NXT Takeover: Toronto II Review

NXT Takeover: Toronto II took part last Saturday at the Scotiabank Arena. The card looks awesome so, let's take a look.

The first match is for the NXT Tag Team Championship as The Undisputed Era challenge The Street Profits. The match goes back and forth before Bobby Fish hits a running elbow on Angelo Dawkins to get his team the advantage. Eventually, Dawkins is able to tag in Montez Ford but later on, he gets put into a brutal achilles lock by O'Reilly. In the end, Dawkins spears both O'Reilly and Fish and Ford hits O'Reilly with a beautiful frog splash to get the win.  This was a really good match and a lot of fun.
Winners: Street Profits (1 for 1)

The next match is Io Shirai taking on Candice LeRae. LeRae doesn't fuck around and attacks Shirai before the bell rings. When the bell rings, Shirai almost hits a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor but she pulls LeRae off the apron then suplexes her onto the announce table to get the advantage. LeRae avoids a missile dropkick and this gives her the opportunity to make a comeback. Despite hitting a beautiful tornado DDT to the outside, Shirari manages to recover and hits an Asai Moonsault but LeRae kicks out. Shirai then makes LeRae pass out by applying a modified Koji Clutch to get the win. This was a good match between the two and I sense that it isn't over yet.
Winner: Io Shirai (2 for 2)

After an impromptu fight between Matt Riddle and Killian Dian, we now get a match that I was really looking forward to seeing: Velveteen Dream defending his North American Championship against Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong in a triple threat match. Highlights inlcude: Dream and Dunne teaming up to take out Strong; Strong hitting his opponents with backbreakers; Dream putting Strong in a Sharpshooter, which was stopped by a double stomp by Dunne on Strong; and Dream hitting Dunne with an elbow drop while he was attacking Strong's fingers. Dune hits Strong with The Bitter End but Dream distracts the referee then stops him from finishing the 3 count. Strong hits The End of Heartache on Dunne but Dream breaks up the pin with a Purple Rainmaker then pins Dunne to get the win. Thsi was a brilliant match and I was surprised that Dream won. However, I'm happy with the decision and Strong has plenty of time to get the Championship.
Winner: Velveteen Dream (2 for 3)

The penutimate match is for the NXT Women's Championship as Mia Yim challenges Shayna Baszler. Baszler tries to put holds on Yim but Yim responds by attacking the face. After Yim injures the shoulder, Baszler kicks the back of the head to get the advantage then goes onto injure the left arm. Yim uses some more underhanded tactics to help make a comeback. Baszler's injury hamoers her and Yim takes advantage to hit an avalanche code blue for 2 then further injures the shoulder with a stomp. Baszler tries to apply the Krirfuda Clutch but Yim takes advantage of the injured shoulder to prevent it being fully locked in. Baszler then applies a triangle choke using the legs to get Yim to submit and Baszler gets the win. This was a good match and I liked the psychology that they used with Yim using underhanded tactics to stop Baszler and throw her off her game.
Winner: Shayna Baszler (3 for 4)

The main event is a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the NXT Championship as Johnny Gargano challenges Adam Cole (Bay Bay!). The 1st fall was a normal wrestling match. Cole injures his right knee which hampers his offence. Later on, he decides to grab a steel chair and when the referee  puts it to the side, he hits a Nakamura Approved Low Blow but it only gets 2. Gargano then grabs the chair and beats the fuck out of Cole to lose the 1st fall by disqualification.

The 2nd fall is a street fight and Gargano presses home his advantage, taking the fight through the crowd and sending Cole through the announce table. Despite Cole getting a few moves in, Gargano sends him into a steel chair in the corner then gets him to submit to the Garag-No Escape to tie the match.

The third fall is a steel cage match with barbed wire on the top and weapons on the side. They go on to use kendo sticks, steel chairs, a fire extinguisher and a ladder against each other. Gargano comes very close to winning with a Canadian Destroyer off the top rope. He then uses some pilers to cut off some of the barbed wire at the top of the cage. Cole flees to the table perched on one corner of the cage and when Gargano goes after him, they go flying through 2 tables set up earlier. Cole manages to drape an arm across Gargano to get the pin and the match.

I thought this match was really good. However, I feel that it might have gone on a little bit too long. Hopefully, Gargano will go on to the main roster and Cole can continue his Bay Bay Celebration Tour.
Winner: Adam Cole (4 for 5)

I really enjoyed Takeover: Toronto as it had some really good matches. I was worried about the 3 hour run time but it didn't feel like it dragged and that's always a good sign.