NXT Takeover Brooklyn IV Review: Amazing

It’s that time of the year again when New York City gets to have its fill of the black and yellow brand. TakeOver: Brooklyn has consistently delivered on match quality with instant classics such as Bayley vs. Banks at the first TakeOver: Brooklyn event. This year was expected to be no different with highly anticipated bouts such as Adam Cole vs. Ricochet and especially Gargano-Ciampa three.

A special mention goes for the King of Bros, Matt Riddle who appeared in the crowd during the show. He’s an incredibly talented wrestler who will make waves in NXT.

Matches:

Moustache Mountain: Tyler Bate and Trent Seven vs.NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed Era: Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong: This match started off white hot with it breaking out into an all-out brawl almost immediately. Mustache Mountain and Undisputed Era would trade blows much to the delight of the fans until Bate and Seven would sucker punch UE with Bop and Bang. Dueling Chants of, “Undisputed!” and, “Moustache Mountain!” would ensue, filling the Barclays Center. Tyler Bate would showcase his surprising strength with a combination Airplane spin/ Cesaro Swing and a Double German Suplex. At only twenty-one years of age, Bate is a master at getting the crowd behind him. He has infinite potential and consistently has fantastic matches. The match would once again devolve into a slugfest backed by a chorus of, “This is awesome!” After taking the fight outside the ring, Bate would hit a particularly impressive Rebound Lariat off of the bottom rope onto Strong, following up with Tyler Driver 97 and a two-count. O’Reilly would end this rally with an Imanari Roll into an Inside Heel Hook submission, trying to force Bate to tap out. O’Reilly is quietly one of the best performers in NXT. He exudes charisma, his strikes always come off as dangerous and is smooth as silk when it comes to technical wrestling. Seven would consider throwing in the towel, before tossing it into the crowd. Undisputed Era would eventually hit Seven with the High-Low Knee Smash/Legsweep for the pinfall victory and would retain their NXT Tag Team Championships. Even though Mustache Mountain lost, they’re destined for big things on the UK brand.

After the match, the War Raiders: Hanson and Rowe would sneak up behind Undisputed Era and would pummel them, hitting their particularly brutal brand of offense, and capitalizing it with a massive assisted Leg Drop.

Velveteen Dream vs. EC3: An interesting Heel v.s. Heel bout with the crowd firmly behind Velveteen Dream. EC3 would overpower Velveteen early, shoving him into the corner and tossing him around. EC3 would continue to showcase his strengths with some kicks to the midsection of Velveteen, sending him to the outside. Velveteen Dream would swiftly gain control with a sinister Twisting DDT on the entrance ramp. Velveteen Dream would continue his offense with a Rude Awakening for a two-count. The pair would take things to the outside where Velveteen would repeatedly slam EC3’s head into the announce table and throw water in his face. After getting back into the ring, the Top One Percenter would reply with an STO. The pair would trade blows until EC3 would hit a Stinger Splash and a Rolling Neck Snap for a two-count. After attempting multiple Superkicks, Dream would get his face driven into the mat by EC3. A series of Powerbombs by EC3 would lead to another two-count. Dream would finally land a Superkick and a Rolling Dream Valley Driver for two. He would follow up with another Dream Valley Driver and Purple Rainmaker on the apron for the three-count and the win.

It’s nice to see Velveteen finally winning a TakeOver match. Hopefully, this win means a title opportunity for him, as his antics make every feud he’s in entertaining, and having gold around his waist would only elevate him.

Ricochet vs. NXT North American Champion Adam Cole: In what was quite possibly match of the night, Ricochet would challenge Adam Cole for the NXT North American Championship. The bout would begin with some buttery-smooth chain wrestling where Cole would nearly nail Ricochet with a Superkick. Continuing the technical wrestling showcase, Cole would attempt to ground the High-Flyer, dragging him down to the mat. The Panama City Playboy would have Ricochet incredibly well scouted, having an answer for every move until Ricochet would send Cole flying to the outside with a Dropkick as Cole went for a Leapfrog. This was the story of the match. Would Ricochet’s death-defying stunts be enough to overcome Cole’s incredible ring awareness? Cole would respond by throwing Ricochet from the top rope to the floor and slamming him into the guardrail. Ricochet would try to hit a Lionsault, but Cole had it scouted. He would nail Ricochet with a Superkick to the jaw mid-flight, and follow up with another Ushigoroshi and a cover for two, as the crowd would erupt in cheers of “This is awesome!” The pair would then trade blows with the crowd reeling with every shot. Cole would expose his knee and attempt to hit the Last Shot, but Ricochet would duck it and drill Cole’s head into the mat with a Frankensteiner. Ricochet would then send Cole to the outside with a leaping Hurricanrana, throw Cole back into the ring, and hit the gravity-defying 630 Senton for the win, and to become new NXT North American Champion. Both of these men left everything in the ring and come out looking stronger than ever.

Hopefully, Cole will move up to Raw or Smackdown soon because the possibilities are endless when it comes to potential feuds. Who wouldn’t want to see him mixing it up with fellow former Bullet Club member AJ Styles, or even someone like Dean Ambrose who just returned from injury and is in need of someone to lock horns with. The possibilities are endless and whoever he does wind up feuding with next can only benefit from working with someone so talented.

