Dot Net reader Dylan Maharrey attended the NXT Takeover: Orlando event on Saturday and sent the following report.
-The crowd had filled out nicely by the time Takeover started properly. The same sections were blocked out from last night, but this was a legit sellout from where I sat.
-Sanity was out first. Decent heat for them, but also a bit of applause too. Their entrance is less impressive in person. They’re obviously lit the whole time. As always, a huge reaction for Tye Dillinger. I’d love to see him actually do something. Ruby Riot was out next, to a decent response. Huge pop for Roderick Strong. Big pop for Kassius Ohno as the replacement fourth man. A good pop for Roddy hitting the Angle Slam. I’m surprised Sawyer Fulton didn’t actually sell it. Dane got a “shave your back” chant, cause why not? Nikki Cross is clearly having fun playing a lunatic. She sells it the entire time on the apron. A fun four way match. The ladies didn’t get much time to shine, but the babyfaces were able to get the crowd behind them. If NXT will ever do anything with Dillinger, he has the potential to be great.
-Edge had a man bun. That’s going to cost him cool points with me.
-Andrade Almas came out to pretty good heat. He plays a much better heel than he ever did as a babyface. A really cool entrance for Aleister Black. He got a really good reaction when he rose up from the lift. Black was impressive for what he did. There were sections of the crowd that tried to entertain themselves, so the majority gave them a “shut the f— up” chant. It actually hurt the finish, since no one was paying attention.
-William Regal did not receive an entrance in the arena. It turns out that it’s possible for authority figures to exist in the background. Who knew?
-The Revival and DIY are over huge. Massive heat for Authors of Pain. The spot where AOP used Gargano as a weapon was really cool looking live. As much as his promos disappoint, Ellering sells everything great at ringside. The high spots with DIY and the Revival were massive in the arena. Really impressive. A fantastic tag title match. It remains to be seen if AOP can carry a match themselves, but DIY and Revival did the favors for them like pros.
-Ember Moon’s entrance in the arena is really cool. It doesn’t come off as well on TV. Askua’s entrance wasn’t as impressive. It certainly wasn’t like some of her previous Takeover matches.
The dueling Asuka/Ember chants were about 50/50 at the start. The finish for Asuka and Ember came off weird. Fans weren’t sure how to react. The boos seemed to come from not liking the finish.
-Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode’s entrances are a sight to behold live. The only weird part was lowering the cloth for Nakamura in the middle of the intro video for the match. The ending of the match was good but predictable. I could never shake the thought that Nakamura was leaving, so he was going to do the honors. The ref had to remind Roode when he was supposed to raise the championship. I’m not sure if it made air live, but after Roode left, Shinskue got the hero’s sendoff.
-Overall, this Takeover was much better than it looked on paper. Every match was entertaining, and the crowd was hot throughout.
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