10 Lessons Learned From Attending WWE NXT TakeOver London

9. The Crowd Don't Care For Elias Sampson At All

I really hope that the TakeOver taping isn't going to be the official debut of The Drifter. He didn't go over very well. Before the night kicked off properly, with HHH giving his growliest promo, two dark matches were filmed, presumably to be aired next week. After all, they did the same with TakeOver Brooklyn, getting the most they can out of a great venue and a hot crowd, and the similarities to TakeOver Brooklyn don't quite end there. Last night, the second of these matches filmed was Elias Sampson vs Bull Dempsey. At Brooklyn, the two men wrestled each other that night too, also as dark match to the main show, but with starkly different results. At Brooklyn, their match was designed as showcase for Dempsey, in an attempt to get the Bull-Fit persona over, and he crushed Sampson with ease. Last night, the roles were reversed. This was supposed to be a big match for Sampson, whose cryptic promos have been airing on NXT for the past few weeks. He saw off Dempsey with an elbow drop after mere minutes, to a muted reaction from the London crowd. Considering how loud the crowd remained throughout the night, the reaction to Sampson was really jarring and, when he picked up the win out of the blue, fans cared not a jot as he stood playing his guitar in the ring in triumph. I don't blame the crowd (but then again I'm biased) as there was no announcement that this was his proper debut, the last time we saw Sampson wrestle he was thrashed, and an elbow drop just isn't really a finisher anymore. If the plan was to debut him in front of a hot crowd, the plan was scuppered.