WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III Review

Announcers: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuiness & Percy Watson

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Venue: Barclays Centre

The opening contest for Takeover was Johnny Gargano taking on Andrade 'Cien' Almas who had Zelina Vega in his corner. Gargano tweeted before the show that his new shirt had already sold out in the arena. That is good news because Gargano was SUPER over throughout this match. They looked very intent on stealing the show and really set the bar for the rest of the night. The speed of this match rarely slowed down throughout starting with with great chain and mat wrestling before Almas starts to work on Gargano's arm catching it in a triangle hold over the top rope. They trade blows back and forth with Almas slapping Gargano which just fires him up and Almas eats a seated roundhouse kick for his troubles. Gargano hits his awesome looking spear through the ropes which is always nice to see. Almas poses in the ropes for the second time but this time gets superkicked to the outside and Gargano knocks him down with a suicide dive. Back in the ring Gargano launches through the ropes and delivers a viscious looking DDT for a near fall. Another great sequence where Gargano comes off the ropes and transitions from a headscissors into the Gargano Escape. Almas escapes hitting a one armed buckle bomb and hits his running knee strike but only gets a 2 count! Gargano superkicks Almas twice and launces him into the turnbuckle like a lawn dart. Gargano is setting up for the win but Vega throws a DIY shirt at Gargano which causes enough of a distraction to allow Almas hit the Hammer lock DDT for the win. Great opening match and a surprise win for Almas. Interested to see where the story goes with both men especially if it becomes a thing that Gargano can't get over the split of DIY.

Corey Graves joins the announce team for the next match and it was nice to hear Graves calling an NXT match again. Sanity with all members present challenged Authors of Pain who had their manager Paul Ellering at ringside for the NXT Tag Team titles. This match was so much fun and was even better than I think anyone expected. AOP brawled with the Sanity guys before the bell beating them down before throwing Wolfe back in the ring to start the match. They double team Wolfe for a while before Wolfe ducks a charging Akam and we think he's going to tag Dain but he drops down and Young takes his place and is tagged into the match. Clever switch! Great move where Akam back body drops Young into Rezar's arms who turns it into a Dominator. Sanity is in the babyface role and this feels like a real turn for them because the crowd are definitely behind them. Wolfe gets the hot tag and he has a real breakout performance hitting big boots, running bicycle kicks and suplexs on AOP. They try to do a tower of doom on Young but Cross grabs Young and Akam accidentally powerbombs Rezar! AOP goes to the floor and both Young and Wolfe dives to the outside on them. Cross decides to get involved to a huge reaction. She dives off the top rope but Rezar catches her and Dain comes charging in with his cross-body attack sending both through a table set up on the outside! SICK!! Young and Wolfe hit a double team back suplex/neckbreaker on Akam for the win! NEW CHAMPS! Great match and awesome win for Sanity. HOWEVER! The celebration doesn't last long as the ReDragon team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reily come out and lay waste to both teams. Hell of an impact!!

Next up Hideo Itami goes one-on-one with Aleister Black. Jim Ross comes out to do commentary replacing Percy and the match really benefits from having a dream team of JR, Mauro and Nigel. No surprise that this was a hard hitting match as you would expect from two world class strikers. Lots of stiff shots and it doesn't take long til Black as a bloody nose. Itami does two knee drops and goes for a third but does his fake out sweep move that always look cocky. Black lands a couple of quick strikes, a shining wizard and a high standing moonsault. Itami gets Black with his tornado DDT over the top rope, a clothesline and then gets a two count off a Fisherman Suplex. Black is on the top rope but is cut off and it looks like he's going for superplex but it turns into a Falcon Arrow off the second rope! Black gets up looking furious and they trade savage strikes. Black hits a brutal looking knee strike but Itami shakes it off and hits another Falcon Arrow for another near fall. Itami hits a hesitation dropkick and sets up for a GTS. Blacks escapes the attempt and ducks a charging Itami and then BANG! BLACK MASS! GOOD NIGHT!! One of the best sudden impact finishers in the business today. Black picks up another big win and JR put over Itami big time on commentary.

