Original Airdate: April 7-8, 2021
From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, and Beth Phoenix
Night One
Opening Match: Pete Dunne v Kushida: I'm not really familiar with this Kushida... does he always dress like Marty McFly, or is this some special TakeOver thing? Dunne tries taking him down for a submission right away, but Kushida fights him off, and they each try to trap the other in holds for a bit. Dunne pulls him to the outside for an x-plex on the apron to take control, and Pete goes to work as they head back in. Kushida knocks him back to the outside with a seated dropkick, and he hits a handspring backelbow on the ramp. Whose brilliant idea was it to have such a slick, glass-like ramp? Back in, Kushida goes for a big strike, so Pete blocks with a guillotine choke, but Kushida quickly escapes. Kushida hits a pele kick, but another handspring gets blocked when Dunne wrenches the arm. Bitter End, but Kushida counters with a small package for two - which is fitting, since both these guys look like small packages. Pete punts him in the face for two, but an enzuigiri misses, and Kushida hits a falcon arrow. He tries rolling it into a submission, but Dunne blocks, and a reversal sequence ends in Pete hitting the enzuigiri he missed before, but then getting knocked out with a big right from Kushida. Kushida adds a koppou kick, and a hammerlock superplex leads to the hoverboard lock, but Pete makes the ropes. Kushida ties him up a second time, but Dunne makes the ropes again, so Kushida goes upstairs with a flying knee to the arm to soften him up. Kushida slaps another hold on, but Dunne topples him for two this time, and gets into the ropes to force a break. Kushida tries to knock him out with another right, but Dunne catches the hand this time, and starts working on it. Bitter End finishes at 10:39. Not my cup of tea, but a solid match. **
#1 Contender's Gauntlet Elimination Match: Dexter Lumis v Cameron Grimes v Bronson Reed v Isaiah Swerve Scott v LA Knight v Leon Ruff: This is kind of like a mini Royal Rumble, and the winner gets an NXT North American title match tomorrow night. Scott and Ruff start, and they have an extended brawl around ringside before coming in to officially start the match. And then it's right back to the outside, with Ruff trying a tope, but Scott catching him, and dropping him across the barricade. Scott adds a dropkick out there, but Ruff blocks a slam onto the announce table, and hits a springboard cutter on the floor. Back in, Ruff covers for two, but a reversal sequence goes badly for him, ending in Scott snapping his throat on the rope. Scott tries capitalizing with a powerbomb off the middle, but Ruff counters with a rana, as Reed joins the match. Ruff tries attacking him with a dive on the ramp, but Reed catches him, and chucks him back into the ring. Scott ducking Ruff's flying carcass was pretty funny, but he's not laughing for long once Reed gets in there, and starts pulverizing him. Ruff comes back to try sticking and moving, but he gets squashed by the bulky Bronson - literally, with Reed hitting a sit-down splash. Both guys try ganging up on Reed with a tandem German suplex, but Bronson reverses them both, as Grimes enters the fray. Grimes dives in with a flying moonsault press that actually puts Reed down for the first time, and Scott dropkicks him to the outside to capitalize. Grimes pays Scott off to help him double up on Ruff (literally - he hands him a giant stack of cash, which Scott happily accepts), and they work together to control the match. Lumis is next in, as Scott eliminates Ruff at 9:47. Lumis gives Reed a DDT on the ramp while making his slow entrance, and he sends Grimes running with just a look. Lumis gives Grimes and Scott suplexes, and Scott takes a bulldog from him, followed by a clothesline. Reed returns to get in his face, and now Lumis is facing someone his own size. Slugfest goes Dexter's way, and he dumps Reed to the outside, but then gets knocked to the floor himself via Grimes. Grimes still clutching at a hundred dollar bill while knocked silly on the outside is a pretty funny visual. Knight is last in, and he cuts a promo on the way to the ring, but meets Reed before he can finish. Meanwhile, Lumis gets Grimes in a choke, but Knight sneaks over with a somersault cradle to pin Dexter at 15:39. That was a pretty neat bit. Knight wastes time gloating about it, however, and the other three guys take turns hitting him with signature moves - ending in Bronson delivering a senton splash at 16:10. And even more unfortunately for Knight is that Lumis is still hanging around ringside, and he chokes LA out for good