Look, not every debut match can set the world on fire, and not every bout at TakeOver can be a high-octane, 100 mph affair. But for those who were expecting to see Austin Aries wow the crowd Friday night, they were likely a little disappointed. Not all of that can be laid at A-Doubles feet. And you cant entirely fault his opponent, Baron Corbin. The Lone Wolf is a big guy and wrestles as such. That ensured that Aries was going to have to ramp down his offense and fight as the little man throughout the contest. That resulted in a slower match with fewer highspots, a more methodical pace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-GI2ocqNg4 Aries is capable of a lot more, and its quite possible that NXT is holding back a little and setting up a rematch between Baron and Austin where hell cut loose more. Still, after the tag team opener, it definitely was a few notches down on the excitement scale.
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.
