I’m not in the best frame of mind to write a full review for last night’s NXT Takeover: Chicago, so I’ll just give what you might call ‘a few quick thoughts’…
Undisputed Era def. Burch/Lorcan ****1/4
One of the best openers you’ll ever see. Only thing off was the babyface/heel dynamic, which NXT rarely gets wrong. Lots of great hard hitting brawling and double team moves.
Ricochet def. Velveteen Dream ****1/4
NXT excels in the simplicity of revolving a feud or match’s story around one statement. This was all about “anything you can do, I can do better”, so we saw both guys venture outside their usual arsenal a lot. Lots of death valley drivers.
Shana Baszler def. Nikki Cross **3/4
I liked Nikki Cross’s work as a character, smiling just before passing out. Other than that, this wasn’t great, but deserved more than some of the beach ball-throwing fans were giving it. Hope Nikki is going to SmackDown with Sanity.
Aleister Black def. Lars Sullivan ***1/4
Quite liked how physical this was, with Black incorporating his all-round athleticism in too. I liked how the finish revolved around whether or not Black would hit the Black Mass – it’s just unfortunate that the fans got on their case when Sullivan sold a kick from Black that clearly didn’t hit him.
Tommaso Ciampa def. Johnny Gargano ****1/2
The consensus seems to be another five-star, but I didn’t think this flowed quite as well as their previous match. Still, I loved the call-backs to the two’s history, I thought Ciampa throwing away Gargano’s wedding ring was a unique heel thing to do, and the finish was great, with a handcuffed Ciampa suddenly planting Gargano into the bare ring canvas to win it. Much like their New Orleans match, their was a genuine sense of emotion with this, displayed by the shock on the fans’ faces when Ciampa won.
Really great show overall. 9.5 out of 10
PEANUTBUTTERPOPE 