The night is upon us! NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019 is less than an hour away at the time of posting. And on this page, we’ll be giving you a live recap and results for every single bout on the card. Keep an eye on this page once the show starts, and in the meantime you can read my preview of the event in question right here!
NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019
We kickoff with a music video. Live performances to open the show in the past have been hit and miss, always tough to do well during a wrestling show seemingly. So this time we just have the show’s theme played over a video package as the crowd watches on. Not as exciting, but much easier viewing experience. We go directly from there to our first match…
NXT Tag Team Championships: Street Profits (c) vs. The Undisputed Era
Unsurprisingly the crowd is into this one from the start and the Profits start out on top for quite a while until a double team hinders Dawkins. Heat segment ongoing. Montez Ford’s flashy offense gets them back into it and he actually gets the people into a People’s Elbow attempt of all things. TUE cut it off, impressively getting a TakeOver crowd to boo them for once! But Ford nails a Rock Bottom afterwards, to a massive pop.
Double team Wheelbarrow German Suplex takes the advantage back and as they work over Ford, the night’s first “This Is Awesome” chant breaks out. Ford finds himself stuck on the top rope for a while, despite his best efforts. Finally finds himself taken off by Fish, followed by a top rope knee drop to the inside of Ford’s knee, leading into a heel hook. Just as Ford nears the ropes, Fish comes off the top onto that same leg, allowing O’Reilly to drag him to the center and re-apply the hold. Finally, Dawkins makes it back in and spinebusters Fish onto O’Reilly to break it up!
HOT TAG TO DAWKINS! He goes wild for a bit, leading to a Spinebuster/Blockbuster combo, barely broken up by Fish! Ford is legal again. Dawkins tosses around spears, culminating in Ford’s Five Star+ Frog Splash for the victory! Well there’s a bit of a surprise… guess we haven’t seen the last of them in NXT quite yet.
Winners: The Street Profits
And next up… a potential show-stealer if ever I’ve seen one…
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai
Starting right off, Candice going for blows at the very start. Candice hits a baseball slide after Io bails. But a violent suplex onto the announce table halts Candice’s building momentum! LeRae baaaaarely makes it back into the ring in time! Suffice to say, she’s in trouble now. Io just pounding on her. She’s really night and day from what we’ve seen from her in the past, this turn has suited her style in a beautiful way.
Her beatdown is silenced when she misses a missile dropkick. Series of chops and strikes from Candice, showing some grit. Just a fantastic heel vs. a fantastic babyface here. Brainbuster gets a nearfall. Candice not only gets Io into an Octopus but is able to lay in knees to the face whilst grinding her down! Candice gets her up top, but a dropkick takes her to the apron! Tiger Feint Kick to the back of the head, yikes! LeRae fights back though… Tope Suicida Tornado DDT! Followed up with an immediate double foot stomp, seemingly to the back of Io’s neck! Narrowly misses ensuing pin.
Io counters into a LeBell Lock! Candice escapes after a roll-through cover attempt, but Io just brings all the more brutal strikes. Counter with a German Suplex from Candice, tossing her across the ring! Springboard…. Io with a Bridging German!!! Dueling chant breaks out as Io hits a Meteora! Candice tries to suplex Io off the top rope but she flips out and lands on her feet! Keeps the offense up… until she’s hit by a Reverse Rana from LeRae!
Avalance Spanish Fly from Io for an awesome nearfall. There’s our chant of ‘Mamma Mia!’ After a double underhook backbreaker, Io sets up for her moonsault… hits it! But Candice kicks out!! Io freaks out, lays in strikes, locks in the Koji Clutch… and Candice passes out! My goodness.
Winner: Io Shirai
My God, what a bout. Io is a killer. It’s hilarious how much better that was then the Women’s title match is destined to be, but hey. Glad we got one of these again.
