NXT Takeover Brooklyn III Results and Review The GOAT of WWE Shows Up

Black vs Itami - SRC wwe.com

The WWE is a massive company, and their mainstream offerings on a weekly basis are not exactly always good. I don’t keep up with NXT nearly as much as I will be doing in the future, but I did manage to take a break from my writing to see this show this morning, and well, I’m blown away by a lot of things. The WWE got something right, and it’s interesting to see it, but there are some imperfections here and there.

WWE NXT Takeover Brooklyn III Results and Review

Andrade “CIen” Almas defeated Johnny Gargano

Did someone tell Almas that his job was on the line? He not only seemed a bit more fit, he was taking on Gargano in a serious fashion. The back and forth between the two was accelerating, and quite fascinating to see. However, the quick “no selling” by both men kind of took me for a loop. Some call it “indie”, I call it poor selling. I’m sure that it is warranted now and then, but even Ric Flair’s flurries would end with him falling on his face in fatigue after attacking his opponents sometimes. Almas here got the better of Gargano, but not without cheating, and that is perhaps telling. Gargano gets a DIY shirt thrown at him, and boom, Almas capitalizes. Almas is a great wrestler, if the WWE would let him just explode like he did in Mexico. This was as close as you’re going to see to his original charismatic self, but it took Gargano putting on a clinic for him to reveal it.

Sanity defeated The Authors of Pain for the Tag Team Championships

I love Nikki Cross. She is one hell of a performer, and a beautiful lady if you ask me. But this is about the match, and the Authors of Pain putting on a show with Sanity. Sanity brought out all of their tools, and the two brawled until we started to see the wheels come off. Sanity played the numbers game, and Nikki Cross with Dame’s interference was amazing. The logic of this match was great with that finish. Cross jumps off the top rope on the outside and gets caught by one of the Authors of Pain, then Dame runs straight for them both, tackling them into a table! That leaves one guy open against 2, and that ended the match, before the “indie” darlings showed up. I’m not impressed by those guys yet, but it should be interesting to see what goes down moving forward. Great match, with some solid concepts, and a great finish, and again I love Nikki Cross.

Aleister Black defeated Hideo Itami

Black and Itami put on a strong style showcase and I enjoyed it greatly. Black was not backing down and Itami wasn’t either, breaking Black’s nose at one point. Jim Ross doing commentary was great, but the match itself was hard hitting, and showed the future of WWE in some sense. The counters the two put on, quick thinking, and smart psychology ruled in this match. There was even spots that didn’t take away from one wrestler’s fatigue, but was desperation, like Bret Hart’s reversals sometimes. I loved the way they blended together, and how Itami mocked Black at one point. I don’t like Black’s finisher, but hey, it is what it is. This match was hard hitting, but not with a lot of slow down, though it did appear. Black is great here, but WWE will surely screw him up like they did with Corbin.

Asuka defeated Ember Moon

Ember Moon put on a major show against Asuka. While I did not like this match as much as the Nikki Cross vs Asuka Last Woman Standing match, I did appreciate this for what it was. Moon not being able to put away Asuka. However, the natural conclusion of this match should have been when Moon hit her finisher, dead center of the ring. I don’t know where you go from there. Asuka won after trying to cheat, and eventually made Moon tapped out. I would’ve like Asuka to win by cheating, and develop that side of her character, leading to a match where she couldn’t cheat, but nope. Moon loses, and Asuka’s title reign continues.

Drew McIntyre defeated Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship

This match was hard hitting, and perhaps one of the best I’ve seen from Roode. Roode took on McIntyre’s best here. The bagpipe players from the NYPD were amazing for Drew, and he looked poised to get the big win here. He did it, but not without taking on Roode at every possible configuration of moves. That included the outside, off the top rope, and several DDTs. While there were moments of slow down, it wasn’t so bad that I wanted to stop watching. The two really did well together, and Roode may be poised for other things. Roode seemed to have suffered a nice big bruise on his quad, which looked nasty.

Post-match Adam Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly came out to beat up McIntyre. They are indie darlings from what I hear, and well, I didn’t care, I had already seen 6 or so hours of Summerslam and didn’t want to watch any more.

NXT Takeover Brooklyin III was certainly a great show. After seeing Summerslam, I can say that this was a better showcase of the WWE talent roster. I did not like Summerslam nearly as much. While the lack of fireworks was lame, the live performances were great, and the future looks bright for WWE, assuming they don’t homogenize these guys on the main roster like they have with Corbin, and Nakamura.