NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III (August 2017)

Original Airdate: August 19, 2017

From Brooklyn, New York; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, and Nigel McGuinness

Opening Match: Johnny Gargano v Andrade Almas: Feeling out process to start, with Almas initially moving the needle, but quickly getting outwrestled by Gargano. Almas responds by throwing an elbow to escape a hold, but Johnny outmaneuvers him in the corner, so Almas drops him with a two-alarm inverted DDT. Backelbow sets up a shining wizard for two, and a rope hung triangle armbar gets Almas two. He stays on the arm with a nicely executed armbar, but Johnny escapes, and blocks a charge with a drop-toehold into the turnbuckles. Almas tries to keep control with a clothesline, but Gargano has the same idea, and they collide. That leads to a slugfest, and a reversal sequence ends up Gargano hitting a slingshot shoulderblock from the apron for two. Suplex, but Almas counters to a rollup, so Johnny dumps him to the outside to block, then dives with a tope. Gargano with a slingshot DDT for two on the way back in, and another reversal sequence ends in Johnny trying the slingshot shoulderblock again, but getting caught in a DDT this time! Almas adds an inverted tornado DDT, but only gets two, so he takes Johnny up for a superplex, but Gargano counters with a sunset bomb - only for Almas to back flip onto his feet! He drops Johnny in the corner, but misses a charge, and Gargano takes him down into a crossface! Almas escapes by slamming him into the turnbuckles, and a running kneesmash gets him two. Almas starts pounding the arm, but Gargano shakes him off with a pair of superkicks, and he drops him in the corner with a snake-eyes! He looks to finish, but Zelina Vega throws a DIY shirt at him to mess with his head, and Almas capitalizes with La Sombra at 13:21. That was quite the opener, with lots of wild, fast reversal sequences, and exchanges that were built on earlier ones. *** ¾

NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Authors of Pain v Sanity: Corey Graves sits in on commentary for this one. Big brawl before the bell, with the champs charging the ring. The dust settles on them cutting the ring in half on Alexander Wolfe, but Akam misses a charge in the corner to allow the tag to Eric Young - who decides to take Killian Dain's spot in the match, in order to mess with the champions' minds. That triggers another brawl on the outside, which quickly spills into the crowd as well. Back in, the Authors go to work on Eric, and a backdrop/powerbomb combo gets two. Sidewalk slam/curb stomp combo gets two, and they continue to cut the ring in half, but Rezar misses a charge in the corner to allow the tag to Wolfe. Alexander comes in throwing big boots at anything that moves, then switches to suplexes - Roseanne Barr the door! Wolfe tries a flying clothesline, but runs into a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for two, as Young gets dumped to the outside. That allows Rezar to go for the kill with a powerbomb off the top, but Wolfe counters with a rana, and Young gets the tag! He charges in with a neckbreaker on Rezar, but gets crotched on the top turnbuckle while attempting a follow-up. AOP go for a superplex/powerbomb combo, but Nikki Cross holds Young's boot to block, and the champs end up slamming each other! That allows Young a flying elbowdrop on Rezar, but Akam breaks the count at two. Eric responds by diving out of the ring with a tope, followed by Wolfe diving with a corkscrew version! Not to be outdone, Nikki decides to get in to do her own dive - coming off the top with a flying bodypress! She gets caught by Akam, so Dain runs over - spearing them both through a table on the floor! Wild! Inside, the challengers hit Rezar with a side suplex/flying neckbreaker combo, and we have new champions at 12:45! Man, once this got going, it was killer, with the last few minutes just firing on all cylinders. *** ¼

Aleister Black v Hideo Itami: Jim Ross sits in with the commentary team for this one. They trade kicks to start, with both guys powering through the others shots. Black manages to knock Itami to the outside following a few shots, and he hits a kick combo for two as Hideo comes back inside. Black misses a charge in the corner, allowing Itami to drape him front-first across the top rope to set up a flying kneedrop, followed by a backelbow for two. Itami with a headvice, but Black escapes, so Hideo throws a knee to but him down, then fires off a series of kicks to the shoulder blades. Itami cranks on a chinlock, and we see that Black is bleeding from the nose, so Hideo shows him mercy by hitting a series of kneedrops to the nose, followed by a DDT for two. What a dick! In the best possible way! Black cracks at the arm to escape, so Itami tries a charge, but misses - allowing Black a kick combo. Springboard pele kick gets two, but he gets into trouble in the corner, and Itami dives with a flying clothesline for two. Fisherman's suplex gets two, and a spinning backfist puts Black down in the corner - only for a charge to get countered with a victory cradle for two. Black with a roundhouse kick to allow him time to climb to the top, but Itami throws an enzuigiri to prevent a dive, then brings Black down with an avalanche Samoan driver for two! Slugfest goes Itami's way, but he charges into a bicycle kick - allowing Black to try a suplex, but Itami countering with a falcon arrow for two. Itami tries to finish with the GTS, but Black blocks, so Itami tries a charge in the corner - only to run into Black Mass at 12:31. A little too heavy on the kicks for my taste, but still a good stuff. ***

