NXT TakeOver: Toronto (August 2019)

 

Original Airdate: August 10, 2019

From Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Beth Phoenix. Shouldn’t this one be called ‘TakeOver: Toronto II?’

Opening NXT Tag Team Title Match: Street Profits v Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish: Angelo Dawkins starts with Kyle O'Reilly, and Kyle tries to get in the big mans face, resulting in Dawkins playing Nailz to Kyle's Vince. Reversal sequence on the mat ends Dawkins' way (that whole thing looked awkward), so Kyle tags out. Bobby Fish wants to criss cross, but that ends badly for him, and Montez Ford comes in for some combos. The champs work Fish over with quick tags, but Ford loses a kick showdown, and gets trapped in a double team. That turns the tide, and Kyle unloads on him in the corner, but loses a reversal sequence. That draws Fish in without a tag, but Ford is ready for him, and it's back to Dawkins for combos on both of the challengers. Undisputed Era bail, but Ford tries going after them, and ends up wiping out on the apron. That draws Dawkins over for a chase, but now he's fighting a two front war, and ends up going down to a double team. Ford is still down on the outside as the challengers go to work cutting the ring in half on Dawkins, but Fish gets distracted as Ford recovers, and Dawkins manages a backdrop. Tag to Ford, and he comes in hot on both challengers. Side suplex on Fish sets up a standing moonsault for two, and a spinebuster sets up the people's elbow, but luckily Kyle hooks his ankle to cut that off. Damn right, you ain't no Rock, kid. Maybe if you were Montez Cadillac, but you're not even Montez Lincoln, so don't bother. Ford hits Fish with a uranage for two instead, but the challengers get it together with another combo to take control again. Fish takes Ford up for a superplex, but Montez manages to block. He tries a dive, but Kyle hooks the ankle again, allowing Bobby to get back up to complete the superplex. That's punctuated with a flying kneedrop from Kyle, and he slaps on a leglock to finish, but Dawkins shows up to slam Fish onto him to force a break. How come we only ever see that spot in NXT? You'd think they'd have stolen it up on the main roster by now. Dawkins starts running wild, but runs into a knee from Kyle as he goes for the kill, and Ford has to dive in with a flying somersault neckbreaker to save him. Cover, count, but here's Fish to break at two. Everyone is down now, and all four stagger up for a slugfest. The champs get the better of it, but don't do so well as everyone trades strikes, and we're left with everyone down again. Era are up first, and Kyle drills Ford with a right, but eats a superkick to send him to the outside. Ford dives after with a somersault suicida, and Dawkins spears both challengers on the way back in. That sets up a flying frogsplash from Ford on Kyle, and the champs retain at 16:55. This was a good match, but felt like they had it in cruise control a little bit, and too much like every other TakeOver tag title match you've ever seen. ***

Candice LeRae v Io Shirai: LeRae charges in to spear Io down before the bell, and then blasts her with a baseball slide when Io bails. Io tries to fight back with a sunsetbomb on the floor, but LeRae blocks, so Io simply vertical suplexes her onto an announce table instead. Io leaves her out there to rot, but Candice beats the count, so Io baseball slides into her as punishment. Io with mounted punches, and a flapjack sets up a running dropkick for two. Io grounds her in a chinlock from there, but LeRae fights her off in the corner. LeRae tries a headscissors takedown, but Io lands on her feet, and puts Candice right back down for a headvice. LeRae starts to escape, so Io drills her with a backdrop driver for two, but LeRae counters a piledriver with a backdrop. Io tries a charge, but LeRae is ready with a backdrop to the apron, only for Io to snap her throat across the middle rope after landing. Io goes up with a flying dropkick, but LeRae dodges, and she starts unloading on Io with rights and lefts into the corner. LeRae with a brainbuster for two, and she goes for the kill with an octopus hold, but Io makes the ropes. Loved how Candice was throwing knees to the face while applying the hold there, great stuff. Io tries a tiger feint kick, but LeRae catches her, and turns it into a neckbreaker for two. LeRae takes her up, but Io shoves her away, and uses a dropkick to knock Candice down to the apron. That sets her up for the tiger feint kick that missed earlier, and Io tries to add a suplex on the apron, but LeRae blocks. That allows her a tope tornado DDT on the floor, and a flying double stomp gets Candice two on the way back in! Neckbreaker, but Io counters to a crippler crossface! LeRae manages to roll back into a cradle for two, but an attempt to run the ropes ends very badly when Io tailgates her into a hard clothesline. Io adds a suplex, but LeRae comes back with one of her own to immediately even the score. LeRae tries a springboard, but lands in a bridging German suplex for two, and both women are feeling the burn right now. Io blasts her with a running kneesmash in the corner, but a trip to the top gets countered with a superplex, only for Io to land on her feet. Charge in the corner, but LeRae dodges, and she spikes Io with an inverted rana for two. LeRae takes her up for a swinging neckbreaker off the middle rope for two, and it's dive time, but Io follows her to the top rope before she can leap. Io brings her down with a Spanish fly for two, and the shock of the kickout allows LeRae a cradle for two. Backslide, but Io rolls through for a double-underhook backbreaker, and she kills Candice with a flying moonsault for two. I appreciate the sentiment, but not everyone has to act so shocked over EVERY kickout in EVERY match. It's even worse on the main roster. Io wants this done, so she decides to just choke the life out of her with a headscissors until LeRae passes out at 15:00. The finish felt a little underwhelming, but it was a really good match, with a fast pace, lots of cool spots, and in-your-face execution. ****

