In my opinion, this was easily the worst takeover in history. Dont get me wrong, it was a decent show, but in comparison with other Takeovers, this didnt hit the mark for me.
A terrible womens title match. An alright triple threat match, that I didnt think clicked well. A solid tag title match, but not on the level of many of the past tag title matches. Main event was kind of all over the place. Not great, but not bad. Io/Candice was the highlight of the show for me.
The fact that only 1 member of Undisputed Era is walking out with gold, gives this show a fail for me. It should have either been all of them, or none of them and move them all up to the main roster and have them be the ones trying to murder Roman.
Overall a good show but it didnât quite reach the heights of recent Takeovers. The end of the first fall in the title match was a good idea but presented strangely, and the double table bump for the finish looked a bit forced. Best match for me was dark side Io vs Candice.
Was the production a bit more grand this Takeover, especially the entrances? Makes you wonder if they are gearing up for NXT going to network TV.
Was there live, and Mama Mia was more over than Mia Yim.
All in all, a good show. But I did feel that there was a general lack of good stories going into the show, and most of the matches got over just because it was NXT wrestlers on a takeover. It was nice to see the championship raptors get some love from fellow champs in the Profits and the Dream. Dream and Montez Ford really stood out as stars to me on this show.
Iâm very over âThis is awesomeâ and âfight foreverâ chants. And Cole vs Gargano matches are where finishers go to die, and where knee injuries get no sold. Maybe this is a hot take, but I prefer the first Toronto show over this one. 8/10
Weakest takeover in quite some time. Not that it was a bad show, but pretty average and I think very little will remain in the memory bar Io and Candice. (Maybe watching the entire G1 has spoiled me and my standards are just way too high right now.)
To me the issue largely lies with the two final matches. Shayna and Mia seemed to really not gel with each other and Iâm just waiting for this Shayna run to end, or for her to find an additional gear to her style. She has a formula and she does it well, but Iâd like something a bit different now.
As for Cole/Gargano, the work was solid but the storytelling all over the place. Why is Johnny DQ-ing himself and acting heelish? Why are we getting an overly gimmicky third fall? Are we really ending it on âCole just happened to land the right wayâ? The biggest problem for me is that theyâve tried hard to push this rivalry as epic and heated as the Ciampa one, but it just isnât. However it has the detriment that I just donât understand Johnnyâs character anymore, outside of âI have great matchesâ which is a step below the Johnny we saw from DIY to Winning the title.
Beyond that the other two title matches were good and enjoyable, but Io and Candice blew me away. Both really took their opportunity and I hope we see plenty of both going forward.
First off the tailgate was a great appetizer for the main course. Thank you Davey and Braden for an awsome event. The show itself for me personally was amazing. It was my first experience at an NXT event and both me and my brother had a blast.
That triple treat was something else and man ive never seen a cage match like thatâŚit was a real treat! Ive never heard ppl be so pissed for a tease of thumb tacks and not getting them.
Great to meet fellow postmarks and overall great showâŚand pretty random but i did not expect John Pollock to be so tallâŚ
Question: Do you guys see somehow a wargames match involving Street Profits and Dream vs Undisputed era for all the gold?
Takeover was epic Io and Candice had one epic match that delivered big time.
I loved the NXT Championship match that stepped things up and felt better than there last match.
Look forward to rewatching this with Soulfly later in the Week
and Dave you oh me a First time Long time it always make me laugh!!
Io vs Candice was the big match of the night for me. Probably the best match on the entire card. And since you guys likely havenât seen it, Triple H mentioned he was almost completely speechless during the match on the post show interview stuff. He went on to tease another Shayna/Io match as a result of Ioâs victory tonight as well.
It would be weird, but on the other hand I think it would be absolutely amazing to see Io force Shayna to tap, snap, or nap.
And I dunno how it came across live, but on TV, the Yim/Baszler match was so heatless, I think you would get more noises from corpses in a graveyard.
