NXT Takeover: Respect

Requesting her rematch, Sasha Banks would get a whole lot more against Women's Champion, Bayley...a scheduled 30 minute match where the winner of the most falls is the champ! Meanwhile, the wrestling icon, American Dream Dusty Rhodes' memory is honored through the tag team tournament dedicated to his memory.

Overall event rating: *** ½


The Goods
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Memorial: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe vs. The Revival ***½
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Memorial: Rhyno and Baron Corbin vs. American Alpha ***½
Asuka vs. Dana Brooke ***½
Tyler Breeze vs. Apollo Crews ***½
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Memorial: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe vs. Rhyno and Baron Corbin ***½
Iron Woman NXT Championship: NXT Women's Champion: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks *****

Match of the Night
Iron Woman NXT Woman's Championship

Sleeper of the Night
Breeze vs. Crews

Disappointment of the Night
None are too disappointing.

The creation of NXT has been more than just some farm system for the main roster. This has become more than some pro wrestling minor league. It isn't some flash in the pan, or an ECW flavor for the moment. Triple H has seen to it that this is a brand that grew from the idea born of offering opportunity and creating an atmosphere for a hungry fanbase dying for something all their own. If you have a drive to be a force in pro wrestling, to be a performer for a passionate bunch of fans looking to provide you with a warm/hot reaction, and have a command over an audience that either richly rewards you praise or wants to boo the hell out of you (Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens), then the Yellow brand could be the launching pad available to you. Hard work, the right work ethic, and this impact / connection with the fans are attributes which could catapult you into success.

Tyler Breeze, in his conceited but extremely talented super model persona, was a top tier job artist on the NXT brand. At Unstoppable, Breeze actually was competing for a chance to wrestle Kevin Owens for his ten NXT Heavyweight championship, eventually putting over Finn Balor in a nice preparation match for the soon-to-be-crowned-champ. Breeze was a go-to talent when it came to getting the best out of up-and-coming wrestlers needing to develop their face personas. In his match against the rising star, Apollo Crews, Breeze was given a chance to certainly push him to the limit before putting him over. What an upside that Crews kid has going forwards now that he is on the main roster. His physique and agility (he can do a standing moonsault and even has an acrobatic side for such size and strength), that star look Vince McMahon covets dearly, Apollo was a shoo-in for the main roster. Breeze is underrated in regards to his aggressive, physical style, very confrontational and in-your-face mix of jarring forearms (among other shots to the face and torso) and an aerial assault adopted by most of the roster in the Yellow Brand. There is one moment where Breeze hurls Crews into the apron outside the ring, and that mean streak is so evident. The match was an interesting dynamic of feisty and flashy heel, picking and choosing deliberate moves to counter whatever Crews dishes out to him. 

• There really isn’t any reason this needs to be anything more than a five minute job that comes and goes away with little fanfare, but Breeze has earned the respect of the NXT audience. His mainstay status (announcer Corey Graves often mentioned win matches with Breeze that he has watched many come and go while he felt disrespected by these wrestlers trying to add him to their win list) gave him a standing with the fans used to seeing him. Being as talented as he is only helped to attain a level of respect, while his role in the brand asked him to make his opponents look sensational. There are lower tier jobbers who get very little in matches as they serve as squash bait for wrestlers while top tier jobbers get in a lot of offense, draw from the audience, and when they lose you know that the winner had to work his ass off to get that victory. Breeze, on the NXT brand, was top tier all the way. Like The Ascension, Breeze is just ridiculously misused on the main roster. I wish he and The Ascension could cut their teeth on Smackdown or perhaps had a third option, like The Main Event where they could squash lesser foes and develop something that could lessen bad booking damage has done to them. Crews has a cool finisher with that starting of an atomic drop into a power bomb. Breeze makes that move look devastating. Loved how Breeze countered the standing moonsault with knees into a small package. His backstabber was also badass. Good match. These two have good chemistry. Those who saw their match in Crews’ Raw debut should do themselves a favor and watch this match.

Bayley’s huge Women’s Championship victory over Sasha Banks at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn finally announced to everyone who already didn’t know (perhaps living under a rock) that she was a legit female wrestling star well deserved of the belt. Banks was phenomenal in the role of wily and sneaky champ who wasn’t about to just hand over the title without Bayley having to reach down deep in order to secure her first championship. The idea of a 30-minute IronWoman match, where the winner of the most falls would be the champion, seems a game changer. It was a clear indication that those behind the scenes had developed confidence in the female performers, Bayley and Sasha, to go the distance. The storytelling in the ring was so strong—Sasha attacks Bayley during a handshake, took a bow from a child who adored Bayley to mock the fans, and threw Bayley into an LED screen to purposely get a countout victory—including Bayley going on a vicious assault, using the stairs outside the ring to smash Sasha’s hand in retaliation for her own attack resulting in a broken finger, that the IW match earned an invested audience’s total devotion. Towards the end, both women could barely stand and their hair was roughshod. 