Graphic flashes up for the NXT North American Title match… but out comes Matt Riddle to intervene! He calls out Killian Dain, unhappy with his attack ruining their would-be match last week! Dain emerges and a brawl is on! Officials out to break it up and the two fight up to the stage! Rip Chord knee, followed by a running knee takes Dain to the floor! More officials come in and Riddle starts taking them out! But Dain capitalizes with a crossbody! This fight just doesn’t seem to end as Riddle goes onto Dain’s back with a sleeper!
Dain rushes forward, through a stagehand and takes all three of them off the stage through a table! My goodness…
And now it’s time for our traditional Takeover future signee cameo… EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory is in the crowd!
North American Title triple threat is up now.
NXT North American Championship Triple Threat: Velveteen Dream (c) vs. Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne
Velveteen Dream with maybe his most ludicrous entrance yet. It started off as The Mountie, and then the Toronto Raptors dancing with their cheerleaders. Finally, Dream emerged. That was something else.
And this match is now underway. I can already tell this will be a tough one to recap, my apologies. Match spills to the outside and Roderick Strong with a backbreaking barrage, ending with him throwing Dunne onto a doubled over Dream! Roddy dominates with high power offense for a bit but Dream gets him down eventually, into a Sharpshooter! But Dunne hops in with a dropkick off the top to break it up! Dunne follows up with a top rope moonsault onto both men on the floor!
Brings them both into the ring, tries to stomp them both simultaneously but it’s a bit much, as they catch him with upkicks and get to their feet. Three-way brawl starts! Everyone lays in their signature strikes until all three are down! Three straight matches with ‘This Is Awesome!’ chants now. A powerbomb countered into a triangle choke leads to a coast-to-coast elbow drop breakup. Yes, that happened. Roddy goes wild, hitting drive-by elbows to both time and time again before locking Dunne and Dream into a Double Strong Hold! But eventually they break out as it’s a tough one to maintain.
Dunne breaks the fingers of both men, setting up the Bitter End on Roddy! But the ref is too busy checking Dream to count and when he finally starts, Dream is able to jump in and halt the ref! Dunne gets upset here and amps up the brutality on Velveteen, ending in a classic-style curbstomp. Roddy gets the Strong hold on Dunne, but Dream tosses him out. Hits the Dream Valley driver, but Roddy tosses him in retaliation! End of Heartache… but on the pinfall, Dream comes in with the Purple Rainmaker, pins Dunne for the win!
Winner: Velveteen Dream
And of course it’s now time for…
NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Mia Yim
This is more or less every Shayna match, except Mia’s perfectly willing to play dirty to maintain an advantage. For all her talents, Yim also really equipped to carry Shayna in the way most of her challengers have managed. High flying offense starts with a suicide dive and then a Tornado DDT but Baszler brings it back with some knee strikes. Crowd finally getting a bit of a breather with this match so that’s valuable I suppose. Yim with a Tarantula wakes ’em up for the moment though.
Whoa, Code Blue off the second rope from Mia, that one was unexpected! But Shayna kicks out and here’s the Kirifuda Clutch. But Mia breaks it with a headbutt! Singles out an arm now, stealing one of Shayna’s moves with a vicious stomp to the elbow! This sets up a crossarmbreaker! But it’s countered into a triangle and Mia has to tap out. My predictions aren’t going well at all.
Winner: Shayna Baszler
The eternal reign continues… oh yeah, and this broke the ‘This Is Awesome’ streak, no surprise there.
One match left… and it basically will have an hour dedicated purely to it. Beth Phoenix alluded to a ‘demonic weapons-filled structure’ being the third fall… are we about to see the return of the Ambrose Asylum?!?!
Three Stages Of Hell for the NXT Championship: Adam Cole (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
Johnny out in Wolverine-inspired gear tonight. It’ll be a while before he runs out of Marvel heroes. Electric crowd here, as always. Cole is the more popular man though. First fall is underway, straight rules here, and this is a pure clinic off the bat. This being their big blowoff after several high profile encounters, they’re playing with the story of them being extremely familiar with each other.
