Monday, August 21, 2017

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III & WWE SummerSlam 2017 Review


NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III
Brooklyn, NY
Barclays Center
8/19/17

We have finally arrived at NXT's biggest show of the year NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III and just like the two years prior the card for the show looks stacked. Four out of the five matches on the card are sure to deliver and the one match that doesn't look good on paper (NXT Tag Team Championship) could always over deliver and impress more than most people are expecting it to. The Takeover specials earlier this year haven't had as much hype as ones before them, but finally it feels like NXT is back on track and is once again the show you most look forward to watching all week and this show could once again steal the weekend just like the last two years. 

Before we get to the first match we have a live performance from Code Orange singing one of the theme songs for Takeover as we get clips hyping up tonight's show. I have to say this band is not good at all and it sucks we had to take even a little bit of time away from the matches for this dumpster fire of a performance, but I guess it makes the show feel even bigger and more special than the other Takeover specials.


Match #1
Andrade Cien Almas w/ Zelina Vega def Johnny Gargano via Pinfall
This was a great way to start the show as these two put on a hell of a match. This was the best Almas has looked on a Takeover and I love the pairing with him and Zelina Vega, but I have to wonder just how long it will be before they have them as an actual couple instead of just business partners. He still is being a bit cocky during his matches which causes his opponent to take advantage, but Zelina does a great job of being a coach on the outside and making sure he stays on his opponent. Gargano is super over with the crowd and is great at playing the babyface in despair. and I can't wait until Ciampa returns and we get that feud. There was a point in the match where I thought Gargano was going to pull out the win as he had Almas locked in the Gargano Escape, but Almas is able to get out of it. The finish of the match came when Gargano had Almas down and was setting him up for the superkick, but Zelina threw a DIY shirt at him which caused a distraction long enough for Almas to hit the hammerlock DDT for the win. Rating: ***3/4

Before the next match we are shown Raw and Smackdown General Managers up in a skybox getting their asses kissed by NXT Talents No Way Jose & Iconic.


Match #2
SAnity w/ Nikki Cross & Killian Dane def Authors of Pain (c) w/ Paul Ellering via Pinfall  (NXT Tag Team Championship)
The Authors of Pain waste no time in getting things started as they rush the ring and all four men are brawling before the match as Eric Young sets up a table on the outside. Alexander Wolfe is the one starting out for SAnity and before Killian Dane can get tagged in Eric Young takes his place, so its Young and Wolfe representing SAnity in this match. Not sure from a kayfabe perspective why you would want to replace one of your big men in a match against two giants like AOP. There was a spot where one of the AOP backdrops EY and the other one catches him in a Canadian backbreaker and hits him with the dominator. I'm confused on who we are suppose to cheer for in this match as in the build up it looked like AOP were the babyfaces as they kept getting attacked by SAnity from behind, but during the match SAnity were the ones working like the baby faces. 

There was a spot where AOP were going to do a tower of doom where one AOP would powerbomb the other member which would cause EY to be superplexed off the top, but Nikki Cross held the legs of EY and instead the AOP member powerbombed his partner with no benefit for them. The biggest pop of the match was when Nikki got on the apron as she is the most over member of the group, she gets in the ring and goes up to the top and dives onto one of the AOP members, but he catches her and then Killian Dane runs at that AOP member while he is holding Nikki and hits a cross body sending all three of them through the table that EY had set up before the match.  After this Wolfe and EY hit their back suplex and top rope neckbreaker combo to get the win and become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. I have to say I was really impressed with Alexander Wolfe in this match as he showed why he belongs. After the match ReDragon run in and attack both teams and I'm super pumped as the NXT Tag Division just got a major boost. Rating: ***


Match #3
Alleister Black def Hideo Itami via Pinfall
Alleister Black comes to the ring and apparently Code Orange is the same people who sing his theme song and their are doing a live performance and it was a much better performance than the one that opened the show. This was the match I was most looking forward to on this show and it didn't disappoint as both men were hitting each other with stiff strikes and I loved every minute of it. Withing the first few minutes of the match starting Hideo had already given Black a bloody nose. At one point when Hideo was in control of the match he decided to mock Black by sitting Indian style like Black is known to do. Once Black makes a come back he hits Hideo with a roundhouse kick that knocks him loopy and instead of going for the cover he goes up looking for a move off the top, but Hideo cuts him off and hits him with a super falcon arrow. Just when Hideo thinks he is in full control he is hit out of nowhere with the Black Mass and Alleister gets the win. Rating: ****