Next Match the NXT Women's Championship is on the line as the LONG Undefeated champion Asuka defends against the emerald war goddess Ember Moon. After the bell rings Ember immediately goes after the champion. She is all over Asuka until she pulls Ember into the steel steps. Asuka hits a hammerlock suplex on the floor and they are building a story around Ember's arm/shoulder injury at the hands of Asuka earlier this year. Asuka is dominating Ember with submission holds and stiff strikes. The crowd is split in this match with loud duelling chants. Ember escapes an arm bar with an electric chair and Ember comes back with quick kicks and a step-up enziguri. Ember tries to get Asuka in the Asuka lock but Asuka escapes managing to get Ember in the lock but Ember manages to kick back off the turnbuckle and almost pins Asuka while she has the lock on Ember. Classic Bret Hart! They trade blows and Asuka hits a GTS like move and just keeps kicking Ember! Trading blows on the top rope now and Ember does a stomp on Asuka's chest down to the mat for a near fall. Ember hits a devastating Eclipse but is only able to get 2! The crowd cant believe it! Ember goes to the top rope again but Asuka pulls the ref in the way but Ember dives over the ref onto Asuka! Asuka reverses though and tries to grabs the tights but the ref catches it. Asuka complains to the ref and eats a vicious super kick only for a 2! Asuka looks out of it but she is playing possum and transitions an armbar into an Asuka Lock. Ember tries and tries but can't escape and has to tap out! The streak continues and both women looked amazing in this match. Can anyone take the title from Asuka??

MAIN EVENT TIME! Drew McIntyre lead to the ring by the NYPD Pipes & Drums challenged The Glorious Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship. It was tough for these guys to follow all the outstanding matches we had seen so far but I thought this was a really good main event. Drew starts aggressively with Roode going to the floor to regroup. The two exchange chops in the corners and fight outside with Drew dropping Roode on the guardrail. Duelling chants from the crowd but seems louder for Roode. Roode takes advantage with a swinging neckbreaker through the ropes while Drew is trying to get back in the ring and then a blockbuster on the outside. Roode is in full control now and tries to put Drew away with a Rude Awakening neckbreaker and then a second rope dropkick. Drew fights back into the match with an overhead belly-to-belly throw off the ropes. Roode hits an atomic drop and a knee lift but Drew comes back with a version of the White Noise. Roode and Drew are fighting in the corner and Drew is in the tree of woe but sits up and throws Roode off the tope rope. Drew manages to hit the Future Shock on Roode but that only gets 2. They are trading blows and the crowd are starting to get more into the match now. Roode hits an enziguri but Drew hits back with a Claymore but Roode has his foot on the ropes at 2 1/2! Roode crumbles to the outside but eats a Somersault Dive from Drew! Crazy athleticism from such a huge dude!! Great counter wrestling from these two leading to a twilt-a-whirl move that lands Roode in a position to hit the Glorious DDT but only gets a two! Roode hits another one and decides to transition for a third but is blocked by Drew and then knocks out Roode with another Claymore for the win! Drew is the new NXT Champion!!

As Drew was celebrating in the ring it looked like the show was going to end but the crowd started going crazy! The camera cuts and Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reily are on the arpon distracting Drew and he is attacked from behind by....ADAM COLE BAY BAY!! The 3 beat down Drew and the show finishes with Cole superkicking Drew and posing with the belt! AMAZING!!

And that was NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III. An outstanding show! My favourite show of the year by far and my personal favourite Takeover to date. Some outstanding matches, some great story developments and an amazing debut. The future of NXT looks very bright which in turn means the future of WWE looks very good!

Thank you guys for reading! Let me know what you guys thought of the show on my twitter @chris_dons or in the comments section.