Hello everyone, I am your resident Amazon Oracle, Shida Army General, and Joshi Prime Minister, the Canary. And today I am bringing you my review on NXT’s Takeover ppv. In what was a 2 day event, that started on a Wednesday and culminated on Thursday, the NXT roster put on a performance that would signify the end of the “so-called Wednesday Night Wars” as NXT moves to their new slot, Tuesday’s. For the final Wednesday night performance, night 1 of Takeover: Stand and Deliver ended with one champion retaining and 2 new champions, while on night 2, 3 set of champions retained and 1 new champion crowned. Both nights had a match that is a viable contender for Match of the Year and performances from NIta Strauss and Poppy. This week in general clearly belongs to wrestling because starting Monday night, Raw and part 1 of the Hall of Fame was on, and on YouTube had AEW Dark Elevation. Tuesday was Impact in what coincidentally is their last night on Tuesday when they move to Thursday which gives us wrestling 6 days a week. But also on Tuesday, is AEW Dark, NWA Power and part 2 of the Hall of Fame. Wednesday was the last day of the war with MLW kicking things off, followed by AEW Dynamite and NXT which the choice is yours to watch. Yesterday was part 2 of the NXT ppv and today is Smackdown. This weekend is night 1 and 2 of Wrestlemania with a nod to Ring of Honor tomorrow as well, so literally you everyday has wrestling in some form. In any case, with those statistics out of the way let’s talk about Stand and Deliver.
Night 1 kicks off with the “Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne against the “Time Splitter: from Japan, Kushida. in what clearly was an amazing match that saw each superstar trade moves and were evenly matched. A back and forth battle that could’ve went either way but in the end, would go to Pete Dunne when he would execute a 2 massive stomps to the hands of Kushida that he was working on in the match and hit his Bitter End finisher that would pin Kushida. 2nd match of the night was an eliminator gauntlet match where the winner would challenge the next night, the NXT North American champ, Johnny Gargano. The match had 6 viable contenders where in the end, the man known as “Ozilla”, Bronson Reed would hit his signature Tsunami Splash and pinned Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. The next match was the one of the 2 matches for contendership for MOTY in where current NXT UK champ WALTER would retain his title against the “Black Heart of NXT”, Tommaso Ciampa. It was a very back and forth match, where several times you thought Ciampa would win but only to fall short in the end. Nonetheless, this match seen both superstars trade moves and strikes that would make most cry. The effects were clearly showing during the match when both men traded chops against each other that caused blood welts and Ciampa showing his strength against a man the size of Walter. This match wasn’t pretty but in the end Walter retained after hitting a massive chop that kept Ciampa down for the 3, extending his reign as the longest champion currently in the WWE at 733 days which is a whopping 2 years.Fans weren’t happy with the finish but seriously, when has fans liked anything. One thing about wrestling fans, especially in the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community), they are the most fickle fans and are never happy. Always finding something to cry about. Anyways, after the match we had a triple threat for the vacant NXT Tag titles where MSK won the titles in there first title match since coming to the WWE not too long ago, and cementing their place on the NXT roster. Got to hand it to those former Rascalz, from not being used properly in their previous promotion to winning not only the Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic but also the tag titles, in their new home. Congratulations! Finally ending night 1, we saw one of my favorite Joshi wrestlers, the “Genius of the Sky” Io Shirai finally get dethroned and losing her title to Raquel Gonzales. Have a little mixed emotions about this match because as a fan of Shirai, I really hated she lost but at the same time, in some sense was the right call to have her drop the title. After all no one stays champ forever as much as we would love that. I only wonder if this is the precursor in what’s to come in Wrestlemania, when one of the Joshis that helped introduced me to their world, Asuka defends her title against a favorite of mine, Rhea Ripley. I love both and so very torn on who to go for, but I am the Joshi Prime Minister and so stand behind the champion. Anyways, the match itself showed in some sense, Io kind of outclassing Raquel in which even led to a spectacular dive off the top of the Takeover Skull prop at the top of the entrance ramp. However in the end, after hitting her patented Moonsault, she couldn’t not put away, the “Meathead” as she so eloquently called her, and instead would suffer the wrath of her power when she hit her one arm powerbomb for the 1-2-3! There she ended the 300+ day reign of one of the most gifted and the very best Joshi wrestler in the world as night 1 drew to an end. If this was night 1, couldn’t wait to see what night 2 had in store.
