Welcome to Wrestling-Online.com’s coverage of NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II. Last year, this very event pretty much rocked the house with a fantastic card and match of the year contender featuring Sasha Banks vs Bayley. Will this year be the same?
Renee Young anchored the NXT Takeover pre-show panel along with Lita and Mauro Ranallo. Both Lita and Ranallo thinks Shinsuke Nakamura will be the new NXT champion by the time the event goes off the air.
Show started with NXT stars explaining where they were a year ago when NXT Takeover took place. 15,671 on hand tonight. Tom Phillips and Corey Graves on commentary.
NO WAY JOSE VS AUSTIN ARIES
No Way Jose comes out with a train of WWE Universe behind him. Corey notes that that’s more than Tom Phillips have friends in the entire panel. Good pop for the former TNA champion Austin Aries and the crowd chants for him, booing No Way Jose. After running around the ring trying to get leverage, Aries gets knocked out and NWJ gets the upper hand. Aries quickly turns things around, dropping NWJ’s on the top rope after a failed fallaway slam attempt (I think) from the top rope by NWJ. Ric Flair makes his way inside the arena and sits at ringside, prompting the Brooklyn crowd to start Woooing out of nowhere. Aries goes for his submission but NWJ crawls to the bottom rope and fans boo again. Jose recovers and goes for the TKO but Aries kicks out at two. Another close call for NWJ when he hit a modified Falcon Arrow but Aries once again kicks out. The finish came when Aries went for a sunset power bomb off the ropes and then transitions to the Last Chancery submission move and NWJ taps out. After the match, Aries continued to attack NWJ and Hideo Itami came out – in full suit – for the save. Crowd chants for the GTS and Itami gives them the GTS as the crowd goes wild and Aries goes to sleep!
Ric Flair is shown at ringside with Fifi the Maid. Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura are shown backstage. Nakamura is with Kota Ibushi and Funaki.
BILLIE KAY VS EMBER MOON
This is the TV debut of Ember Moon. Moon comes out all serious…and then starts dancing. The hell? Kay trying her best against the indie veteran and takes over early on in the match. Moon hits a nice springboard cross body for a two count and Kay kicks out. Kay regains control and goes for a submission move but botches it. She’s successful with the second try. Moon, with red contacts and all, gets a good showing here and then hits her trademark finishing move, the impressive O-face, from the top rope and pins Kay.
Bobby Roode interview backstage from earlier today. He said Brooklyn is the armpit of New York. Glorious!
BOBBY ROODE VS ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS
Bobby Roode makes his glorious entrance and the fans sing his theme song. Awesome, true Superstar entrance. Crowd chants for Bobby Roode and then starts a “This is glorious” chant as well as a “Bobby Roode” to the “New Day Rules” beat. Hilarious. Almas starts with the upper hand and acts cocky but is quickly brought back down to earth after Roode hit the ropes while Almas was on the top rope, giving him the usual nut shot. Roode goes for a vertical suplex, stalls while in mid air and then goes for the pin but Almas kicks out at two. Almas dropkicks Roode outside the ring and then hits a springboard corkscrew plancha and lands on his feet. Impressive. Roode tries a suplex from the top rope but Almas escapes and lands on his feet, again! Roode goes for the fisherman suplex but Almas transitions into a small package for a two count. Roode recovers after a few and hits his Glorious Bomb and pins Almas for the 1-2-3. The Glorious Bomb is just a pump handle slam, by the way.
Backstage segment with Orange County Choppers and Triple H, showing the trophy for the winners of the Cruiserweight Classic. It will be presented live to the winner of the CWC tournament on September 14. The competitors of the CWC are shown at ringside.
