This wasn’t just any night. This is TakeOver: Dallas. Two of the biggest babyfaces in the WWE and greatest in NXT were set to face two of the greatest performers from Japan. Zayn and Bayley had a lot to deal with and it all paid off for the audience who came to witness these matches.
It was a huge possibility going into this Wrestlemania weekend that NXT will steal the show. And it is still a huge possibility that it already has. Dallas was one stop away from the main show but it seems NXT may rule the day again after Wrestlemania with many predicted call-ups.
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Here are the five points to note from this show-
1) King of the night
We’re going to be grooving to Shinsuke Nakamura’s theme song from now on. This match between NXT veteran Sami Zayn and NXT debutant Nakamura had every bit of that searing anticipation from a packed house in Dallas, every bit of a big match feel.
A match that already had a ‘This Is Awesome’ chant going even before it started. In the first few minutes, the audience had used up all the usual chants of appreciation. And just after two holds between the men, they chanted ‘This is wrestling’.
This match only had crescendos. Something that surged to a standing ovation from the audience after both men kept on punching each other, probably one of the longest punching interactions in WWE history, leading to Nakamura having a bleeding nose and that wasn’t even the only bloody incident on this show.
Nakamura pinned Zayn in a match where the audience wanted them to ‘fight forever’, in between pleading Nakamura not to tap. Both men shook hands and then Zayn bid adieu to the place that he help make this phenomenon. He now walks into his first Wrestlemania to face arch rival Kevin Owens
2) Asuka era
On any night, it won’t be far-fetched to believe that the match after Nakamura Vs Zayn won’t be able to live up to expectations. But on a night like this in Dallas, Bayley and Asuka did so by giving the audience quite the shock in not the fact that Bayley lost but how she lost.
This was a battle of equals. Bayley ain’t you champion for nothing. She wasn’t that unassuming textbook babyface. She gave Asuka the best competition she’s had in NXT since her arrival and tried to take out both her knees, even countering a kick to a knee lock.
But then the submission mastery of the Japanese star caught up to the Hugster and the champion was then locked in a relentless neck choke until her body gave up. A huge gasp enveloped the arena and then we knew what we knew all along- Asuka is the new champion. How could they have had any other conclusion?
3) There will be blood
Before Joe walked out to his menacing music, the camera focused on Bobby Roode in the crowd. That got the crowd going.
It was quite a task to go into the main event that followed an emotional goodbye, a stellar debut, and a title change. But then there was blood. Samoa Joe busted himself open early on in the match and the medical staff kept attending that gash on his right eye. It seemed for a moment that the match may be stopped but it went on gloriously.
Balor got the chance to show off his aggression letting out a primal scream towards the end of the match and as is the case with the Demon, he never loses. Joe lost again to his arch rival. The thing is this story never had the fire that past championship feuds like Zayn/Neville and Zayn/Owens had. It just had terrific performers in Joe and Balor.
But if there is any indication, there may be a main roster call up coming soon for either of these two.
4) A great day to be Aries
It was certainly a bad day to be Baron Corbin. ‘The Lone Wolf’ met ‘The Greatest Man That Ever Lived’ and needless to mention, there was a staggering difference between these two.
Aries was in front of a 6 feet 8 man. But while Corbin got a lot of offence in and Aries was overpowered early on, he showed off his experience in style by getting Corbin to the ropes and raising all sorts of hell in and outside the ring until he got knocked out by the Deep Six.
This match did not have the kind of fire, the matches that followed it had but yet it was quite a moment to see Aries win by countering the End of Days.
5) Kicking off in style
TakeOver kicked off with a title change. The new champions are quite ready, willing and Gable. They beat the biggest heels in the tag team division in NXT- Dash and Dawson. This match had the audience going since the beginning. The crowd was hot for this one, much owed to the entire excitement for NXT and how it was predicted that it’ll steal the show this Wrestlemania weekend.
This match had enough distractions by old school heels Dash and Dawson. But American Alpha were prepared for this, leading to reversing much of the champions’ attempts at gaining an advantage by referee distractions.
