NXT Takeover Philadelphia

An excellent Heyman-narrated video package airs hyping the show up. This was essentially Heyman giving the Pope's blessing of NXT being the "ECW-esque" hip product of today. AOP is out to face ReDragon for the NXT titles with KOR doing the Hogan guitar playing on the belt. Kyle outwrestles Razar a lot and does his MMA transitions off everything. He runs wild with a powerslam and a spinebuster. CAPTURE SUPLEX BY AKAM! Buckle bomb! AOP has gotten so much better, and it's amazing to see their growth in real-time. Super Collider hits, but KOR endures it and tosses one into the other for a cradle pin.

War Machine is shown in the crowd. Ohno vs. Velveteen is up with VD in boxer gear. Ohno's got Steelers-themed gear. Well, that is a fantastic color scheme. Dream lands his KO shot, but brags too much and doesn't win it. Dream avoids a shot and lands a big knee, but eats a crash landing suplex. Ripcord rolling elbow hits for 2.5! Rolling DVD hits and leads to the purple rainmaker for the win! Shayna gets a UFC walkout from the backstage area. Ember hits a tope suicida, but Shayna lands some knees and stomps the arm. Moon hits the Eclipse, but she can't cover. Shayna gets an armbar, but Ember cradles her off it to win. Shanya chokes her out afterwards.

 Cole and Black have a crazy Extreme Rules match. Cole's hand gets sliced up by a kendo stick. Cole eats an electric chair into the ladder and they close up the wound on Cole. Black goes up and eats a superkick into a chair that sends him through two tables on the floor. DVD ONTO A DOUBLE STACK OF CHAIRS! TUE comes down, but Sanity makes a save and Black sends Cole down through the announce table with shotgun knees. Cole rushes in with a chair, but Black Mass ends it.

EC3 is shown in the crowd under that name. Almas gets a big MASKED MARIACHI band intro and he wears a mask! Mauro brings up his past as La Sombra and Johnny gets a huge pop. They have the best match Almas has had in NXT to date. They were just doing everything they could at a mile a minute. Giant inverted tornado DDT gets 2 for Almas. ALMAS HITS A DOUBLE STOMP TO THE FLOOR! GARGANO ESCAPE OUTTA NOWHERE! Almas rakes the eye with Vega's distraction. Johnny avoids the hammerlock DDT with a backdrop to the floor and a tope hits! VEGA RANAS HIM OFF THE APRON TO THE STEPS! HAMMERLOCK DDT GETS 2.9! CANDICE COMES DOWN TO ATTACK VEGA! She chases Vega out of the building before the Gargano escape! BUT ALMAS GETS THE ROPES! SHOTGUN KNEES TO THE POST! Super hammerlock DDT ends it! This was an outstanding match - an early frontrunner for a match of the year in NXT.
CIAMPA RETURNS AND NAILS HIM WITH A CRUTCH!