measure. Meanwhile, the last three guys are engaging in what looks like a slow-motion slugfest in the ring, and the Grimes/Scott alliance is dead. But then they realize that Reed will still kill them both, and it comes back to life. That's the spirit! And then it dies again when Grimes tries a rollup, but Scott reverses at 19:17. And Scott's still got his money, too, so double haha. Scott tries charging into Bronson, but that proves to be a very bad idea. Reed goes upstairs to finish him, but Scott manages a dropkick to slow him down on the climb, and he slams Reed off the top and onto the apron. Scott with a flying 450 splash for two, and he starts kicking Reed in the head over and over, but Reed just won't back down. He can't fight back either, though, so Scott just keeps striking, and eventually puts him down for two. Scott tries for submission, but Reed is too round, and it goes badly. That allows Bronson a powerbomb and a backdrop driver to set up a flying splash at 23:16 (25:02 total). That was quite the comeback from being nearly brain dead thirty seconds prior. This was a fun, unique take on the multi-man matches, though they took forever to get to the eliminations, so it ended up just like all the other multi-man matches anyway. I generally enjoyed it, though, and everyone worked hard. ** ½
NXT United Kingdom Title Match: WALTER v Tommaso Ciampa: Ciampa hangs near the ropes to avoid getting powered around too much by the champion, and he manages to pop off some shots in between. Ciampa actually manages to pound the champion down, but a charge ends badly when WALTER takes his head off with a clothesline. Don't go chasing waterfalls, Tommaso. WALTER dumps him to the outside for some abuse, so Ciampa tries more quick strikes as they go back inside, but gets blasted with a vicious big boot from the massive champion. WALTER with a half-crab, but he doesn't have it well applied at all, and wisely shifts to an STF, but it goes nowhere. That sequence didn't look good, but at least it didn't look good in a way that doesn't look phony, like some high spot botches. Slugfest goes the challenger's way, and he starts throwing a flurry of clotheslines, looking like a homeless Lex Luger. I mean, he literally threw dozens of clotheslines there. Ciampa follows up with the Air Raid for two, but the Fairy Tale Ending gets countered with a backdrop into a cradle for two. Ciampa comes back with it again, hitting it on the second go, and covering for two. WALTER comes back with a clothesline for two, and he tries dead lifting his challenger into a powerbomb, but Ciampa chomps on his hand to block. Ciampa takes it down into a fujiwara armbar, but WALTER gets into the ropes, and bails to the apron. He fights off Ciampa from there and starts pounding him with forearms, but a trip to the top ends badly when Ciampa brings him off with the Air Raid for two. Both guys stagger up to trade chops, with WALTER getting the better of it, and he cranks Ciampa's neck. Pair of powerbombs get the champion two, so he uses a sleeper suplex, followed by another big clothesline to put it away at 16:58. This was kind of a let down, considering how much I like both of these workers. **
NXT Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: Grizzled Young Veterans v MSK v Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde: This is for the vacant title, and three men are allowing in the ring at once. Oh, I'm already not a fan then. First fall wins it. Raul and Wilde dominate the field for the first few minutes, as they abandon the tag rules all together in what seems like record time. Anyway, lots of tandem moves, tons of spots, and I can't even be bothered with play by play for this sort of thing. There's just no story here, just big moves for the sake of it. The Veterans and MSK get rid of Raul and Wilde eventually, and MSK manage to isolate Zack Gibson with a combo to win the belts at 15:25. In case it wasn't clear already, I did not find this very engaging. *