NXT North American Title Triple Threat Match: Velveteen Dream v Pete Dunne v Roderick Strong: First fall wins it. Dunne's reaction to Dream's showboating is pretty funny. Dream ends up getting knocked to the outside right away, allowing Pete to go after Strong's fingers. Dream returns to slug it out with Strong, and a flying axehandle sets up a hold, but Strong scrambles for the ropes to avoid getting locked in it. Pete decides to whip Strong right into a dropkick from Dream for his trouble, and Dream returns the favor by positioning Strong's arm for Dunne to stomp. That finishes Strong off for a while, and we get a reversal sequence that ends in Dunne hooking Dream in a cross-armbreaker. Dream turns it onto a cradle for two, but Dunne counters the Dream Valley Driver with the Bitter End, only for Dream to block. Before that can continue, Strong pulls both guys to the outside and drops Dunne onto Dream with a uranage, then rolls Dunne back in to cover for two. Strong adds a side suplex for two, and he ties Pete up on the mat, but Dunne fights him off. Strong responds with a dropkick for two, but here's Dream with a flying axehandle to burst back onto the scene with. He adds a Russian legsweep on Strong for two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Sharpshooter, but Dunne dives off the top with a flying dropkick to break it up. Not sure why he's doing the Bret Hart tribute tonight (Canada, I guess?), but I'm not complaining. If you're going to emulate someone, no one better than the best. Everyone spills to the outside, where Dunne dives onto both guys with a flying moonsault press, and Strong eats an enzuigiri on the way back in. Dunne then German suplexes them into each other, but an attempt to put the boots to both at the same time is a step too far. That leads to a three-way slugfest, with Dunne getting the best of it, and going after the fingers. Dream comes back with a Dream Valley Driver on Dunne, but gets hit with an Olympic slam from Strong - only for Strong to eat an x-plex from Dunne. That leaves all three guys looking up at the lights, and Dream recovers first. He heads to the top rope, but Dunne meets him up there for a superplex, so Strong shows up to Olympic slam Pete off the top. And then Dream sells it as well, despite not actually being part of the chain at all. That looked really, really bad. Strong butterfly powerbombs Dunne, but gets caught in a triangle on the way down, and Dream has to dive in with a flying elbowdrop to break it up. He went coast to coast with that one! Strong gets pissed and decides to hook them both up in a double elevated crab, but neither guy submits. Dream steals the idea for a double Dream Valley Driver, but he can't get it done, and ends up eating a knee. Dunne then cranks on both of their fingers, and the Bitter End gets two on Strong when Dream prevents the referee from finishing his count. That earns him a good stomping from Pete, but here's Strong to put Pete in a crab! Dream saves, and hits Dunne with the Driver, but Strong saves. That earns poor Pete an x-plex, but Dream saves - and this time is quick enough to steal the pin from Strong at 17:25. All action, and you can't say it was even remotely boring, but I'm just not a big fan of this style of match, and so I didn't connect with it so much as just appreciated it from a distance. ***

