NXT TakeOver: XXX Review

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Finn Balor vs. Timothy Thatcher

The stage set once again is top notch for this TakeOver. Balor charges at Thatcher as he is taking off his jacket, but Thatcher takes Balor right down to the mat. We get some straight up mat wrestling, as one would expect with Thatcher. Balor eventually is able to dump Thatcher over the top rope to the floor and then stomps on him as soon as he gets back in the ring. Back to the mat they go. Thatcher gets a bow and arrow in, which Balor counters into an unsuccessful pinfall attempt. Thatcher goes to work on the leg of Balor. Balor charges at Thatcher and Thatcher is able to counter it into a Kimura. Balor starts to get a second wind, hitting a series of kicks to the head. Balor can't hit the Sling Blade, so he stomps him instead. Balor puts on an abdominal stretch and then an inverted suplex. Balor hits the running dropkick and goes up top. Balor misses with the Coup de Grace and Thatcher puts him in a single leg crab. Balor gets to the bottom rope to break the hold, but Thatcher pulls him away and nails him with some kicks to the back. Balor hits a kick to the ribs, but Thatcher hits an enzuigiri and a German suplex. Thatcher puts the Ankle Lock on in the middle of the ring. Balor rolls through it and hits another stomp. Balor goes up to the top rope again and this time he hits the Coup de Grace and then the 1916 for the victory. This was...okay? I didn't dislike it, but there just wasn't enough excitement for my taste. I'm sure your mileage will vary.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

Bayley and Sasha Banks are shown in the "crowd". 

Ladder Match For The NXT North American Championship

Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Velveteen Dream

Priest and Reed team up to take out Grimes, but then Dream pushes Reed into Priest. Gargano goes after Dream, but Dream hits a Fameasser on him instead. In comes Grimes, but Dream throws him out. Priest goes for a ladder, but Reed is there to take him out. Grimes goes for a ladder, and it's a miniature ladder, which allows Priest to stop him. Grimes climbs a ladder and hits Priest with a kick. Gargano then hits the lawn dart dive on Grimes. Reed then shows off his strength by using Priest as a weapon and then suplexes him across the ring. Priest and Dream begin climbing up ladders, but Grimes knocks them off. He decides to climb with one foot on each ladder, but Dream and Priest pull apart the ladders and Reed helps them bring the pain. Reed hits a double splash on a ladder that's draped over Gargano and Grimes. Reed hits a huge clothesline of Grimes. Gargano has a nice moment of countering some moves into getting on the ladder. Gargano throws a ladder at Dream while he is climbing to the top rope. We then get a unique spot of ladders and the competitors in the corner, which leads to Reed splashing all of them. We get the obligatory tower of doom spot, which is one of the more unique ones that I have seen in awhile. Priest gets the first good opportunity to grab the ladder, but Dream is there to stop him just as he gets his hands on the championship. Dream starts climbing and Priest returns the favor with a nice kick. Priest launches a ladder at Gargano, who ducks and it hits Priest and the plexiglass outside. It should be noted that Reed is wearing Bam Bam Bigelow themed gear. Gargano hits a move that I personally have never seen, which was just a running crossbody, but Grimes flipped over while selling it. Reed then hits a dive through the ropes on all of the competitors. Priest then scales a ladder leaning on the ropes to hit a somersault dive to the outside. Candice LeRae is out to check on Gargano and then pulls Grimes leg as he is climbing the ladder. LeRae attacks Grimes and that allows Gargano to hit him with a ladder to the face. LeRae then hits a hurricanrana off the apron onto Grimes, who knocks down everyone on the floor on his way down. Reed is at the top of the ladder and again LeRae is there to stop him. She is on his back and Reed dives off the top of Gargano with her on his back the whole way down. Grimes then has his hands on the belt, but Dream stops him. Dream gets his leg stuck in the ladder, allowing Grimes to superkick him. They get a ladder set up into the standing ladder and Dream drapes Grimes on there. As he goes to jump off the ladder, his arm hits the belt and he turns his attention to the title instead of Grimes. Priest is right behind him and knocks him off. Priest then chokeslams Reed on a ladder and then Grimes comes in and knocks Priest down. Grimes is up at the top of the ladder and up comes Gargano, who hits a sunset flip powerbomb on to the ladder set up on the ropes and other ladder. That one looked dangerous. Dream hits a DVD on top of Priest who is lying on a ladder. Dream climbs up the ladder , but Reed knocks him off the ladder and Dream dives all the way to, well, I don't actually know where he landed. It looks like he launched himself off the top rope and landed somewhere in the production area. Grimes is at the top of the ladder, but Gargano hits him with a right hand. Gargano swings the belt and knocks Grimes off. Gargano has it, but he's too cocky and Priest stops him, knocks him off the ladder and grabs it. Damian Priest is the new North American Champion. This was probably my favorite match of the quarantine era of WWE. All five guys got a time to shine and they kept the pace frantic for over 20 minutes. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee

I can't believe I am watching Adam Cole take on Pat McAfee. I know that this won't happen, but this match should not be longer than like five minutes. McAfee's crew starts getting involved, but out come the Undisputed Era. Before the brawl gets going, McAfee hits a swanton off the top rope. That was pretty impressive. McAfee is now in full heel mode and is stomping away on Cole. They begin slapping each other back and forth and then turn into right hands. Cole pulls the shirt over his head and starts slugging away. Cole hits an Attitude Adjustment into a backbreaker, but McAfee is able to kick out. Cole hits a back cracker, but McAfee kicks out again. They are fighting on the top rope and Cole pushes him off, but McAfee lands on his feet. McAfee leaps up to the top rope and hits a superplex. That was pretty remarkable. McAfee hurts his knee on the outside and Cole puts him in the Figure Four back in the ring. McAfee hits a low blow behind the ref's back and then kicks Cole for the very close nearfall. McAfee goes off the top rope, but Cole hits a superkick. Cole starts rolling down his knee pad, but decides not to and instead goes to the second rope. He hits the Panama Sunrise and gets the victory. The match itself was just basic, but as far as first matches by "celebrities" go, McAfee put on a really impressive showing. It was obvious that he has watched wrestling and understands what translates in the ring. On top of that, he is a lot more athletic than I realized he is. 

Match Rating: ***

Drew McIntyre is here and he picks Keith Lee tonight. 

NXT Women's Championship Match

Dakota Kai vs. Io Shirai

They go right at it and Kai is able to get the better of it early on. Shirai goes for a cartwheel move and looked to hit her head on the mat accidentally. Hopefully it's nothing serious there. Raquel Gonzalez distracts her, allowing Kai to attack her from behind. Shirai misses a 619 and Kai hits her with a kick to the head. Kai continues on offense for awhile until Shirai is able to hit a palm strike. This time she hits the 619 and then a top rope springboard dropkick for a 2 count. Kai goes for a German suplex off the apron, but Shirai is able to hold on the ropes. Instead, Shirai is able to hit a stomp on her. Kai starts kicking Shirai in the jaw, but Shirai isn't having it and fires back. Kai hits a scorpion kick to the head, but misses with the big boot in the corner. Shirai hits three straight running knees in the corner. She leaps up to the top rope, but Kai hits her with a forearm. They battle on the rope and Shirai knocks Kai into the tree of woe. Shirai hits a double stomp with Kai hanging there and gets a 2 count. Kai is able to slap on an arm bar. Kai misses again with a boot in the corner, but she hits the ref instead. Shirai goes up and hits a moonsault, but the referee is knocked out. Raquel Gonzalez is there to interfere and wakes up the ref. Shirai is able to kick out at 2 and you'll never guess it, but the heels are shocked. Shirai hits a moonsault on both of them on the outside of the ring. She throws Kai in the ring and hits another moonsault and picks up the victory. I had really high hopes for this one and I have to say it underwhelmed me a little bit. I thought it had potential to be one of the best matches of the year, but instead I thought it was simply good. After the match Gonzalez goes to attack Shirai until Rhea Ripley makes her way out. We get a stare down, but Gonzalez heads to the back. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

NXT UK is returning next month. Tommaso Ciampa returns Wednesday. Cesaro is in attendance tonight and then we see Damian Priest celebrating in a hot tub. 

NXT Championship Match

Karrion Kross vs. Keith Lee

It looks like Scarlett still does the lip syncing thing, which is just so lame. We get a hoss fight to start things off. Kross was very impressive in his squash of Ciampa at In Your House, but let's see what he can do in this spot. Lee ducks a punch, and Kross's hand hits the plexiglass. Kross then ducks a Lee elbow and the same thing happens. Kross throws Lee into the ring post shoulder first. Kross then gets into some submission wrestling and this is not what I wanted to see out of this match. Lee starts to mount a comeback and hits a big powerslam. Kross hits a series of kicks and a DDT, but Lee kicks out. Kross hits a big running clothesline, but again Lee is able to kick out. Kross is able to hit the Doomsday suplex and Keith gets his shoulder up. Lee makes another comeback and hits the Spirit Bomb for a close call. They start throwing haymakers on the second rope now and Kross hits the Doomsday Suplex off the second rope and he wins? This was a long match and I hardly had anything to write about. This was an anti-climatic of a major title victory that I can ever remember. I love Keith Lee, but this was not a Keith Lee match. Kross showed me nothing here and Lee deserved better. Why did they strip Lee of the North American Championship if he was just going to lose it here? I'm just not sure what this was supposed to be? An absolutely flat ending to an otherwise solid night of action.

Match Rating: **

This was the ultimate mixed bag, which is not usually the case with TakeOver events. Even after way too many ladder matches, I am still a sucker for them and the one tonight was good fun. Pat McAfee put on a performance that I had no idea he had in him and actually wouldn't mind him being an occasional special attraction. On the other hand, this event seemed to lack star power. The women's division is absolutely stacked and they only get one match on the card. And honestly, if I'm running the show, there's no way I don't have Tegan Nox on the show in some form. I feel like she has more potential to be a big star than anyone on the roster right now. Where do I start with the main event? Keith Lee deserved way more than some transitional champion garbage. They obviously felt like the time was now to strap the rocket to Kross, but they just strapped it to Lee a few weeks ago. The match was way too sluggish and it was almost like they told Lee to tone down his act. It's hard to really love a show with such a flat ending. 

Overall Rating: 65%