Cole ends up with a banged up leg and Johnny has no problem targeting it. Gargano off the middle rope with a vicious double foot stomp to the outstretched leg! Big strikes emerging… Panama Sunrise countered with a Dudebuster ala Trent Baretta! Narrow kickout. They’re doing a fine job of selling this as being it’s own match, really doesn’t feel at all like it’s just the first fall. Fun moment sees Cole get Johnny up on his shoulders, but with his bum knee he doesn’t wanna hit the Ushigoroshi so he nails a Michinoku Driver instead to spare his leg.
Cole brings in a chair… distracts the ref with it, hits Johnny low! Gets a nearfall, afterwards Johnny loses it and nails Cole with the chair for the DQ!
Winner of the first fall: Adam Cole
The first fall starts swiftly and Gargano takes it to Cole immediately. Fight spills all through the crowd and Johnny jumps on Cole to break down the barricade! This Street Fight is evidently Falls Count Anywhere, unlike most. Gargano takes Cole up onto an announce table… gets his eyes raked. Back body drop takes Cole through the opposing table! Johnny takes Cole into the ring… pulls out a table! And then a second one!
Adds some chairs into play too… but a Last Shot knee cuts Johnny off! Ushigoroshi onto a sat up chair gets a close 2! LAWN DART INTO A ROPEHUNG CHAIR! GARGANO ESCAPE FOLLOWS AND COLE TAPS!
Winner of the second fall: Johnny Gargano
So what do we see now… but a lowering steel cage, laced with weapons! My God, it’s the true blue Ambrose Asylum! Good God, every weapon you can think of is in this cage. It’s even laced with Barbed Wire. Waylaying each other with kendo sticks, chairs, a table is setup, this whole thing just feels so dangerous. Cole with a chair wrapped around his neck gets taken down with a Tornado DDT! And now Gargano goes for… a sledgehammer! Cole tries to follow him up there and gets taken out with a sunset flip bomb!
Gargano gets the sledgehammer, but an amazing series of superkicks takes him down! Cole goes up top and tosses a ladder at Gargano! He narrowly ducks but Cole takes advantage with the Panama Sunrise!!! Nearfall! Excellently setup! Cole follows up with another one, off the ladder! I have no idea why that would make it stronger, and I guess it didn’t because he still kicked out! Cole sets Gargano up on a chair, goes for the Last Shot, but Gargano moves and he nails his injured leg into the steel!
Gargano takes up the sledgehammer, Cole tries to fight it away from him but gets a shot of sledge right to the gut! Cole sells it big, choking in agony. Gargano sets up a ladder and prepares the tables… sets Cole up and climbs the ladder but Cole’s able to roll away. Goes to the second rope… Gargano with a middle rope Canadian Destroyer!!! Somehow Cole still kicks out!
Gargano takes up a burlap sack… there’s some boos when the crowd sees there’s no tacks in there. But Gargano pulls out pliers… goes up and takes up a length of barbed wire?! My God, Johnny chasing Cole to the top of the cage with barbed wire in his hand, with the help of a ladder and two tables still set up. This is ridiculously perilous. MY GOD, they both fall off through a single table and hit it HARD.
Cole rolls over and gets the pin…
Winner of the third fall: Adam Cole
Fought for nearly an hour there, unbelievable. Fun smoke and mirrors to this to an extent, taking up a lot of hyperviolent weapons without actually hitting them. Didn’t really drag it down either.
Fantastic show as always, even if I did end up going 2-3 in predictions… fascinating to see where we go from here. Can’t really pin down a challenger for… any of the titles going forward actually. Hrm. We’ll see. Got a ways to go until the next TakeOver which will take place late November.
Jordan Huie signing off for TakeOver: Toronto!
(Refresh this page for up-to-the-minute results!)
