NXT TakeOver: Toronto live results and analysis
As has been the case with the 25 previous TakeOver events, the NXT TakeOver: Toronto card is stacked. It’s headlined by the third installment of what has become one of the greatest rivalries in NXT history in Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano. To say that Cole and Gargano delivered at the two previous TakeOver events would be an understatement. They put forth masterpieces sure to be considered match of the year candidates come year’s end, and there’s no telling what they’ll pull out in their two-out-of-three falls NXT championship match tonight.
But this is far from a one-match card, with three other titles on the line and a one-on-one match that’s apt to surprise a lot of people as Candice LeRae takes on friend-turned-enemy Io Shirai. There’s a triple-threat match for the North American championship featuring a dynamic clash of styles between defending champion Velveteen Dream, Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong. If Strong wins, The Undisputed Era’s tag team specialists, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish, will look to make it a clean sweep by reclaiming their NXT tag team titles from the Street Profits.
Rounding out the card is a women’s championship match in which Shayna Baszler’s lengthy stretch atop the mountain is challenged by Mia Yim.
Sean Coyle is breaking it all down live, as it happens.
(c) – indicates defending champion
Shayna Baszler’s nine-month run with the NXT women’s championship seemed in doubt in a handful of moments, and the attack on Baszler’s arm was an effective attempt at a counter-measure. It also opened the door for a creative leg-based submission solution to end the match, and offered Baszler a chance to prove she doesn’t need Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke to win matches.
Full recap to come.
It’s hard not to get excited about Velveteen Dream, Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong — three of the best in-ring performers — not just in NXT, but in all of the WWE. That trio colliding in the middle of the ring was a spectacle as expected, and all three afforded themselves well in their triple threat showcase for the NXT North American championship.
Dream ultimately walked out of the match with his title still in hand, but throughout the match each of the three felt as though they had the match locked down. Beyond his tributes to The Mountie and the Toronto Raptors, Dream did what he has done consistently throughout his time in NXT — he backed up the flash with substance and physicality.
What a fun championship match filled with rapid exchanges, stiff strikes and innovative spots. Excellent efforts by all three.
Storytelling: 0.75
In-ring execution: 0.75
Match psychology: 1.00
Timing: 0.75
Innovation: 1.00
Early on, the Velveteen Dream locked in a tribute to Bret Hart’s iconic sharpshooter onto Strong, but Dunne broke it up with a missile dropkick from the top rope. Dunne continued his aerial attacks when he caught both Dream and Strong with a moonsault from the ring apron to the outside of the ring, and it was off to the races.
Back in the ring, all three superstars traded a scintillating exchange of strikes on each other leading into suplexes and slams that left all three laying in the middle of the ring. The “this is awesome” chants rained down from the rafters of the Scotiabank Arena, and there was no looking back.
Dream and Dunne went flying off the top rope when Strong executed an Olympic slam to Dunne, who then pulled Dream down with him. Then, when Dunne and Strong were battling in the corner of the ring, Dream dropped a coast-to-coast elbow onto Dunne.
Strong locked both Dunne and Dream into his Strong hold (a modified Boston crab) at the same time, but Dunne responded with his bitter end finisher to Strong — only for Dream to keep the referee’s arm from hitting the canvas for the three count. Finally, as Strong caught Dunne with his end of heartache back-breaker, Dream dropped his purple rain-maker elbow from the top rope and covered Dunne to retain.
Those who overlooked Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae on this deep NXT TakeOver: Toronto card did so to their own detriment, as the lone non-title match on Saturday night set a tremendously high bar for the three matches to follow it.
Io Shirai’s turn to the dark side has offered her a tremendous amount of character development in recent months, and her former alliance with Candice LeRae was a potent way to put that personality on display in the ring. Following two unsuccessful attempts at dethroning NXT women’s champion Shayna Baszler, Shirai took her frustrations out on LeRae — but LeRae gave them right back in a match that featured an incredible string of physical feats and a showcase of each wrestler’s dynamic moveset.
What a showing by both Shirai and LeRae. This back and forth bout was innovative and perfectly timed. They certainly set the bar for the remainder of the show.
Storytelling: 0.75
In-ring execution: 0.75
Match psychology: 0.75
Timing: 1.00
Innovation: 1.00
From the moment Shirai caught LeRae with a suplex onto the announcers table, the mood was set and the pace rarely slowed for the remainder of the match. LeRae’s inevitable comeback attempt came when she dodged a Shirai missile dropkick from the top rope. From there she took out her frustrations with Shriai with a dizzying array of high-impact offense — highlighted by a suicide dive to the outside of the ring that turned into a tornado DDT, followed by a reverse hurricanrana and a swinging neck breaker from the second rope
But it wasn’t enough. Shirai tried her luck with a Spanish fly from the top rope and one of her patented moonsaults, but the valiant LeRae managed to kick out of a near-fall that almost everyone in the building was ready to call the end. Shirai locked in a new leg-based submission choke, which put LeRae out of commission and gave Shirai the victory
A chaotic confrontation between Matt Riddle and Killian Dain followed soon thereafter, and that was a smart creative decision, because the crowd certainly needed a moment to catch their breath after this match.
The Street Profits opened NXT TakeOver: Toronto by short-circuiting Undisputed Era of ending the night with all of the gold. In their most thoroughly well-rounded performance to date on a big stage, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford stood toe-to-toe with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly and wrapped up a successful defense to kick off the show.
These two teams, along with the Forgotten Sons and the duo of Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, tore the house down at TakeOver XV back in June in a ladder match as Ford and Dawkins won the vacant NXT tag titles. If there was any doubt that they could thrive in a more traditional style of match, that thought was dispelled pretty quickly.
That’s the way to kick off a TakeOver — great tag team wrestling and a ton of energy. The Street Profits and the Undisputed Era proved why they are among the best teams in the WWE with this one.
Storytelling: 0.50
In-ring execution: 0.75
Match psychology: 0.75
Timing: 1.00
Innovation: 0.75
The bout began with dueling “Undisputed” and “Street Profits” chants from the Toronto crowd as Dawkins and O’Reilly got things started. Both teams utilized good old-fashioned tag team wrestling early on, trading quick tags with solid teamwork. The action began to heat up after the Undisputed Era had done their part on wearing out Dawkins, when the ridiculously athletic Ford entered the match with high energy and and athleticism that allowed the 6-foot-4 standout to execute a beautiful standing moonsault
He attempted to channel The Rock by teasing the “people’s elbow”, but gave the enthusiastic Toronto crowd a little taste when he hit Fish with a rock bottom. Throughout the match both teams mixed flash with physicality, particularly impressive in moments like when Fish superplexed Ford and an O’Reilly heel hook onto a previously damaged leg of Ford.
After swinging back and forth, the closing sequence saw Dawkins hit two spears — one each to Fish and O’Reilly — followed by a frog splash by Ford that would make Rob Van Dam proud.
Still to come:
2-out-of-3 falls
Adam Cole (c) vs. Johnny Gargano