10 Worst Ever NXT TakeOver Matches

4. Apollo Crews Vs Tye Dillinger (Brooklyn)

Samoa Joe Baron Corbin
WWE

WWE had what they wanted with Apollo Crews right out of the box, but from the day he debuted, it appeared as though the fans were far less enthused with the content.

Emerging as a smiling babyface for the red hot crowd on a famous night in NXT's history, Crews impressed with his standing moonsault finisher, but was over-exposed under the brand's brightest spotlight against the typically charitable Tye Dillinger.

Dillinger spent the better part of a year as the safe pair of hands for a new talent to work with on their first night, but Crews looked devoid of the incredible physical charisma he'd shown on the independent scene as the highly-touted Uhaa Nation.

Scaled back as the humble white meat good guy, Crews lacked any sort of fire in his attack despite Tye working diligently at his antagonistic 'Perfect 10' act to try and infuriate the Brooklyn crowd.

Crews' destruction of Tye was supposedly an easy night's work, but the whole simply ran too long for Apollo to look as if he'd made light work of his opponent.

Truthfully, it's a hurdle he's still yet to get over despite an aggressive push on the brand and expedited ascent to WWE's main roster.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett