NXT TakeOver: Dallas (April 2016)

Original Airdate: April 1, 2016

From Dallas, Texas; Your Hosts are Tom Philips and Corey Graves

Opening NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Revival v American Alpha: Scott Dawson starts with Chad Gable, and they feel each other out, with Dawson playing mind games. Over to Jason Jordan with a well executed dropkick to send Dawson to the outside, and he passes out to Dash Wilder on the way back in. The champs try a double team, but Jordan fights them off, and Gable comes in for stereo backdrops for two. Gable tags in legally to work an armbar on Dash, but Dawson gets the tag before the challengers can build much momentum. Dawson tries a side superplex, but Gable escapes, and hooks a rollup for two, and then quickly follows up with a 2^nd rope flying bodypress for two. Pair of armdrags and a dropkick put Dawson down, but Jordan comes in to prevent some double teaming, and the challengers clean house following stereo German suplexes! They follow the champs out to continue the blitz on the outside, but Gable runs into a clothesline while chasing Dash, and inside the Revival cut the ring in half on him. Gable manages to fight them off with a double-DDT, but Dash crawls underneath the ring to pull Jordan off the apron before the tag can be made, and the Revival punish Gable with a powerbomb/flying kneedrop combo for two. Or, well, a combo in theory, as Dawson missed his mark completely, and it was basically just a standard powerbomb from Dash. Points for effort though, I suppose. They get back to cutting the ring in half, but Chad dodges a bronco buster, and gets the hot tag to Jason! Jordan comes in suplexing everything in sight, but gets overwhelmed in a double team, and nearly finished after a leveraged pin. Dawson tries a slingshot suplex, but Jordan counters with a rollup for two, so Dash takes a cheap shot - only for Gable to break up the cover at two! They keep trading near falls at breakneck pace until things settle onto Dawson and Jordan, and Jason hits a well executed release overhead suplex. Tag to Chad, and he starts trading near falls with Dawson - cradle after cradle, again at breakneck pace. A reversal sequence ends in Gable getting backdropped over the top, but Dawson fails to notice them blind tag in the process, and the Grand Amplitude crowns new champions at 15:13. Great opener here, with lots of well executed stuff, and no resting. This was more fun than any main roster tag match in ages, too. ****

Baron Corbin v Austin Aries: Aries goes right at him at the bell, and manages to avoid Corbin's attempts at throwing him around. He knocks Baron to the outside with a right before diving out after him with a flying axehandle, and Austin keeps after him out there in tenacious fashion, but walks into a hotshot on the way back in. Corbin works him over in fashion so dull that I can't help but wonder whether he's been studying 1991 Nikita Koloff tapes, but Aries manages to fight back with a missile dropkick. Cross corner dropkick knocks Corbin to the outside, and Austin dives after him with a tope through the bottom/middle ropes! Don't see that variation too often. He runs into a Deep Six out there, however, but beats the count in, so a pissed off Baron starts pounding him with straight punches to the face. End of Days looks to finish, but Aries counters with a rollup at 10:30. Yeah, I wasn't feeling this one, like, at all. *

Sami Zayn v Shinsuke Nakamura: This is Nakamura's debut. Nakamura messes with him a bit in the early going, but Sami holds his own as they feel each other out. Nakamura starts throwing lighting kicks to take Zayn down for a kneedrop for two, but Sami blocks a bodyslam, and a reversal sequence ends in Nakamura trying an armbreaker. An enzuigiri knocks Sami into the corner, but he refuses to take a hint, so Nakamura throws a spinheel kick for two. Those are some educated feet, damn. Front-facelock, but Sami escapes with a vertical suplex for two, and delivers a blistering leg lariat for two. That was crisper than a bowl of Cookie Crisp. Nakamura tries going up, but Zayn promptly knocks him to the floor, but takes a kick to the head while trying to bring him back in, and Nakamura hits a kneedrop on the apron. Back in, Nakamura throws a kneelift for two, but Zayn escapes a side suplex, and sends him over the top - this time diving after him to a somersault plancha. Right back in (like, immediately) with a flying bodypress for two, and a Michinoku driver leads to an extended slugfest - Nakamura bleeding hardway from the nose as a result. Watching the referee have to stop and wipe up his nose like a mom with a tissue is too funny. “Blow, honey.” Nakamura with a sharp takedown into a cross-armbreaker, but Sami manages to block, so Nakamura shifts into a triangle choke instead! Sami fights free and hits a reverse STO into a koji clutch, but Nakamura escapes, and throws another enzuigiri to put Zayn down. Both men take the count as they catch a breather, and Nakamura manages to dodge the Helluva Kick, and hit an inverted exploder suplex! Kinshasa looks to finish, but Zayn counters into the blue thunder bomb for two, and Nakamura bails. Sami follows him out for the tornado DDT through the turnbuckles, but Nakamura knocks him out of the air with a kick. He goes against his better judgment by trying to climb to the top rope, so Zayn meets him up there for a superplex, but Nakamura manages to knock him off. Zayn tries an exploder suplex into the buckles, but Nakamura fights tooth and nail to block, and hits a 2^nd rope flying high knee, then quickly adds Kinshasa at 20:04. I am aware that this one is pretty much universally considered to be a modern classic, but I dunno. It was certainly a very good match, and the execution and timing were top notch throughout, but it kind of left me cold. I just couldn’t properly connect with this one. *** ½