So night 2 kicks off with the unification of Cruiserweight championship held by the original champ, Jordan Devlin and current champ, Santos Escobar. In a match that not only, recreated the classic ladder match at Wrestlemania 10 between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels which also lead to being the undisputed Intercontinental champ, these 2 would also contend in a ladder match to be the undisputed Cruiserweight champ. 2 amazing wrestlers which showcased what the cruiserweights were all about back in the day, would have a nice back and forth where in the end, Santos had help from his partners in Legado Del Phantasma, stop Jordan from climbing up and getting the titles. However, after their involvement, Santos smirked and told them he’s good and sent them back to the locker room, Jordan would attack into what ultimately would lead to both men climbing the ladder only for Jordan to get a headbutt and crash into a ladder propped in a corner down below that would eventually lead Escobar to grab the titles to become the undisputed Cruiserweight champion. 2nd match had the NXT Women’s Tag titles on the line when Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon would retain against contenders, “the Way”, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. In a match, where Shotzi nearly killed herself again by doing a “tope suicida” as a certain commentator likes to call it, a suicide dive where she nearly landed on her neck, and Ember hitting a dual Eclipse on both contenders followed by Shotzi’s Welcome to the Ballpit on Candice LeRae would get the 3 and successfully retain their titles. Next match to follow suit was the newly crowned number 1 contender for the North American title, Bronson Reed taking on “Johnny Wrestling” aka “Johnny Takeover” Johnny Gargano in what was almost look like an upset but instead would fall short and Gargano would retain after hitting 2 One Final Beat which technically isn’t one final beat but 2, yeah yeah, I know lame joke. A match where clearly showed Reed that he was a force to be reckoned with and not taken lightly, unfortunately wasn’t good enough to claim the title. I’m okay with it because I don’t like the guy so I”m happy. The next match would be my 2 boys going at it for NXT title, Karrion Kross and Finn Balor in which, Balor would finally have his streak of not being beaten at Takeovers since his debut, lose his title after a hard fought match where Balor clearly had a perfect gameplan which in the end would backfire and Kross would reclaim what he never lost. Of course I can’t forget, the women that accompanies him to the ring, the “Smokeshow”, the “Perfect 10”, “the Angel of Doom”, one of the hottest women in wrestling, Scarlett, looking amazing and beautiful as ever as she watched her client, win the title. She doesn’t really factor in at all, I just had to mention her because I have a serious crush on this woman. I mean who wouldn’t? Afterwards, we would get to the final match and the second contender for MOTY, in which former Undisputed Era teammates would battle in an Unsanctioned Anyth ing Goes match, Adam Cole (Bay-Bay!) would ultimately lose to Kyle O”Reilly in what was a brutal match that involved a steel chained used as a clothesline to decapitate Kyle, a drop through the middle of the entrance ramp, a brainbuster on the ring steps and to the ultimate finish, a top rope knee with the chain wrapped around on to the back of Adam Cole, slouched over the back of a steel chair. this match was finally over. After wrestling for 40 minutes, KOR would come out and top and will hopefully be an end to this feud. Of course I have a feeling we are only getting started and this feud is far from over yet. This feud is very similar to when former partners, Ciampa and Gargano would feud. Me personally, even though I don’t like either wrestlers, was clearly hands down the best match of the whole card. And that my friends is my take on NXT Takeover.
Well there you have it folks, another review from yours truly. Thank you for reading. I am the Joshi Prime Minister and Shida Army General, your resident Amazon Oracle, The Canary and this is the “Canary Review”, telling you, I love love love you all. Be nice to each other, #EndTheHate, #StopAsianHate, #RememberHana and remember one love and zero miedo. Oracle out!
The Musical Hippie 