Main Event: NXT Women's Title Match: Io Shirai v Raquel Gonzalez: Io tries charging her at the bell, but Gonzalez stops her short, and railroads her into the corner for some abuse. Gonzalez with a big boot, but Io blocks a powerbomb on her. She may have the leather pants, but she's no Kevin Nash. Io with a flying headscissors, and she dumps her challenger to the outside for a tope. That draws Dakota Kai over to run interference, which gets her ejected, and then Io hits a springboard moonsault press on the floor anyway. Io tries another dive, but this time Gonzalez runs her into the post to block, and she covers for two on the way back inside. Gonzalez with a modified spinebuster for two, and a modified hotshot is worth two. Gonzalez with a trio of elbowdrops for two, and she tries a rack submission, but Io escapes. Gonzalez responds by swinging for her, but Io ducks all her blows, and uses a rana to put the challenger down for a double stomp. Nice combo there. Io with a tiger feint armdrag and a feint kick, leading to a springboard flying dropkick. Canadian destroyer gets the champion two, so she tries trapping Gonzalez in a crippler crossface, but the challenger makes the ropes. Gonzalez wisely bails, but Io is on her with a flying moonsault press on the ramp, and she adds a running kneesmash out there. Io ups the ante by climbing to the top of the set for a flying bodypress off of the Survivor Series '98 skull - which they then kill by doing about 300 replays of it. And that number is only very slightly exaggerated. Io with a flying moonsault for two on the way back inside, and Gonzalez again wisely bails. Io chases after her, but Gonzalez blocks the attack with a big boot, and she adds a chokeslam on the floor. Back in, Io makes a last ditch effort, but can't follow-up on her strikes, and Gonzalez takes her head off with a clothesline. Chokeslam follows, and Ruth Bader Gonzalez is our champion at 12:56. Good action here. ** ¾
Night Two
Opening NXT Cruiserweight Title Ladder Match: Jordan Devlin v Santos Escobar: Both men have a claim to the title, so we get the two belts deal like at WrestleMania X. Slugfest to start, won by Devlin, and he adds a backelbow. Criss cross ends in Devlin armdragging him over, and we get a reversal sequence that ends in Jordan hitting a uranage to set up a standing moonsault. Escobar bails, so Jordan dives after him with a springboard moonsault press on the floor, and he grabs a ladder. Jordan makes the first climb attempt of the match, but Escobar pulls him off, and rams him into the ladder to put a stop to the effort. Escobar props the ladder up in the corner for a powerbomb into it, but Devlin blocks. Devlin tries a whip into the ladder, but Escobar reverses, and Jordan takes a bump to the outside off of it. Escobar follows for a splash against the barricade, and he dropkicks a ladder to Devlin as they head back inside. Escobar keeps pounding him with the weapon, and makes a climb attempt, but Jordan grabs at his ankle to cut it off. Escobar responds by putting the boots to him, and he punctuates it with a superkick, but an attempt at a catapult into the ladder backfires when Devlin lands on the rungs and starts climbing. Escobar cuts him off, so Devlin uses a DDT, but a charge goes badly when Escobar hiptosses him over the top. Escobar dives after him with a tope, and he wants to climb, but Jordan just doesn't know when to quit, and is crawling after him. Escobar decides that he needs more punishment first, so he tries a butterfly powerbomb onto a ladder, but Devlin counters by backdropping him onto it instead. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, and throwing punches in that outfit makes Escobar look even more like Johnny B. Badd than ever. Devlin with a slingshot cutter, and he goes for the ladder, but Escobar is still alive. Devlin responds with a nasty headbutt, and he climbs the ladder for a flying moonsault! That looked great. Devlin climbs to the belt next, but here come Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde to tip the ladder over and save Escobar's hopes. Escobar capitalizes by climbing, but Jordan recovers, and chucks a ladder at him to save. They needed to make that more dramatic after the outside attack. Like, Jordan shouldn't just instantly recover like he just took a simple bodyslam, or something. Devlin with a Spanish fly off of a ladder, and he climbs for the belts, but Escobar follows up the other side to slug it out. Escobar manages a headbutt to send Jordan careening off the ladder and through another one in the corner, and that allows Escobar to become the undisputed champion at 18:08. I had some issues with the selling (or lack thereof), and the general logic of modern ladder matches (where they seem to be more interested in spots than actually doing things that could end the match), but it was a good effort in general. ***
