NXT Takeover: Unstoppable Coverage: Joe is Gunna Kill Who?

The first appearance of Samoa Joe, as well as six awesome matches, ensured that NXT Takeover: Unstoppable was another solid NXT event.

With drama in every title division and plenty of action in the mid-card, you have to wonder what happens next.

Matches:

#1 Contender’s Match: Finn Balor vs. Tyler Breeze: Following Hideo Itami’s injury before the show, this was made into a standard singles match, but it was frenetic and full of offense and counters. Breeze had the early advantage with kicks and a Neckbreaker, but the crowd was firmly behind Balor. It got to the point where Breeze threw a tantrum after Balor was able to escape the ring after Breeze couldn’t get the win with the Super Model Kick and the Beauty Shot. With the match now on the outside, Balor capitalized with a Clothesline from atop a platform. Once back in the ring Balor hit his Turnbuckle Dropkick and finished off Breeze with the Coupe De Grace for the win.

Charlotte Flair and Bayley vs. Dana Brooke and Emma: Flair’s athleticism kept her team in the match when Emma and Brooke showed early chemistry. After Brooke broke up the Figure-8, Bayley hit the Belly-to-Bailey on Brooke, allowing Flair to finish off Emma with the Natural Selection.

Baron Corbin vs. Rhino: A strike-heavy match that played more to Corbin’s strengths. Both monsters went back and forth, with neither one getting a real advantage. Just when it appeared Rhino had the match in hand, hitting the Spinebuster, Corbin countered the Gore into a Clothesline and then hit the End of Days for the win.

NXT Tag Team Champions Blake and Murphy vs. Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore w/Carmella: Amore was simply destroyed as Murphy and Blake hit high-impact moves and double teams. It wasn’t until he hit a jumping DDT fro the second rope and tagged in Cassady that things went in their favor. Casually took out Blake and Murphy with Big Boots and nearly won with the Empire Elbow, but after he tagged in Amore, interference on the top rope from Alexa Bliss allowed Blake and Murphy to clean up the scraps and get the win.

NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch: This was easily one of the best women’s matches in NXT history as Lynch and Banks traded blows and innovated throughout. Banks was clearly in control, working on Lynch’s arm, much to the pleasure of the crowd, who love the heel, but still wanted to see Lynch fight back. When she did, hitting a modified Electric Chair Drop and a Missile Dropkick, the crowd went nuts, but Banks fought back too with strikes. Lynch got back into the match by working on Bank’s arm and soon enough locked in her Arm Bar finisher, but Banks was able to get to the ropes. The action then spilled to the outside, where Lynch countered a Suicide Dive and threw Banks into the ring steps. Once back in, Lynch went to the top, but Banks countered with the Bank Statement and got Lynch to tap out to the Crossface for the win.

NXT Champion Kevin Owens vs. SamI Zayn: The Exploder, Half-Nelson Suplexes, DDT variations and the Blue Thunder Bomb, Zayn threw everything at Owens, but he couldn’t put him away. It just felt like Owens couldn’t get on a roll here, as Zayn brought the fight to Owens early and often. It wasn’t until Owens hit the Pop-Up Powerbomb on the ring apron that Owens started to cook. With the fight on the outside, Owens beat on Zayn and a bunch of referees came in to break it up, but Owens dragged Zayn back into the ring and before he could hit the Powerbomb again, William Regal separated the two before Owens attacked him too before the match was eventually thrown out. Soon enough former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe hit the ring and stared down Owens to end the show.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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