10 Ways WWE Rebuilt NXT In 2017
6. Mixing Up The Mains
In keeping with the preservation of TakeOver as the company's most protected enterprise, card formats this year were experimented with in order to place greater importance on the matches with the most emotional heft. Such logic is long lost on a main roster allergic to the tiniest of changes, but every shift elevated the beneficiaries without remotely burying the allegedly relegated parties.
TakeOver: Chicago was one of the year's most underrated cards almost entirely because of this. Hideo Itami was something of a lost cause by May, but had value enough to enter a short programme with Bobby Roode for the NXT Title. Still a brand where talent makes titles rather than the other way around, their match was the semi-main to the rip-snorting blowoff ladder match between the Authors Of Pain and #DIY that came in-built with a devastating post-match twist.
Asuka and Ember Moon's semi-main spot at TakeOver: Brooklyn 3 mirrored the placement afforded to Sasha Banks/Bayley and Bayley/Asuka in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and lived up to the lofty standards set by both. And TakeOver: WarGames couldn't not be headlined by its eponymous stipulation, but the layout keenly favoured Andrade 'Cien' Almas' low key yet memorable heel title win.