NXT Takeover: Toronto results.

NXT TakeOver: Toronto (2019) Results:

1. The Street Profits defeated The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship. Montez Ford pinned after a frog splash.

– Backstage, Johnny Gargano contemplated a ladder. Ricochet was shown in the crowd.

2. Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae. After Candice kicked out of the Moonsault, a frustrated Io hit her with a flurry of strikes and then put her in a Koji Clutch until Candice lost consciousness. Even then, the ref had to make Io break the hold.

– Matt Riddle came to the ring with a mic and called out Killian Dane. Dane came out through the crowd, and the two brawled. A bunch of officials attempted to break up the fight, but Riddle attacked Dane again. Dane stuck his thumb in Riddle’s eye, but Riddle took him down with a series of strikes. More officials showed up, and Riddle and Dane started taking them down too. The brawl continued until Killian Dane put Matt Riddle and one of the officials through a table on the floor.

– Evolve Wrestling Champion Austin Theory was shown in the crowd.

– A bunch of dancers came out dressed as Canadian Mounties, accompanied by the Mountie’s theme. The music changed to hip hop, the dancers took off their Mountie outfits to reveal Toronto Raptors gear, and it became a celebration of the Raptors’ 2019 NBA Championship win. The music changed again to Velveteen Dream’s theme, and the dancers posed in a tableau as Dream entered in a ruffled shirt and Mountie hat. They danced to Dream’s theme as he made his way to the ring.

3. Velveteen Dream defeated Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong to retain the NXT North American Championship. Roderick Strong almost had the pin on Pete Dunne when Velveteen Dream hit the Purple Rainmaker on them both, knocking Strong off and pinning Dunne for the win.

– Backstage, Adam Cole was taping up his wrists.

4. Shayna Baszler defeated Mia Yim to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. Yim had been working Baszler’s right arm for the entire match, which kept her from locking in the Kirifuda Clutch. In a last-ditch effort, Baszler caught Yim in a triangle choke, and Yim tapped.

– WALTER and Tyler Bate were shown (apparently far away from each other) in the crowd, as commentary promoted NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff.

5. Adam Cole defeated Johnny Gargano in a Two Out of Three Falls Match to retain the NXT Championship. The first fall was a classic wrestling match, in which Johnny Gargano willingly took a DQ loss when he attacked Adam Cole with a chair that Cole had previously brought to the ring. The second fall was a Street Fight, in which Cole tapped out to a Gargano Escape. At that point a cage full of weapons, with barbed wire around the top, lowered from the ceiling, revealing that William Regal had made the third fall a No-Escape Steel Cage Match. Adam Cole pinned Gargano after a brawl on a table on top of the cage led to both men plummeting twenty feet and through two tables onto the mat. Both were barely conscious when Cole managed to cover Gargano for a three-count.

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The tag match opener is an Takeover staple and with good reason, they always deliver. Proof positive that tag wrestling when executed well is some of the most compelling wrestling going. Loved this match.

Io vs Candice blew every expectation I had away, and is easily one of WWE's best ever womens matches. Could very well be my MOTN but I'll need to watch again to confirm.

The triple threat started really well but I think it fell away a bit in the middle. They tried to buck the trend of the 3-way by having all three guys involved almost all the time instead of two guys fight while 1 guy gets a breather, and I think the guys struggled a bit with the pace. It got a bit sloppy in the middle but the big spots where done well and it was still a very good match. I maintain that Dream will be a megastar one day.

I was a bit confused by the booking of the womens title match. The whole build has been about how Baszler cant win on her own, even having Yim take out her two cronies (which I loved btw), but then Yim loses clean anyway? Hmm, doesnt do Yim any favours and doesnt exactly put her in position for a rematch. Still good though, even if I disagree with the booking. Even if Baszler cheated it would have made a bit more sense. I get the feeling they want Baszler to be what Asuka could have been. I expect her to run roughshod over the main roster when she eventually gets the call up.

Im torn over the main event. As three seperate matches they were excellent exhibitions of different styles, but as a whole I think they were trying too hard, especially in the third fall. Im probably in the minority but I think this was probably the weakest of their three matches, and it felt a bit over-indulgent. 1st fall was excellent, but the whole 'sacrifice a fall via DQ' only works when you win the next fall almost immediately. Gargano should have beaten Cole half to death with that chair between falls so he could get fall two and maybe even fall three quickly, but they went another 10 or so minutes, so not a fan of that. I think they also killed alot of gimmick spots in the cage. Sledgehammers, middle and top rope signature moves, moves onto chairs. None really mean anything. I also think hiding the pliers in the bag was a mistake. As soon as I saw it I thought it was tacks, and so did the crowd by the sound of things. Just put them on the side of the cage and dont tease us. The ending could have been a bit better, instead of looking like they both just jumped for no reason. I really enjoyed this match, but I didnt love it like I did their other two.

A predictably great show as per the black and gold brand, but not without its flaws. One of these days I will predict the UE win all the gold and Shayna drops hers. Its got to happen eventually