3 Ups & 5 Downs From NXT 403
With a month to go to TakeOver: Brooklyn III, despatches from NXT's weekly show.
The singles championship matches have been decided for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III. Bobby Roode and Drew McIntyre duke it out for the NXT title and Asuka faces Ember Moon for the women's belt. The tag match (assuming there is one) and the rest of the card are being nailed down over the next four weeks, with this episode full of storylines building to the main event.
Full Sail University's crowd, always vocal and knowledgeable, were particularly mouthy this week and were happy to appreciate everything the performers gave them. That was just as well as the matches were to build characters and storylines rather than conclude anything. The show was built around a Drew McIntyre in-ring promo about the NXT championship match, and a main event pitting Hideo Itami against Cassius Ohno in a development of their previously tepid tag team breakup story.
Along with this, newcomer Velveteen Dream got a run-out and Ember Moon put in an appearance to help build her showdown with Asuka. Could NXT build a quality episode out of these often unpromising experience? And is the undercard of at TakeOver shaping up to challenge the accompanying Summerslam in quality?