WWE NXT TakeOver live results & main card: Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, Samoa Joe, Jushin "Thunder" Liger

By Emerson Witner, WrestlingObserver.com, Wrestling Outsiders Podcast

– On the pre-show Lita all but said she would be the person in the corner of The Vaudevillians during the tag team title match.

-15,589 is the announced number in the building.

-On Twitter, Triple H announced a UK tour for exclusively NXT from December 10-16

-The show started with Triple H in the middle of the ring cutting a promo, introducing Takeover, saying The Future Is Now.

Jushin Thunder Liger pinned Tyler Breeze

Breeze had a similar entrance to his last Takeover match, where models all came out to line the aisleway as he entered. The fans popped big for Breeze and just as big for Liger.

The fans were really into this match. Liger twice used the Surfboard, which is a move not seen on WWE TV in over a decade. Liger mocked Breeze by taking a selfie with Tyler’s phone and by lounging across the top rope. Breeze got a near fall with the Super Model Kick and again with a rolling Back Stabber.

(Note: To correct myself from earlier, Daniel Bryan has used the surfboard several times in WWE. I blanked those moments out.)

The fans chanted “Full Sail Sucks” to the tune of “New Day Rocks” during a rest hold. The story was Breeze got frustrated the longer the match went, since he could not put away Liger. Breeze got out of the Liger Bomb twice, but Liger hit it on the third try and won.

-Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X-Pac are all sitting in the front row. X-Pac is wearing the Young Bucks “Clique Hand Sign” shirt.

-A video package for the debuting Nia Jax aired.

The Vaudevillians became the 7th NXT Tag Team Champions by defeating Blake & Murphy

Blue Pants ended up being the girl in the corner of The Vaudevillians. The fans seemed to know what to expect, as they chanted for her. Yes, I am the only person who didn’t think it would be her. The fans chanted “Blue Pants City”.

Aiden was running wild on both foes, when that treacherous, devious, villainous Blake tripped English on the ring apron, sending him crashing and burning to the pretty black mats. Blake did the same thing to Gotch when English got close for a hot tag.

Blake & Murphy tried a double superplex on English, but Gotch gave them a double power bomb. English got a near fall with a senton and that led to the girl fight. Alexa went to slap Aiden and Simon, but Blue Pants knocked her down. Murphy almost won with a school boy, but The Vaudevillians came back and won the belts with the Whirling Dervish. Much better match than expected.

Apollo Crews pinned Tye Dillinger

Crews was really impressed with his own Titantron. The fans were really into both men. I was surprised they were so into Dillinger’s Perfect 10 gimmick since he’s only done it once on tv. Crews looked super athletic, but Tye held his own and probably looked better than any other time on NXT.

Crews blocked a second superkick and hit a beautiful Inzigiri. Crews won in 5 minutes with a Gorilla Press Slam and a standing Moonsault. This was a very different debut than any other “big name” debuting, but not bad in the least.

-William Regal announced a giant tag team tournament called the Dusty Rhodes Classic, which will start on September 2 and end on the next Takeover, which is October 7.

-The four finalists of Tough Enough are ringside. Spoiler: ZZ and Sara will win.

Samoa Joe defeated Baron Corbin via Ref Stoppage

This is probably the biggest US crowd Joe has ever wrestled in front of. The match went longer than 30 seconds, but Joe almost won with the choke in less than a minute, but Baron bailed. Joe at one point went for the Suicide Dive, but as he came through the ropes, Baron forearmed him in the head.

Joe did his pinfall attempt into a Boston Crab, but instead of an STF he turned that into a Crossface. Baron took a beating for most of the match, but then got in a desperation Heel Hook. It reminded me a lot of the first Brock Lesnar-Frank Mir match, but Joe didn’t tap. Corbin got a near fall with a Black Hole Slam.

This was the longest match of Corbin’s career and it was also the best, better than the Corbin-Rhyno match in May. Baron fought out of the Muscle Buster and almost won with the Jackhammer. The finish saw both men reverse each others finishers and Joe won with the Coquina Clutch when Corbin passed out.

-Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Naomi, Tamina, and Japanese female wrestler Kana (shown as ‘Kanna’ in the graphic) were all shown at ringside.

-Stephanie McMahon is out to talk about how great NXT is. She said that the Diva’s Revolution started on NXT and that this is a main event.

Bayley became the 4th NXT Women’s Champion by pinning Sasha Banks

This is the third time Bayley is challenging for the championship on Takeover. Is the third time the charm? Bayley wore a Dusty Rhodes’ polka dot headband. The fans exploded for Sasha and she was driven to the ring by the same car that drove Finn Balor into the Barclay’s Center. 4 large men also led Sasha to the ring as her bodyguards.

They were on the middle rope, teasing a superplex when Sasha kicked Bayley’s leg, sending her crashing and burning to the outside in a nasty looking fall. It took Sasha three attempts to do her knees to the ribs move and even then she laid Bayley across the top rope, instead of the middle rope.

Sasha was talking trash, so Bayley kicked her in the mouth and went crazy. Sasha ripped off her arm brace that she’d been wearing since injuring her hand 3 months ago. Sasha placed Bayley’s hand between the steps and the ring post and kicked it. Just as Bayley began to stand up, Sasha broke out a flip dive to the floor!

Back in the ring Sasha went for some sort of run up the ropes move, but Bayley pushed her to the ground. Bayley made her comeback with a bunch of Polish Hammer’s and went for the Bayley to Belly, but Sasha reversed it and got on the Bank Statement. When Bayley tried getting the ropes Sasha kicked her hand. Somehow Bayley reversed it into her own Bank Statement, but Sasha got the ropes.

Sasha kicked out of the Bayley to Belly Suplex. Bayley then went for a Hurricarana from the top rope, but Sasha shoved her off! Sasha got a near fall with the Thesz Press from the middle rope and BAYLEY HIT A REVERSE FRANKENSTEINER FROM THE TOP ROPE! Jesus! Bayley then won the title with a Bayley to Belly Suplex.

16 minutes long and is probably the second or third best Women’s Match on Takeover.

Charlotte and Becky Lynch came down to join in for the celebration. Sasha hugged Bayley and the four women held up the four fingers to symbolize themselves as the Four Horsewomen of NXT.

-There are less than 15 minutes before the top of the hour. So the main event is either going short or we’re going past 11pm.

-They showed a video of Triple H announcing the UK NXT tour. The way he said it implied that there would be a Takeover show over there, but he didn’t flat out say it.

Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens in a Ladder Match for the NXT Title.

Finn got a special entrance with several people dressed like him standing on either side of the ramp doing his poses. Owens  sat outside the ring during Finn’s elaborate entrance.

There was quite the disturbance in the crowd. Either that or Owens kicking Balor really excites the fans and causes them to look away from the ring. Turns out there was a fan who tried to throw streamers and almost got kicked out because of it. The fans cheered when he was allowed back to his seat.

We passed the 11:00 hour as Graves took another chance to brag about how the Network is better than pay per view. Off topic, but they really need to hope the Network doesn’t go belly up.

They worked a different type of ladder match, this was more a crazy brawl where a ladder was involved, as opposed to what you’d normally get. Rich Brennan stated that they were turning the weapon into a ladder at one point early on.

Owens went for a power bomb on the ladder, but Balor back dropped him and he crashed through the rungs. Owens later went for his Cannonball, but Finn moved and KO slammed into a ladder. Balor hit the Coup De Grace and climbed the ladder, but Kevin yanked him down and threw him down with a power bomb!

Owens hit the Power Bomb on the ring apron, but sold everything from the match so he was unable to get up the ladder in time. Owens used a pair of superkicks and yelled at Finn to stay down, but Finn didn’t listen. Kevin set up a ladder bridge, but Finn knocked Kevin off the top of the ladder, causing Owens to crash on the ladder.

Time stood still as Balor was too far away to reach the title, so he hit Kevin with the Coup de Grace from the top of the ladder. He then moved the ladder over, climbed it and captured the belt.

Very good main event to cap off an excellent show. Good luck to SummerSlam trying to top it.