BRM Reviews NXT TakeOver: New York (Show of the Year Candidate)

[Big Red Machine]

NXT TakeOver: New York (4/5/2019)- Brooklyn, NY


I’m sorry, but I have to ask: why is this show TakeOver: New York when the four previous TakeOvers in this building have been labelled as “Brooklyn?”


NXT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: War Raiders(c) vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet- 8.75/10
The standard tag team insanity. I even gave them an extra .25 because they actually managed to make me bite on the possibility of a double-count-out.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Black and Ricochet get their goodbye moment. The fans chanted “YOU DESERVE IT!” at them, which was a really mean thing to say. No one deserves the career death sentence that is a main-roster call-up.

NXT NORTH AMERICAN TITLE MATCH: The Velveteen Dream(c) vs. Matt Riddle- 8.75/10
Even more insanity and drama. This was just two guys who both wanted to leave with the title and were pulling out all of the stops and willing to take any risk to ensure that they did so. This built tremendously well and was extremely exciting.

WWE UK TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. WALTER- a PERFECT 10/10!
THIS WAS A F*CKING WAR! An absolutely BRUTAL contest of wills that built up to a huge climax and what feels like a major moment in NXT UK history.

FATAL FOUR-WAY MATCH FOR THE NXT WOMEN’S TITLE: Shayna Baszler(c) vs. Kairi Sane vs. Io Shirai vs. Bianca Belair- 8.5/10
Another AWESOME match. This one was built around the idea that the Sky Pirates would have to fight each other and some point and they built it up wonderfully, then gave us just enough to whet our appetites for a singles match and to leave us wondering where they now stand, but they didn’t do it in an overdramatic way where you want to scream at them “it’s every woman for herself! You two knew this was coming and you should be able to be professional enough about it to not take it personally!” Bianca looked great as always and Baszler sneaking in at the end and breaking up her pin and choking her out was infuriating in all the right ways, but the Sky Pirates were the real stars here.

2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE VACANT NXT TITLE: Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole- 9.25/10
The usual awesomeness with great build and exciting false finishes and all of that. They paid off the stuff that needed to be paid off and had an outstanding world title match. The only two strikes against this match for me were the fact that the 2 out of 3 falls stipulation didn’t feel very relevant to the story and the inclusion of the frustrating NJPW-style “fight on the outside forever with no count-out, then do a big spot on the outside and have the ref start counting once the heels gets back into the ring even though everyone knows the match isn’t going to end on a count-out.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- huh
Candice comes out to celebrate with Johnny. They eventually make it up to the stage… and then Tommaso Ciampa comes up behind them in a neck brace. And then they all hugged. So Ciampa is fully a babyface now, huh? I don’t buy it. I doubt I will ever fully trust him again. Which just means he has been a fantastic heel.

Blah blah blah another fantastic TakeOver, blah, blah, blah Show of the Year, etc. You’ve read this all many times before. Just go watch the damn show.

[KILLdozer]

Blah blah, got dang great show, dang ol Takeover.

[KILLdozer]

One thing I just find strange and uncanny is how everyone just starts chanting "war! War! War! War!" For these War Raiders, and with them as well.

Of course it's parts of their name and easier to chant, but it just seems so strange when they all start yelling it at once.

Plus there's still the whole thing about "War Raiders" in general...

[KILLdozer]

I'm just gonna say this-small detail.

Black probably shouldn't have tried to hold Hanson off like that. If anything, he obviously would have ran up, so catch him with the kick too lol.

Just a very small minor head-scratcher lol.

[cero2k]

WWE UK TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. WALTER- a PERFECT 10/10!
THIS WAS A F*CKING WAR! An absolutely BRUTAL contest of wills that built up to a huge climax and what feels like a major moment in NXT UK history.

i mean, aside from the actual inception, this is the only moment they've had

[Big Red Machine]

WWE UK TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. WALTER- a PERFECT 10/10!
THIS WAS A F*CKING WAR! An absolutely BRUTAL contest of wills that built up to a huge climax and what feels like a major moment in NXT UK history.

i mean, aside from the actual inception, this is the only moment they've had

I guess I consider the history of the title to part of the history of the promotion, even if it predates it.
They've crowned and changed several champs, had the big surprise debut of WALTER, the big Finn Balor surprise, and probably some other stuff, too. But the point is that this easily cold have felt like Toni Storm taking the title from Rhea Ripley and not felt particularly historic or momentous at all. But it did.

[KILLdozer]

WWE UK TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. WALTER- a PERFECT 10/10!
THIS WAS A F*CKING WAR! An absolutely BRUTAL contest of wills that built up to a huge climax and what feels like a major moment in NXT UK history.

i mean, aside from the actual inception, this is the only moment they've had

I guess I consider the history of the title to part of the history of the promotion, even if it predates it.
They've crowned and changed several champs, had the big surprise debut of WALTER, the big Finn Balor surprise, and probably some other stuff, too. But the point is that this easily cold have felt like Toni Storm taking the title from Rhea Ripley and not felt particularly historic or momentous at all. But it did.