NXT Women's Title Match: Shayna Baszler v Mia Yim: Yim is dressed like it's 2006 again tonight. Baszler goes right for the arm, prompting Yim to literally drag her off by the ear, in a funny spot. Baszler decides to try a cross-armbreaker, but Yim fishhooks her, and then pulls at the hair to force it into the ropes for a break. I'm digging the strategy here. Yim blitzes her in the corner, and a cannonball sends Baszler to the outside, but an attempt at a dive ends badly. Baszler goes to chuck her into the steps, but Mia reverses, and she goes after the arm/shoulder. After some abuse, Yim wedges the arm between the steps and the post for a dropkick, and the champion is in trouble as we head back in, but she manages to dodge a charge to buy time. She unloads a few mounted punches before going after the arm again, and this time no amount of ear or hair pulling saves Yim. Baszler with a kick to the chest for two, and she wrenches the arm around the rope for some abuse. She goes for the kill, but Yim manages to fight off the submission with another handful of hair, prompting the announcers to call her 'sadistic.' I love the world of pro-wrestling, where a little hair pulling is considered rougher play than actively trying to break someone's arm. Baszler keeps cranking on the arm, but Yim uses every cheap escape in the book she can (eyes, hair, etc), until she manages to shake the champ off with a suplex to buy time. That allows Mia to mount a comeback, and a DDT gets her two, but a corner big boot misses. That allows Baszler to throw a pair of knee strikes for two, but the shoulder acts up, preventing a suplex. That allows Yim to latch on with a tarantula, but a sunset bomb off the top only gets two! Yim unloads kicks, so Baszler dives on her with the Clutch, but Yim pulls at the bad arm to fight her off. Cross-armbreaker looks to put the champ away, but Baszler counters to the Clutch, so Mia goes for the arm again. Baszler responds by shifting to a figure-four headscissors instead, and Yim taps at 12:35. Great selling from Baszler, but the overall match was all over the place, and really underwhelming. * ¾

