What do you mean Mandy Rose appeared on RAW? I thought she left? Did they take Sonya Deville too? Right, okay. Anyway, welcome to the Takeover aftermath, where like most aftermaths of amazing events, your friends have abandoned you with some other mates they’ve met down the pub, and someone keeps telling you what happened the night before even though you were there for all of it anyway. We’ve got the main event to look forward to and a shed load of filler to get through, so let’s jump right in and see what happened this week on NXT.
Ruby Riot vs Sonya Deville
First of all, so long to Ruby and Sonya as they make their way to the main roster, along with Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose (seriously, where has she been?), and Sarah Logan. Let’s hope they don’t just copy the exact scenarios on both shows, and use two women who look very similar to each other and make them the leaders. Boy, that’d be silly.
The match kicked off with a series of lockups that swung back and forth, neither women seemed to keep the advantage for long. This all changed when Sonya targeted Ruby’s leg, this kept her grounded as Sonya dissected and dismantled her. Although the strength of Deville was impressive, Riot had resourcefulness and the resiliency to carry on and even get close to victory. She rose to the occasion and secured victory with an overhead kick.
Meanwhile…
– Lars Sullivan felt good after being kicked in the face over 20 times. He said he passed the first test and wanted to send a message to the locker room. If they want to mess with him, they’ll be destroyed by his hands… only.
– Ember Moon felt that winning the belt was a dream come true, the hard work has finally paid off. She’s going to continue to do what does every day (not try take over the world), and work harder than ever before to keep the championship.
– Drew McIntyre voiced his pain about the in ring injury, stated that no matter what happens he’s going to come back for his title. It’s notable to mention that McIntyre sounded noticeably down and depressed. We’re all hoping he makes a recovery and see him back in form soon.
– The Street Profits danced on Tino Sabbatelli & and Riddick Moss’ car, which lead to a small confrontation. No physical violence yet, but the tension is slowly building and we’ll have a match with these two teams next week.
WWE UK CHAMPIONSHIP – Pete Dunne (c) vs Johnny Gargano
If we disregard the fact that Johnny Gargano isn’t from the UK, this match up is more than tantalising enough to be excited over. The match started with a battle of dominance through lock ups, which soon ended after a shattering strike from Dunne. This seemed to be the kick start that Gargano needed as he hurricanrana’d and leapt his way into control. However, when it comes to fighting Pete Dunne, you’re never really in control. Dunne came right back with a release suplex on the apron and continued to try to break Gargano.
What followed was an evenly matched contest, each man fought to outdo the over. Johnny even managed to pull off what may be the best reversal for Dunne’s Bitter End by countering with a spike DDT. Back and forth, each hit seeming personal, until both men fell to the floor seeking air. Gargano crawled to pick up Pete Dunnes’ mouth guard, almost trying to take advantage with a superkick but it still couldn’t put him away. Finally, the match climaxed with the Bitter End and Pete Dunne retained his UK Championship.
I really enjoyed this match. While the set up was questionable, the pace and motives throughout kept me engrossed and even brought about entertaining spots that I didn’t think I’d see. We see Gargano struggle to grow and develop, but something in his mind keeps holding him back. This match perfectly adds to this story, when we do see Gargano get his groove back, you better believe that the crowd is going to go absolutely mental.