NXT Women's Tag Team Title Match: Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart v Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell: The challengers attack before the bell, and we're off! Moon gets dumped to the outside to allow them to gang up on Blackheart, and they go to work as the dust settles. Indi with a sidewalk slam for two, and a big boot for two. Why are all the women patterning their move sets on Kevin Nash these days? The heels continue cutting the ring in half on Blackheart, but she fights Candice off with an enzuigiri, and Ember gets the hot tag. Fitting. Moon runs wild on Candice, but a distraction from Indi allows Candice to crotch Ember on the top to block a dive. Candice tries a superplex, but Blackheart runs in to stop it, so Indi runs in to powerbomb everyone down. That results in Indi covering Ember for two, and she adds a spinebuster for two. Tag to Candice for a suplex, but Moon shoves her into Indi to block, and makes a tag. Blackheart dives in with a flying bodypress on both challengers, and Roseanne Barr the door! The champions isolate Candice for a combo, but fail to put her away, and Candice pulls off a schoolgirl on Blackheart for two. Tag to Indi for a combo flapjack on Blackheart for two, but Moon tags back in, diving with an Eclipse. That allows Blackheart to come off the top with a dive to punctuate it, and she pins Indi at 10:33. This was generally fine, just felt kind of paint by numbers. * ½
NXT North American Title Match: Johnny Gargano v Bronson Reed: Reed corners the champion at the bell, and starts knocking him around. Reed with a fallaway slam, but Gargano fights off the follow-up, and uses a slingshot tope. Unfortunately, Reed is just too fat, and so Johnny basically bounces off of him. Reed keeps doing his best Bastion Booger, but Gargano is too quick for him, and manages to clip the leg to set up a jumping clothesline. Gargano knocks him to the outside for a baseball slide, but a plancha ends badly when Reed catches him. Reed tries slamming him onto the announce table, but Johnny shoves him into it to block - the corner of it jabbing into Reed's gut in a nasty way. I don't care how many Big Macs you eat, that's gotta hurt. Back in, Gargano uses a ten-punch, so Reed tries a sit-down splash, but the champion dodges. Gargano with a 2nd rope bodypress for two, and he works a cobra clutch, but can't put the challenger away. He tries another 2nd rope dive, but this time Reed catches him in a powerslam, and he makes a comeback. Death valley driver gets him two, but Gargano blocks a superplex, and gives him a nasty lungblower for two. Reversal sequence ends in Reed hitting a suplex, but a senton splash misses, and Gargano crucifix cradles him for two. Another reversal sequence ends in Johnny hitting an inverted rana, and he locks on the Gargano Escape, but Bronson makes the ropes. Reed bails, so Gargano tries a dive, but gets caught with a crucifix powerbomb back into the ring. Reed tries a flying splash to finish, but Gargano dodges, and plants a superkick for two. Reed tries getting to the top again, so Austin Theory runs interference, and Gargano crotches the challenger up there. He tries bringing him down with a rana, but Reed blocks, and delivers a powerbomb for two. Reed chucks Johnny into Austin, and then tries a tope at both, but ends up hitting only Theory. So, I guess you could say that move worked only in theory. Ahem. Gargano tries a slingshot DDT on the way back in, but Reed catches him in a backdrop driver for two, so Johnny starts firing off superkicks. He lands a pair, but Reed reverses a third, and the challenger goes up with a flying moonsault - only to miss! That allows Gargano a pair of slingshot DDTs to retain at 16:22. Gargano's over reliance on intricate choreography continues to plague his recent work, but Reed's size forced him to change it up here, and the match was much better as a result. *** ½
NXT Title Match: Finn Balor v Karrion Kross: They size each other up for a while to start, until Balor starts annoying Kross, and gets chucked across the ring. Kross with a corner whip, but he misses the charge in, and Finn goes after the arm to capitalize. Kross powers up and suplexes him to shake that effort off, however, and puts the champion in a tree of woe for some abuse. Kross gets overconfident, allowing Balor to grab at the arm again, and he traps the challenger on the mat in a submission. Kross manages to power to a vertical base, so Balor rides him back down with a single-arm DDT, and he works a hammerlock. Finn starts firing off shots to the body to really take it out of the challenger, but a charge ends badly when Kross boots him in the face. Kross with an Oklahoma stampede, but Balor fights him off with an inverted DDT, leaving both men looking up at the lights. Finn is up first, but Kross finds a second wind, and nails him with a clothesline, then adds a powerbomb for two. Kross goes for another big move, but Balor sweeps the leg, and nails him with a double stomp. The champion slaps on an abdominal stretch, but Kross fights free, so Balor uses a sling blade. Running