NXT TakeOver: London airs live on WWE Network this Wednesday, December 16. The event starts at 3PM EST because, you know, it’s happening in London. The show is headlined by NXT, NXT Women’s and NXT Tag Team Championship matches, as well as the return of Sami Zayn.
Here’s the announced card:
1. NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Samoa Joe
2. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax
3. NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady
4. Emma vs. Asuka
5. Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin
We’ll be here on Wednesday with an open discussion/live thread as well as results, so make sure you’re here to watch the show with us. NXT live specials have almost exclusively been killer, so there’s no reason to miss one happening in the early afternoon. Below are our official predictions and what you need to know about the show, so make sure you drop down into our comments section and let us know who you think will win.
Onto the picks!
Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin
What You Need to Know: Baron Corbin (who may or may not be a motorcycle-riding werewolf, we’ve yet to confirm) spent his early days in NXT as an “unstoppable force;” a guy so dominant the crowd could count during his matches and only get into the mid-20s to low-30s before it was over. Sometimes it was over quicker than that. Eventually his dominance started to fade and he got jaded by the influx of newcomers, particularly independent stars who don’t deserve his spot, and guys pretending to be “unstoppable forces.” Apollo Crews is both. He’s basically impossible to beat, and he’s chipper about it. That pisses Baron Corbin off so bad. Crews eliminated Corbin in a #1 contender battle royal, so Corbin interfered in Crews’ championship match. This will definitely (probably not) settle the score.
What Will Happen: Baron Corbin has gotten surprisingly great over the past few months and Apollo Crews is Apollo Crews, so this could be the sleeper match of the night. Corbin’s lost a few times and been fine and Crews is still on a winning streak, so I see Crews taking it. Because I mean honestly, I don’t see ANYBODY in NXT beating Crews for any reason. Ever. He cut through Tyler Breeze like a city bus through a discarded styrofoam cup. He was pretty close to beating Finn Bálor with like, no prep. Unless Brock Lesnar shows up and throws out a challenge, Crews is an all-times pick.
Staff Picks
David D. – Upset alert: Baron Corbin beats Apollo Crews here. I think he cheats and pulls off the win somehow. I have good guys winning all night and NXT has been full of feel-good moments in their events. And they generally like to throw in a heel win when that happens, so I’m going with Corbin for a cheat and win.
Austin Heiberg – Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like Corbin’s on his way out. Much like Tyler Breeze, I think he’s reached his plateau on NXT and can start the transition to the main roster pretty soon. That being said, I think one of his last gestures could easily be something like making Crews look awesome. I’ve got Apollo here.
Danielle Matheson – Okay, so I’ve been hella concussed and I’m slowly but surely playing catch up on everything, but for some reason my brain went, “no this happened and it was really good. Baron Corbin looked really good.” So I dunno if I hallucinated this happening, or what, but “had a really good match” is probably accurate. I want Crews to win because I want him to win all the things, but if he has to hit a bump in the road before he eventually ends up in the title picture, I’m okay with it being now.*
*I’m not, give him all the belts and all the nice things.
Emma vs. Asuka
What You Need to Know: Asuka is a nice, friendly Japanese lady who turns into your worst f*cking nightmare if you do anything to surprise her or make her mad. Dana Brooke is a prototypical, vain WWE Diva who assumed the new girl would be easy pickings, and got kicked in the head so hard it gave her temporary amnesia and possible brain damage. I say “possible brain damage” because she and her friend Emma have continued to pick on Asuka, and now Asuka and Emma are throwing down.
What Will Happen: Consider Asuka my Apollo Crews-style “all-times pick” in NXT women’s matches. I can honestly see Emma pulling an upset here, because Emma is f*cking fantastic, but it’s too early in Asuka’s run to give her a loss. You’ve got to keep her winning until it’s time to go head-to-head with Nia Jax, because if that doesn’t make dollar signs pop up over your eyes, you’ve got a problem. Alternately, you’ve got to keep her winning until she fulfills the destiny of all non-Bayley babyface Divas, which is “turn on Bayley.”
I’m picking Asuka to win in a great match, and I hope this makes people start paying attention to Emma again. She’s got the best entrance theme, and half a pair of gloves.
Staff Picks
David D. – Asuka’s gonna kill youuuuu. Asuka’s gonna kill youuuuu. Asuka vs. Bayley on WrestleMania weekend is going to be bonkers.
Austin Heiberg – Really, the only true prediction here is how exactly Dana Brooke will try (in vain) to cost Asuka the victory. And of course, it’ll be like bringing a flyswatter to a gunfight. Asuka gets the win, and I think she’ll probably go undefeated until she crosses paths with Nia Jax at some point.
Danielle Matheson – While some say it was Paige who started Prince and the Revolution, it’s been really easy in WWE’s presentation of ‘making history’ to forget Emma is really, really good, and has been for a long time. Out of all the matches on the card, I might be the most pumped for this one. I mean, Asuka could straight up murder Emma regardless, but if anyone’s gonna put up a good fight before having her arm ripped clean from her socket, it’s Emma. That said, ya girl’s gonna get murder killed so hard while Dana looks on making this face:
NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady
What You Need to Know: Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder are the two most average, average-looking guys in WWE, but they’re a good tag team, and great at wrestling. They like to hurt people on purpose. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady are the most abnormal, and they spend most of their time acting ridiculous and getting the crowd to chant along with their wordy ring introduction. Dawson and Wilder injured Cass, so now Enzo and Cass are okay putting the fun aside for a second to beat their f*cking asses.
What Will Happen: Dawson and Wilder were made to be transitional champions, and you can’t keep Enzo and Cass in NXT much longer without giving them the tag belts. I don’t think the NXT or NXT Women’s Championships are changing hands in London, but you’ve gotta do something, so this is that something. Cass and Enzo have their big moment, Dawson and Wilder look comically upset about it, and we keep treading water until Jason Jordan and Chad Gable decide to go for the belts and reign as champions for 10,000 years.
(Seriously though, give Enzo and Cass the belts. I want Enzo holding up his emoji pajama wrestling pants with 10 pounds of gold.)
Staff Picks
David D. – I was all on board for Dawson and Wilder retaining the belts…then I heard that Enzo and Cass promo at NXT last week and my allegiances have changed. Enzo and Cass deserve a chance to carry the belts before heading over to a feud with the New Day on RAW.
Austin Heiberg – Do the Realest Guys really need this? They’re the most popular babyfaces not named Sami Zayn right now, and even if the Mechanics are transitional champions, they deserve to develop for a bit longer. Enzo and Cass will be fine if they lose here, and I think that’s what will happen.
Danielle Matheson – Precious tri-state area cinnamon rolls take on a team that looks like two guys from Snydersville who tried to attack Chi-Chi Rodriguez before they got their Strawberry Social makeovers. I love Enzo and Big Cass in a way you can’t teach, but I think Dash and Wilder retain while I fondly reminisce on my brief but intense 90s crush on Michael Vartan.
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax
What You Need to Know: Nia Jax is The Rock’s cousin. They’ll mention that. She’s also massive and powerful compared to everyone else in the women’s division, and has recently aligned with living Real Doll Eva Marie to consolidate power and gain opportunities. NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Eva even with Nia’s help, so now she’s got to face Nia herself. The match was signed when Nia threw her through a door, if that tells you anything.
What Will Happen: London will avoid the “hey we want some Bayley” chants, giving us a chance to actually watch Bayley wrestle without a headache.
Also, I see Bayley retaining. Jax could go straight into dominant champion mode, but I think a loss here does more good. It helps continue to validate Bayley’s championship run as the link between NXT generations. It gives Nia an early, reasonable loss so she doesn’t have a “winning streak” story hanging over her in future matches. It could also set up a higher-stakes match between the two at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, which is the kind of place you want to be doing NXT Women’s title changes. I’m hoping Eva Marie’s the one that fouls it up for Nia, just to get a quick Nia vs. Eva match in the in-between.