Match #4
Asuka (c) def Ember Moon via Submission (NXT Women's Championship)
I really enjoyed this match and got into the match more than I did their first match against each other as I really thought this was going to be the end of Asuka's reign as champion. I had the idea in my mind that since the actual eclipse is Monday they would let the person who's finisher is called the Eclipse get the win tonight. Now that Asuka has defeated Ember twice I have to imagine this feud is over and I am really curious who they plan on having end Asuka's streak because there really isn't anyone else left unless they go back and have her feud with Nikki again or have a one on one feud with Ruby Riot, or perhaps they will have the eventual winner of the Mae Young Classic get a major career boost by beating her. 

Ember started this match out on fire (no pun intended) and wasn't planning on letting Asuka get any momentum, but Asuka takes control after sending Ember into the steps. Asuka does a really good job of working on the previously injured shoulder of Ember with a variety of joint manipulation and submission moves. Ember eventually makes a comeback and is even able to hit the Eclipse and a superkick on Asuka, but it isn't enough to keep the Empress down. Asuka eventually gets Ember back down and transitions a cross armbar into the Asuka Lock and Ember has no choice but to tap out and the 502 day title reign of Asuka continues on. Rating: ***3/4



Match #5
Drew McIntyre def Bobby Roode (c) via Pinfall (NXT Championship)
This match didn't have that much build and felt like it came out of nowhere as the feud that had been dominating NXT tv was the feud between Roode and Roderick Strong and I felt that match should've happened here instead of on a random episode of NXT tv as that feud was much more heated and personal than this feud ever got as Roode was cutting some great prickish heel promos on Roddy and his family.

This match was pretty good, when it comes to big time matches Roode is better than most people give him credit for, he will never give you a 5 star match but you can count on him to deliver at least a decent 3 - 4 star main event match and Drew always puts on great matches and this one was no different. This match was back and forth the entire time and neither man had control of the match for long periods of time. I really wasn't expecting Drew to win the title this quickly, but I guess they are going to continue the Roode vs Strong feud as a non title program while Drew feuds with the man who debuted at the end of the show. The finish saw both men countering each others DDTs until Roode finally hit two Glorious DDTs in a row, but McIntyre kicked out and then out of nowhere is able to hit the Claymore to pin the champ and become the new NXT Champion. Rating: ***

If ReDragon debuting as a team wasn't enough of a surprise they return after this match and then out of nowhere (ok actually you knew it was coming because the crowd were on their feet as he was making his way through the crowd) comes Adam Cole BABY and he along with ReDragon lay out the new NXT Champion Drew McIntyre. So it looks like we have a new stable in NXT of former ROH stars and I have to wonder if a heel turn is coming for Roddy Strong and he will join this group. 

This was a really good show and just like I said four of the matches delivered and the fifth match was better than most expected it to be. With two title changes and a big debut I would say overall this was a really good and memorable show. Show Rating: A-



WWE SummerSlam 2017
Brooklyn, NY
Barclays Center
8/20/17

We are here at "The Biggest Party of the Summer" Summer Slam and due to this show being 15 hours long as it is I'm not going to do much of a background of my thoughts going into this show like I usually do, but the main question is will this show be able to top the amazing NXT Takeover show from last night? I highly doubt this show will be able to top last night, but it should be a fun show none the less and hopefully it's a show that doesn't feel like the 6+ hour show that it will turn out to be.


