Where do I even begin? What a show, what a night! Takeovers are always a big show for me and this one continues the tradition! With only a few lowlights, one of the being surprisingly the match between Gargano and Balor. For those reading this that know me and my love of wrestling, you already know this was my match of the night pick. Instead I feel it was the weakest on the card. But enough about that, you know what I didn’t like, let’s talk about what worked for me.

Keith Lee vs. Dominic Dijakovic: what an opener! This match could have easily ended the night, and would have been possibly better served running in the spot that Balor vs. Gargano did. From both big men delivering devastating blows to each other to performing insane feats of agility, this was an incredible match that had me glued from start to finish. Watching a man of Keith Lee’s stature perform a hurricanrana on a 6’ 7”, 200+ pounder astounds me, but then watching said 6’ 7” man perform a springboard dive on Lee in an announcers chair floored me much as it did Lee! As one of my few complaints, and this is a normal complaint for me with NXT, the false finishes detract a bit after the fourth or fifth one, but the crowd loved it regardless and these two guys killed it. 4 1/2 🌟

Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox: Standard grudge match, not much to write home about for me. Cool to see Kai get a W, but it was exactly what I expected. Had some hard hitting moments, but my interest waned fairly early on. Honestly, this and the following match are the definite meh moments of the night for me. I’m a fan of Kai, but she’s definitely not shaking off all the talk I hear of her being Baylee 2.0 is sounding more and more plausible. But, that’s neither here nor there. 2 1/2 🌟

Gargano vs. Balor: Man, I feel let down Johnny. Finn… you guys could have done much better. I pegged this originally as a pick for MOTN. And while it was a serviceable match, and the ending and Finn’s posturing make him look suitably badass, the match was just… not captivating. And this is from a big fan of both these guys. That may have honestly swayed me in one direction or another, as I put this one high in my list. Some really cool notable moments like The Dropkick into Finn into the barricade, Johnny being dropkicked into said same barricade from the FREAKING ANNOUNCERS TABLE, and Johnny trying to put Finn away with the 1916, saved it from being lower in my list. it still felt weak compared to the rest of the show excluding a few matches. I hope we get to see them go at it again, and we get a better match, but time will tell. 3 🌟

Bianca Bel Air vs. Rhea Ripley: another of my actual picks for MOTN, I was definitely not let down, but it didn’t wow me as I hoped it would. But it did get across how truly strong and athletic Bel Air can be, and also cemented Ripley as a credible and strong champion. I’m also very glad that Bel Air doesn’t use the braid whip gimmick as often as she did when I first saw her at the Mae Young classic, as I feel it betrayed her actual skill in the ring. I’m very high on Bel Air right now, and when her time comes, she will be an incredible champion. With that being said, ya boy isn’t a Charlotte fan, and her making the predictable appearance to announce that she will indeed be choosing Ripley as her opponent for the championship match at Mania. Part of me hopes she does win and that Bianca is the one to remove the smugness from her. That’s my dream, anyway! 3.75 🌟

The Broserweights vs Fish/O’Reilly (UE): what can I say? Nothing, my jaw was on the floor for most of this match! And I do this every time, I overlook the NXT tag team match and always, ALWAYS, come back blown away. Intense, hard hitting, and pure fun. A good tag team match goes a LONG WAY in my humble opinion, and this one went the distance! I love watching O’Reilly sell and this was no different from the norm. He could possibly outsell Ziggler! So many top moments, including tandem submission attempts, Pete Dunne doing terrible things to fingers, the CRAZY strikes of both O’Reilly and Riddle, to some crazy showing of strength from Fish. just hit me with more of this all the time! I did not expect new champions, but we indeed got just that, which I am fine with because I want more broserweights in my life! And if this all culminates in Dunne vs. Riddle eventually, even better. Can’t say enough about this one, Match of the Night! 4.75 🌟

Ciampa vs. Cole: And we wind down the night with an absolute banger. As hard hitting as I expected it to be, ciampa is quickly cementing himself as one of my favorites in all of NXT, and as someone who has followed him since some of his ROH work, I’m super proud of what he’s accomplished here, not to take anything away from Cole, who is also another favorite. Both guys put their hearts, souls, and bodies on the line in this match and left so much in the ring. From crazy bumps on announce tables, to insane false finishes (a small low point for me, but still thrilling to the audience), to the Undisputed Era getting involved, this one ticked all the right boxes and even reinvigorated an old feud, which does feel a little forced in this regard, but I feel we will most definitely be left with a great explanation. I do wish the match had ended a little less dirty, but it still ended the way I thought it might, and the ride to get to that finish was a crazy ride, third on my top matches of the night list, it was another scorcher ending for Takeover. 4 🌟

Alright, so I’ve rambled out my thoughts on what is my longest article to date, hope you guys liked it. Overall I give the show a nice 4 1/2 star rating, it is high among my takeover list. Until next time, when life tries to pin you, always kick out at two! See you guys next time!