Staff Picks
David D. – Nia Jax is the immovable object and she’s on a roll. It’s crazy that they’re having this match so early, too. But I think Bayley wins with a rollup and Jax goes nuclear with a post-match beat down.
Austin Heiberg – In most scenarios, Bayley winning is a foregone conclusion. But, maybe you’ve heard that Nia Jax isn’t like most girls. Nia is the perfect contender here, both on her own trajectory and as Bayley’s next roadblock. Ultimately, I think it’s still Bayley’s moment.
Danielle Matheson – Has Eva Marie started coming to the ring on Jax’s shoulders yet, like an ineloquent Cat Sith on her own armoured Samoan moogle? No? Aw man. What does a girl have to do to get wrestlers to ride around on the shoulders of their bigger, stronger wrestler friends? Finn’s not doing it, and Nia Jax is right there and strong as hell. *slams fist on table* And why the hell aren’t we all sitting around fantasy casting NXT roster members as Final Fantasy VII characters? Bayley is Yuffie, Emma is Tifa, Samoa Joe is Red XIII even though Enzo kinda has his hair. Asuka is the Shiva summon. COME ON. Anyways, I love the idea of actual obstacles in Bayley’s path (also, dastardly heel shenanigans!), but I’ll give this one to her with the note that I’m not sure she’ll be able to retain for long after.
NXT Championship Match: Finn Bálor (c) vs. Samoa Joe
What You Need to Know: Finn Bálor is an affable, delightful Irish guy who loves everybody and plays with LEGO. Inside of him lurks an unbeatable Asian pro wrestling demon, and sometimes they become the same guy. Samoa Joe is a pretty self-explanatory guy who was the best wrestler in the world in 2005, slummed it in a bad wrestling promotion for 10 years and came to NXT to transform back into the best wrestler in the world. They teamed up to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and Joe used the win to ask Finn for a title shot. Finn said he could have one, but William Regal stepped in and said Joe had to earn it. Joe failed to earn it, so his perspective got warped and he blames it on Finn. He’s spent the last month choking Finn so hard that Finn foams at the mouth. This match is going to be awesome as sh*t.
What Will Happen: Damn, this is a close one. If I was booking the show, I’d give it to Joe. Joe’s the MAN right now, and having a certified indie wrestling legend as your NXT Champion isn’t a bad way to go. That said, you’ve got to keep it on Finn. He’s the marketable face of your company as it becomes a nationally touring brand, and he’s the guy you want on the posters and doing the interviews and hugging children. Joe is dope, but Finn’s the call. I just hope they do something fun with the demon, and don’t just draw Big Ben on his back.
Staff Picks
David D. – NXT has a way of making main events where there’s always a doubt of who’ll win. The Joe dominance of Finn for the last month leads me to believe that Finn will win and give Joe his first loss, but it’s possible the swerve is the obvious answer is the winner. Still, I’m going with Balor. Also, prop bet for a London-based demon costume this time.
Austin Heiberg – Okay, elephant in the room first – Sami Zayn is going to be on this show at some point, and I think this is probably the likeliest place for him to interject. Aside from that, this is a real toss-up for me. How much time does Finn have left before the icy hands of the main roster clutch him away from Valhalla? What’s the plan for the Dallas Takeover? Either guy could win this and set up months of great storytelling, but with all things considered, I think it’s time for a heel to start running amok again. I think Samoa Joe gets the victory here.
Danielle Matheson – So Sami Zayn still needs to pop up and some point during this show, but I don’t think I actually want it to be a part of this. It was predictable, yes, but the road to Finn-Joe, especially on the part of Joe, has been pretty great. Let it stand on its own. I mean, I want Real (Heel) Rock’N Rolla Finn like I want to now replay Final Fantasy VII, but I can wait through another special. Predction: Finn retains, the crowd is bananas, and the match is baller as heck.
