Peter Kostka
We’re back at the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Tom Phillips and Corey Graves.
This Week: TWO #1 contender matches as Samoa Joe faces Sami Zayn and American Alpha face the Vaudevillains. Also, appearances by Asuka and NXT Women’s Champion Bayley.
GM Regal heads to the ring to open the show. He brings up Baron Corbin ruining the debut of Austin Aries last week and says such actions deserve discipline. However, he is not going to suspend Corbin because Aries asked him not to and he officially makes the first match for Takeover: Dallas as Baron Corbin will face Austin Aries. I always love Regal’s to the point “Shit went down, here’s what I’m doing about it, Regal out” GM promos.
Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn make their way to the ring as the stars are out for this big match. Sasha Banks! Hideo Itami! Michael Hayes! Larry Zbyszko! Mauro Renallo! (my wish is that he somehow calls Takeover)
And the guitar player from Tool….for some reason.
After the break are the introductions. They are REALLY making this thing into a big deal, which is awesome.
Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn (2 out of 3 falls for the #1 Contendership to the NXT Championship)
Winner faces NXT Champion Finn Balor at Takeover: Dallas.
Joe tries to get a knockout kick right off the bat as the commentators point out that everything is in play to earn a fall, including knockouts. This is the first in the many little details that are all over this match. Both guys don’t cleanly break in the corner, with Sami grinding his forearm into Sami’s face showing that this is not a contest between friendly rivals. Phillips brings up Sami showing up on RAW and whether or not that will affect his emotions in this match. Sami rolls him up in a La Magistral for 2 and continues to work the arm. Joe strikes himself free and tries to chop Sami’s nipples clean off but Sami leapfrogs him and hits an armdrag that has Joe scurrying to the outside. Sami goes for a dive but springboards back into the ring instead to pose as we take a break.
Joe lays in the kicks and drops an elbow to regain control of the match and methodically starts to beat Sami down, hitting a facewash in the corner with Sami’s AWESOME selling as he makes sure his nose is still attached to his face. Joe unmercifully slugs him down as Sami just crumples to the mat, but he answers with forearms, so Joe muscles him down with an overhead belly to belly. He almost toys with Sami as he feels totally in control, but Sami answers with three HARD clotheslines to drop him. Sami goes up but Joe cuts him off and goes for the Muscle Buster, but Sami squirts free….but Joe cuts him off again and cracks him with a jumping enzigiri for 2. Sami fights back but that just earns him a boot to the face and a running senton for another 2. Sami trips him up and tries to slip in the Koji Clutch, but Joe escapes and snaps him over with a powerslam for 2 and we take another break with no falls made.
Joe treats Sami like his personal punching and chopping bag, but Sami just tells him to bring it to him and answers back, so Joe sweeps his legs out. He charges, but Sami uses the momentum to send Joe to the outside and follows with a springboard moonsault. Sami hits a crossbody for 2 as we are about 25 minutes in with no falls. Sami tries the Blue Thunder Bomb but Joe shifts his weight and squashes him for another 2 before turning Sami inside out with a clothesline. He sets up for the Muscle Buster but Sami fights free and tries to run the ropes, but Joe avoids and splats Sami down with an STO before hitting the Muscle Buster for the first fall.
The bell rings for the second fall and Joe goes right at Sami and goes for another Muscle Buster but Sami resists so Joe just chops him down to the apron. Joe tries again, but Sami again fights free and hits a dropkick. Joe looks to be a bit bloody and the ref keeps Sami back to check on it which stops his momentum but gives him a moment to rest. Joe is pissed off even more now as he jumps on Sami and beats him into the corner, floating over a suplex for a 2 count. He chops and kicks Sami down and tosses him, happy to get his second fall by countout. He emphasizes the point by throwing Sami into the steps and yells at him to “stay down”, but Sami makes it back in at 8. Joe tosses him again and re-emphasizes his point with italics with an STO on the floor, but Sami makes it back in just before ten. Sami fires back and eventually muscles Joe over with a suplex, following up with a dive on Joe to the outside. Joe stops him dead in his tracks back in the ring with a chop, but Sami catches him with the Koji Clutch and Joe taps to even things at 1-1.
The final fall begins with a slugfest as Phillips and Graves bring up that everything else has to be scrapped for tonight since they’ve been going for nearly 40 minutes and still aren’t done. Sami hits the Blue Thunder Bomb for 2 and goes for the Heluva Kick but Joe escapes to the outside. Sami goes up but Joe cuts him off. They fight over a suplex and Sami fights him off to hit a sunset bomb for 2. Joe bails again so Sami comes at him with the tornado DDT through the turnbuckles with Joe doing the D’Von sell, but he makes it back in before getting counted out. Joe catches a Heluva Kick and turns it into a powerbomb for 2 before turning THAT into a crab and then a crossface. Sami reaches for the ropes so Joe pulls his arm back and tells him “think about your career!” but Sami gets his foot on the ropes to break. Joe goes back to the strikes and hits a kick that crumples Sami to the mat. The ref begins the count and Sami makes it up at 8, so Joe adds another flurry of strikes, ending with a jumping enzigiri, but Sami is up at 9. Joe lays in some harsh kicks to knock him down again, but in a rush of adrenaline Sami pops up at three and locks in the Coquina Clutch on Joe! Joe pulls Sami’s leg away to allow him to get his own foot on the ropes to break, but Sami catches him with an Exploder in the corner and looks to finish, but Joe avoids the Heluva Kick and locks in the Coquina Clutch with Sami passing out to give Joe the win and a ticket to Dallas.
I read that this match was going to be divisive as a lot of people thought it was too slow while others were calling it the best match of the year so far. Watching it again, I think I fall in the latter camp. Sure, they could have shaved off some time here and there, but holy crap this was a BATTLE. It is HARD for two guys to go out there for 45 minutes straight and keep it interesting, but the story of focused, heartless, unmerciful Joe trying to pick Zayn apart while Sami shows the heart and fight that has endeared the fans to him was a joy to watch along with some strong commentary from both Graves and Phillips to sell it. I got the NXT Blu-Ray today and was watching that classic Sami/Cesaro 2 out of 3 falls match from 2013 and this match reminded me a LOT of that match and their final match at the first Network special. Sami’s got more heart than NXT than anyone not named Bayley….but sometimes that still isn’t enough when your opponent is just bigger, stronger and wants it just as much (if not more) than you do. I was hoping that we’d see Sami vs. Balor if only because it’s a new matchup and it would have been interesting to see the fans choose sides, but Samoa Joe is the fucking BEST right now and I loved the London match, so bring on the rematch.
OVERALL: Well, here we go. Typically the episodes leading to Takeovers are among the strongest NXT have done and this particular Takeover is shaping up to be an absolutely amazing show. It takes some guts to make an ENTIRE episode just one match, but they had built this up for weeks with the non-finishes and you could tell they wanted to make this into a big deal, which is exactly the reason I care about these characters so much and enjoy watching them. Compare this to the WrestleMania build of “Reigns is winning, just deal with it” and you can understand why people aren’t exactly over the moon for that main event and are getting behind the guy that they accidentally gave his sympathy with the fans to.
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