How did you rate NXT Takeover: Brooklyn?

Singles
Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs Tyler Breeze
** 1/2

I don't get what the point is of bringing over a fifty year old who wrestles in show openers in Japan to beat Tyler Breeze, but the outcome is largely inconsequential. The match was clunky and moved at Liger's now slow pace. It probably wasn't what they were expecting when they brought in Liger. I still contend that Tyler Breeze is a major main-roster heel, although I think WWE might see it otherwise.

NXT Tag Team Championships
The Vaudevillians [w/Blue Pants] vs The Dubstep Cowboys(C) [w/Alexa Bliss]
***

The Vaudevillians will never work on the main roster, but they're a fun little team that should serve a useful purpose on the NXT tours, especially as the brand expands. I was left wondering at a point when Simon Gotch got the hot tag and almost immediately after he tagged back in Aiden English. I guess maybe they were going for "false heat" but it didn't work. The Dubstep Cowboys look like watch The Kingdom and try to emulate Taven and Bennett (poorly.) There was one legitimate star in this match - Alexa Bliss, who comes off as a main roster player.

In the end it was a decent tag team effort from both sides that had moments of sloppiness.

Apollo Crews vs Tye Dillinger
* 1/2

What the hell were they going for here? Dillinger has a lot of potential and could be a useful low-card heel for years to come, but now is not the time to worry about establishing him. You had one chance to make a first impression with Apollo Crews and you blew it. It should have been offense, offense, offense, offense, and get the fuck out. Instead they made it a **wrestling match** and no one cared until the finish. If this guy is meant to be a big singles star, they fucked up big in his presentation here.

Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin
**

Baron Corbin sucks and has a bad attitude. He sold the choke with a cartoonish tongue out. The guy sucks, has a babyface, and is a bad athlete and worker. This guy will never make it in the WWE. Samoa Joe, on the other hand, was once a great worker. I think he's in denial. If you look at Joe and Kevin Owens, it's a tale of two philosophies. Owens is working his ass off to look like the star Vince wants, and Joe doesn't think he has to. He's actually getting bigger.

That said, Joe is still an average worker who probably booked his own finish here and it made the boring match somewhat acceptable as the finish told a good story.

NXT Womens Championship
Bayley vs Sasha Banks(C)
**** 1/2

I've said for a while that Charlotte was *clearly* the worst of the four horsewomen. Anyone that still denies that after Bayley's performance tonight is beyond hope. Bayley was an absolute superstar who worked her gimmick and angle to perfection. Sasha Banks is a level beyond superstar. She's the best female talent in North America. This match show-cased what womens wrestling could and should be.

That said, it infuriated me watching this and thinking about all the ways WWE is fucking their "revolution" up, because tomorrow Sasha Banks is going to come out and clearly act as Naomi's inferior in an angle involving 9 women telling the story that five women from NXT (One that's not even up yet) are better than anything WWE has produced. Nikki Bella has a place in this and her sister deserves a minor role, but there is absolutely no reason Naomi and Tamina Snuka should have their hands held while they bring down the potential of these girls.

If a woman can't hang with Sasha Banks, release them or send them to developmental. She's the new standard, and frankly half the women in this angle don't live-up.

On that note, Sara Del Ray should be in charge of how female wrestling is presented in WWE. She should be in charge of hiring the writers that control their angles and she should book and agent their matches. Do not let Kevin Dunn or any of the other losers under the umbrella continue to ruin these girls.

Sasha and Bayley told a great story. They should have gone on last. This was the real main event.

NXT Championship Ladder Match
Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor(C)
*** 1/4

My reservations about just what Finn Balor's potential is went unchanged after his rather average performance in this ladder match. His entrance has too much stuff that's just not going to work with casual fans and aside from the face paint he does nothing - whether it selling or offense - that stands out. Kevin Owens, on the other hand, stood out in a big way. His offense was meaningful, his heel work outstanding, and he took a hell of a lot of punishment to try to get Balor over. This was an average ladder match.