History is holding the belt for 685 days buy they never made the huge deal of it they should have lol

[Big Red Machine]

i mean, aside from the actual inception, this is the only moment they've had

I guess I consider the history of the title to part of the history of the promotion, even if it predates it.
They've crowned and changed several champs, had the big surprise debut of WALTER, the big Finn Balor surprise, and probably some other stuff, too. But the point is that this easily cold have felt like Toni Storm taking the title from Rhea Ripley and not felt particularly historic or momentous at all. But it did.

History is holding the belt for 685 days buy they never made the huge deal of it they should have lol

The exact length isn't important when you're only the second champion. The history here is this epic, long title reign finally ending. It's not about Dunne setting a record. He did that a long time ago. It's about someone FINALLY beating him, and therefore becoming the new top dog.

[KILLdozer]

I guess I consider the history of the title to part of the history of the promotion, even if it predates it.
They've crowned and changed several champs, had the big surprise debut of WALTER, the big Finn Balor surprise, and probably some other stuff, too. But the point is that this easily cold have felt like Toni Storm taking the title from Rhea Ripley and not felt particularly historic or momentous at all. But it did.

History is holding the belt for 685 days buy they never made the huge deal of it they should have lol

The exact length isn't important when you're only the second champion. The history here is this epic, long title reign finally ending. It's not about Dunne setting a record. He did that a long time ago. It's about someone FINALLY beating him, and therefore becoming the new top dog.

I almost feel I shouldn't respond lol. Holding a title for almost 700 days in this day and age means nothing to you ?

Not sure if trolling...or drunk...

[Big Red Machine]

History is holding the belt for 685 days buy they never made the huge deal of it they should have lol

The exact length isn't important when you're only the second champion. The history here is this epic, long title reign finally ending. It's not about Dunne setting a record. He did that a long time ago. It's about someone FINALLY beating him, and therefore becoming the new top dog.

I almost feel I shouldn't respond lol. Holding a title for almost 700 days in this day and age means nothing to you ?

Not sure if trolling...or drunk...

I'm not saying it doesn't mean anything. I'm saying the focus is on the fact that "after 685 days, someone finally dethroned Pete Dunne," not the fact that "Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it."

[KILLdozer]

The exact length isn't important when you're only the second champion. The history here is this epic, long title reign finally ending. It's not about Dunne setting a record. He did that a long time ago. It's about someone FINALLY beating him, and therefore becoming the new top dog.

I almost feel I shouldn't respond lol. Holding a title for almost 700 days in this day and age means nothing to you ?

Not sure if trolling...or drunk...

I'm not saying it doesn't mean anything. I'm saying the focus is on the fact that "after 685 days, someone finally dethroned Pete Dunne," not the fact that "Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it."

Yeah I get that. I just feel they could've and should've put the guy in much bigger spots and opportunities with a reign like that. If you didn't watch Uk, chances are you wouldn't even know about it.

[Big Red Machine]

I almost feel I shouldn't respond lol. Holding a title for almost 700 days in this day and age means nothing to you ?

Not sure if trolling...or drunk...

I'm not saying it doesn't mean anything. I'm saying the focus is on the fact that "after 685 days, someone finally dethroned Pete Dunne," not the fact that "Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it."

Yeah I get that. I just feel they could've and should've put the guy in much bigger spots and opportunities with a reign like that. If you didn't watch Uk, chances are you wouldn't even know about it.

They had one PPV and he main-evented it. You're not remembering so much of 2017, where the title was defended on most TakeOver shows, and he was a pretty big force in NXT until NXT UK started up. But it's a chicken or the egg thing. Part of the reason the reign was so long was that they didn't have much of a vehicle to feature him and build up contenders.

[XIV]

I almost feel I shouldn't respond lol. Holding a title for almost 700 days in this day and age means nothing to you ?

Not sure if trolling...or drunk...

I'm not saying it doesn't mean anything. I'm saying the focus is on the fact that "after 685 days, someone finally dethroned Pete Dunne," not the fact that "Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it."

Yeah I get that. I just feel they could've and should've put the guy in much bigger spots and opportunities with a reign like that. If you didn't watch Uk, chances are you wouldn't even know about it.

Pete Dunne has had a lot of spots and opportunities... he's wrestled on every WWE show besides Smackdown & 205Live at this point. He was part of this year's Royal Rumble (and lasted a considerable length in the match too). He's been advertised on their social media and talked up as the longest reigning champion in the company. All at the young age he is.

Besides, he was on the Y2J podcast with Bate & Seven not so long back and he said himself that he doesn't want to accomplish everything in one year because where does he go from there... He says he's young enough that the Royal Rumble entry, NXT UK Cornerstone & occasional NXT perform AND being UK Champion is enough for him right now at just 25.

Now what I'd expect is to see him appearing more on NXT and less and NXT UK as 2019 rolls on, possibly heading towards a North American Championship match or two. Then his aim is to gain more stateside/worldwide popularity and perhaps be a large part of the NXT Takeover pre-mania in 2020. If he can do that, he's on course to get towards main roster by the time he's 27/28 and that's way ahead of a lot of folks with 5/6 peak years in him from that point.