6 Ups And 4 Downs From NXT TakeOver: San Antonio
3. Women’s Match Gets Shorted
It’s a bad sign when you think you missed half a match and scan back to check, only to find that no, you saw the whole thing.
The fatal fourway between Asuka, Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay had the potential to be an intriguing bout, with the Australians hanging together and possibly forcing Asuka and Cross to have to team up to take them down. You could have the Aussies dominate the match and get a bunch of near-falls on both women, only to have a miscommunication that leads to their downfall.
Instead, they hid (smart) and tried to pick their spots (kinda smart) and then took out Nikki Cross by putting her through a table (genius). Then they came back to the ring and tried to take out Asuka, only to fall to a series of kicks and lose in short order. Just like that, the match was over. It felt like an entire segment of the match was missing, with Asuka getting beaten from pillar to post before coming back to win.
It was a disappointing performance, and whether it was sent home early because of time, it still was disappointing.