Fan Feedback: WWE Survivor Series & NXT TakeOver
TakeOver Toronto:
– Best Match: Mickie James vs. Asuka, Gargano and Ciampa vs Revival
– Worst match: TM61 vs Authors of Pain
I thought this was the best WWE event of the year so far. Asuka might have had her best WWE match with Mickie James, honestly. People will, rightly, be talking about Revival vs G&C as a match of the year candidate, and Joe vs. Nakamura was much better than their first one, had the perfect energy, and made me excited to see what happens next.
Roode vs. Dillinger was a perfect (10) opener, and I didn’t know if anything would beat it after it started, with people losing their minds before the guys even touched, but the second hour blew that away tremendously, which is saying a lot. Don’t think tm61 or the authors were necessarily ready yet with the match they had. It was good, but easily the worst thing on the card and one of the most forgettable NXT matches we’ve had, I thought.
Survivor Series:
– Best match: Survivor Series men’s singles elimination, Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
– Worst match: None
Well, I didn’t expect that to happen. Curious as all get out what the plan for both guys is now, which, I guess, is the point. My overarching hope is that they use both guys as ways to elevate their younger guys, assuming this all isn’t just some part of the master plan to still try and get Roman over (maybe the whole “I might have injured the boss’ son” thing put an end to that anyway, but somehow I doubt it.) Wyatt vs. Goldberg or Owens vs. Goldberg would be a great way to get a new heel over strong, but somehow I think Cena vs. Goldberg or Undertaker vs. Goldberg or Roman vs. Goldberg is far more likely. With Brock, if he’s around, now there’s a lot more interesting things that can happen. Outside of the main event,
I thought the cruiserweight, IC and other Survivor Series matches were fine, if not exhilarating. The way some of these things were set up was great, I hope they actually follow through (like giving Sheamus and Cesaro the tag belts.) The men’s elimination match I thought was great. This and the 2014 match were probably the best two Survivor Series style matches they’ve done in a while. Shane looked like he got hurt, so that was cause for concern, but other than that I thought that a) they kept Owens protected which is nice because they haven’t made him look as good as he should be recently b) The Strowman storyline made sense, and worked to do what it needed to c) they protected AJ solidly well and laid groundwork for either Taker being pissed at AJ or Cena being upset at Dean d) Jericho and Owens slow build to a break up kept going e) Nobody is going to like Roman almost ever at this point, but they worked around that and f) They made AJ look strong in how he went out, and by him making everyone else look great.
AJ and Owens, to me, are two of the three best wrestlers in the world right now, and them getting treated like that even some of the time makes me happy. Shane did what you expect Shane to do, and he got the crowd into it, what else could you want? Overall a good show, if a bit long, not as good of a night as the previous night, but I think they men’s singles Survivor Series might have been the match of the weekend, honestly.
– Jonathan Beckner
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SS: Thumbs in the MIddle
– Best Match: 10-Man Traditional Survivor Series Men’s Match
– Worst Match: Kallisto vs Brian Kendrick
I attended the Survivor Series show tonight in Toronto. Attending the show live, with all the energy, hype and atmosphere, it made an otherwise dull and confusing show, at least a thumbs in the middle. I feel like if I watched this at home on the Network, it would have been a thumbs down.
The crowd was pretty lively and energetic in general, but they never seemed to reach the levels that they did for the NXT show yesterday. What hurt the show was the lack of heat in any of the matches. Aside from Roman Reigns, no one really had any heat. This really hurt the emotions (or lack thereof) that you would anticipate for the matches. Additionally, some of the match endings and eliminations (in the traditional SS matches) were confounding. This included the ending to the Cruiserweight match, the early elimination of New Day (the tag champions on Raw?!), the ambiguous elimination of Shane McMahon (it was very confusing to the live crowd, with chants of “bullshit” immediately after), the Goldberg/Lesnar match.
The 10-Man men’s tag was easily the best match of the night. Nothing on the show prior to it felt like it was on the level of this match, and you could feel it within the energy of the crowd. There were fun and exciting spots, interesting head-to-heads, twists and turns. It wasn’t perfect, but it was entertaining, albeit perhaps 15 minutes too long.
Everyone in the building was on their feet for the Goldberg Vs Lesnar match. There was clear strong support for Goldberg. The quick short win was both exciting and confusing to the live crowd; everyone was shocked at the length and ending. At first everyone seemed happy that Goldberg won, but almost immediately after he stepped back behind the curtains, the crowd seemed to turn on the whole show with “bullshit” chants as everyone was leaving the building. It was perplexing that they didn’t have more of a competitive match, but if Goldberg is indeed returning, I guess it makes sense.
All in all, it was a 2 match show, but I think only one really delivered.
