6 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Chicago

UPS…

6. DreamMania Runs Wild

Typically, you can count on the Velveteen Dream to be draped in purple. It’s his signature color, right down to the lighting and fog he emerges from before his matches.

But Saturday, Dream decided to forgo his ode to Prince and paid homage to Hulk Hogan with a yellow-and-orange motif, right down to the do-rag and boa. Velveteen ripped off his shirt, cupped a hand to his ear and did Hogan’s posedown. Thankfully, Nigel McGuinness acknowledged it by noting that, “DreamMania is running wild!”

What made this homage great was that Dream didn’t do the entire Hogan routine, but aped chunks of it and incorporated it into his routine. Unlike Curtis Axel during the AxelMania gimmick, this was less an impersonation and more of an appropriation. It was just enough to work well and not enough to make you groan.