Monday, April 8, 2019

Best Coast Bias: You Should See His Triple Crown

By Takeover: New York I guess they meant Niagra Falls
Photo Credit: TDE Wrestling

When I wrote about Takeover: Phoenix, at the end of that BCB I wondered if we were going to get more MOTYs, the Show of the Year, or possibly both.

W E L P.

Thanks to the sudden rise of the black and yellow brand, these weekends have quit becoming WrestleMania weekends. They've become Takeover weekends. This iteration of the hardcore nerd's Mania may have put the final nails in that coffin for good. What more could you possibly want out of a wrestling show than great matches, title changes, and moments with emotional heft? Hell, forget emotional heft; probably the most gratifying moment in NXT history and one that could end up being a defining moment as the former FCW keeps moving further and further up in the troposphere in not only critical acclaim but number of eyeballs getting addicted on the sweet "free crack" that is an upper echelon Takeover closed out the show.

A show which began with maybe its brightest in-ring showing, the fight for the NXT World Tag Team championships. This was one of those shows where it was hard to home in on a single match at the expense of others since they were all great, but only Mick and Keith were able to get away with sittin' on a fence and even that didn't last for too long. So when it comes to must-see on this show, there were bigger moments but there weren't better matches. It was expected going in that this match would give the challengers a sendoff before their "promotion" and that the challengers would earn a big W that they and the announce could point to for the duration of their reign to show just how talented the New Age Vikings could be.

This match was that and more.

Somehow the Raiders always astound me with their athleticism (both at live shows and Takeovers, they've never failed in their NXTenure) and that was even more highlighted given the fact they were facing Fast and Furious. There was a great opening bit where on both ends strikes were teased without following through, and the performers only needed to let the unspoken threat of "Could've laid you out right here" hang in the air for a beat on both occasions before the lava hot BK crowd ovated hard. We got our first Mamma Mia chant of the evening as Ricochet somehow managed to Hallaway slam Hanson, though it would've been nice had there been one after Hanson countered a Ricochet handspring attempt by successfully dodging and executing a Tajiri-esque handspring elbow of his own. The Raiders executed their springboard lariat/German suplex combo only for Black to come flying off the top to break up the pin with a double stomp, Mauro called it an instant classic and he wasn't lying. Let us also note the great work he did all night, esp. in the main, despite suffering an anxiety attack an hour before the show.

The dive train in this match's Act III was the thing that burned it into my memory: Black landing a triangle moonsault and landing on his feet followed by Rowe wiping him out with a tope followed by King Flippy Shit himself busting out a corkscrew Space Flying Tiger Drop that was so dope Mauro literally said "What is life!?" on the broadcast, and you can argue even that got bested by Hanson coming off the top with a cannonball suicida. For a crowd of smarter fan they seemed legitimately frightened when it looked like there was going to be a double countout and massively unclenched when both teams just managed to beat the count. Thor's Hammer (their two-man pop-up powerslam) and Fallout finished, Ricochet taking a nasty spill on the latter but coming out okay. Post-match, everybody gave handshakes and hugs before the champs laid down the belts and BOWED to the Black Guys before leaving. The soon-to-be departed from NXT got a standing O that made Ricochet cry without weeping, then Black came to him and hugged him and raised his hand before they bowed to every side of the ring amongst a shower of "You Deserve It' chants. I especially liked the touch of the deep breath and clenched fists Aleister did before his final one. I said in real time to friends that if that moment had gone another thirty seconds I would've wept openly; as it turned out there'd be time enough for that before the show wrapped up.

1) War Raiders d. Aleister Black and Ricochet to retain the NXT World Tag Team championships in the Match of the Night ((ymmv)) (Fallout -> pinfall)



Yes, it's a very on #brand thing to say "keep Velveteen Dream in NXT fiveever", but...I mean...



Plus, Riddle came out in Yankee pinstripes, so he was due to be hated and actually played into that trope by working subtly heel for the match's duration. The mere fact he took until 3 or so to break a couple of times was enough to get him jeered despite the fact Dream waved off a Bro Bump at the beginning of the match with a Mutumbo finger wave and mocking crane kick pose. Riddle unleashed an arsenal of his offense and his rolling gutwrench suplexes and sudden reversals into submissions (including a great triangle counter to a Purple Rainmaker attempt) stood out as a complete 180 to Dream's axe handles, back rakes, and Hulking Up. The Dream did it. I don't kid YOU! Dream's counter to win the match had its biggest echoes in Bret v. Piper at WM8 and Austin at Survivor Series '96, but the NXT equivalent was Moon/Baszler from last year's Philly show. A more focused and hardened Riddle was shocked, then pissed at his first loss, then seemingly got over it. Again, if these are the beginnings of a heel turn: seemingly. He offered the Bump again, Dream briefly acted like he was too good for it before reciprocating, and all was well in the North American division. For now.

2) Velveteen Dream d. Matt Riddle to retain the North American championship (counter Bromission -> pinfall)

There was only one Faces in the Crowd moment on this show. It was the only one that was necessary. Look at the glint in Master Regal's eyes when he talks about the newest signee.


Borrowing a saying from a great African-American gospel hymn, everything WALTER touches, he bruises. The crowd was oohing over the simple tease that he might land one of his vaunted/horrifying/Ragnarokian chops, and then when he did land them most of us thought the same thing: there is no way they're paying Petr enough to take this world-class of a fucking beating. The UK title match was great but in reality didn't need to go on any longer than about one ten second span in the early going: Dunne went for his cheapshot forearm after the referee backed his opponent away from positioning him on the ropes. Sometimes Dunne drops an opponent with this; sometimes he merely rattles them, but the blow always lands cleanly and loudly. It did here, WALTER gave him the best "Do you know who the fuck you just tried that on, insect?" look (though that might just be his resting badass face) and uncorked a chop that would nullify the purpose of an abortion clinic. That was how the night went for the 685 day champion. He'd almost kill himself to land a sitout sunset bomb and fall victim to a shotgun dropkick within moments. After that he tried to slap the Ring General a few times because apparently Barclays didn't have an operating garbage disposal for him to stick his hand down, and the chops whooped his ass every time. It's not his fault! Who could complain? If WALTER fought God right now I'd call it a pick 'em. Dunne did everything from his joint manipulation to landing a crucifix driver to even landing the Bitter End, but when WALTER kicked out of that it was fait accompli from there. Hell, WALTER was waving him on in the final moments then ended it decisively with a superbomb that lived up to the name - he threw Pete halfway across the ring, no hyperbole - then followed it up with a Superfly splash for gits and shiggles to win WWE's most beautiful championship belt. Let me quote Black Jesus himself on any man that wants to challenge Austrian Officer Parva: good luck

3) WALTER d. Pete Dunne to become the 3rd NXT United Kingdom champion (superbomb -> flying splash -> pinfall)



The thing most enjoyable about the semi-man was the fact that Io and Kairi were willing to go against each other, and even broke up pinfalls that the other had that would've won their friend the title. But Io didn't look pleased, and Kairi looked on the verge of tears as she went up to deliver the Insane Elbow on her BFF. Befitting it being the only non-tag multi-person match on the card, the action was hyper paced: you didn't get the sort of feeling-out processes that you did in the opener or previous match. Even from early goings, the saves weren't mere desperation dives, but Meteoras, Blockbusters and the like. I also liked the thruline of most of the match, since Team Japan were too fast for Shayna and too pesky for Bianca, so they really dominated the bulk of the match and didn't fall apart until the absolute last possible moment. Plus, we got a triangle version of God's Moonsault, which is the kind of thing I think about when I hear the buzzwords "big match feel". Shayna's victory was shady without being dirty, and kudos to Mauro for using the immediate post-match to note that she did it solo and is challenging Asuka as the best NXT Women's World Champion at this point. Does Candice get next?

4) Shayna Baszler d. Bianca BelAir, Kairi Sane, and Io Shirai to retain the NXT Women's World Championship (Kirfuda Clutch on BelAir --> submission)

I enjoy a two-of-three falls stipulation the most when it turns out to be a clean sweep, which unsurprisingly failed to happen here. The most notable thing to happen before every missile in the silo got let off the chain for the third fall was that the second fall ended when Gargano used a very familiar-looking bridging Fujiwara armbar to segue into a Gargano Escape that Cole tapped out to almost before it was fully locked in to preserve himself...at least in theory.

The main has had the most wide range of opinions on it that I've seen for any match on the card, and it's not even close. Detractors will cite will not only length, but the finisher kickout spam, the ref bump, Johnny fighting off the Era by himself. Supporters will note the awesome wrestling, molten crowd heat, Mauro selling five people's asses off on commentary, and happy ending for theoretically the biggest show of the year. The detractors aren't wrong, but the supporters are slightly more right. Let's use this BCB space to point out something that hasn't gotten any or enough play to factor in this decision: this win is Johnny's first big one as a singles babyface. Usually given the black marks and overbooking complaints, it'd be fair to say 19 out of 20 times that those were too big of detriments to overcome and would dissipate the enjoyment; it did for many. But if ever you were going to have someone go full Steamboat - esp. given the fact this was staple-gunned together after years of putting together a WM-level main event with the longest storyline in NXT history only to have it fall apart due to circumstance beyond control in the eleventh hour, well, here be the time. For someone who was getting only a 40/60 reaction when the intros were made underneath championship lighting, when he tapped Cole for real to end the match, the ovation that ensued might've been the loudest and longest in NXT history. And if you got through the post-match with Candice running down to hug Johnny Triple Crown as he stared almost agog at Goldie before hugging Daddy and Stepmomma Wrestling followed by Ciampa coming out after the post-credits box to hug his bestie and his borderline sister-in-law (and Johnny telling Tommaso off mic that he was just holding Goldie for him for a while), then your heart's blacker than my family reunions.

Even at this moment I'm amazed that an invisible man somehow found a way to chop onions during a wrestling column.

Arguments about how and even who are fair to extents, but there's yet to be a truly solid argument against it. They Did It Themselves, and it was a Fairy Tale Ending to boot.

5) Johnny Gargano d. Adam Cole (bay bay) 2 falls to 1 to become the 15th NXT World Heavyweight Champion





Hit My Music: Death. Taxes. NXT Takeover ruling your face.

See you for more rants and raves in August.