Good and Bad: NXT Takeover Toronto

Hello, I’m Joseph Reds from The Wrestling Classic and this is my new series called the “Good and Bad”.

In this series I’ll discuss the Good and Bad of every PPV or huge development in the WWE, NXT, or Wrestling at large.

Today we’re going to start with NXT: Takeover Toronto overall a good PPV but not NXT finest. It seems that NXT is long gone from the days when they would one up every WWE PPV. Remember the first NXT Takeover Brooklyn? Now remember that it was better than Wrestlemania? Yeah, that used to happen a lot. But that’s ok, NXT has been in a transition period every since the Brand Split. Sure, that was quite a few months ago, but look at all the great teams in sports history. At some point, they lost all their good players. Some retire, some become free agents, some get traded. At that point those teams have to rebuild, and it sucks as a fan, unless you know what you’re looking for. In every good rebuild you can find nuggets to show you where things are going.

That’s basically what happened with NXT, they got raided in the Brand Split Draft, and have since been rebuilding. We’ve also been able to to see nuggets like the debuts of Shinsuke Nakamura , Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode. The Tag Team Division is far better than that of either Raw or Smackdown, so that’s a huge improvement. Tye Dillinger has elevated himself past a Jobber, and finally, the Women’s Division is getting back to where it needs to be with the arrivals of Bill Kay and Ember Moon (Though I don’t understand why they never signed Santana Garrett).

Anyways, let’s get the Good and Bad of NXT Takeover Toronto.

1. Tye Dillinger vs “Glorious” Bobby Roode

Good: Bobby Roode’s entrance. Just everytime it is what it says it is.

Good: Starting the show with two Canadians.

Good: Tye Dillinger is slowly becoming relevant.

Good: Solid in ring action.

Bad: No real spots to get you off your seat, the match never really went to the next level at any point.

Overall: Good
A solid match that was fun for the crowd. The match may have never really gotten exciting but it did provide a good start to the show. It also showed us two things: Ty Dillinger can be taken seriously in NXT and Bobby Roode is way over with the crowd.

2. The Authors of Pain vs. TM61

Good: The Authors of Pain is a brilliant name

Bad: TM61 is not

Bad: Paul Ellering being trapped high above the ring.
It didn’t really create any narrative for the match. He still helped them cheat, even if it did fail. In fact, his being up their actually seemed to help handicap the match.

Good: That sent on off the crane post.
Flippy shit is great and seeing it is greater.

Good: That moonsault. That was majestic.

Good: Tag Team Chemistry.
Both teams had chemistry not only with each other, but with themselves. Both tears displayed a solid set of Tag Team moves. This is something that almost seems like a must in NXT, in WWE actual Tag Team moves are scarce and very disappointing.

Good: The Authors of Pain won.
This may or may not be the popular opinion, but the Authors of Pain had to win. If you want them to be monster heels than they need to win often. I’d even go as far as to say you should put the NXT Tag Titles on them. Yes #DIY just got them but imagine if the the Authors of Pain won, then Tommaso Ciampa turned heel and took it out on Johnny Gargano. That needs to happen.

Overall: Good
It wasn’t the best tag match of the night, especially being handicapped with an odd stipulation, but it had the right outcome. At the end of the day, that’s the most important part, right?

3. #DIY vs. The Revival

Good: The entire match was excellent.
This was, by far, the match of the night.

Good: It had a great stipulation.
The 2 out of 3 falls stipulation helped add to the sympathy surrounding #DIY as they lost the first fall and had to win two in a row or else never win the titles from the Revival.

Good: The Revival.
The Revival have proven that they are basically the best Heel tag team in the entire company. They have an old school brawler feel but with the athleticism to compete in today’s day and age. A natural next step for the team is to debut on Smackdown and take the titles from Heath Slater and Rhyno.

Good: The chemistry.
These two teams have already displayed great chemistry but having them use each other’s moves just added that much more.

Good: #DIY finally winning the gold.
#DIY was starting to become much like Enzo and Cass when they were in NXT. The clear tag team favorites of the fans, but never winning the gold (Something that has still plagued Enzo and Cass, WWE take note).

Overall: GOOD
This, as I said was the match of the night, there wasn’t anything to not like. The narrative and story told was great, the action was great, and the outcome was great. These two teams stole the show and put on one of the Matches of the Year. When was the last time you heard that about a tag team match?

4. Mickie James vs. Asuka

Good: Mickie James coming back.
Sure, it was only due to Trish Stratus’ pregnancy, but Mickie James is awesome! 6 years ago, I was in love with Mickie James. Today, I still am. Mickie James was one of the best female wrestler of her time. Remember that was a time when Candice Michelle and Ashley Massaro held titles. So it was not a good time.

Good: Mickie James still has it.
Mickie James proved last night that she deserves the Hall of Fame. Hopefully they will even offer her a contract, because she looked awesome.

Bad: coming on after the Tag Title match.
This match was severely hurt by being placed right after #DIY vs The Revival. The Crowd wasn’t into it and even acted like dicks during it.

Good and Bad: The Finish.
The finish was good, because Asuka had to win, it was obvious.
It was Bad, though, because th finish was kind of like, “Oh…it’s over?” I’ve notice this a lot when it comes to Asuka matches. Asuka is great but the finishes just kind of happen and almost make you feel like, “Wait, that’s how her opponent lost?” and that’s Bad.

Overall: Good
It was a fine match hurt by a poor finish and douchey crowd. But seeing Mickie James come back was awesome, and seeing as she may be the only good return of the weekend that’s a plus.

5. Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Good: The Narrative.
A match about two guys wanting to tear each other apart. That’s good.

Bad: No Stipulation.
I understand that NXT is more wrestling at its purest but this match was hurt by not being a hardcore match. With how much Samoa Joe destroyed Nakamura leading up to the match, you’d think Nakamura would have wanted to get some vengeance.

Bad: Nakamura’s Entrance.
At the last NXT Takeover Nakamura had a violinist who added a lot to his entrance. At this Takeover he had like 12 violinists and they added absolutely nothing. They got in the way and made no sense. On top of that, they had zero stage presence (unlike their predecessor), and you couldn’t hear them because none of them were mic’d (again unlike their predecessor). It was atrocious.

Good: In ring chemistry.
This match was much better than their last.

Good: The Finish.
Now before you throw a fit at me, because “Nakamura is god” or whatever, hear me out.
This finish made sense. A Low Blow followed by a spike onto the ring steps and then a Muscle Buster after a grueling main event. Yeah, I see how Nakamura lost. On top of that this leaves a few avenues. One, they can main event Nakamura, maybe even at the Royal Rumble. Imagine if he won and set up an AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura main event at Wrestlemania? That’d be sick. the other alternative is now you set up a third encounter where Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe have a match with some sort of hardcore stipulation. NXT could have its first ever Hell in a Cell match, and that also be pretty awesome.

Overall NXT Takeover Toronto was a nice return to form for NXT. It wasn’t the best PPV ever but it was a definite step in the right direction.

What do you think? let us know in the comments below, or hit me up on Twitter/Instagram @WelpThatsAThing and let me know how wrong I am.

I’ve been Joseph Reds and this article was Good and Bad.