Main Event: NXT Title Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Adam Cole v Johnny Gargano: First fall is a standard match, second fall is a Street Fight, and if it goes to a third fall it's decided in a Barbed Wire Cage match. And I hope you're comfortable, because there's, like, a full hour left in the show. Feeling out process to start, which quickly turns into a sequence where both guys try to land hard strikes, but keep getting their efforts ducked/blocked to a stalemate. More feeling out and measuring, until Gargano manages to outthink the champion, and Cole takes a clothesline over the top. Johnny is on him with a baseball slide out there, but a double stomp off of the apron misses. That triggers a charge from Cole, but Gargano sidesteps, and Adam runs into the steps with his knee. Johnny capitalizes by dropping him knee-first across the apron, and the challenger goes to work on the part. Cole manages to slip to the outside, and guts out a wheelbarrow suplex into the apron to back Johnny off, even though it aggravates his leg as well. Inside, Cole uses a swinging neckbreaker, and then a regular one for two. He stays on the neck with a headscissors, but Gargano counters to an anklelock, so Cole dumps him into the corner to force a break. Cole tries a dive off the middle, but hurts his knee on the landing, and Gargano Japanese armdrags him into the turnbuckles. Slugfest goes Johnny's way, and he uses a corner whip, followed by a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Slingshot spear, but Cole catches him in a suplex, only for Gargano to counter with a fisherman driver for two. Cole tries shaking him off with a superkick, but Gargano dodges, and dives onto the leg to put the champion on the mat. Figure four, but Cole escapes, so Gargano tries an enzuigiri, but Cole counters with a bridging wheelbarrow suplex for two. Suplex, but Gargano slips free, triggering a reversal sequence that ends in Cole trying a Canadian destroyer, but getting caught in a vicious backdrop driver for two. Gargano tries a dive off the middle, but lands on the knees, and Cole delivers a fireman's driver for two. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, but end up colliding during a criss cross for a double knockout spot. Cole rolls to the outside, so Gargano tries a tope, but Adam is ready with a kick. He tries another wheelbarrow suplex on the outside, but Gargano counters with a victory cradle into the barricade, and he uses a slingshot DDT for two on the way in. Slingshot spear, but Cole is ready with a superkick, and a suplex-neckbreaker gets two. Some of these sequences are just blistering, and I'm having trouble keeping up. Cole decides to grab a chair, but the referee intervenes, so Adam just punts Gargano in the balls for two instead. That would have actually been a cool finish for the first fall. Cole grabs the chair again, but the referee is being a prude, and Johnny is able to sneak off a superkick before Cole can use it. He grabs the chair himself, and ignores the referee's warnings - using it on Cole to draw a DQ at 20:48. So Johnny is now down a fall, but he's still got the chair, and the Street Fight is on, so let's get crazy. He destroys Cole with the weapon until Adam bails to the floor, so Johnny then CHUCKS the chair at him for being a baby, and then dives with a tope for good measure. Love it! Cole bails into the crowd is get away from this madman, but Gargano chases, and kicks his ass all around the floor section of the arena. Back to ringside, Johnny preps an announce table, but Adam starts to reverse the piledriver attempt, so Gargano counters with a backdrop through a table instead. Johnny rolls him back inside, and brings a few party favors with him in the form of multiple tables and chairs. Well, less 'party favors' than 'picnic furniture,' I suppose. But whatever works. The setup takes too long, however, and Cole recovers with a fireman's neckbreaker for two before Gargano can use any of the weapons. Cole goes up to the middle, but Gargano nails him before he can dive, and uses a snake-eyes into a chair to set up the Gargano Escape to tie the score at 29:32. So now the cage dramatically lowers from the ceiling as both guys recover on the mat, and it's got the promised barbed wire all around the top of the structure, plus various other weapons jammed into various spots of the cage itself. Pretty cool, though it looks more like something a kid would imagine for his action figure promotion rather than a real life thing. And I'm not even saying that in a bad way, really. Cole immediately goes for a kendo stick, but Gargano attacks before he can unwedge it from the cage, and they slug it out. Cole with a pair of superkicks, but Gargano rebounds with a lariat, and he grabs the kendo. Cole blocks a shot with a superkick, and grabs his own stick, leading to both guys going wild with the weapons, until both throw superkicks for a double knockout. Gargano is up first, and he goes after a ladder that's sitting on top of the cage, but Cole is after him. Johnny decides to dive off with a flying headscissors instead, and an inverted rana leads to a superkick for two. I know it's a pretty commonplace thing these days, but I still don't like how superkicks spammed in every match. Gargano sets up a table, but gets chucked into a the side of the cage before he can do anything with it, and Cole hits a lungblower for two. Cole takes him to the top rope for a superplex onto a pair of chairs, but Gargano uses a spray from a random fire extinguisher to block, and then tornado DDT's the champion onto those chairs for two. He grabs a kendo to start teeing off on poor Cole, but then stops to thing that maybe it isn't quite brutal enough, and goes after a sledgehammer. Cole grabs him before he can get the weapon, however, so Johnny reroutes with a sunset bomb off the cage for two. That allows him to go get the hammer, but Adam blocks a shot with a superkick, and he chucks a ladder at him as a distraction to set up a Canadian destroyer for two. Another Canadian destroyer only gets two, leaving Cole looking for a way to finish this thing. He comes up with a chair-assisted shining wizard as his solution, but Gargano dodges, and chokes him down with the kendo stick to buy time. Gargano grabs the sledgehammer for a shot to the midsection of the champion, and as Adam sells it, Gargano moves some furniture around. He positions two parallel tables beside a ladder, and then puts Adam onto one, but Cole rolls off before Gargano can finish climbing the ladder to do his dive. An annoyed Gargano beats him with a kendo stick for that one, and gives him his own Canadian destroyer for two. That wasn't enough, so Gargano decides to go get himself a strand of the barbed wire to play with, so Cole decides to run up the side of the cage to escape, but the wire that surrounds the rim blocks his path. Adam ends up on a table that's planked across the top of the cage, but Gargano is hot on his tail, and they slug it out up there - both taking a fall down through a table! Both are dead, but Cole manages to get an arm across the challenger for the pin at 51:00. This was a lot. I thought it was good, but it lost a lot of steam after the great first fall, and never really got back to that level again with the next two falls. It was still good, but certainly way too long, and the weakest of their series. *** ¼

BUExperience: You can’t really knock this show considering pretty much every match was good (with one even being great), but it felt like the final piece was weaker than the sum of its parts.

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