NXT Women's Title Match: Bayley v Asuka: Asuka reminds me of the strippers Charlie Brown got a dance lesson from in Lost in Translation. Feeling out process to start, until Asuka starts throwing kicks to rattle her, then knocks her down with a hip attack. Another one looks to send Bayley to the outside, but the champ dodges, and hits a 2^nd rope flying corkscrew backelbow for two. Bayley adds a flying bodypress for two, and a kneedrop sets up a seated backelbow - only for a seated clothesline to get countered into a crippler crossface. Bayley quickly makes the ropes and hangs her challenger in a tree of woe, and a rana off the top is worth two! Bayley is bringing it tonight, folks. She slaps on a guillotine choke, but Asuka counters into an anklelock, so Bayley works to dump her to the outside. The ankle slows down the follow-up, but she still manages to baseball slide into a headscissors takedown, and she quickly rolls the challenger in to hook the leg for two. Asuka returns fire with a dropkick and a kick combo, then counters a desperate corner whip with a 2^nd rope missile dropkick. More kicks setup a shining wizard for two, so Bayley tries a somersault cradle for two. Asuka tries cutting her off with a hip attack, but Bayley manages to counter with a side suplex, so Asuka throws a roundhouse kick to throw cold water on the comeback. Both stagger up and throw simultaneous dropkicks, and the resulting sequence sees Asuka try and enzuigiri, but Bayley catching the leg, and riding her down in a kneebar! Nice! Bayley pounds the leg, and a kneebreaker transitions into a pair of corkscrew legwhips. Bayley goes for the kill, but Asuka is ready with a cross-armbreaker, then shifts into the fujiwara armbar when Bayley tries escaping! Bayley manages a schoolgirl for two, so Asuka throws a flurry of kicks, but Bayley manages to duck them all, and hook an inside cradle for two! Bayley fights off the Asuka-Lock and hits a vertical suplex to setup a seated clothesline for two, and she tries polishing her off with stretch on the mat, but Asuka won't let her get it properly applied. Bayley-to-Belly, but Asuka blocks, and hits a spinkick, followed by a snap suplex into a cross-armbreaker! Bayley fights, so the challenger tries transitioning into the Asuka-Lock, and gets it on for the title at 15:27. I know this is going to sound blasphemous to a lot of the people reading this, but this was better than Zayn/Nakamura.  *** ¾

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Finn Balor v Samoa Joe: Joe tries dumping him right away, but Balor keeps coming back and punching him, then manages to dump Joe to the floor himself, and dives out after him with a somersault plancha. Joe got busted open somewhere during those flurry of punches, so he throws Finn into the crowd while the referee cleans him up. Balor dives back at him off the rail, and back inside, he pounds his challenger in the corner, but Joe is still pissed about bleeding his own blood, and knocks the crap out of him. Balor ends up on the floor to setup a tope, but now the EMTs are at ringside, and hounding Joe over the cut. I get it, but man, it's killing the match. Back in, Joe fights off an attack with a uranage, and applies a bow-and-arrow, but Balor escapes, so Joe blasts him with an enzuigiri for two. The cut has opened up again, however, so we have to take another break to let the EMTs deal with it. Joe with a running seated big boot in the corner, but Finn fights off a muscle buster, so Joe gives him another big boot, then adds a kneedrop for two. Balor fires back with a well executed dropkick, and guess who's back? EMTs! Yay! The crowd is getting sick of them too, openly booing them. Balor with a sling blade, and he knocks Joe to the floor for a baseball slide, then back in for another sling blade, but Joe counters with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. He tries another big boot, but Balor counters with a sling blade - only to have Joe dodge a running dropkick, and hit a senton splash for two. Powerbomb is transitioned into a Boston crab when Balor kicks out at two, and Joe then shifts again to a cripple crossface! Finn escapes and hits a quick double-stomp, then yet another sling blade. Dude, enough already. Is he hoping at getting a cameo in the next Billy Bob Thornton flick? Running dropkick sets up the Coup de Grace, but Joe enzuigiri’s him to block, and brings him off with turnbuckles with a muscle buster for two. Slugfest ends in Balor hitting a pele kick, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Finn is up first with yet another sling blade, and the running dropkick sets up the Coup de Grace. You know, you can setup that spot in other ways too, boyo. It doesn't have to be the same tired combination every time. I mean, Bret Hart had a regular combination he used to setup the Sharpshooter, but he didn't use the same sequence five times in the same match! No cover, however, as he wants to put a cherry on top - only to get countered into the Coquina Clutch! Joe looks to take him down in it, but Balor manages to run the ropes to counter into a cradle at 16:25. Speaking of Bret Hart. Good match, but all the stops for the EMTs to deal with Joe's bleeding really wrecked the flow, and the repetition was annoying as well. ***

BUExperience: Another great NXT show, with strong performances from cover to cover!

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