Sunday, October 4th, 2020
Capitol Wrestling Center
Orlando, Florida
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NXT North American Championship Match
Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano
So the Capitol Wrestling Center is a more underground version of the Thunderdome. Damian hits a spinning heel kick here and then a huge right hand. Priest goes for Old School, but Gargano counters and goes for a powerbomb. Priest counters that, but Gargano still tosses Priest to the floor. Gargano hits a dive through the ropes and into the flimsy fence/wall outside the ring. Gargano hits a dropkick to the chest of Priest and then a somersault to the back of Priest for a 2 count. Priest battles back and hits a flatliner. Priest goes for the Razor's Edge, but Gargano counters it by rolling through and hitting a powerbomb for another 2 count. Priest misses with a kick and Gargano pushes him into the ring post. Gargano goes for another dive, but Priest catches him by the throat. Priest then hits a kick to Gargano's ankles to knock him off the apron. Priest then hits a variation of the Razor's Edge onto the apron, but Gargano kicks out. Gargano hits a sliced bread and a clubbing blow to the back of Priest's head. Gargano gets a great close call with a roll up. Priest catches Gargano and hits a sit down chokeslam for another 2 count. Priest climbs up top, but Gargano rolls away and out of the ring. Priest does a leaping somersault dive over the turnbuckle, but Gargano moves the security crew in front of him and Priest hits them instead. Gargano hits a low blow behind the ref's back and hits a kick, but Priest is somehow able to kick out. Gargano puts in the Gargano Lock on, but Priest is able to reach the bottom rope with his leg. Priest is teetering on the apron with the steel steps behind him, but he's able to get out of trouble. Priest hits The Reckoning and gets the victory. That was a hard fought battle that you would expect from a Gargano match. It was a little shorter than expected, but the pacing was fantastic.
Match Rating: **** (out of 5)
Velveteen Dream vs. KUSHIDA
KUSHIDA attacks Dream before the match begins. Dream throws a chair into the ring, but the ref is able to get it out of there before the bell rings. Dream chases KUSHIDA around the ring, so he greets him with a kick to the gut. KUSHIDA goes to work on the arm of Dream and I love that it looks like it is painful. Dream ends up hitting him off the top rope to the floor with his other arm. Dream hits a Bronco Buster and puts him in a sleeper hold. KUSHIDA breaks the hold and they begin trading blows. KUSHIDA gets the better of him, hits a hip toss and then a great cartwheel dropkick to the face. KUSHIDA yanks Dream's shoulder right into the ring post. He does it again and then dropkicks the steel steps into his arm. Dream hits a superkick when he gets back into the ring and both men are down. Dream goes off the top rope, but KUSHIDA catches him and puts him in an arm bar. Dream is able to get to the ropes and poke KUSHIDA in the eye. Dream hits a powerbomb for a 2 count, but then KUSHIDA puts him in another arm bar. Dream fights out and hits a Dream Valley Driver. Dream hits the Purple Rainmaker, but KUSHIDA is able to kick out as Dream hesitated to cover from the pain in his arm. Dream hits a big clothesline and heads up top. KUSHIDA leaps up and hits a suplex and puts him in the Hoverboard Lock. Dream counters it into another Dream Valley Driver, but KUSHIDA holds onto the hold and Dream taps. KUSHIDA looked fantastic here in his first TakeOver. After the match, KUSHIDA attacks Dream again and puts him in another arm bar. Hopefully this is the beginning of a big push because he is someone who deserves to be on my television.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Halloween Havoc is coming back, which is awesome.
NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match
Isaiah "Swerve" Scott vs. Santos Escobar
Escobar hits a hurricanrana, but Scott lands on his feet. We get some back and forth action until Scott hits a monkey flip, sending Escobar over the top rope. Scott barely hits a moonsault to the floor on Escobar and then hits a dive to the floor. He then hits a running moonsault flip over the ropes. Scott hits a suplex and puts Santos in an arm bar, but Santos is close to the ropes and breaks the hold. Escobar gets his first offense in by hitting a dive into the wall. He hits he top rope hurricanrana and then an elbow, but Scott kicks out of the pin attempt. Escobar taunts Scott, so he unleashes everything he has and hits a series of kicks from the apron. He dropkicks Escobar from the ropes and hits a DDT for nearfall. Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza come down and distract the ref and trip up Scott. Escobar hits a shoulderbreaker for a 2 count. Scott hits a springboard hurricanrana onto Wilde and Mendoza. Ashante Adonis comes out to help Scott out. Escobar hits the Phantom Driver, but Scott somehow kicks out. Escobar then hits the Three Amigos, but misses the Frog Splash. Scott stomps down on the left arm of Escobar and hits a House Call. Scott hits the 450 Splash and we get the token look of shock that he kicked out. It seems like ages ago when that was not a normal occurrence. Escobar pushes Scott back on the apron and Scott hits his head on the turnbuckle. Escobar hits a facebuster and gets the victory. I thought Scott looked real good, but I'm not sure we had to have him kick out of the Phantom Driver here.