Kick Off Match #1
The Miz & The Miztourage w/ Maryse def The Hardy Boyz & Jason Jordan via Pinfall
You would think with Jason Jordan's father being the Raw GM he could have at least put his match in the main event of the kick off show, but instead this match is happening 30 minutes into the kick off show and not even half the crowd has filed in yet, welcome back Hardy Boyz this is what we think of you in 2017. Really the more I think about this it is such a stupid decision to put this match which has one of the most over acts in the entire company on while half the damn crowd is still trying to get into the arena. This match was nothing more than any random 6 man tag title match you would see on an episode of Raw. Miz gets the win as he hits the Skull Crushing Finale on an unsuspecting Jason Jordan. Rating: **


Kick Off Match #2
Neville def Akira Tozawa (c) w/ Titus O'Neil via Pinfall (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
This match was ok, but still not as good as I expect a cruiserweight match to be as they are still doing rest spots in cruiserweight matches which is baffling to me, especially since this match is suppose to pump the crowd up for the rest of the show. They need to have more matches like Johnny Gargano and Andrade Almas had last night at Takeover. I wasn't expecting Neville to retain the title as I thought they would give Tozawa a longer reign than just 6 days, but the king has regained his crown. Neville gets the win after getting his knees up as Tozawa hit the Senton Bomb and then Neville hit the Red Arrow on the back of Tozawa. Rating: **1/2

We then get a concert with Elias "Don't Call Me Samson" and he is over with the Brooklyn crowd so much that they cheered for an encore performance.

Carmella & James Hogsworth join the kick off show panel and Carmella is looking damn good and is over with her hometown New York crowd. We get a rapid fire run through of some of the matches they won't be covering in detail on the kick off show and get CarmEllsworth's thoughts on them.


Kick Off Match #3
The Usos def The New Day (c) w/ Kofi Kingston via Pinfall (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
First off I really like the New Day's gear as we are told it is taken from the comic book Red Lantern. WOW this match was amazing and finally it feels like we are at one of the big four PPVs of the year. These two teams stole the kick off show and I doubt if anyone on the main card will top this match. I forget just how awesome Xavier Woods is as I'm used to him being the corner man for Big E and Kofi, but Xavier was the MVP of this match. New Day brought in some new double team offense which included Xavier lifting Big E on his shoulders and sending him down onto one of the Usos as well as Xavier hitting a back stabber on one of The Usos at the same time as he is getting STO'd out of the corner by Big E. There was a spot where one of the Usos did a pop up and threw Xavier out of the ring and Xavier landed nasty on top of the other Uso. These two teams are great at the finishing sequence in tag matches especially the Usos making the blind tags. The match finished with Big E receiving three super kicks and then top rope splashes from both Usos and we have new Smackdown Tag Team Champions. Rating: ****1/4



Match #1
John Cena def Baron Corbin via Pinfall
John Cena starts the match out being a complete smug dick as he mocks Corbin about him being shook since Cena cost him the title after he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. This match started out with Corbin doing a lot of trash talking every time he would hit a move. We got the Corbin sliding out of the ring and back in spot three different times in the match with Corbin getting the upper hand the first two times and then Cena finally catches on and catches Corbin with a big clothesline and then does his usual five moves of doom sequence before hitting the Attitude Adjustment for the win. This was a good way to open the main card from a star perspective, but a bad way to open it from a match quality perspective. I really have to wonder what is happening with Corbin for him to lose both this match and his briefcase in the same week. Rating: **1/4


Match #2
Natalya def Naomi (c) via Submission
 (Smackdown Women's Championship)
This match was much better than I ever expected it to be and I'll even give Natalya some credit as she really did a good job in this match. The match started with Naomi hitting a blockbuster off the apron to the outside and then once Nattie recovered she catapulted Naomi into the ring post. Naomi tries for her rapid fire kicks, but Nattie counters by grabbing her leg and sending her down into a split and then followed up with a dropkick to the face. While I will give credit to Nattie for her work in the match, her heel mannerisms still make me cringe. Nattie finally gets Naomi in the Sharpshooter, but Naomi counters with a roll through sending Nattie into the bottom turnbuckle head first. The finsh comes when Naomi goes for the split legged moonsault, but Nattie gets her knees up and then puts Naomi back in the Sharpshooter where she has no choice but to tap out giving us a new Smackdown Women's Champion. Naomi was in tears as Nattie celebrated her title win. There was no tease of a cash in by Carmella. Rating: **1/2


