April 1st 2016, NXT TakeOver, Dallas
Before I go any further I think it’s pretty safe to assume that everyone who watched NXT TakeOver Dallas agreed that it was vastly superior to Wrestlemania 32. From start to finish WWE’s developmental brand made the granddaddy of them all an afterthought. When I think back over the week and what transpired, NXT is what is fresh in the memory and not WWE. If those of you in the UK were hardcore enough to stay awake until 3am then more power to you, myself however, I am nearing 30 and the years of endless nights and lack of sleep are catching up with me. I instead watched the events unfold on Saturday morning, what I witnessed was possibly one of the best wrestling shows ever I’ve ever seen.
The event kicked off with American Alpha completing their journey to the top and winning for the first time the NXT Tag Team Titles. It was a great back and forth with match the Revival, who over the last six months have made the NXT tag titles a very high commodity. The match was a culmination of months of hard-work, determination and achievement from Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, it was a sweet victory and the match also impressed. The event started extremely well and didn’t give up their, next up was the anticlimactic debut of Austin Aries. The self proclaimed ‘Greatest Man That Ever Lived’ failed to impress against Baron Corbin, it was however Baron the product of the performance centre who shone brightest here. Baron more than ever deserved the win here, Aries offered nothing and looked sluggish throughout, Corbin saved the match and made it entertaining. Then came the actual main event, Shinsuke Nakamura challenged Sami Zayn in his debut match, and what a debut it was.
If you’re a follower of NJPW then you knew what to partly expect, however if seeing Shinsuke at TakeOver was your first time you were in for a shock. Personally I enjoy hard hitting wrestling, the stronger style that Nakamura has become known for in his trademark, at the TakeOver he unleashed it to a wider audience to great effect. The match with Sami was unlike anything seen in WWE, especially as we are in the PG era the action between the two men was hard hitting and violent. The crowd in Dallas loved it, the performers in the ring seemed to love it to, what was also touching was that it was Sami’s unannounced departure from NXT to join the bright lights of Raw & Smackdown. Nakamura got the well received win in a blistering contest. The much loved Bayley was out next to defend her NXT Women’s title against Asuka, the masses love Bayley but at TakeOver she was going down. The match was entertaining and full of the trademark spots expected from both competitors, Asuka remained strong throughout while Bayley never gave up valiantly kept fighting. In the end Asuka choke out Bayley and in doing so Bayley was protected as she never actually tapped out. Following another amazing match we came to our scheduled main event, Samoa Joe challenging NXT champion Finn Blaor. This was something special, from the opening bell the claret flowed down Joe’s face as it made a crimson mask, Finn ever the Demon smelt blood but Joe was too strong and too powerful. This was arguably Joe’s greatest NXT/WWE performance, he stood tall at TakeOver and in doing so made himself the MVP of the evening. The action went back and forth as Finn through everything at Joe who just shook it off. I truly thought the time had come for Finn to drop the belt and move on, however NXT thought different, after all the blood stoppages and offence Finn recovered to lay waste to Joe and retain his Championship.
WWE Wrestlemania 32, April 3rd Dallas
Well Jeez, this was baffling to say the least. Personally I didn’t think much of Wrestlemania, the decisions made were at the time completely crazy and nothing made sense. It seemed WWE made the booking decisions for shock value, from Zack Ryder to Chris Jericho it all seemed madness. The fact that Styles lost was a straight indication that WWE aren’t completely rolling out the red carpet for him, the match although decent lacked for me that Wrestlemania feeling. The Undertaker & Shane finally drew a line under their unexplainable feud, the Shane/Vince/Taker storyline came out of nowhere and went straight back there. Shane O’Mac took a ridiculous bump of the HIAC, while Undertaker plodded through the match as his legacy wilted away. I was glad to see the contest end as this was the most pointless match and feud in recent memory. The highlights coming from Wrestlemania were the Women’s triple threat title match, Baron Corbin’s WWE debut and Roman Reigns wining the WWE Title for the 3rd time. The Women depending on opinion stole the show, many expected Sasha to win but Charlotte obviously fits the bill for the face of the company. Baron debut in the Andre Battle Royal, although not very noticeable until the end I was glad to see him debut and win, he deserved it. The main event arrived, it was treated as such with Triple H and Steph looking like Game of Thrones extras. The match was Roman’s moment yet Triple H controlled the contest from start to finish and looked the most efficient, I can’t even remember Roman getting much offence. When Roman did hit back his actions were heelish yet he stays in the grey, his Spear on Steph was beautifully done and she sold it so well. The match dragged as the fan animosity grew against Roman, HHH was cheered as the face but as the contest went on fans boos turned to groans. In the end as expected Roman defeated Triple H to return to the top of the mountain. After 7 hours of Wrestlemania who wasn’t exhausted.
Monday Night Raw, April 4th
After Wrestlemania we welcomed the fabled Raw after Mania, which usually is the better show and features debuting stars and refreshing scenarios. Vince & Shane opened the show and completing ignoring the stipulation from the night before Vince allowed Shane to run Raw for the evening. Personally I didn’t rate the show as much as everyone else did, yes Raw did feature some debuting stars but overall the show lacked any adrenaline. I listened to PW Torch this week and they commented that WWE seemed to pluck all the midcarders from NXT and not the stars that could draw money. While Enzo & Cass, Baron, Apollo Crews, Vaudevillians got promoted, Finn Balor, Joe, The Revival and Bayley got left behind, NXT it seems are becoming cautious of losing their best talent. Enzo & Cass are great on the mic but I fear for them going forward, overall what can they achieve. Apollo has massive potential as a babyface, I just hope he can be built slowly but with direction, Baron plays the heel so well, his gimmick and attitude suit him so well. I also must mention Roman’s new cocky, egotistical character that arrived on Monday night, as he says he’s just the guy and for me personally I like this guy. Roman walking in the grey is good for him going forward, he’s not bad, he’s not good, he’s just Roman. The highlights of Raw came in the main event, AJ Styles, Jericho, Kevin Owens and the returning Cesaro fought for an opportunity to face Roman Reigns for the WWE title. The Fatal-4-Way stole the show and most surprisingly AJ Styles after losing at Wrestlemania was granted the chance to face Roman for the title in the near future.
Overall I was highly critical of Wrestlemania 32, I felt they got decisions wrong and the booking was baffling throughout. My highlight of the past week was NXT TakeOver Dallas, the debut of Nakamura, FinnVsJoe and American Alpha winning were all special moments. NXT is only getting stronger and I can’t wait to see how they and WWE evolve in the coming months.
@Ciaran_1986
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