Ranking Every NXT TakeOver From Worst To Best

28. San Antonio

TakeOver: San Antonio was a night of good intentions and bad guys, but just about everything on the show felt so bloody rudimentary and functional that the sweat-soaked drama so entrenched in the legacy of the event was conspicuous by its absence.

Asuka plowed through the top names in the women’s division as it became increasingly apparent that she was bang right and absolutely nobody was ready for her. DIY did the honours for The Authors Of Pain in the worst match Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano would have against the big lads, whilst Eric Young and Roderick Strong’s victories over Tye Dillinger and Andrade Cien Almas respectively spoke to a show still in something of a transitional stage.

Nothing made that more apparent than a disappointing main event between Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura. They’d have more in them later that year but ‘The King Of Strong Style’ was nailed on for the main roster by WrestleMania weekend at the latest - this January title switch felt like a necessity, and the ‘Glorious’ one working the knee for the duration didn’t do much to increase a sense of unpredictability. A Seth Rollins run-in to call out Triple H provided that, but this mere spark wasn’t enough to light up the entire show.

Big changes were afoot for the black-and-gold brand as the year progressed, but they seemed quite the way off here.