Match #3
Big Cass def The Big Show w/ Enzo Amore via Pinfall (locked in a shark cage)
My favorite part of this match was how The Big Show sold the injured hand with just little things like when he would send Cass into the ropes he wouldn't use his injured hand to push him in the back to give him that extra boost. I liked how Big Show was trying to figure out how to climb the ropes with the injured hand and how when he braced for the landing as Cass moved he had no choice but to use the injured hand. I was rolling my eyes as the whole Enzo getting out of the cage with the oil, but when he got hit with the Big Boot as soon as he landed I laughed my ass off. Cass gets the win with two big boots and an Empire Elbow. Rating: *3/4


Match #4
Randy Orton def Rusev via Pinfall
Rusev jumped Orton from behind as Orton was going to pose on the turnbuckle during his entrance and sent him into the barricade. Right when the bell rings Rusev runs at Orton in the corner, but Orton moves and hits an RKO and gets the win in less than 30 seconds. Poor Rusev needs a win and can't get one to save his life. Rating: DUD


Match #5
Sasha Banks def Alexa Bliss (c) via Submission (Raw Women's Championship)
We see in the back as Sasha is on her way to the ring that she runs into Bayley and they hug as Brooklyn boos Bayley out of the building. Sasha Banks makes her way to the ring wearing some kind of special costume thing around her neck, but she had to keep holding it up because it kept wanting to fall off. I have to mention that earlier in the night there was a commercial for the No Mercy show and it featured only Alexa Bliss and it was really cool as it had Alexa and then an army of BlissFits wearing masks like Asuka wears it was really cool.

This match took quite a while to pick up the pace and even when it did it never got to the level it needed to be unfortunately. Bliss's character work was superb as it always is, I just wish she would adopt Daniel Bryan's old ROH "I have until 5" catch phrase when she has her opponent in the ropes and the referee scolds her as that would so fit her character. Alexa was in control for majority of this match. Bliss hits a beautiful top rope version of Insult to Injury. Sasha counters Alexa's sunset flip out of the corner and hits a modified version of a wheelbarrow sending Alexa head first into the middle turnbuckle. Sasha tries to hit the double knees off the apron, but Alexa yanks the ring skirt and this causes Sasha to trip an fall off the apron and causes pain to her shoulder which Alexa starts to work on for a few minutes. Alexa hits Twisted Bliss, but Sasha kicks out. Sasha eventually is able to lock the Bank Statement back on and as hard as she tried Alexa had no choice, but to tap. I really was hoping Sasha could help Alexa get that really great stand out match, but it wasn't to be unfortunately. I still love me some Little Miss Bliss and it kills me to have to say anything even the least bit negative about her, but I just wish the match had given me a bit more than what it did. We now have four straight title changes, I have to wonder if this will continue throughout the rest of the night? Rating: **1/4


Match #6
The "Demon" Finn Balor def Bray Wyatt via Pinfall
The Demon entrance from Finn Balor is always really cool to watch, but this time I have to say the little ribbon things from his arms that he was spinning around at the beginning of his entrance made him look like he was competing in the ribbon competition in gymnastics. This was a fun little match that was mainly to showcase Balor as the Demon and give him an easy win over someone who the crowd has given up on. There wasn't anything too special done in this match that made it feel like a big time match other than Balor jumping up as Bray was doing his creepy spider pose. Balor gets the win with a slingblade and the Coupe d'grace. Rating: **1/2


Match #7
Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins def Cesaro & Sheamus (c) via Pinfall (Raw Tag Team Championship)
It took us six matches to get there, but we finally have our next match that is worth going out of your way to watch as this was a really good match and the best match so far of the main card. One of the highlights of this match didn't even happen in the ring as Cesaro ran and jumped into the crowd and grabbed a beach ball that someone had started tossing around the arena which was distracting the fans and tore the ball to shreds as he wasn't having any of the fans disrespecting the participants in this match because of a damn beach ball. Dean and Seth did a good job combining the moves they would do in their singles matches and turning them into double team sequences, they also hit a version of the Hart Attack where Rollins hit the slingblade instead of just the regular clothesline. There was a really cool spot where Cesaro and Sheamus are looking to hit their aided White Noise finisher, but Rollins cuts Cesaro off on the top rope and hits him with a frankensteiner which causes Cesaro to go crashing into Sheamus. Rollins and Ambrose finish things off with Rollins hitting the rip cord into the knee on Cesaro and Ambrose follows that up with the Dirty Deeds to get the win. I really enjoyed this match and it's one of my favorite matches that Dean Ambrose has been involved in for quite some time. Rating: ***3/4