I was there live tonight. Iâve only been to two shows in my life including this one so I was really missing the commentary but I still loved most of the card. I was really excited for the Io Candice match and it totally delivered. I was already not on the Mia Yim bus and Iâm definitely letting it go. the whole match was dead for me. the final match was good but I felt like a lot of drama was gone from the match once each of the other members lost because Adam Cole would have to win. also couldnât bite on any near falls when you know someone has to go through a table before the finish. still a great time though!
Pretty decent show. The âprophecyâ ending so quickly was a bit of a bummer. That tag match didnât quite live up to the potential I thought it should.
That second match though, oh God did those ladies deliver. Match of the night, and can we just all agree that Shirai has the best theme going.
I was pissed at first when Dunne took the fall, as I had missed how it happened. Upon seeing the replay and realising he basically took 3 finishers in a row, I wasnât as salty.
The womenâs title match was pretty lackluster, but Iâll admit I was spoiled, still coming down from my Shirai high. The final transitions between Mia and the submission magician were enjoyable, and the final hold was quite similar to Ioâs. HmmmâŚ
Oh, and Iâm assuming I wasnât the only one that seen Matt Riddle during Yimâs entrance.
Speaking of Riddle, that impromptu fight was pretty fun. RIP Officer Manbun.
Finally, Gargano Cole 3 was an absolute clusterfuck of a match for all the right reasons. Just non-stop madness. Only complaint is the 2nd fall went way too long. Johnny shouldâve just beat him down and pinned him so they could spend the rest of the time in the âMoxley Madhouseâ. Also, I would have lost my mind if one of the weapons ended up being a broken crutch.
As far as takeovers go this was kind of weak imo. None of the matches except the main event hit the level I was expecting. The tag match was just kind of there, the Io/Candice match didnât leave much of an impression on me other then Ioâs over the top facial expressions, the triple threat was a disappointment for the level I expect from those 3, and the womenâs title match was probably better then the other womenâs match but still a bit underwhelming. The main event was very good but the worst of the Gargano/Cole matches and probably the worst Gargano main event.
Hope you guys had a good time regardless but yeah this show was just not a highlight for me.
My favourite match would have to have been Io and Candice as Iâm a huge fan of both. But otherwise I feel like this Takeover was much worse than the standard. It was still good though and I donât see any way Summerslam can beat it. It just kind of sucks that it didnât live up to prior Takeovers. Mia is not interesting, she has no gimmick or character and she shouldnât have been in this match which had to be the worst of the night. Shayna should have been moved up by now. But anyway, they really need to get Johnny out of the main events now and move on from him.
But otherwise it was a mild let down while still being good. So I gave it a 7
Posted this over on Johnâs review, but probably should have posted it here:
WWE, and that includes NXT, have trained their audiences to react to spots, and that was quite clear on TakeOver Toronto.
I found the main event to be too gimmicky for my liking. (It didnât help that before NXT I watched the final night of the G1 A block with a great Tanahashi-Ospreay match, and a very very good Ibushi-Okada match, both matches were excellent without gimmicks.)
Both womenâs matches included a lot of good work, really sound professional wrestling, but the audience was mostly polite for them. When Io goes for a high spot the crowd will react but otherwise the crowd comes off as bored. Regardless, I thought Io and Candice did a very good job. Likewise, Shayna comes off as a very accomplished heel now, but not a really nasty heel as Shayna is presented as a legitimately capable fighter.
John notes these things about the crowd in his review. I wonder if the slow decline in interest (see the extra cheap ticket prices on the secondary market) is because the travelling spot-fest-loving crowd is now becoming a bit used to the whole product and now needs barbed wire to get excited.
It must have come across different on tv but live I loved the show. I loved the pacing. Matt Riddle was a nice surprise. The tag match was awesome as was the main but the most impressive was io vs candice. Awesome stuff. I tuned out during the mia yim.match. hard to get into. I think they should set the whole womens division show around io. Great show!