JOHNNY GARGANO & TOMMASO CIAMPA VS THE REVIVAL
Gargano and Ciampa are out first to a big pop from the Brooklyn crowd. The Revival make sure we know they are two-time NXT Tag Team champs. Ciampa and Dawson start off with some old school wrestling exchanges. Gargano tags in and the challengers work on Dawson with fans chanting “Johnny wrestling.” The NXT Tag Team champions recover and take charge of the match with Ciampa taking most of the punishment throughout the match, isolating him from his tag team partner and even cheating a little bit to prevent the hot tag. Ciampa eventually makes the tag but the referee never saw it and sent Gargano back. Old school tag team wrestling here. Finally Gargano tags in and goes wild on Dash and Dawson. Gargano hits a spear through the ropes and gets a 2 count. Wow that was cool. Lots of close counts here and then Ciampa locks the armbar and Dash almost tapped out, saved by Dawson. Crowd is on fire by this point. Ciampa and Gargano hit their finisher and go for the three count but Dash puts his foot on the bottom rope. Ciampa and Gargano celebrate, not realizing that it was actually Dawson who helped Dash’s foot on the rope. Dash and Dawson then destroy Gargano’s knee and lock in the figure four and Gargano taps out. The Revival retain the Tag Team titles. Crazy match and great finish. The fans give Ciampa and Gargano a standing ovation afterward.
A WWE 24: Women’s Evolution promo airs. It will be replayed immediately following this show. Sasha Banks is shown at ringside alongside with Becky Lynch. Charlotte is also shown ringside, but not next to the two. Banks and Lynch get a good pop and the crowd boo Charlotte.
ASUKA VS BAYLEY
Bayley out first and the Hugger Section are out in full force. Think Cesaro Section, but Hugger Section instead. Bayley’s biggest fan Izzy is at ringside of course. Bayley’s face tells a story here, seems “sad.” Cool entrance by the NXT Women’s champion Asuka. Crowd is split with both “Let’s go Bayley” and “Let’s go Asuka” chants. Bayley goes for three quick pins but Asuka kicks out. Bayley jumps from the second rope and she’s met with a knee to the face by Asuka. The NXT Women’s champion takes over but an aggressive Bayley turns things around. Bayley goes on the top rope and tries a cross body block but Asuka moves, then hits the ropes and kicks Bayley in the face followed by a two count. Asuka regains control, places Bayley on the top rope and tries a superplex but the challenger slips through. Asuka hits Bayley with the “Yes!” kicks and then Bayley blocks one and tells her to hit her in the face. Asuka agrees. Hah. Asuka Lock in place but Bayley powers out and hits the Bailey to Belly suplex but Asuka kicks out. Asuka then hits two sick kicks on Bayley and pins her to retain the NXT Women’s title. After the match Asuka helps Bayley to her feet and the two hug each other. Bayley is left in the ring alone and the crowd gives her a massive standing ovation and chants “Thank You Bayley” as Bayley cries. She then goes out to hug Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, her mom, and Izzy.
NXT live tour in Australia and New Zealand from December 5 to 15 is announced. Tickets will be available on September 5.
Main event is up next. Samoa Joe is shown walking through the hallway. Nakamura is still in his locker room.
Mick Foley and Noelle are shown at ringside. Finn Balor is also there.
SAMOA JOE VS SHINSUKE NAKAMURA
Lights out and Shinsuke Nakamura’s theme song is played live by a violinist, Lee England Jr. The crowd goes nuts for Nakamura and sings along to theme. Samoa Joe comes out to “Joe, Joe, Joe” chants. By the time the entrances and intros were over it was 10:10PM, so this will be the longest Takeover by the time this wraps up. Crowd starts singing Nakamura’s theme again as the two lock up. Joe slaps Nakamura but Nakamura takes down the champ. Both exchange moves in the first few minutes until Joe gets the upper hand when the action moves to the outside. Joe attempts a suicide dive and is successful. The referee has counted up to 9 on two different occasions so far with the action spilling outside the squared circle. Joe hits a picture perfect power bomb which then turns into a Boston crab and then into an STF. Nakamura recovers and hits Joe with knees and kicks but both men are spent. Shinsuke hits a beautiful kick to the face from the second rope, then they exchange blows until Joe hits one hell of a clothesline which turns Nakamura inside out. Joe locks in the Kokina Clutch but Nakamura reaches the bottom rope with his leg to break up the move. Nakamura hits a German on Joe and goes for the kick but Joe recovers and hits a quick powerslam for a two count. Joe hits a perfect Muscle Buster and goes for the cover but Nakamura kicks out…barely! Nakamura hits the Kinshasa and Joe kicks out but then hits another Kinsasha and it is lights out for Samoa Joe as a new NXT champion is crowned! Nakamura is still undefeated in NXT.