Biggest pops for the night: 1) Chris Jericho, 2) Goldberg, 3) Kevin Owens/AJ Styles. The most over thing though, was Tye Dillinger’s “10” chant… it was non-stop throughout the show. Biggest heat, by far, Roman Reigns. This man was nuclear heat to the Toronto crowd.
– Jeff Lam | Toronto, Ontario
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THUMBS UP!
All the matches were great that I saw (missed a few of the early ones). If pressed to pick the best match, I would say the Tag Team match. Great energy from the crowd.
Worst match was Kendrick – Kalisto, which wasn’t bad, but was on a very tough spot in the card. The ending also hurt it. I missed some of the buildup for this, but was it made clear that Raw would keep the Cruiserweights despite a loss, as long as the title didn’t change hands? I think that is a significant detail.
The Goldberg squash match was unbelieveable. If he never comes back, it will be kind of disappointing, but I think this might be a way to give him more time to prepare for a longer match. Strange that they ended so early, too — show if off the air at about 10:30 — can’t remember the last time that happened.
A great night of wrestling. Another exciting element is how we might see Undertaker v AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble.
– Richard Orloski
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WWE Survivor Series
Thumbs Up
– Best Match: Tag Team Elimination Match
– Worst Match: Brian Kendrick vs Kalisto
Clearly there has been some recalculation on the part of WWE concerning Bill Goldberg, since his first in-ring promo a month ago, where he said “Brock Lesnar – You’re Last.”
In the real world, Goldberg would have done exactly what he did tonight – back up his words with a 1:27 squash of Brock Lesnar. Then he hugged his wife, kissed his son, high-fived the fans, then brought his son into the ring to celebrate with him before leaving triumphant.
And he would fade away and disappear.
But this being pro wrestling, the storyline continues tomorrow night. The finish will draw eyeballs to RAW. The WWE will either open the show with a Paul Heyman rant, or tease that Heyman and Lesnar are in the building and demanding airtime. Or they will just show up and Lesnar throws around everyone like a maniac, causing a no decision in the main event.
Or they do nothing. Not this week, not next week. Nothing until perhaps the Royal Rumble. But at some point Brock Lesnar is going to return, and he is going to return pissed. And nothing will placate him except another match… with Bill Goldberg.
And that match will be at…..WrestleMania. Okay, I’m watching.
– Jeff Cohen | Flushing, NY
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The show was Fantastic thumbs up for sure. Best match live in terms of reaction was Nakamura vs Joe crowd was up for it pretty much the entire match also Mickie vs Asuka. was great. worst match for me was the Tag Title match as for some reason there was a Chris Benoit chant which just took a few people out of the match in my section. we think it was coming from the another part in the area not sure if it made the broadcast or not. My friend and I were also concerned about Paul Ellering in the cage and it swayed back and forth way to much and my friend thought it was too high above the ring. Not one bad match on the show. My biggest criticism of the show was that they did not show the entrances on the screens so it was hard to see some of them.
– Abbie Brander
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Thumbs Up
– Best Match: Revival v DIY (close call)
– Worst Match: Authors v TM61
Watched Sunday afternoon On Demand due to a conflict. Shocked at the Joe win. Figured he would be losing and coming up. The tag title match was insane. Just keep building to level after level. The Joe Nakamura match was awesome but not quite as good aa the former.
Have to throw in that the Boston house show was probably just as good. Wish the Cedric v Roderick match made it to this card would have been icing to the cake!
Michael OBrien | Brockton MA
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NXT Takeover: Thumbs Up
– Best Match: Revival vs. DIY
– Worst Match: Authors of Pain vs. TM61
Another excellent event from NXT. Loved the Tag Team Title match. Still wish this translated to tag team wrestling on the main roster instead of those two minute matches we see most of the time.
Really had no complaints about this show from Roode vs. Dillinger to the Women’s Title to the NXT Title. Even the worst of the matches had some good stuff in it. Hope Survivor Series can even come close to what they did and it will be a good show, but that is a high standard to live up to.
– Robb Block
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Thumbs up (I’d give it a B+ overall) to the show.
– Best match – 2/3 falls tag title with DIY over The Revival
– Worst match – Dusty tournament final (It was what it was, not awful)
Is it bad that I expected more from Joe vs. Nakamura than I’ve seen in the first two? Joe got hardwayed worse the first match, but chemistry seems off. it’s not heat, but unsure if Joe was hurt going in (taped up knee). Still great though . ..
Asuka/Mickie was very well done, and could they meet again following Asuka’s post match snub? Also, if Chris Colt were alive today, I’d like to think he’d be a fan of Asuka’s.
Speaking of chemistry, the tag title match was awesome. I can’t figure out if this was better than Brooklyn, but maybe should be judged on its own because of the stipulation.
Roode/Dillinger was a very good opener. Plenty of heat, little high spots. But I almost think that Rhodes entrance is more over than he is in the ring.
