By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT Takeover: Philadelphia Pre-Show
Aired on WWE Network
New Orleans, Louisiana at Smoothie King Center
Charley Caruso opened up the show to hype up the Takeover pre show. Sam Roberts joined her along with former NFL Punter, Pat McAfee. McAfee was super hyped up for the stacked Takeover card. Caruso talked about this being Pat’s first Mania Weekend. Pat said he was super excited to eat dinner with Sting while hanging out with Elias…
Charley moved the conversation to the North American Championship. They also hyped up the Tag Team Championship…
John’s Thoughts: Based off of first impressions, Pat McAfee came off well. I’m not familiar with his radio show and I’m only really familiar with Vikings punters, but the guy seems like a legit wrestling fan and has a good speaking voice.
Kayla Braxton was hanging out with fans on the outside judging their favorites to win the Takeover matches. The fans loved the babyfaces of course. They cut to an Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler recap package. Baszler was acting like a bully as they showed clips from the Ember Moon documentary. Ember Moon cut her promo of trying to stomp out that bully. Her promo came off better with the music and Baszler clips. The panel talked about it. Sam Roberts thoughts Baszler not winning matches yet but having the potential. Roberts predicted Baszler while McAfee predicted Moon… [C]
After the break, they cut to a video package for the NXT North American Championship. It was the one shown on NXT this past Wednesday…
John’s Thoughts: A simple and effective video package and I loved the parts where each person was in their “natural evironment”. My favorites were Velveteen Dream in a club loung and Lars Sullivan next to bricks.
Adam Cole shoed up for a backstage promo and ranted about Regal trying to screw over the Undisputed Era. Cole was also pissed off at Pat McAfee. They threw verbal jabs at each other. Adam Cole’s great! After some discussion and yelling they led to the Tag Team Championship video package. Cathy Kelly interviwed Dunne and Strong. Strong was excited as usual. Dunne was great because he just looked mad. It was made more hilarious when Roderick Strong was peppy and said “We are about to get it Dunne”. Charley loved Dunne’s poker face…
Charley Caruso reset the show and talked about how she used to be a sportscaster who followed Pat McAfee. They moved on to Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano discussion. This led to the DIY video package. A clip from “earlier today” showed with Triple H making Johnny Gargano sign a waiver for his unsactioned match. Caruso noted that Triple H was filling in for William Regal who couldn’t make it. The panel then interviewed Candice LeRae. Candice talked about how odd it was because Ciampa lived in their apartment with them and now he’s a villain. LeRae also talked about how she doesn’t fully get behind Gargano sometimes when he gets reckless. LeRae said she wants her husband back and hopes he beats Ciampa. LeRae said she was also afraid at how calm Gargano has been. They also interviewed Referee Drake Younger who knew Gargano during his time in the independents. They had an intentionally awkward moment where LeRae tried to get some tears out…
The panel cut to the commentators who went through the card from their end. The commentary team was Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, and Nigel McGuinness. They stressed that Adam Cole was working double duty (damn! I wanted Mike Bennett to show up)…
The next video package was the Almas vs. Black video package before the show closed…
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