NXT Women's Title Match: Asuka v Ember Moon: The pre-match video package for this one is really well done. Moon comes right at her with a dropkick at the bell, then follows up with another pair of kicks on the stunned champion for two. Asuka tries a kick of her own, so Ember snap suplexes her, and the champ bails. Moon is on her with a baseball slide, but Asuka dodges, so Moon gets to the middle rope, and dives with a flying somersault senton instead! Mindful of the count, Moon rolls in to break it, but that allows Asuka to recover in the meantime, and Ember takes a bump into the steps, followed by a wicked hammerlock suplex on the ramp. Inside, Asuka goes to work on the arm, but Moon powers out of a fujiwara armbar with an electric chair, so Asuka tries a spinning backfist, but eats an enzuigiri for two. Moon tries following up with a hip attack, but Asuka counters with a German suplex into the turnbuckles, then goes back to cranking on the arm and shoulder. Asuka-Lock, but Ember reverses before the champion can get the bodyscissors on, so Asuka fires at the arm to escape. She grabs a sleeper, but Moon drops back to escape, then back flips it into a cradle for two. She tries to buy recovery time by putting Asuka down with a lariat, but the champ is up first anyway, and the running hip attack gets two. Again, but Moon fights her off in the corner, and delivers a tornado suplex for two. Slugfest is won by Moon, so Asuka starts blasting the arm again, but takes a sitout side slam for two. Springboard kneedrop gets two, and the Eclipse looks to finish, but Asuka kicks out at two! Even though modern audiences have been trained to expect finisher kick outs in big matches like this, they built some impressive drama for that near fall. Moon goes back up for a flying bodypress, but Asuka rolls through - only to get busted holding the tights! That allows Moon a superkick for another dramatic two count, and the crowd is on the edge of their seats here! She looks for a follow-up, but Asuka is ready with a cross-armbreaker, and she quickly shifts it into the Asuka-Lock to retain at 14:49. Awesome match (much better than TakeOver: Orlando), with tons of action and drama. And this ends up serving as Asuka's NXT swan song, as she suffered a legit injury during the match, and vacated the title with her undefeated streak intact, on her way up to the main roster. Expect her to be going 50/50 at an arena near you soon! **** ¼

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Bobby Roode v Drew McIntyre: This has been a really great show thus far, now let's see if they can put it over the top. McIntyre looks like if Brian Kendrick had a growth spurt. He tries to overpower the champion in the early going, so Bobby sticks and moves, but ends up on the outside after running into a shoulderblock. Back in, Bobby tries sticking and moving again, but McIntyre no-sells him, and dodges the Glorious DDT. He pounds Roode in the corner, and a big boot leads to a suplex-slam. Love the way McIntyre just casually executed that one. Clothesline sends Bobby over the top, where it looks like Stephanie McMahon is seated with her gal pals. Is that Dana Warrior? It's like a wrestling Sex and the City out there. McIntyre hits Roode with a cool tilt-a-whirl slam on the apron out there, then tries a vertical suplex off of the apron, but Bobby counters with a neckbreaker across the middle rope. Roode then dives off the apron with a neckbreaker on the floor, and back inside, Bobby hammers him with a pair of pointed elbowdrops. Neckbreaker gets two, and a corner whip leads to a 2^nd rope missile dropkick for two. Chinlock, but McIntyre starts to power out, so Roode rides him with a sleeper instead. McIntyre still powers out, so Bobby charges, but runs right into an overhead suplex, and Drew alley-oops him into the turnbuckles. McIntyre with a stinger splash, and he goes upstairs with a flying clothesline, but Roode responds with an inverted atomic drop, and a kneelift. McIntyre cuts him off with Celtic Cross for two, so Roode decides to bail - snapping Drew's throat across the top rope as he goes after him. Bobby gets to the top rope, but McIntyre crotches him before he can capitalize with a dive. He tries a superplex down, but Bobby blocks by knocking him down into a tree of woe - only for McIntyre to sit up, and slam Roode down from there! That was a pretty cool sequence. Roode is dead, but things are not as they appear - Bobby springing up with a somersault cradle for two, after lulling McIntyre into a false sense of security. Lungblower gets two, so Bobby goes to town with chops in the corner - only to have a neckbreaker countered into a backslide for two. McIntyre with a DDT for two, so he takes Roode to the top for a Celtic Cross from upstairs to finish, but Bobby counters with a powerbomb for two! An intense slugfest ends in Bobby hitting an enzuigiri, but McIntyre takes his head off with the Claymore for two! Roode wisely bails, but the referee prevents Drew from going after him (physically restraining him - Gorilla Monsoon must be rolling over in his grave), so McIntyre decides to dive past him with a somersault plancha! Bobby is dead for real this time, and McIntyre knows it - left having to expend energy dragging the champ's limp carcass in. Claymore looks to finish, but Bobby counters with a spinebuster. He goes for the Glorious DDT, but McIntyre counters with a backdrop, so Roode tries a sunset cradle, but Drew cradles the legs for two. Roode fires back with the Glorious DDT, but it only gets two! Another one, but this time he goes for the insurance by rolling through into a second alarm - only to have McIntyre counter with the Claymore at 22:25! *** ½

BUExperience: Tremendous show! Five matches, and every single one of them is at three-stars or better, including the awesome Women’s title bout. Great production values, not too much filler between matches, a run time around two and a half hours, lots of focus on the in-ring action – this is everything I want out of wrestling.

*****