Mr. Regal’s Address
It’s gonna be Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish vs the Forgotten Sons vs the Street Profits vs Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan in a ladder match at the upcoming Takeover. Let’s freaking go!
Not Graded
Undisputed Era on the same page again
As a side note, I love that Kyle O’Reilly jams out to the Undisputed Era theme song. This was basically bickering to hype up the upcoming match between Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano. Gargano doesn’t do much for me as champion; he needs someone else to make him interesting. Now that Ciampa is out indefinitely, I’m glad he’s got Riddle and Cole to add to his character.
Grade: B+
Sean Maluta vs Mansoor
Has anyone noticed that all the Samoan wrestlers are either savages or thugs? Anyways, it was a standard match. There wasn’t anything flashy or anything, just a clean win for Mansoor. It looks like the crowd is digging Mansoor so let’s see where it goes for him.
Winner: Mansoor
Grade: C+
More Matches
William Regal announced that Roderick Strong and Matt Riddle are going to have a match at Takeover and there would be a tag match later in the night: Matt Riddle and Johnny Gargano vs Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish
Not Graded
The Velveteen Dream Experience
I was a little upset that Dream didn’t come out on the couch, but it’s all good. Tyler Breeze came back and my word, the verbal altercation between the two of them was golden. I would watch these two fuss at each other for hours. They’re going to have a match for the North American Championship at Takeover.
Grade: A-
Candice LeRae vs Reina Gonzales
Match-wise, the bout was a predictable David and Goliath type affair. Gonzales, given proper time and booking, could be a fantastic monster heel. But LeRae is a great babyface though and this match was probably to get more wind in her sails. Shirai is facing Shayna Baszler at Takeover, but LeRae can’t be far behind. Why else would Baszler and her goons come out to mess with her match?
Winner: Candice LeRae
Grade: C+
Johnny Gargano and Matt Riddle vs Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly
The main event was absolutely a banger! O’Reilly and Fish are probably my favorite team combination (mostly because I knew them as ReDRagon in ROH) and they work so well together. I do think the pace slowed down a little bit toward the end, but the run-in by the rest of the Undisputed Era definitely saved it.
Winner: Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
This week’s episode I found a little subpar. It was mostly adding hype to the already established matches for Takeover 25 as well as announcing new matches for the card. In total we got three new matches added: the four-way ladder match for the tag team championships, Roderick Strong vs Matt Riddle, and Velveteen Dream vs Tyler Breeze for the North American Championship. This is a pretty stacked card!
Overall Grade: B-
