JehutyRunner
Banned
|OT| thread name suggested by Angry Grimace!
The biggest wrestling event of the year is finally here: SEASON TWO OF SOUTHPAW REGIONAL WRESTLING, MOTHERFUCKERS YAAAAAAS!
Join us as Lance Catamaran and Chet Chetterfield and the most carny crew poss---wait, this isn't about SPW?
*ahem*
The second biggest wrestling event of the year is finally here: NXT Takeover Brooklyn 2017 has arrived.
The flagship event of WWE's developmental/third brand (and is seen as its own Wrestlemania) is back from the Barclays Center, Brooklyn in New York the night before one of WWE's Big Four PPVs with SummerSlam. Takeover Brooklyn is night one of four in the Barclays Center. Going by past Takeovers, you won't want to miss this. And Brooklyn has the tendency of bringing the goods big time.
Watch on the WWE Network: Watch from Saturday, August 19, from 8pm EST/5pm PST/1am UK BST/2am CET (look it up elsewhere if you're outside either of those timezones). If you're not a sub already, you can get up to a three month trial on the Network - which will include NXT Takeover Brooklyn, SummerSlam and the subsequent Raw and Smackdown PPVs plus NXT Takeover Houston and Survivor Series in November - for free! All usually for the mighty low price of...
Except for free!*
*For three months
Here's what happened in 2016 along with a small recap of the first Takeover Brooklyn in 2015.
And here's what happened at NXT Takeover Chicago, the last Takeover event before Brooklyn, in May.
Roderick Strong def Eric Young (w Killian Dain, Sawyer Fulton and Alexander Wolfe)
Pete Dunne def Tyler Bate to become the new WWE United Kingdom Champion
Asuka def Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in a triple threat match to retain the NXT Women's Championship
Bobby Roode def Hideo Itami to retain the NXT Championship
Authors of Pain (Rezar and Akam, w Paul Ellering) def #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tomasso 'Hi, I'm Tomasso Ciampa and I'm a bald, friend betraying asshole dick because I'm a selfish bastard twat' Ciampa) in a ladder match to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship
And then, that absolute motherfucker Ciampa did this.
HE TOOK A LADDER FOR YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH. FUCK YOU, CIAMPA, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.
Where was I?
Oh right. NXT Takeover Brooklyn.
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Lets see what's on offer for this year's extrvaganza.
Johnny Gargano vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas
Three months on from that devastating betrayalton by Fuckface Ciampa after the tag match in Chicago (where he also sustained an injury before the match and aggravated during - karma's a B, motherfucker - and thus miss the rest of the year most likely
plzcomebacksoonweneedthisfeudyesterday
This match is a simple two-fold question: how will the addition of Vega have an impact on Almas? And will the events of Takeover Chicago still be on the mind of Gargano?
Aleister Black vs Hideo Itami
Since debuting at NXT Takeover Orlando during Wrestlemania Weekend, Aleister Black has been on a massive roll. Undefeated with a fascinating and interesting to watch style and taking on all comers, including former Ring of Honor vets Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, it seems only likely it'll be a matter of when, not if, Black claims the NXT Championship.
Someone who could have easily been one such person is Hideo Itami. The former KENTA came to NXT in 2014 and seemed like he was earmarked for the title. Unfortunately, a string of injuries over the course of a year-and-a-half saw his standing diminish. Itami got a chance at the title against Bobby Roode in Chicago, but lost. Since that match, Itami has turned heel, been on a path of seeking respect and took out Kassius Ohno, who hasn't been seen on TV since the pair's match during an NXT taping.
Just before Black's match with O'Reilly, Itami stood in the middle of the ring and was demanding respect. What he got was a bit of a kicking from Black which has led to this match.
Do not be shocked if this ends up being MOTN. Because this looks like it could well be.
The Authors of Pain (Rezar and Akam, w Paul Ellering) vs SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe and Killain Dain, w Eric Young and Nikki Cross) for the NXT Tag Team Championship
AOP have been rampant since their debut at NXT Takeover: The End in June 2016. Managed by WWE Hall of Fame manager Paul Ellering, in its first full year, Akam and Rezar won the second Dusty Rhodes Invitational at NXT Takeover Toronto last November, won the NXT Tag Team Championship in San Antonio from #DIY in January, was one-third of quite possibly the WWE MOTY alongside #DIY and The Revival at Takeover Orlando where it successfully retained and managed to keep hold of the belts again after a strong ladder match in Chicago against #DIY.
However, the mission statement from SAnitY has been to takeover NXT (no pun intended) and although its taken a while to kick the plan in motion, the group took its first steps in Nikki Cross taking on Asuka a few times this year through various matches - from triple threats to fatal 4 ways and the like - including a Last Women Standing match which is the best women's match of the year so far and the best non-Takeover NXT match this year to date.
