Went to Takeover: Orlando

I took in Takeover tonight and, after going to see Dallas last year, this had a lot to live up to…..and it really didn’t come close. This will be the short version and I’ll get the regular review up ASAP, though the hotel’s wi-fi is spotty at best so please bear with me.

Dark matches:

Heavy Machinery b. Bollywood Boyz. I wasn’t in the arena yet as I got a bit lost on my way there but I can’t imagine this was anything out of the ordinary.

Peyton Royce b. Aliyah in about 3 minutes with a fisherman’s suplex. Aliyah got a very nice pop and looked better than she has before.

Oney Lorgan b. El Vagabundo in about five minutes with a rollup. Vagabundo was clearly Elias Samson in a mask and he even had a guitar for a song before the match. Oney got the mask off and won almost immediately in a not great match.

To the main card.

Eight person tag. Fun live but I can see how it might not be as great on TV. The place freaked when Ohno was announced and it was 100% the right call. He’s been heavily featured in recent weeks and it made no sense to not have him on here in some capacity. I really don’t know what they’re doing with Tye but LET HIM BEAT SOMEONE ALREADY.

Edge and Beth were shown and the place went nuts of course.

Aleister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas. I couldn’t see what the grave entrance was from where I was sitting (three seats from the top of the building) but people seemed impressed. The match was fine with Black getting to show off. The main issue here though was an upper deck section (220) trying to take over the show with a bunch of chants about how they were the best section. Then on every near fall they would shout “1-2-20!” It got REALLY old in a hurry and took me completely out of the match.

Tag Team Titles. Love the new belt designs. This was on its way to being match of the year so far (yeah spare me New Japan fans) until DIY went out. You could feel the energy go out of the arena as it was obvious that the Authors were winning. The place absolutely lost it when DIY and Revival teamed up for the finishers but once the double submission didn’t work, you knew it was over. I get the idea of both small teams are going up but right now, people want to see DIY and Revival doing awesome sequences, not two huge guys who do standard power moves.

Women’s Title. It seemed like these two were beating the heck out of each other and that’s a good thing. Asuka FINALLY going heel is the right move too as it makes her look vulnerable and gives her A TON of people to feud against. Ember will likely get a rematch, Ruby Riot would be a perfect opponent, Kimber Lee was wrestling at Axxess and Nikki Cross never got a one on one match. The division is suddenly flush with strong talent and that’s a very good thing.

Excuse me for one second.

FREAKING YES DREW IS BACK!!!!!

Sorry, back now. I saw Drew have an incredibly entertaining match on Friday and then got to meet him on Saturday. The more I see/hear from him, the more I love the guy. When I was at the SuperShow on Friday, I asked the guy next to me why Drew isn’t in the main event scene like NOW. Well apparently he was 24 hours away from debuting with NXT so I’m much happier.

NXT Title. The more I think about this match, the more I like it. They certainly took their time and built up a great match with Roode winning clean in the end, as he should. That’s the style you expect from someone like Roode and I thought it worked very well, especially near the end.

As you might expect, Nakamura got the big sendoff after the show. I recorded it (and filmed it sideways without shaking) so once it’s rendered on YouTube, I’ll throw it up.

It was a good show and a fun three hours (counting pre-show matches) but felt like one of the lesser Takeovers. With all the talent that’s been taken from them and the booking seeming to say that more people are leaving, there wasn’t much else they could do. I’ll save the rating for the review but it was feeling B-ish.

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