Match Rating: ***1/2
NXT Women's Championship Match
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai
Shirai looks for a powerbomb, but LeRae gets out and hits a springboard leap to the floor. LeRae hits a Backstabber from the second rope and then hits a big clothesline. LeRae continues the assault on Shirai, just tossing her around the ring. Shirai hits a double stomp, allowing her to get a moment to recover. She hits a flapjack and a 619. She hits a springboard missile dropkick. Shirai blocks a springboard moonsault and hits a variation of the backbreaker. LeRae grabs Shirai from the top rope and hits a sit down powerbomb. Shirai hits a German suplex, but LeRae hits one of her own. LeRae hits another backstabber and then a Lionsault for a 2 count. Shirai locks in the Crossface, but LeRae turns into a pinfall attempt and then puts her in the Gargano Escape. Shirai goes for a moonsault, but LeRae gets her knees up and Shirai knocks the ref out of the ring. LeRae hits the Wicked Step Sister, but there is no ref. Gargano comes out in a referee shirt, but Shirai kicks out before he can count to 3. Gargano and the ref begin to argue, but Gargano drops the belt for LeRae and she nails her in the face, but Shirai is able to kick out. Shirai hits a top rope Spanish Fly and then a moonsault for the victory. This was a very good match, as you would expect from these two.
Match Rating: ***3/4
After the match, Toni Storm appears on the big screen and says that she is back in NXT, to which Shirai gives the thumbs up.
From there, we get a video package of the mystery person riding into NXT. She takes off her helmet and it's Ember Moon. The NXT Women's division is just ridiculous.
Ashante Adonis said he has respect for Scott, so he was helping out. He is definitely a step above most of the WWE roster already with his promos.
NXT Championship Match
Kyle O'Reilly vs. Finn Balor
We start on the mat in the early going. Balor does a pretty great job of mocking O'Reilly's air guitar while working on his arm. Balor hits a series of big chops and maintains control until O'Reilly is able to get a knee to the midsection. O'Reilly hits a flurry of kicks and knee strikes. O'Reilly hits two double underhook suplexes and then a double underhook DDT. Balor rocks O'Reilly with a kick to the midsection and O'Reilly is rolling on the ground in pain. O'Reilly tries to fight back, but Balor is able to put him in the Sharpshooter while O'Reilly bleeds from the mouth. Balor hits a Pele kick, but O'Reilly bounces back and hits a clothesline. O'Reilly is able to hit a brainbuster and then goes for an arm bar. Balor hits the 1916 and O'Reilly is able to kick out. O'Reilly is able to hit a couple of dragon leg whip's over the second rope. O'Reilly hits some high flying knee drops and then puts Balor in the knee bar. After a lengthy time in the hold, Balor is finally able to break the hold by grabbing the bottom rope. Balor is able to hit a double foot stomp. O'Reilly follows up with a knee to the chin, but Balor is able to fight back. Balor climbs up top and hits the Coup de Grace and retains the title in a hard hitting and intense battle. It should be noted that Balor is also bleeding from the mouth. This one had a different feel from a lot of the TakeOver main events even if it checked some of the same boxes as those matches. After the match, Balor helps O'Reilly up and they shake hands. As they are about to go off the air, Rich Holland is carrying Adam Cole on his shoulder and dumps him over the barricade. There's your surprise ending for the show and we are off the air.
Match Rating: ****
This felt like a new beginning to go along with the new set. The women's division continues to stock up on talent, while guys like KUSHIDA and Ridge Holland appear to be headed for bigger roles. In the ring, every match was good to great and there wasn't much nonsense. I am excited to see where we are heading after a very strong showing here tonight.
Overall Rating: 88%
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