– Jeff Flynt
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Huge thumbs up live!!! Just an incredible atmosphere!! I think we were just so excited to finally get a PPV here again, the addition of Takeover just made everyone even more rabid! Hope Survivor Series is just as much fun!
Best match: Tag title match definitely delivered! Next for me would be Joe/Nakamura.
Worst match: Definitely Dusty classic. Just felt “there”.
Just a small observation: I’m more of a casual WWE viewer, so I don’t know how recent a development this is, but I noticed that the tag rope was used in every tag match, including the pre show women’s tag. Seeing that made me happy 🙂
– Doug Mah
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Roode-Dillinger: Good match I like this more aggressive tye he is super over with crowd and is getting better every match working them. Bobby is just solid at everything I came in expecting Bobby to win but started to believe tye could pull of the huge upset. I saw these 2 go at a house show in fort pierce they put on a hell of a show with tye going over to send us home happy.
AOP-TM-61: Ok match I felt both teams had allot to prove here I think TM-61 took a step in the right direction showing more off their athleticism and strength which they will need to continue to do to over. There was little reaction from toronto and little reaction at the house shows I’ve seen them at. AOP are just bashing bullies and they play the role well I think they stayed to the gimmick and that’s all they need to do right now.
Revival-#DIY: Wow just wow. The revival continue to show they are the best heel tag team in the industry with all their shenanigans and chicanery and smash mouth wrestling I love hating these 2. DIY play the underdog roles extremely well sometimes a little campy but you cant help to root for them and they being excitement and unpredictability to every match. I hope we see these 2 get to shine 1 more time at the next takeover I cant imagine them topping this match.
Asuka-Mickie: Good back and forth match never did I believe Mickie had a chance here but she did have asuka retreating a few which did show her as a worthy opponent. The ending was pretty abrupt and not satisfying but im guessing these 2 did not have much in ring time together before hand so that has to be taken into account. I think if they have a rematch it will be much better. I do like Asuka seeming over confident and not shaking hands at the end they seem to have been teasing a heel turn for some time.
Nakamura-Joe: Great physicality in this match you really got the feel these 2 hate each other. Nakamura not selling continues to bother me he yelling in pain with his legs one minute the next hes running and throwing his legs around like nothing. Joe as the menacing brute is the best joe he is still very athletic even pushing 40 this was a surprise ending for me and I look forward to see where they take it from here.
– Carlos Lopez
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Thumbs Up
– Best Match: DIY vs The Revival
– Worst Match: Authors of Pain vs TM61
Another tremendous NXT show. These always feel like big events, in some cases even more than the WWE PPVs. Loved the Nakamura and Roode entrances. It’s amazing how they feel like bigger stars than almost everyone on the main roster.
I thought the Tag Title Match edged out the main event for best match of the night. The main event finish actually felt a bit flat to me.
A few quick thoughts:
– Authors of Pain do absolutely nothing for me. Maybe I don’t watch the weekly shows enough, but I see nothing but nondescript big men.
– Great performance by Mickie James. I wouldn’t mind seeing her in a veteran roll on NXT
– Nakamura is the most charismatic wrestler in the world. But we knew this.
– Gargano is one of the best at selling in the business. Always been a fan, but it’s great to see him grow on a big stage
– Mike Trask | Las Vegas
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The NXT TakeOver events never seem to disappoint when it comes to excellent performance by the superstars involved. They always tell a proper story and never fail to get the crowd behind them whether they’re hated or loved.
While TakeOver: Toronto was no exception, there are two matches that made me scratch my head.
The first is Asuka vs Mickie James for the NXT Women’s Championship. The return of Mickie James was an incredible moment, and her actions in the ring tonight showed no ring rust from what I saw, but the ending threw me off a bit. I did expect Asuka to win this match, however the way she won and how it was executed left a lot to be desired. I assumed it was because the tag team match took a lot longer than expected, which forced the showrunners in the back to cut the women’s title match short so the NXT title match is properly paced.
But why? TakeOver is a Network show. Time shouldn’t make a difference when it comes to their own Network, should it?
Speaking of the NXT title match, which is the second match I couldn’t help but question the finish, what exactly was the goal for Samoa Joe to defeat Nakamura? Was it to have the first two-time NXT champion? Or did they lose some faith in the King of Strong Style? From what I’ve been reading, Nakamura was planned to be Finn Balor’s successor as the face of NXT.
Making Joe champion again leaves the possible opportunity out for Joe to debut at Survivor Series, and if he does debut at SS, then what was the point of making him champion again?
As much as I enjoyed it, I can’t help but wonder just what the backstage politicians were thinking when they made these final decisions.
Maybe Vince changed something suddenly? He’s been doing that a lot.