Match #8
AJ Styles (c) def Kevin Owens via Pinfall (WWE United States Championship - Special Referee: Shane McMahon)
This is the third match between these two on a PPV and once again they fail to deliver the top quality match that you would expect from them, the only difference this time is I knew it wasn't going to be a great match due to the special referee stipulation and I was exactly right. This match could never really get any momentum behind it because they had to stop and argue with Shane numerous times during the match and that hurt the match tremendously. This match took place solely for the purpose of setting up a Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon feud down the line as Shane was the reason for KO's downfall in this match. The match outside of all of the foolishness with Shane was pretty good, but it could and should have been so much better. Rating: ***1/4



Match #9
Jinder Mahal (c) w/ The Singh Brothers def Shinsuke Nakamura via Pinfall (WWE World Championship)
I honestly can't remember much about this match as at this point in the show I was just ready for the main event, I had been watching this show since 5 and out of all the matches on the card this was one that I couldn't care less about. I was both surprised and horrified that Jinder retained as it means the boring reign of Mahal continues and I have to wonder just how long they plan on having this title reign last. I'm still waiting for Nakamura to have that blow away amazing match like he did in his debut on NXT with Sami Zayn, but it's been well over a year since then and the closest he has come to that was his match at Backlash against Dolph Ziggler, hopefully that feud with AJ comes sooner than later as then maybe we will finally see another great Nakamura match. Rating: **1/4



Match #10
Brock Lesnar (c) w/ Paul Heyman def Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, & Braun Strowman via Pinfall (WWE Universal Championship)
I expected this match to be good, but holy shit this was an amazing match and I loved all of it from start to finish. Braun Strowman is so freaking great at everything he does and in my book right now he can do no wrong in fact I will say he is my 2017 WWE Wrestler of the Year. All four men in this match were made to look strong and none of them were worse off when the match was over. Four way matches are hard to pull off and aren't always the greatest of matches, but this one was a different story, in fact I can't think of any four way match before where after it was over I would be ok if they had a rematch. I was really surprised to see Brock retain as I was for sure he was leaving after this, but looks like he is gonna be sticking around for a little while longer. I honestly can't do this match justice by writing about it as it has to be seen to appreciate just how great it was. Rating: ****1/2

Whew I finally made it through this show 6 hours later and overall I will say the show was ok, but there were a lot of below average matches on the card. There were only four matches out of thirteen that I rated 3 stars or above which is not that great for the second biggest show of the year. Show Rating: C-

WWE SummerSlam 2017 Weekend Match Ranking
18. Randy Orton vs Rusev DUD
17. 
Big Cass vs The Big Show 
16. 
The Miz & The Miztourage vs The Hardy Boyz & Jason Jordan 
15. WWE Championship
14. 
John Cena vs Baron Corbin
13. 
Raw Women's Championship 
12. 
Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt 
11. 
WWE Cruiserweight Championship 
10. 
Smackdown Women's Championship 
9. 
NXT Championship 
8. 
NXT Tag Team Championship 
7.  
WWE United States Championship 
6. 
Johnny Gargano vs Andrade Cien Almas 
5. 
NXT Women's Championship 
4. 
Raw Tag Team Championship 
3. 
Hideo Itami vs Allister Black 
2. 
Smackdown Tag Team Championship 
1. WWE Universal Championship


I hope you enjoyed this review of both NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III and SummerSlam 2017 feel free to contact me on twitter @MTW3589 if you have any questions or comments. I'll see you guys back next month for Raw's next brand exclusive PPV No Mercy.

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