dropkick, but Kross blocks with a clothesline, and he drops Balor with a saito suplex. Lariat, but Balor blocks with the pele kick, and he lands a pair of those running dropkicks. That allows Finn to get to the top for the Coup de Grace, but it only gets him two, and Kross shifts his kickout into a sleeper. Finn escapes and hits another double stomp to buy time, and he punts Kross in the midsection to set up a mat-based abdominal stretch. Strong selling from Kross here. Kross fights out of the hold and pounds Finn into jelly with mounted punches, then dead lifts his limp body into a German suplex. Another saito suplex follows, and he lets Balor stagger to his feet just so he can knock him out with a big forearm smash to win the title at 17:05. Good storytelling, good selling - I liked this one, though it felt like they kept it in low gear for too long. ** ½
Main Event: Unsanctioned Match: Adam Cole v Kyle O'Reilly: They do some weird Weakest Link lighting at the bell, and it's kinda cool, and kinda cheesy. Slugfest to start, won by O'Reilly. He gives Cole a pair of corner big boots, but a charge allows Adam to fire back with one of his own. Cole tries a charge, but O'Reilly dodges, and Adam takes a spill to the outside. O'Reilly is on him with a plancha, and he tries a cross-armbreaker on the floor, but Cole fights him off before he can get it locked in. O'Reilly uses a catapult into the barricade instead, and he pounds on Cole with strikes, then backdrops him on the floor. The referee wearing a black shirt instead of the usual referee gear is a nice touch here. O'Reilly tries taking it back in, but Cole dumps him over the top on the way, and he sends Kyle into the barricade as payback for earlier. Cole grabs a chair and starts teeing off with that, and he continues doing so on the way in, so O'Reilly tries for a submission, but Cole fights him off with a fireman's neckbreaker. Cole locks on a figure four, but O'Reilly escapes, so Cole clotheslines him with a chain and hits a lungblower for two. German suplex and a shining wizard get two, so Cole drags him to the outside for a DDT on the steps, but O'Reilly blocks. They brawl around ringside for a bit, and Cole finds a pair of pliers, since we need silly shit to have wrestling matches these days. He whacks O'Reilly in the ear with it, and an enzuigiri follows - only for Kyle to rebound with a clothesline. We're already well over twenty minutes into this, and there's still twenty minutes left in the show, so settle in. Kyle adds a brainbuster for two, and he grabs the chain to try using it in a submission, but Cole won't tap. Cole gets to the middle with a panama sunrise, as the announcers make overly dramatic line readings about how he'll 'never stand, never deliver again.' Too bad one of the others didn't chime in with an '... in the bedroom' to break the tension. Anyway, the referee is down, so no count, and O'Reilly is able to bail. Cole follows, and they crash through the ramp like Taz/Bam Bam Bigelow, but it largely goes nowhere beyond giving them an eye popping spot for a moment. Cole with a brainbuster on the steps for two, so he tries the Last Shot to finish him, but O'Reilly is so battered that he can't stay up. Cole tries again, but Kyle ducks him this time, and locks on a grapevine. Cole is in trouble, but he grabs hold of a chain, and bashes O'Reilly's brains in to escape. Adam tries another panama sunrise, but O'Reilly catches him in a fireman's neckbreaker, and he adds a shining wizard. O'Reilly with his own version of the last shot for two, so he wraps the chair around Adam's leg to set up some Pillmanizing, but ends up getting whacked with said chair before he can dive. Cole goes for the kill, but spends too much time telling O'Reilly his plan, and much like Dr. Evil, he pays the price. That allows O'Reilly to wrap the chain around his knee, and he dives at Adam with a flying kneedrop to end it at 40:19. This started off with a good deal of intensity, but then just went on... and on... and on... for forty freakin' minutes. That's just too long to sustain any kind of intensity, and the match suffered for it. But is it really any surprise that a Triple H vanity project would produce overlong, overindulgent matches? I will give them tons of credit for keeping the pace they did for that long, but the match would have been far better with a good edit. *
BUExperience: More like Stand and Under-deliver. This was a mostly okay show that suffered from extreme length (nearly five hours for any promotion is a big ask, let alone a developmental territory), and a main event that shit the bed.
*
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