8 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Portland

Lee/Dijakovic, Gargano/Balor deliver, Ciampa's pursuit derailed.

by Scott Carlson
Article lead image
WWE.com

It’s damn near impossible for NXT to keep up the momentum they’ve generated for their TakeOver events, but they somehow manage to keep turning out must-see PPVs several times a year.

Even Sunday’s edition from Portland, which could be considered a weaker TakeOver than the usual fare, was pretty damn good, with a couple excellent matches, and nothing worse than simply a solid wrestling match. TakeOver: Portland had a title change, an electric crowd, hot in-ring action, false finishes galore, and no-nonsense action.

However, TakeOver also had two finishes rely on outside interference, which is a rarity for NXT, which prides itself on more traditional wrestling, with the action in the ring carrying the day. One of the run-ins provided a big “Who?” rather than shock, and the other might have produced some groans at the prospect of rekindling a feud fans might not be ready to see again. (Then again, we could be 100% wrong about this; time will indeed tell.)

Despite this, TakeOver was a really, really enjoyable event and well worth checking out. You could do far worse looking for some wrestling to watch. Hell, the opening match alone justifies the entire PPV, IMO.

With that said, let’s get to it…

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.