Holy Takeover, Batman

WHOA
Graphics via @TripleH

So, Takeover: Brooklyn starts at 9 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, and the card already looks hype enough for a normal NXT live special runtime of two hours. Finn Bálor and Sasha Banks will defend their respective titles against Kevin Owens and Bayley in the double main event. The Bálor/Owens contest will be a ladder match. The Vaudevillains get their shot at the Tag Titles, held by the Dubstep Cowboys, and they promise to have a counteracting force for Alexa Bliss as well. Samoa Joe tangles with Baron Corbin, and in the spectacle of all spectacles, Jushin Liger makes his first and possibly only WWE appearance ever to wrestle Tyler Breeze. Oh, and Apollo Crews was promised to debut here too.

So, when Triple H decided to post the event posters for Takeover, yes, posters, it caused a tizzy among the Twitters. The information on the posters was illuminating to say the least. The belltime listed is 7:30 PM, Crews' prospective opponent was announced, and an additional four matches were added to the fray. Obviously, the 9 PM telecast time seems to be holding fast, so it looks as if either the live crowd is going to get a bunch of dark matches, or NXT is going to have a good old fashioned television taping festival before the actual beginning of the show.

First thing's first, Crews will ostensibly debut against Tye Dillinger, which is a curious announcement to say the least. One would think Crews would get fodder, someone like Elias Samson or Axel Tischer, or even Solomon Crowe, who was offered up to Dillinger as he transitioned his Perfect Ten gimmick from the house show circuit to the television narrative. Putting Crews against Dillinger suggests that this match will be part of taping schedule, and the former Uhaa Nation will be pulling double duty.

The other four matches seem to be designed to get everyone on the card in front of the biggest NXT crowd ever. Carmella will be offered up to sacrifice to the All Red Everything God herself, Eva Marie. Becky Lynch and Charlotte will take breaks from their Divas Revolution on RAW to participate in a fatal fourway along with Emma and Dana Brooke. Samson will get his chance to be fodder, but it will be as Bull Dempsey's first opponent after he's figured out that iron sharpens iron. And in an eight-man tag match, Chad Gable, Jason Jordan, known hereafter as Acute Angles, will join up with the former Mechanics and a team I now dub the Grease Mulkeys, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, and they'll take on the Hype Bros of Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley and the Bridge and Tunnel Brigade of Enzo Amore and Big Cass.

Triple H is certainly getting his money's worth out of the Barclays Center on Saturday, and it's a good idea to get as many guys in front of the bright lights as possible. No one knows how long Bálor, Owens, Banks, Lynch, Charlotte, Cass, Amore, and eventually Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami will be available to NXT on a regular basis. Some of the guys in there right now need to have some kind of seasoning going forward if the brand is to continue as a premium entity as well as developmental. Either way though, Saturday is going to be a jam-packed start to a jam-packed three days in Brooklyn for WWE.