4:04 pm | August 10, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
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Sean CoyleESPN
As has been the case with the 25 previous TakeOver events, the NXT TakeOver: Toronto card is stacked. It’s headlined by the third installment of what has become one of the greatest rivalries in NXT history in Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano. To say that Cole and Gargano delivered at the two previous TakeOver events would be an understatement. They put forth masterpieces sure to be considered match of the year candidates come year’s end, and there’s no telling what they’ll pull out in their two-out-of-three falls NXT championship match tonight.
But this is far from a one-match card, with three other titles on the line and a one-on-one match that’s apt to surprise a lot of people as Candice LeRae takes on friend-turned-enemy Io Shirai. There’s a triple-threat match for the North American championship featuring a dynamic clash of styles between defending champion Velveteen Dream, Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong. If Strong wins, The Undisputed Era’s tag team specialists, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish, will look to make it a clean sweep by reclaiming their NXT tag team titles from the Street Profits.
Rounding out the card is a women’s championship match in which Shayna Baszler’s lengthy stretch atop the mountain is challenged by Mia Yim.
Sean Coyle is breaking it all down live, as it happens.
(c) – indicates defending champion
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai
Match in progress…
NXT tag team championships: The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (c) def. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
The Street Profits opened NXT TakeOver: Toronto by short-circuiting Undisputed Era of ending the night with all of the gold. In their most thoroughly well-rounded performance to date on a big stage, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford stood toe-to-toe with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly and wrapped up a successful defense to kick off the show.
These two teams, along with the Forgotten Sons and the duo of Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, tore the house down at TakeOver XV back in June in a ladder match as Ford and Dawkins won the vacant NXT tag titles. If there was any doubt that they could thrive in a more traditional style of match, that thought was dispelled pretty quickly.
The bout began with dueling “Undisputed” and “Street Profits” chants from the Toronto crowd as Dawkins and O’Reilly got things started. Both teams utilized good old-fashioned tag team wrestling early on, trading quick tags with solid teamwork. The action began to heat up after the Undisputed Era had done their part on wearing out Dawkins, when the ridiculously athletic Ford entered the match with high energy and and athleticism that allowed the 6-foot-4 standout to execute a beautiful standing moonsault
He attempted to channel The Rock by teasing the “people’s elbow”, but gave the enthusiastic Toronto crowd a little taste when he hit Fish with a rock bottom. Throughout the match both teams mixed flash with physicality, particularly impressive in moments like when Fish superplexed Ford and an O’Reilly heel hook onto a previously damaged leg of Ford.
After swinging back and forth, the closing sequence saw Dawkins hit two spears — one each to Fish and O’Reilly — followed by a frog splash by Ford that would make Rob Van Dam proud. The Street Profits seem to be around for the long haul, which prompts the question of who will be next. Whether it’s the Forgotten Sons, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch or a new team stepping up, their ongoing progress is clear — even on a match by match basis.
Still to come:
2-out-of-3 falls
Adam Cole (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT women’s championship
Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Mia Yim
NXT North American championship
Velveteen Dream (c) vs. Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong
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