Since WrestleMania weekend in 2016, NXT Takeover shows have been a staple part of the main roster’s major PPV weekends. Usually, it’s now a part of the big 4 PPV weekends and even Money in the Bank (which many now consider to be a more important PPV than Survivor Series).
However, it wasn’t always like that. NXT Takeover shows began in May 2014, after the success of “NXT Arrival”. However, it was very different from what it is now, and the shows would always take place in the intimate venue of Full Sail University, where the fans were (and still are) regulars, hardcore fans and ones who could really connect with the superstars, as they witnessed their journey and rise every single taping.
It truly was something special at the time, because it was so different from the regular WWE product. While it was supposedly developmental, fans were surprised at the drastic difference in the quality of the shows and how quickly they went by. The cards were great, the matches were great and even the women got far more opportunities than they did on the main roster.
In fact, the very first NXT Takeover saw now-multi-time Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair have her first major breakout, winning the NXT Women’s Championship. The second year of Takeovers too, saw major success, with the rise of a newer crop of talent, the Four Horsewomen further asserting their dominance, and Takeover expanding outside Full Sail University for the first time.
Their first venture outside of Full Sail? In Brooklyn, New York, for the first of four editions of NXT Takeover: Brooklyn. The Brooklyn show cemented NXT’s status as more than just a developmental brand. They sold out Barclays Center in no time, and the card was incredible and responsible for one of the greatest women’s matches in WWE history – Sasha Banks vs Bayley. The two Horsewomen would mesmerize the NXT Universe and draw a lot of eyes to the product, showing the world that they were to be taken seriously.
Today, they’re essentially the leaders of WWE’s Women’s division and are set to be for years to come. As Takeover grew, the more they were able to sell out arenas outside of Full Sail. The final Takeover to ever take place at Full Sail University was none other than “NXT Takeover: The End”, which also saw the first-ever steel cage match in the brand’s history.
Even though 2016 was a very average year by NXT’s standards, the Takeover shows would consistently deliver. Whether it was just the men or even the women, each match on the card would get progressively better, and there would always be an impressive main event. This was what allowed NXT to continue keeping its fanbase, because they knew that no matter what, they were guaranteed great matches when it really mattered.
Triple H himself, the man in charge of it all, expressed disappointment at the NXT product around 2016. It was understandable, and despite the impressive crop of talent that they had, it was very clear what the problem they faced was – the stories were essentially repetitive. The hottest free agent would be seen in the front row of a Takeover show, they would have a good debut match and a good debut Takeover match, and after that, they would instantly be fast-tracked to the NXT Championship.
While it was nice to see these free agents make it big in NXT, that really wasn’t the way to go about, because there was no real story for the crowd to get invested in, and there was no reason for the crowd to be invested in these free agents, because they didn’t have any story apart from being extremely successful outside of WWE.
This was where they carefully changed their approach, and by late 2017, they began to slowly build up and push superstars who had already been there for a while. This was where we saw the rise of superstars like Andrade, Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream, Adam Cole, Ricochet, Shayna Baszler, and most importantly – the two men who would basically carry NXT throughout 2018 – Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
Their long-term storyline would capture the attention of the NXT Universe, and the moment Tommaso Ciampa returned from injury, they re-ignited the feud, facing one another in the course of three different NXT Takeover shows, all of which they headlined, and all of which saw them steal the show.
Throughout the last half a decade, NXT Takeover shows have always managed to deliver and outdo their main roster counterpart which would take place a day or two later. How many times have we heard people saying “WWE’s main roster PPVs were nowhere compared to NXT Takeover”.
Simply put, NXT Takeover has always managed to maintain its consistent quality, mainly because there’s always promise of having high-quality matches, great stories, good, well-paced matches, solid women’s bouts and just an overall sense of reliability. Fans know that if the main roster disappoints them, they can turn to the yellow brand. It’s simple, straightforward and easy to watch. That is the main reason why they’re able to consistently outperform the main roster and steal the weekends.