• The Belly-to-Bayley gets the champ one win and her use of it off the top turnbuckle (her momentum actually led to Sasha’s foot landing on the rope to stop a potential three count) was an incredible moment in the match. Wrapping up the legs in a pinfall over Sasha was another moment where Bayley capitalized on a mistake offering her advantage. The thumb to the eye by Sasha to get her the first pinfall was classic heel opportunist…she’s a natural. That showoff mentality and confident belief in her talents define Sasha Banks. The Boss persona she has incorporated—that attitude that she is the cock of the walk—has really been compelling. Again, NXT offers the chance for wrestlers to cultivate a characterization and develop it to its fullest. Banks will be WWE Women’s Champion: it’s only a matter of when not if. Bayley persevering and holding onto the title, totally exhausted and utterly relieved, is an image I’ll never forget as a wrestling fan. It is so revealing that through a harnessed passion to be champion—It took exploiting a hand injury when it was all on the line, through the painful application of a Yes! Lock inverted to yank back on the arm instead of the face—Bayley had to eke out a win with mere seconds left before the time was up as both were tied 2-2. Triple H and Stephanie’s pride in these girls and the looks of satisfaction in how Bayley and Sasha performed takes us out of them as Authority Figure villains, truly seeing them as employers who care significantly about the wrestlers on their roster. They realized that anything could be possible. The WWE has an embarrassment of riches all over their rosters despite the loss of key stars injured at the worst possible time of the year (right before Wrestlemania season).

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team tourney saw a number of NXT tag teams competing in honor of the legend who had died not long before Takeover: Respect. Balor and Samoa Joe had formed a rather surprisingly good team (top stars in NXT putting aside singles competition to respect a wrestling great that had devoted good will to the Yellow Brand), and they get a good workout from Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson (later calling themselves, The Revival). The Revival is masters at exploiting a referee’s distraction they cause, with double-teaming their specialty. Dawson even goes under the ring so he can emerge from under an opponent on the ring apron about to receive a tag…it is brilliant. The Revival just wants to win, no matter what. Every trick available to them through whatever means necessary is utilized. Balor’s leg is clipped out from under him by Dash, and The Revival just attacks it like wild dogs. It is a primary target. Their flurry of tag-in-and-out offense (and defense) against Joe later proves impressive because of his hard edge style. They have to use their smarts and cunning to gain advantage. But the two, Balor and Joe, are top singles stars so it is obvious they were going over. Dash and Dawson would get their chance to be at the top of the heap as tag champs.

• Meanwhile Rhyno and Baron Corbin are this unlikely duo who had just beaten the hell out of each other at Unstoppable not long before this. Their team proves successful, getting a hard fought victory over Gable and Jordan (later dubbing themselves American Alpha) before later facing Balor and Joe. Gable and Jordan have this amazing energy and feed off the crowd so well. Jordan does the hot tag rush-of-adrenaline, “pull the shoulder straps down” act to perfection. Gable is seriously over despite his lesser size. He has uncanny strength, even putting Corbin in a monster German suplex into an attempted pin almost successful. Corbin is a NXT darling, always well booked for the most part. Corbin’s End of Days puts Gable away when the attempt at an escape over the back is used against him. Rhyno’s gore to Jordan kept him from rescuing Gable from the loss.

• Rhyno found a chance to get some ring time with the NXT (and later on the main roster when the Dudleys were in a war with the Wyatt Family) as a bruiser mid card jobber. It is all impactful the way Rhyno hits his opponents. Even when he is hurt, it takes the opponents working his style in order to find any sort of success against him. Because Corbin is all demolition derby in how works over those he wrestles (nothing is pretty or flashy), it isn’t as much a surprise he was able to upend Rhyno at Unstoppable. While Gable and Jordan couldn’t withstand their onslaught, Balor and Joe were, unsurprisingly. Joe getting Rhyno up and landing the muscle buster was mighty cool…it isn’t a shock he took the fall instead of Corbin considering where each were in the brand, booking-wise. Good speech by Cody Rhodes regarding his father and the fans. Joe and Balor’s appreciation in winning felt so sincere. Good moment for this event.

Asuka debuted at this event, and to say she left her mark would be an understatement. Poor Dana Brooke was game, but she just was no match for Asuka. Emma tries to help Dana, even offering her body to be victimized, in order get her girl some time and maybe even an advantage. It was all for naught. Emma just looking the opposite direction from intimidation when Asuka confronts her after wiping out Dana with a back kick tells you all that is needed: Asuka is to be feared and taken seriously. How Asuka can apply an arm bar or submission hold in a manner of seconds out of nowhere is incredible. Her ring presence and wildling nature (she smiles when slapped in the face and throws her body at people in order to hurt them!) makes her quite dangerous. Dana learned that the hard way.

Balor abandoned his demon makeup and ring entrance for this event, and selling the bum leg was done without fail. Joe was just all punch-you-in-the-mouth effective. He walks in the ring and those who must combat him know they are in for a tough bout.