– J Arroyo
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Thumbs up
– Best match: Revival vs. DIY
– Worst match: Mickie James vs. Asuka
A fantastic show from start to finish. The mix of great action, genuinely suspenseful booking, and Liberace-level extravagant entrances made this the best WWE/NXT event of the year. I hope Nakamura losing is a sign he may be headed to the big leagues sooner rather than later.
– Nick Randall
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NXT Toronto was proof that more isn’t always better. NXT Toronto was proof that you can have amazing quality of matches that tell stories, that can enthrall audiences and captivate viewers without needing a 4 hour marathon of matches, backstage segments, and celebrity spots.
That is most evident in the appearance of 10 some-odd Milli Vanilli-esque fake violinists circling around Shinsuke Nakamura tonight killing the vibe of the arena compared to how captivating the single violinist was in Brooklyn comparatively.
It was an amazing curtain jerk from Tye Dillinger and Bobby Roode completely igniting the crowd for an absolutely terrific match. The match garnered great heat for Roode and ended with a great ovation for Dillinger who I am hoping will pop up on Smackdown Live sooner rather than later.
#DIY and the Revival stole the show, a match that could have been the Main Event. Perennial underdogs, #DIY doing what Enzo and Cass could never do. Great spots, great heat, great false finishes and by far the best sequences of the night. I have watched this match multiple times tonight and I am noticing even more nuances with every view. This match was deep. This match told a story. This match showed triumph for a team deserving of the NXT Tag Titles: No fake crane required.
This was one of the best PPV’s of the year, from any promotion, and it wasn’t 4 hours, and it didn’t have a ton of pyro, and it didn’t have Fantasy Warfare. This is what prime quality wrestling is all about.
– Rob Saccuzzo
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Was just at NXT Takeover Toronto earlier, here’s some live notes. Haven’t had a chance to watch it on TV yet to see how it came off.
– Match of the Night: Revival vs. DIY
– Worst Match: Asuka vs. Mickey James
– Biggest Pop: Nakamura
The crowd was predominantly 20-35 age group, there was hardly anyone over 40 there and very few kids, whereas last year at Roadblox @ Ricoh Coliseum the crowd was heavily populated with families and kids wearing New Day unicorn horns, Cena shirts, etc.
Although it was quite full, the arena definitely felt too big for a niche product like this. I didn’t have the greatest seats, I was in the upper level and It almost felt like the old Skydome house shows where the sound is traveling to the roof of the building and you can hear random chants start in the far side of the building, but they never pick up through the arena. The hard camera side had the upper deck closed off, but aside from that it was pretty full throughout the whole arena. I would have rather this be at Ricoh Coliseum (where Roadblock was), but still a fun night for the most underappreciated city in all of wrestling.
It was a VERY babyface crowd, which makes me think Goldberg will NOT be boo’d tomorrow. I had been one of the people saying Goldberg was getting boo’d out of the building when first announced, but it really is a totally different crowd from the heel crowds that used we used to have in Toronto. So unless Goldberg really starts botching stuff, I think it will be a pretty split crowd, but can’t see the crowd going fully heel on him.
The “10” chant was insanely over the whole night. I’m sure Vince absolutely despises it, and soon it will be seen with such disdain as “yes” and “what”. There was a hilarious part during the Nakamura vs. Joe match where they were both down and the ref was counting the 10 on both of them and everyone is chanting “10…. 10” at every number, and then when Joe started to get up and the ref stopped counting the entire arena boo’d at not being able to chant “10” anymore. I was just picturing Vince in the back going “DAMMIT, THEY’RE RUINING THE COUNT!”
Match of the night by far was Revival vs. DIY, Revival is so amazing live, just the little old school heel tactics they do like goading the babyface to chase them outside of the ring, then slide back inside and have the ref cut the babyface off. And they made DIY work so hard to get that second fall. In a 2 out of 3 match, you feel like the second fall will be kind of easy to even things up, but they just kept teasing it and teasing it.
Thought the Asuka vs. Mickey James match was really terrible. James looked completely out of her league with her. To quote Daniel Bryan, it looked like she was working a “soft WWE style” circa 2009 Divas division, and now suddenly she’s been thrust back in there with stiff Japanese style girl, and she just couldn’t keep up. For example, every time Asuka would kick her, she would really shield herself with her hands, instead of taking the kick. They really just had no chemistry together.
Nakamura was insanely over (shocking, I know), and it’s pretty crazy when you saw him a year ago at the grimy Ted Reeve hockey arena in ROH to headlining a show at the ACC. The crowd felt a bit tired though after his entrance, once the match started it felt pretty quiet (might have came off different on TV).
Even there live, on the video screen above the ring, this new annoying new camera technique where they randomly cut to a closeup shot of one fan is so awkward and horrible. Vinny must be losing his mind.
– Tim Dudley | Toronto