7 Ups And 3 Downs For NXT TakeOver XXV

4. Strong, Riddle Throw Down

Roderick Strong Matt Riddle NXT TakeOver XXV
WWE

It was kind of a foregone conclusion that Roderick Strong and Matt Riddle would have a hard-hitting, rapid-striking matchup at TakeOver.

But the two opened the show with a match that left you wondering how either man had all their teeth intact afterward. Strong repeatedly unloaded on Riddle, whose “injured” back was the story of the match. The Original Bro kept coming back, at one point hitting a Go to Sleep/German suplex combo that would have been fine as the finisher.

Strong would counter later by getting his knees up on a Floating Bro and quickly hitting a gutbuster and Tiger Bomb for two, then immediately turning it into a Strong Hold. But in the end, Riddle gutted it out, which makes a ton of sense since he’s likely being positioned as a future NXT Championship threat.

But man, what a fantastic opener.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.