NXT TAKEOVER CHICAGO II
RODERICK STRONG and KYLE O’REILLY vs. ONEY LORCAN and DANNY BURCH: Really strong way to open. The kind of fast paced, no let-up match you’d expect with these four, particularly Strong and Lorcan, involved. I guess it was a shame the crowd were so pro-Undisputed Era in terms of the reaction adding to the match, but at least they were won over in the end.
RICOCHET vs. VELVETEEN DREAM: Dream’s Hulk Hogan/Prince Puma tribute attire was something. Like with Dream’s feud and match with Aleister Black that took him to the next level in people’s eyes, the way they weaved the story of the feud into the match elevated this greatly. The fact Dream has now had two tight, concise feuds like this that have both delivered is pretty impressive in and of itself. The match itself was really good too. They did enough athletic stuff to build the story, without the athleticism becoming the whole story. The only issue I’d have is giving Dream the well-worn “go back to the bingo hall” routine, but at least by referencing his Tough Enough past in the hype video, it does make sense character-wise and feels a little less cheap.
SHAYNA BASZLER vs. NIKKI CROSS: I think I’m officially over Nikki’s “I’m crazy” routine. This felt like a weird mix from the start, serious MMA fighter versus weird whatever Nikki’s supposed to be. On top of that, they haven’t done a good job at all of establishing what Nikki’s actual motives are in the entire feud. Here, I guess the idea was supposed to be that Nikki likes pain, but on TV she was helping Dakota stand up against the bully for a few weeks and then they did the weird thing where she fake-won the title because that’s what she cares about? I’d rather they’d picked one of those threads and went with it. So, I didn’t get into this at all and then, the finish with Nikki suddenly deciding she wanted to get choked out was just dumb. Worst of all, this whole thing did nothing for Shayna, which is a shame.
ALEISTER BLACK vs. LARS SULLIVAN: The result was a foregone conclusion here. That said, these two delivered a quality match regardless. Thankfully they recovered from the phantom Black Mass kick, because it would have been a real shame if that ruined the end result. When Lars first got his push, I was worried that he’d come around at the wrong time given Braun’s popularity, but since then he’s proven himself and I think he’s good enough in his own right to exist on the same show as Strowman without seeming like a poor imitation. He’s probably even ahead of where Strowman was at the same point, in terms of in the ring, so he’s got that going for him.
JOHNNY GARGANO vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA: Another long epic between the two, which I really enjoyed. The finish suggests that we’ll probably get another one and I really think they’ll be stretching things by getting another Takeover build out of this feud. The matches themselves I’m not concerned about, it’s the weeks of attacks between the two that they’ve completely played out at this point.
NXT JUNE 20TH 2018
Dakota Kai vs. Bianca Belair
Fun match to kick things off and another good showing for both. Belair looked assured throughout and if they’re going to give her a more prominent role now, I think she’s ready. Seeing her and Shayna interact could be interesting, in the ring and as characters. Interestingly, they used the hair whip as a tease but didn’t actually deliver again, with Belair trying to use the hair in the lead-up for the finish and Kai avoiding it, only for Belair to land a forearm instead and hit a sitout burning hammer for the win.
Recap of Dream and Ricochet. Ricochet was interviewed by Cathy, who said he proved he wasn’t just an animated .gif and now the spotlight belonged to him. Dream was then interviewed by the new NXT backstage interviewer, but didn’t really answer her question of what was next.
Shayna/Cross recap. Shayna was interviewed, with Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir with her and introduced by name. Shayna said you defeat chaos by sucking the air out of it and putting it to sleep.
Highlight video of Black versus Lars. Mike Rome tried to interview a limping Black backstage, but he said he couldn’t talk right now and hobbled off.
Recap for Undisputed Era against Lorcan and Burch. Cathy interviewed Lorcan and Burch, who were both disappointed not to have won.
Last and main highlight package was of Ciampa against Gargano.
EC3 was shown arriving at the Performance Center, where he was asked about what he thought of Takeover. He put over the show and said it had everything, except for him and he proclaimed that he would be on 100% of the Takeovers going forward. He claimed to be the best and now he was going to prove it and promised to kick Regal’s door down and demand the top tier of competition.
War Machine vs. The Mighty
The Mighty have new gear to go with their new name. I have some major misgivings still over them as heels and the plain black and white gear and leather coats certainly don’t make them stand out in the memory. It’s as if they looked at Anderson and Gallows and thought “yeah, that looks good”. Except, it’s the WWE version of The Club. The Mighty jumped Hanson and Rowe before the bell, which only served to fire them up. An intervention from Miller almost lead to Thorne winning with his feet on the ropes though, before The Mighty took over on Rowe from there. Hanson made a big comeback. I still find that his offence verges right on the line of being a bit goofy with whoopie cushions and cartwheels and the like, but it all seems to be over. Match ended with War Raiders just hitting Thorne with Fallout and pinning him, with little to no resistance. Those misgivings about The Mighty may just have doubled after this.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Both matches on the show were fun watches. Nothing particularly notable from either, Kai and Belair was certainly the better of the two, but both a decent watch if you’re interested in the people involved.
NXT WEEK: An appearance from Aleister Black.