NXT Takeover Unstoppable

NXT Takeover: Unstoppable - May 2015

Winter Park, Florida

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this evening's event, Kevin Owens was declared the NXT Champion, Sasha Banks held the NXT Womens' Championship, and the Tag Team Titles were held by Blake and Murphy.

COMMENTATORS: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, and Rich Brennan

Tonight's show kicks off with a battle to decide who will be the number one contender for the NXT Championship - Finn Balor taking on Tyler Breeze. I've seen some people call this a Top 10 Match of the Year, which might be a tad bit much. I'm not even sure its the best opening match we've seen on an NXT show this year (I felt the Asuka/Emma match from Takeover London was significantly better). Breeze does a nice job of trying to outwrestle Balor, but is eventually overtaken by Balor's boundless energy. Others have pointed it out before but one of Balor's best gifts is his ability to draw in viewers with false finishes; he might have the best kickouts in the business in terms of waiting for the last possible millisecond to get a shoulder up. Balor tried to give the NXT crowd a moment by leaping off the stage, but he didn't get enough airtime to really make it a memorable spot. His actual finisher, however, was delivered with uncanny gusto and devastation. Very good, but not great match. (3.5/5)

Emma and Dana Brooke took on Bayley and Charlotte next. While not as good as the top shelf work that Charlotte and Bayley put out at other times this year, this one was considerably more tolerable than most main roster diva matches we get on TV. Brooke's sloppiness was covered up well for the most part, but she was noticeably out of position in a few moments and certainly didn't bump on Charlotte's DDT remotely as well as Emma did. Bayley played the face-in-peril in this standard bout that wisely didn't overstay its welcome. (2/5)

Next up was a grudge match between Baron Corbin and Rhyno (is every Corbin match a grudge match?). Watching this several months after the fact, I was surprised by how warm the reception was for Corbin, who, since this show, seems to have lost the small bit of crowd support he had here. This match might help explain why. Despite a good look and some good intensity, Corbin lacks polish. His moveset is limited to strikes and stomps and he could learn a thing or two from heels like Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens, or Connecticut Blueblood-era Triple H, all of whom ornament their most basic offense with taunts and jabs at the crowd. Corbin's natural sneer and impressive size makes the bully role a natural fit - but he sometimes looks afraid of the crowd (or at least afraid to show his personality in front of it). Rhyno deserves credit for keeping this match together and bringing energy to his selling, but this wasn't anything special. (2/5)

The NXT Tag Team Championships were on the line with Blake and Murphy defending against Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore. Having just watched NXT Takeover London last week, I feel like I just watched a better version of this match in Cass and Enzo vs. Dawson and Dash. There were some bright spots in this one - Enzo hitting an impressive tornado DDT, Cassady going on absolute tear cleaning house - and you have to credit the agent with setting up a match that played to the strengths of the teams, but as over as Cassady and Enzo's pre-match ritual is, their in-ring work doesn't quite live up to the watermark set by their introduction (call it New Age Outlaws Syndrome) and fan interest petered out within two or three minutes of the bell ringing. Blake and Murphy are good (not great). When their teamwork clicks, they can be fun to watch because some of their offense is innovative and crafty...but they need more of those double-team weapons in their arsenal, as well as distinct individual personalities, to be the next Brainbusters or Midnight Express. Solid match but nothing more than that. (2.5/5)

And then it was time for Sasha Banks to defend her NXT Womens' Championship against Becky Lynch. I'd heard great things about this match, but didn't want the hype to spoil it for me. Fortunately, the buzz was well deserved. Banks' arm work is remarkable - easily the best, most creative, most technically-impressive limb work that I've seen this calendar year. Lynch's selling is equally brilliant too. Praising just the technical, mat wrestling high points of this match undercut the rest of what it offers: Banks' unbelievable character work (her ability to go from irritated to arrogant to irate is Flair-esque), Lynch excellently executing a couple of unique-but-logical suplexes, and a handful of "little things" that you simply don't see enough of in any match, male or female (for example, Banks nearly bashing Becky's face in when she has her locked in an armbar, countless pinfall reversals, and a rare application of a personal favorite, the straightjacket cobra clutch [a move that my little brother and I used to call a "Japanese Cobra Clutch" because we saw it on an FMW tape when we were kids]. While this match doesn't have the emotional pull of Banks/Bayley from NXT Brooklyn, it is a thoroughly engaging match that, in a world where Banks/Bayley never happens, probably would've found its way on to even more Match of the Year lists. Excellent, excellent stuff. (4/5)

Main event time - Kevin Owens defending the NXT Championship against the former titleholder, Sami Zayn. There is a ton of bad blood between these two and the pre-match video does a nice job of setting the table for the fight we get. Going into this match there was serious question as to what level Zayn would be able to perform at, but he does a tremendous job of hiding the answer to that question in the early going, essentially leveling Owens with an unrelenting wave of forearms and fists. Owens tries to evade the onslaught but gets fought into and out of the crowd instead, taking a few respectable bumps in the process. In the ring, Owens takes a nasty looking half-and-half suplex too. All the while, each time Owens' game-changing powerbomb is teased and escaped the idea that this match will be all but over if the champ manages to score that one debilitating slam builds. When it does happen, the match is essentially over and, like their bout at Rival months earlier, it becomes more about the angle/storyline developed. I compared that initial contest to an old school NWA angle and this one continues in that vein, which is a tad disappointing, but understandable when you consider the real life injuries that Zayn was working through. Samoa Joe makes his debut in the post-match and the atmosphere goes from electric to nuclear, capping off a relatively strong show with a fierce eye-to-eye between two no-nonsense ass-kickers. As an overall package, the match and its aftermath work well. (3.5/5)

With an "entertainment average" of 2.91-out-of-5, Unstoppable is arguably the weakest NXT show of 2015, one that offers only one truly great match (Banks/Lynch), two pretty great matches (the opener and the main event), and a handful of skippable filler to round out the show. Unlike their recent specials from Brooklyn and London, the crowd doesn't elevate the pedestrian matches either (it is noticeable how much more excitement there was in Enzo and Cass's London match compared to their bout here). Still, at 120 minutes or so, the NXT brand's blow-off specials are just so much more digestible than the marathons the WWE puts on. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand