Welcome to another NXTTakeover special as this one took place in Toronto, Canada. I’ll be honest; I was looking forward to this special because of the entire card. We had Samoa Joe trying to regain his NXT title and become the first 2-time champ. On this card, we had the return of Mickie James to the WWE for the first time in over six year. The 2-out-of-3 falls match for the tag team championships was probably the match I was looking forward to the most. Of course, we had one of my favorite wrestlers in the Bobby Roode returning to Canada and the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic. With all of that going on, let’s see how things turned out for this PPV.
We kicked the PPV off with Bobby Roode taking on Tye Dillinger, who both represents Canada. These two started feuding when Roode asked Dillinger to be his partner for the Dusty Rhodes Classic. When they faced Sanity, Roode bailed on Dillinger as Sanity dismantled him. The next few weeks, they attacked one another leading to this match-up at NXTTakeover:Canada. First off, let me say that the entrance of Bobby Roode was AWESOME!!!! The choir being there singing Glorious was crazy and the crowd ate it up. Let’s not forget about the entrance for Dillinger, which the NXT crowd always loves also. The match started out pretty slow with a feeling out process, but the crowd was still going crazy. When they began to wrestle, things really picked up as they even traded offense throughout the match. In the end, Roode continues to rise in NXT as he hit Dillinger with a DDT for the win. Winner: Bobby Roode
Match Rating: 3.75/5- Great Start to the PPV.
This was the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic as The Authors of Pain took on TM-61. Before the match, Paul Ellering had to be enclosed in a cage above the ring because he’s constantly interfering in matches. The match was pretty much what we all expected as TM-61 using their speed and The Authors of Pain relying on their power. There was a great spot early on in the match when Thorne hit a crazy dive from one of the cranes holding up the cage onto The Authors of Pain. Despite, TM-61 hitting some crazy moves, the Authors of Pain were able to ground them and hit their finisher to win the tournament. Winners of the Dusty Rhodes Classic: The Authors of Pain
Match Rating: 3/5- It’s amazing how far the Authors of Pain have come in such a short period of time. They will only get better and will eventually challenge for the NXT tag titles.
This was the two-out-of-three match for the NXT tag team championships. These two teams have been feuding since the last NXTTakeover event in August. The Revival was supposed to face them in the Dusty Rhodes Classic, but they claimed to be injured. In the semi-finals match, they cost DIY the chance to advance to the championship round. After that, Commissioner Regal announced they would face each other one final time for the titles. Let’s just say this match is a must-see if you haven’t caught it already. The first fall went to The Revival pretty quick, but things picked up afterwards. After so many back and forth nearfalls, DIY picked up the win in the second fall. The third fall was filled with emotion, nearfalls, Gargano almost tapping like he did in their first match as the crowd was going NUTS. The match was so intense they almost finished each other off with the other teams finishing maneuver. In the end, DIY won the match and captured the NXT tag team championships in an INSTANT CLASSIC!!! Winners and New NXT Tag Team Champs: DIY- Gargano & Tomasso
Match Rating: 4.75/5- This is up there as one of the best tag matches I’ve ever seen and definitely a Match of the Year candidate. If NXT ever put out a DVD for its best matches, this one needs to be on there. As a matter of fact, Vince make it happen because NXT has had its fair share of match of the year candidates.
The next match was for the NXT Women’s Championship as we saw Mickie James return to face the dominant champ, Asuka. As far as Mickie James, she looked great in this match and one would hope this isn’t a one and done deal. The match was more about mind games than anything as they both played them on each other throughout the match. There were a couple of instances I thought James would capture the championship though. In the end, James fell short as Asuka retained the NXT Women’s title. Winner and Still NXT Women’s Champ: Asuka
Match Rating: 3.25/5- I think if James wanted to stick around, she would be a nice fit on Smackdown Live to give the Women’s division more star power.
We have the main event, which is a rematch for the NXT Championship. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe at the NXTTakeover: Brooklyn back in August to capture the championship. Ever since, Samoa Joe has put Nakamura in the hospital after a vicious attack. Nakamura returned and laid Joe out leading to this match for the championship. If you like an intense and physical match-up, then you’re not going to find one more physical than this one. They beat the hell out of each other from the beginning to the end of the match. At one point, I thought neither one would walk out of this match. They hit each other with knees, elbows and kicks like they were in an MMA match. Towards the end of the match, I thought Nakamura would retain after hitting his finisher, but Joe kicked out. While they were on the outside, Samoa Joe hit him with a low-blow and slammed him on the steel steps. Afterwards, Joe threw him in the ring, hit the Muscle Buster and became the first-ever two-time NXT champ. Winner and New NXT Champ: Samoa Joe
Match Rating: 4.5/5- This was an awesome main event between these two. I was shocked to see Samoa Joe take back the NXT championship because I thought he was headed to the main roster. I’m thinking they’ll have another match in January.
Overall Rating: 8/10- This was an AWESOME NXT special from the beginning to the end. I don’t know where I would rank this one, but let’s just say it was really good. Below are my top 3 matches.
- The Revival vs. DIY
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe
- Booby Roode vs. Tye Dillinger
What did you think about NXTTakeover: Canada? Did it live up to your expectations? What was your favorite match of the night? Head to the comments section below and give me some feedback.
