By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV Pre-Show
Aired on WWE Network
Brooklyn, New York at Barclays Center
Charley Caruso, Sam Roberts, and Pat McAfee checked in from the preshow panel table at the Barclays Center. The panel started off their discussion by talking about how NXT always outdoes themselves. McAfee agreed. Roberts recapped Sasha vs. Bayley from back in the day…
Charley introduced the whodunit video analyzing the possible suspects as to who Aleister Black’s attacker is. Charley also cut to a twitter video that showed the security camera footage of the attack, but you couldn’t really see anything since the camera was so far away. Roberts pointed out what I pointed out that the video made everyone a suspect. McAfee focused on Black going to the top to bottom very fast due to bad fortunes and that is bad news to whoever attacked him…
John’s Thoughts: My number one suspect is still NXT’s Jeremy Borash and the ninjas that kidnapped Samoa Joe in the parking lot. As Hideo Itami pointed out “Parking lot is unsafe”.
Mike Rome provided the usual crowd shot where he was hanging out with excited fans on the outside of Barclays. They panel then ran through the card and plugged the WWE Network…
Charley cut to highlight packages where McAfee and Roberts recapped the Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain feud. Cathy Kelley interviewed Undisputed Era “earlier today” about all their title defenses. O’Reilly said they were about to shock the system and he talked about how this is their one year NXT anniversary. Strong shared similar sentiment. Cole reiterated his promo about Ricochet not being special…
Sam Roberts talked about how Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain is very likely to steal the show (and I completely agree). Pat McAfee kept talking about how he really likes the name “Moustache Mountain”. He also referenced his outside feud with Adam Cole. Charley wondered if it would be a problem if Moustache Mountain would take the NXT Tag Titles and defend them in the UK division. Pat McAfee said Moustache Mountain is the best UK Tag Team since the British Bulldogs… [c]
Charley thanked the band Grandson for providing the song “Blood//Water” for Takeover. Charley then introduced the pre-match Velveteen Dream vs. EC3 vignette. It was a very cool one where EC3 mimicked Velveteen Dream’s blue screen smoke show. Dream even included his line of how “the dream has no memory of…” turning on EC3 in the UK. The panel recapped the events that led up to this match. McAfee managed to sneak in a complement to John Cena’s Ferdinand movie…
John’s Thoughts: That was a damn good vignette. Why didn’t they air something like that on NXT? It would have been cool to have the EC3 smoke experience for an episode.
Pat McAfee got very awkward for some reason during the answer to their predictions and Charley treated it as such…
Charley then cut to the Adam Cole vs. Ricochet video package from this past Wednesday which featured the theme for Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2018. Charley reiterated the Era’s earlier point about how this is Adam Cole’s one year NXT anniversary. Pat McAfee said Adam Cole is a dork…
Ricochet joined the panel via a backstage camera. Ricochet said he’s been working for this moment his entire career. Ricochet said he knows he can beat Adam. Roberts asked Ricochet about Cole’s “special” comments. Ricochet said he agrees that the Era and Cole are on another level, but Ricochet exceeds that level. Pat McAfee called himself Peyton Manning and then asked Ricochet what he thinks North America thinks about Cole. Ricochet talked about how he’s willing to handle any pressure that comes his way. Ricochet reiterated his mission statement of giving NXT a fighting champion who defends the title regularly.
Kairi Sane was shown entering Barclays wearing a nice dress. Shayna Baszler entered from a difference and was flanked by MMA Four Horsewomen members Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir… [c]
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson checked in from the commentary with Mauro’s usual “Mamma Mia” line. Mauro introduced the Baszler vs. Sane pre-match vignette. The panel referenced Shayna Baszler’s claim that Baszler is completely different and improved since last year’s Mae Young Classic loss. Roberts ran through the accolades which back up that in Shayna’s NXT run. McAfee kept attempting to mimic the Asian “L” and “R” accent which Sam Roberts does really well…
John’s Thoughts: Thumbs up for Sam Robers putting in good pronunciation work! Chuckles to McAfee for being the stereotypical “dumb” American (which I can be sometimes so this isn’t a knock against him).
Mike Rome was now inside of the arena where he hung out with the excited fans. Rome announced that Regal was making a panel appearance. Johnny Gargano was shown entering Barclays. They showed Tommaso Ciampa entering through opening mechanical doors… [c]
Charley moved the discussion over to Ciampa vs. Gargano. They replayed the Cathy Kelley whodunit video again (why? filler?)…
John’s Thoughts: On a more serious note, it would be cool if Lars Sullivan or Velveteen Dream were the culprit. They are the most logical ones. Velveteen Dream would be my personal favorite because it was my favorite feud in all of pro wrestling in 2017. I’m not the only one to share that sentiment.
Charley Caruso noted again that they were going to be dissecting the security camera footage. William Regal made his appearance and informed the viewers that the Undisputed Era were completely cleared of being accused for the attack. Regal talked about how he personally scouted Aleister Black and this attack really hurts him in addition to losing a valuable roster member. Roberts talked about the potential fear of Aleister Black attacking the entire roster to get to the attacker. Charley wished Regal well. Pat McAfee flashed his tiny shorts to Regal…
The panel ran through the card again…
John’s Thoughts: Random aside, the pre-shows are too long and that’s noticible when the panel repeats the same segments two or three times in a given broadcast. Back to Regal, I like him clearing suspects from the list one-by-one because it gives the viewers a good “Clue” game to follow themselves.
The panel did their predictions for the NXT Championship match. Roberts said Ciampa. McAfee said “The Viewers win”. They cut to the Ciampa and Gargano pre-match vignette that aired this past Wednesday…
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