7 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver Brooklyn III

NXT once again throws gauntlet of incredible matches, shocking moments at WWE's feet.

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WWE.com

After a couple middling TakeOver specials that were solid but unspectacular, NXT delivered a must-see program Saturday night with its third showing in Brooklyn.

The five-match card featured three title bouts and two grudge matches, but it’s what happened outside the bells that really made this a noteworthy show (beyond the solid wrestling). A trio of aggressors made sure to introduce themselves to new champions, laying them out and announcing their presence. It set up future storylines, future matchups and gave fans a reason to tune in on Wednesdays other than to see the new champs.

The action inside the ring was solid at worst and excellent at best. All the wrestlers went 100 kph, and the hot crowd certainly helped amplify that. It’s hard to pick which match was the best of the night, though the opening between Andrade “Cien” Almas and Johnny Gargano was hard to top, and the NXT Women’s Championship match riveted fans and had some of the hottest near-falls you’ll see.

SummerSlam might have a four-hour PPV schedule – twice as long as TakeOver – but they’re going to have to work twice as hard to top TakeOver Brooklyn III in terms of quality and entertainment value. That’s not to say that it can’t be done, but the bar has been set rather high.

With that said, let’s see what rose and what fell. Let’s get to it…

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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.