Kairi Sane vs.NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler: After defeating Baszler in the finals of the Mae Young Classic, and Baszler returning the favor on an episode of NXT, the two competitors would lock horns once again in their rubber match, this time with the title on the line. Both of these women are supremely talented in their own right. Thanks to the bad blood between the two, this was less of a wrestling match and more of an all-out brawl. Almost immediately the two would trade strikes, with Sane hitting a head-scissors takedown into a basement dropkick to send the champion to the floor, and following up with a flying lariat. Baszler would cut Sane’s offense short with a dropkick to the challenger’s right shin. Baszler would then continue to target Sane’s leg, repeatedly stomping on her ankle. The mean-streak of Baszler would continue as she would contort Sane’s leg into some particularly brutal directions, and then once again stomp on her knee. Baszler would attempt a Kirifuda Driver, but Sane would counter with a lightning-quick Spear, and finally hit an InSane Elbow to the back of Baszler.

Not satisfied with the punishment she just dished out, Sane would climb back up to the top rope for another Elbow Drop, but Baszler would roll to the outside. Sane then responded with a flying cross-body and another InSane Elbow, although shockingly, Baszler would kick out at two. This is the first time anyone in WWE has kicked out of the move, let alone two of them. Baszler would quickly counter a submission attempt from Sane into a Kirifuda Clutch, but Sane would reach the rope in time. Sane would once again go for her patented Elbow Drop, but Baszler would get her knees up in time, and lock in another Kirifuda Clutch. But the ever-crafty Sane would roll over into a cover, pinning Baszler and becoming new NXT Women’s Champion. Even though Baszler lost due to her inexperience in the ring, she’s leaving Brooklyn looking as dangerous as ever.

If this means she’s headed to the main roster, it would be interesting to see her feud with fellow Four-Horsewoman of MMA, Rhonda Rousey, instead of rekindling her friendship with her.

Last Man Standing Match: Johnny Gargano vs. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa: The former D.I.Y. members have had quite the feud since Ciampa attacked Gargano at TakeOver: Chicago last year. After trading wins, the pair were itching for their third bout. What was originally going to be a triple-threat match between the two and former champion Aleister Black wound up becoming a Last Man Standing Match after Black became unable to compete due to injury. The bout would start off hot, with Gargano immediately attacking Ciampa. It’s clear the pair know each other inside and out, as the two countered move after move until Ciampa would shove Johnny Wrestling into the steel steps. Gargano would fire back by throwing Ciampa into the barricade. As the two continued to brawl at ringside Ciampa would pick Johnny up and slam him through the Spanish announce table with an Air-Raid Crash in a nice callback to that unforgettable moment in Chicago last year. After getting hold of a steel chair, we would get a glimpse of the ultimate underdog’s dark side as he would brutalize Ciampa with it, and then wedge it between the second and third ropes, attempting to throw Ciampa into it like a lawn dart. This dark side that he’s been showing has led many to believe he would turn heel. The champ would then counter by locking on a Sleeper Hold, trying to get Johnny to pass out. After that didn’t work the first time, Ciampa would lock the sleeper hold on again. This time Ciampa would climb up to the top rope for leverage, but Gargano would finally throw his nemesis into the chair. Johnny would then set up a vicious mess of steel and wood as he stacked an inverted table on top of another one. Gargano would attempt to suplex Ciampa over the ropes onto the setup, but Ciampa would fight back hitting a trio of German Suplexes. He would continue the assault by grabbing the steel chair from before and beating his opponent with it.

The Champ then hit a hat-trick of Project Ciampas, a Power-Bomb Lungblower. Expecting this to be the end of the match, Ciampa would sit on the steel chair to a chorus of boos. Ciampa is unrivaled when it comes to drawing heat. His ability to manipulate the crowd is astounding. The match would once again devolve into a slugfest as the two would trade stiff strikes. After taking things to the outside, Gargano would go for a Cannonball off of the apron, but Ciampa would side-step it, sending Johnny Wrestling to the floor with a sickening thud. Ciampa would capitalize by planting Johnny face-first on the steel steps with a Double-Underhook FaceBuster in what was the most dangerous looking moment of the match. The firey babyface would barely make it to his feet by the count of ten. Ever the sadist, Ciampa would pull up the padding on the ring, exposing the plywood underneath, calling back to his win in Chicago earlier this year. Johnny would then blind Ciampa with a fire extinguisher and then punish him with a crutch. Tomasso would then try to DDT Johnny onto the exposed wood, but Gargano would counter with an Enzugiri and return the favor with a DDT of his own. Johnny would accidentally Superkick a time-keeper and then get rocked by a knee from Ciampa with a steel chair in front of it for good measure. Then in what was the funniest moment of the night, Ciampa would throw everything he could find, including the timekeeper, onto Gargano. Johnny would muster all of his might and barely crawl out of the pile at the count of nine. A frustrated champion would attempt to handcuff the challenger, but Johnny would counter and send Ciampa crashing through the inverted table with a Superkick.

Ciampa then used the broken crutch to get to his feet by the ten count and chants of, “fight forever!” would ensue. The two would take things up the entrance ramp, and Johnny would handcuff Ciampa to the stage. After slamming his head into the set and repeatedly Superkicking an apologetic Ciampa, Johnny would pull down his knee pad and would slam the Champ with a running knee strike but in the process wiping out on the set. The pain would be too much for Gargano as Ciampa would barely roll over onto his feet before the count of ten, but Johnny Wrestling couldn’t do the same.

After a half-hour long battle, Ciampa would retain his NXT Title. Once again Johnny Wrestling’s desperation would cost him, continuing his trend of disappointing losses. The future is uncertain for The Whole Shebang, and the world is waiting to see what his mental state will be like following this devastating loss.