NXT AUGUST 1ST 2018
The show opened with a recap of Ciampa’s title win last week.
Heavy Machinery vs. The Mighty
This match was supposed to happen a few weeks ago, with The Mighty taking Tucker out at the PC and beating Dozovic in a handicap match. So, the chances of them winning here weren’t too good. After a rough start for The Mighty, they did manage to isolate Otis for a while. Tucker then made a big comeback, including a cannonball off the apron, until Miller managed to clip the previously injured knee when he got back in. At that point, Street Profits’s music hit and they appeared in the crowd. This distracted the heels and hey presto, tag to Otis, Compactor to Miller and Heavy Machinery won.
Moustache Mountain vs. Matt Knotts and Brandon Taylor
Squash win for Moustache Mountain, with Seven surviving his knee being briefly targeted and Taylor being pinned after a burning hammer/top rope kneedrop.
Post match, Seven said the last time they were there didn’t go as they wanted and he was sorry for that, but he’d spoken with Regal and they had a plan. Bate said he threw in the towel because Seven’s health meant the world to him and now they were on a mission to get the Tag Titles back, so they were invoking their rematch clause at Takeover.
EC3 vs. Kona Reeves
This served as a decent comparison point for Reeves. Kona is still finding his footing as The Finest, where-as EC3 has spent years honing what isn’t an entirely different gimmick. Last week’s backstage segment was a step in the right direction and it’s going to take time, but you can still see that Reeves is maybe trying a bit too hard still. To be fair, EC3 can be very over-animated as well, but there’s a comfort level that you can see in him and that Reeves has to find still. As far as in ring goes, Reeves made a shaky start in his debut, but he’s seemed more comfortable in that sense since and looked good here. Once they find stride with the gimmick, I do think Reeves has real potential. EC3 would be on the way towards victory here before Velveteen Dream showed up on the stage, saying he and EC3 could talk about what happened at Royal Albert Hall, but he’d have to come to Dream’s world to do it and he might just be able to bask in the experience. Once Dream left, Reeves then hit the Hawaiian Dream. But, unlike The Mighty, EC3 kicked out and managed to catch Reeves with the One Percenter for the win.
EC3 was interviewed backstage about Velveteen Dream’s invite. EC3 said he just beat The Finest and he’d play Dream’s game, but he knew that conversation was going to turn into a fight. EC3 was full face here, for what it’s worth.
Candice LaRae vs. Shayna Baszler
Really good match here as, technically, the main event. Another good performance from Baszler too, who in the past eight months of NXT appearances has made real strides. Much of the match was focused on Baszler attacking the arm, after dropping Candice across the top rope as she tried a rope walk, then threw her into the steps, both of which looked rough. Candice got back into things on one arm and got a couple of near falls, before Baszler countered a top rope stunner into the Kirifuda Clutch, which Candice got to the ropes from. Candice was then able to hit the Unprettier soon, after, but a missed quebrada set up the finish, with a knee from Baszler and the Kifiuda for the tapout. A clean, non-title win for Baszler. With Candice’s character though, they can still go back to this for a Takeover down the line if they want.
Baszler put the choke back on after the match, with referees coming out to break it up. Kairi hit the ring after them and tried to confront Baszler, but was held back by the officials. Baszler then gave Kairi a cheap shot kick as she checked on Candice, before exiting as Kairi was again held back.
Moustache Mountain were questioned about their challenge backstage, asked if they had any tricks up their sleeve. They said unlike Undisputed Era, they didn’t need tricks, they were big strong boys. Seven said what would happen at Brooklyn was the same as what happened at Royal Albert Hall, before War Raiders appeared. They said it didn’t matter who left Takeover as Tag Champions, they were taking the titles and they’d destroy anyone in their way.
In his office, Regal announced EC3 versus Velveteen Dream and Ricochet against Adam Cole for the North American Championship for Takeover.
Ciampa came out to close the show with a promo. Ciampa bragged about his win for some time and said nobody had ever deserved it more than he did. The crowd were 100% against him, while he took the time to single out one fan in particular, for reasons I forget. Ciampa said the best thing was that not only did he beat Black, but Gargano proved he was a failure and lost once again. Worth noting I guess that there were some people chanting Johnny Sucks in response to the Johnny Wrestling chants. Ciampa’s bragging continued, with him claiming he was the greatest sports entertainer of all time and sitting in the middle of the ring. That finally brought out Black, but Gargano sprinted past him in the aisle and attacked Ciampa. Gargano cleared the ring of Ciampa, who escaped through the crowd. Gargano said the only reason Ciampa was NXT Champion was because of him, before Black laid Gargano out with Black Mass. The crowd then chanted You Deserve It at Gargano, with Black agreeing with Gargano’s sentiment.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Candice and Shayna had the best match of the show, while the closing segment with Ciampa was strong. Everything else on the show meanwhile was fine.
NXT WEEK: Ricochet in action and the debut of Keith Lee.