7 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia

3. Styles Clash

nxt tag
WWE.com

When the NXT Tag Team Championship match got underway, it was looking like the heel/heel dynamic and odd pairing was going to drag the match down. And while it took a bit to click, the match ended up working pretty well.

The Authors of Pain have been a dominant heel team for much of their NXT tenure, overpowering opponents and matching up best with speedy, strong moves. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish were also heels, but are not as flashy as some of AOP’s top opponents. They use more strikes and submission wrestling.

It was also weird to see AOP’s Akam playing the “face-in-peril” roll, but it worked well enough. O’Reilly’s submission moves looked odd at first since he was so much smaller, but they kept at it and made a believer out of this writer.

By the end of the match, fans were rocking along with the bout, which ended with Undisputed Era capitalizing on Akam’s injury rather than outright cheating to win. That might be a subtle difference to some, but it’s huge – and smart to keep both groups strong.

Advertisement
In this post: 
NXT Takeover
 
Posted On: 
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.