckbreaker only gets two. He tries wearing him down with a chinlock, then drives a kick to the back of the head for two. Flying legdrop gets two, and he hangs Zayn in a tree of woe for a dropkick for two. Back to the chinlock, which is annoying in a Fatal Four-Way. I mean, there are two other guys literally laying around outside of the ring - no excuse for restholds. Neville finally breaks the hold, and backdrops Kidd - as Breeze comes back in to take a standing dropkick from Zayn. That puts Kidd and Breeze on the outside, and Neville is on them with a sweet springboard moonsault. He got some insane height on that one, but didn't really connect well with it. Visually impressive, though. That leaves a showdown with Sami, and Neville tries a handspring elbow in the corner, but Zayn counters with a sloppy backdrop that they badly mistimed. No matter, Kidd comes back in with a neckbreaker on Zayn for two, and the Sharpshooter looks to finish, but Sami blocks. Kidd regroups with a springboard elbowdrop, but Zayn lifts his knee to block - only for Breeze to cut off the Helluva Kick with the well timed Beauty Shot for two! Neville tries springboarding in, but Tyler cuts HIM off as well with a dropkick for two, and he and Kidd put their differences aside long enough to try a tandem vertical superplex on the champ - only for Zayn to rush over and powerbomb all three guys down! Helluva Kick looks to polish off Neville, but Adrian blocks, and hits the Red Arrow on Zayn - only for Breeze to sneak in, dump Neville, and cover Sami himself! It only gets two, but that was a hell of a dramatic near fall spot! Beauty Shot, but Kidd shoves Zayn out of the way - catching the flying Tyler in the Sharpshooter! He's got him, but Neville rushes in to literally stop him from tapping out - holding Breeze's hand up until Zayn can break the hold. Sami gives Kidd an exploder suplex into the turnbuckles before diving out of the ring at Neville with a tope, then keeping it going with the through the posts DDT on Breeze! That was nuts! He looks to put the cherry on top with the Helluva Kick on Kidd, but Neville pulls the referee out at two! Zayn is good and pissed, but Neville superkicks him to shut his trap, then hits the already knocked out Kidd with the Red Arrow to retain at 24:12. Took a little while to pick up, but once it got into trading counters, and dramatic near falls, it was excellent. ***

BUExperience: Certainly the weakest special to that point, this one suffered from the roster not being quite stacked enough to fill out the card. With the main event using four of NXTs best workers up in one match, the remaining talent was stretched thin, and the overall final product suffered as a result

*