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NXT TakeOver: Toronto II review, results, grades: Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole III


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NXT TakeOver: Toronto II review, results, grades: Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole III
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano highlighted NXT TakeOver: Toronto II. Pic credit: WWE

NXT TakeOver: Toronto II saw every NXT title on the line plus one grudge match and, as always, NXT delivered a show so great that WWE will struggle to keep up at SummerSlam on Sunday night.

Here is a look at the review, results, and grades from WWE NXT TakeOver: Toronto II.

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Stree Profits vs. The Undisputed Era

The Undisputed Era had promised to win all the title tonight at NXT TakeOver: Toronto II and they got the first chance in the opening match.

Undisputed Era were two-time champions and Street Profits faced the challenge of proving they were not a joke as champions. The match was amazing with Dawkins looking like a beast and Ford looking amazing.

Honestly, Street Profits are very similar to Harlem Heat, especially with Dawkins playing the role of Stevie Ray and Ford close to Booker T. The match was great, with 16 minutes of non-stop action.

The Street Profits won with the frog splash by Ford into O’Reilly.

Winners: The Street Profits (*** 1/2)

Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae

The second match on the show was the only non-title match on the show. Io Shirai had turned on her friend Candice LeRae after she failed to beat Shayna Baszler

The match was an interesting one. LeRae is a good wrestler but she seemed outmatched here. Despite that, nothing that Shirai could do resulted in a pinfall as LeRae kicked out every single time.

However, despite that, Shirai ended up winning by knocking out LeRae in 15 minutes with the Koji Clutch submission hold. It was a nice story of Shirai doing whatever she could to win.

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Winner: Io Shirai (** 1/2)

Matt Riddle came out after this match and called out Killian Dain. This is because Dain had attacked Riddle before their last scheduled match.

Dain tried another sneak attack but this time Riddle saw him coming.

The two fought and when security pulled them apart, Riddle knocked out all the security guys holding him and attacked Dain again. Dain then beat up his security guys and attacked Riddle.

The two then charged to the side of the stage and, taking another security guy with them, flew off the stage and both men went through a table to end the fight.

NXT North American Championship: Velveteen Dream vs. Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong

Velveteen Dream came out to the Mountie’s theme song and danced with male and female dancers in Raptors jerseys.

This match was going to be Dream vs. Strong but then former NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne came in and pushed his way into the match as well.

The match, as expected, was great. Dream is a great performer and is getting better every week in the ring. Dunne is amazing and Strong is one of the best on the planet.

The match went 17 minutes and all three men got a chance to show their stuff. There was little in the way of generic three-way action with the three guys turning in some great innovative action.

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The end came when Strong took out Dunne but then Dream came in and tossed Strong to pin Dunne and retain his title.

Winner: Velveteen Dream (****)

NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler vs. Mia Yim

Shayna Baszler has been dominant since she won the title. While people like to claim she always relies on her Four Horsewomen of MMA (minus Ronda Rousey) to retain her title, she has won many of her past few matches one-one-one.

She did it again here.

The difference is that this time, the match was too close to the end of Io Shirai and Candace LeRae. Yim wouldn’t say die and she had Baszler’s arm hurting badly, so Baszler locked in the submission and forced Mia to tap out to win after 14 minutes.

Winner: Shayna Baszler (** 1/2)

2-out-3-Falls NXT Championship: Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano

This match was set up with each wrestler choosing the first two match stipulations. Adam Cole chose a typical wrestling match for Fall 1. Johnny Gargano chose a street fight for Fall 2. William Regal said if there is the third fall, they will wrestle in a cage, with no escape, barbed wire around the top, and weapons all over the cage.

The first fall was a great match as expected. Cole kept trying to cheat and Gargano finally said “screw it” and smashed Cole with a steel chair for the DQ loss in Fall 1.

It seemed stupid, but then Gargano just murdered Cole with the chair. The two then fought in the street fight and it went around the arena. Finally, back in the ring, Gargano made Cole tap out for the second fall.

The cage came down and the violence continued. This included chairs, a sledgehammer, ladders, kendo sticks, and more. Both men kept kicking out and never gave up.

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Gargano made a ridiculous set up with a table across the top corner of the cage and two tables set up below it. By this time, the two men had wrestled for almost an hour and neither was willing to give up. The biggest compliment is that it didn’t seem like an hour and the time flew by.

Gargano got wire cutters and cut the barbed wire from the top and decided to use it as a weapon as well. Cole ran from Gargano. He went to the top of the cage and the table up there. Gargano followed him up and the fans chanted “please don’t die.”

Then as Gargano prepared to use the barbed wire, both men went off the side of the tables and crashed through the tables in the ring.

Cole’s arm was on top of Gargano and the referee counted three as both men laid in the ring, neither man moving.

Winner: Adam Cole (*****)

Shawn S. Lealos has been a freelance writer for 25 years, starting...read more

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