7 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia

2. Breaking Arms

It was bad enough when the Philadelphia fans busted out a “Bulls***” chant after Ember Moon couldn’t cover a defeated Shayna Baszler due to a bad elbow, but what followed was the kind of thing that just shouldn’t happen in 2018.

The appeal of Baszler is that she has legit MMA creds, so when she locked in a cross-armbreaker on Moon after the doctor and ref nearly stopped the match, it really should have been over in a matter of seconds. Instead, Ember fought it for well over a minute, rolling through, grabbing at her arm to prevent it from being straightened out, etc., until she managed a fold-up cover for the pin to escape with her title.

So why is this a down? Moon should have either tapped within 10 seconds or started rolling out of the hold immediately. If you’re relying on the fact that Baszler is a legit MMA fighter, then you have to at least respect that when she slaps a submission hold on an injured body part. The finish could have gone the same way, with time cut down by two-thirds, and it might have worked way better.

Instead, Baszler looked ineffective, rather than it looking like Moon persevered. It didn’t help that the match suffered from other problems (more on that), and this just piled on.