Now, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain of the group are going after Ellering's lot and its gold, the obvious assumption being Cross and leader Eric Young chase both singles titles. Whether AOP will survive the night or not is another guess. Either way, this will mostly be beef-on-beef (baybee -
or should I say baybay?
Bobby Roode vs Drew McIntyre for the NXT Championship
Having come into the WWE main roster in the late 2000s originally as 'The Chosen One', including one or two IC Championship runs, Drew McIntyre subsequently ended up being a jobber alongside Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal (wonder what they've achieved in the past year or so) as 3MB.
McIntyre was released from WWE, but became a superstar on the indies and in TNA, winning titles all over the world. His stock grew in his time away from the company, so when McIntyre was spotted on camera at Takeover Orlando, you knew what was coming. The boy wonder was back and he had a mission to prove: that this is a different Drew McIntyre than the one we knew at the start of the decade.
But standing in his way to become NXT Champion has been the man who's held the title since winning it from Shinsuke Nakamura in San Antonio: Bobby Roode. The two will also face off in Brooklyn with perhaps an elephant in the room in the form of Roderick Strong, who has been hunting Roode when he insulted his family since before the two faced off for the title in an NXT TV episode this summer. Roode interrupted a match between McIntyre and Strong this week on TV, where if Strong won, he'd have a pop at the title regardless of who wins in Brooklyn. Do not be surprised if Strong makes an appearance and costs Roode the title.
Asuka vs Ember Moon for the NXT Women's Championship
You'll notice this is ahead of the NXT Championship match. And here's why: I think this is going to main event Takeover. The reason? Simple: Asuka finally drops the belt here. Whether she loses to Ember Moon or just walks off into the WWE main roster with her perfect record in tact is another question. But I think this is what's going to happen. Plus, its not like we've had Takeovers where the men's title hasn't headlined (Chicago was the first time the tag belts were the main event and, frankly, a women's main event during Takeover has been overly due since Bayley-Sasha II at Takeover Respect, which more feels like a token gesture in hindsight, but that's for another post).
But regardless of who wins or not, Asuka-Ember Moon - were it not for the Triple Threat tag match earlier in the evening - put on the match of the night at NXT Takeover Orlando and was a great match.
Since then, Asuka - who's now surpassed Goldberg's winning streak record in WCW and held the NXT Women's Championship for more than 500 days since beating Bayley for it at NXT Takeover Dallas in April 2016 - defeated Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross in a triple-threat at Takeover Chicago and defeated the latter in an outstanding Last Women Standing match on TV. As for Ember Moon, she sat on the shelf for a few months thanks to Asuka, interrupting a battle royale which led to the triple threat in Chicago in May and causing her an injury. Moon sat out of that match because of said injury, but came back earlier in the summer to get another shot.
It feels like since Asuka-Bayley II at Takeover Brooklyn last year, Moon - who debuted in NXT at the Barclays Center last year - has been the anointed one to finally win the belt from her. Whether she does it or not, we'll have to see, but in this OP's opinion, I've been super enjoying their feud (including their 'Dave Chappelle' nod) and if their match in Orlando is anything, this will be absolutely brilliant.
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Extra Sidenote: Who's going to be that 'OH MY GOD, IT'S THAT GUY ON CAMERA' person at this NXT Takeover?
Every Takeover - or at least, most Takeover events - there's some unsigned superstar in the audience who is then shown on screen and subsequently confirmed to be joining NXT. From Asuka at Brooklyn I to Bobby Roode in Dallas to Drew McIntyre in Orlando and more, rumours have suggested we're going to get another big sighting on Saturday.
Who is it?
(spoilered for those who don't want to know)
...
...
...
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ADAM COLE, BAYBAY!
Several sources, including the Observer, have said he's due to report at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this week. A three-time Ring of Honor champion and a former Bullet Club member, Cole's signing with the WWE has been long rumoured and has even said upfront in interviews that if he joined WWE, he'd like to be in NXT. Do not be shocked if he appears on camera this weekend.
(That said, we may have our first case of a living, breathing zombie considering The Young Bucks were meant to have killed him)
(That said, we may have our first case of a living, breathing zombie considering The Young Bucks were meant to have killed him)
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Pre-Show:
Hour-long pre-show across every platform you think of and on the WWE Network – Presented by Charley Caruso, with Corey Graves, Nigel McGuinness, WWE Hall of Famer Lita and Sam Roberts
/). Starts at 7pm EST/4pm PST/12am UK BST/1am CET.Post-Show:
Post-Takeover Q&A with Triple H presented by Cathy Kelley on Facebook Live at facebook.com/tripleh
And then, three more nights at the Barclays Center with SummerSlam on Sunday, Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live on Tuesday.
And whilst this isn't said with this Takeover in mind, considering the past few Takeover events, this needs to be said:
Prepare for the madness!
