8 Ups And 4 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Toronto

3. Wrestling At Half-Speed

After watching the first three matches of TakeOver: Toronto, the NXT Women’s Championship match felt like it was being wrestled in molasses… or maple syrup, since it was in Canada.

The bout between Mia Yim and Shayna Baszler was wrestled at half-speed, and it was also noticeably sloppy, with miscommunications, slow-motion transitions, and lulls that played to silence. The idea that both women had injured arms factored partly into that, but it just didn’t work at all.

It’s understandable that not every match can be full speed ahead, but if you’re going to do something like this, you need to have a better game plan than Yim and Baszler did. It was far too pedestrian and just didn’t work from an entertainment perspective, nor did it from a wrestling clinic perspective.

It’s disappointing, because Shayna has been solid in the ring for the most part, and Yim seemed to be gaining momentum on NXT TV. This was somewhat baffling.