Akam & Rezar vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly

[7.0] "A slow starter, bit it built up nicely. Both teams played to their strengths nicely. It became very high energy near the end. All in all a very good starter. ***1/2"

[5.0] "This was fine, could've been better and should've been better. Probably the weakest Undisputed Era tag match in NXT. O'Reilly's sell was hilarious. O'Reilly & Fish attacking the leg of Akam was a smart move"

[6.0] "Overrated for my taste, but still a entertaining match. For my head, this was impossible to fit seeing their so opposite styles, but they actually did a good moment together. The first five minutes and the ending, where the entire work under Akam injured leg came and was a crucial point to determinate the winner, was very good. Besides that, everything else can be described just as "average" or below. Some small things like Akam hot tag disappointed me so bad, but the chemistry between the ReDragon members helped to not decrease my taste for that match. For a opening, it was pretty satisfactory, just like the rating with the number six shows."

[7.0] "Good match with Kyle being the clear star here. O'Reilly is on demon time here, targeting Akam's knee, as if he owed him thousands, only bad part is the crowd's apathy towards the match. Good limb work by the UE, and while its weird seeing AOP play faces, they do a good job in the role in their penultimate Takeover match. You really feel AOP's deep seated anger, and as if they want to murder Fish and O'Reilly."

[8.0] "A showcase of how good NXT's tag team division was around this time. Indy darlings in Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly taking in the homegrown Authors of Pain and both teams came out looking fantastic. AOP had great Powerhouse offense and were expertly combated by Undisputed Era's undeniable tactician abilities. Told a great story that had the very heelish at face value AOP looking like the underdog babyfaces against the much smaller and cockier champions. My only real complaint was some audible spot calling and Rezar having some overly worked strikes that took me out a bit but overall this match had me missing when NXT was this consistently good"

[8.0] "This slapped tbh! Great double team work from both teams and a true power vs technical battle. Good submission work and spots were strong. A few audible calls but really enjoyable. Finish in some way feels like a disappointment but it came out of nowhere so does work on hindsight."

[9.0] "An amazing tag match and opener to the show and has a place as one of those classic tag matches from the Black and Gold era of NXT."

[8.0] "Very good match which surprised me. AoPs play Faces in this match. We are treated to excellent selling from Fish, a leg injury from Akam worked on and a superb construction of the match in my opinion. We really feel the rage among the AoPs. I didn't expect such a good match. The time given to them was perfect. The only downside of the match is the lack of investment from the crowd. (4*)"

[7.0] "A solid opener for the show that follows the formula of the NXT Tag Titles opening a TakeOver. Although entertaining, this is another case of AOP needing a really good team to give them a good match. Love the thread of comedy spots O'Reilly does at each TakeOver."

[8.0] "This was another good NXT tag team classic. I loved this match and I loved the nearfalls and the finish. I would understand if people found it boring and too be fair it did go on for longer than it needed too. Really good match and a really solid opener."

[7.0] "Good clean match between AOP and reDRagon here to open this show as I expected, honestly you can expect better from a TakeOver opener and it wasn't the hot banger I was hoping for but it was still some solid content from start to finish & definitely a good way to open this show with four really good wrestlers. They know exactly how to structure a good tag team match and that's what they did, especially as the two teams have totally different styles & builds so there was that David v Goliath dynamic and it was perfectly written honestly. Fish & O'Reilly are so good at the little things when they have the control of a match and their work on Akam's leg here was particularly crafted and sharp, as was the latter's selling as well as Rezar's big hot-tag. The crowd was invested in the action, there was never a dull moment despite a couple of small lapses during the long domination of the champions and everything was executed as it should be, it's not an amazing match that I would recommend but it was a very fun one."

[8.0] "A very simply constructed match, but one that delivered nonetheless to some extent. The idea with the limb work was perfect, given the difference in size between the two teams, but also the background of the two members of The Undisputed Era. What didn't fully satisfy me was that I didn't know exactly which team was the heel and which was the face. Theoretically, KOR and Fish were heel, but during the match it seemed to me that there were slight changes."

[7.0] "Awesome match. Loved the opening with AOP dominating Fish and O'Reilly and just throwing them around. Bit of an odd dynamic with AOP working as the faces and UE working as heel underdogs but they made it work. O'Reilly and Fish gain the advantage once Akam tweaks his knee and they do some great work on top. Akam was a good FIP and he sold the leg perfectly. Once AOP make their comeback they have a nice back and forth with Fish and O'Reilly selling wonderfully for all of AOP's power moves. The leg work played into the finish too. Good stuff. ***1/2"

[5.0] "Didn't think this match was anything special, actually started out kind of awkwardly for the first portion of the match. Once it picked up it got better but overall there was nothing to set it apart from your typical TV tag match."

[8.0] "Great match. The Undisputed Era dominating the match for the most part with a great strategy of attacking the bigger guy's leg, who sold it pretty well. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Really good match. I loved KOR and Bobby Fish going after the leg of Akam who sold it really well. The dynamic was a bit weird with AOP being the faces but they made it work ***Ÿ"

[6.0] "Bobby Fish & Kyle O? Reilly (c) -vs- Akam & Rezar ? (NXT Tag Title) [***] Real heavyweight! The Authors Of Pain were on a mission, and the only issue they had was Akam having a bad knee. Only slowed them down, as their still bulldozed the champs with authority. Not that Fish & O? Reilly were helpless. They landed some stiff offense themselves, but it was clear Akam & Rezar was in control. Great way to start the show!"

[8.0] "In the beginning Undisputed Era are afraid of AoP and (unsuccessfuly) try to avoid them. But in a surprising turn of events, Fish and O'Reilly gain the advantage by exploiting Akam's tweeked knee. They spend the majority of the match in control, working over his leg. Things naturally get more competitive towards the end, as Akam goes ballistic, which in turn leads to a nice finish. Great tag team opener. ****"

[10.0] "Utterly perfect match. Everything made sense, everything was laid in, everything worked. From a technical standpoint there's literally zero criticism that can be made that isn't subjective to personal tastes, as these guys worked their arses off and looked great doing it. The only reasons anyone might dislike this is if they dislike one or both of the teams because they aren't their personal taste in wrestling styles. I thought this was phenomenal. Flawless (*****)."

[8.0] "This was a really well done David vs. Goliath tag battle. Loved the AOP completely overwhelming Fish & O'Reilly w/ their power in the early stages of the match. The champs were looking to be in BIG trouble until Akam tweaked his knee - that then became a big part of the Undisputed Era's attack on him, which lead to a really good FIP segment. Akam sold the good work by Fish & O'Reilly wonderfully. After he gets the hot tag to Rezar, they start to get that power move game rolling once again, but Fish & O'Reilly bust some really good counters to those, including going after that bad knee of Akam. Really good stuff all around with awesome performances from all involved. ***3/4"

[7.0] "MOTN for NXT's Takeover Philadelphia. The set-up was rather interesting, as we got the small guys playing the heels against the big monster team. But it worked extremely well. O'Reilly and Fish had their nice strikes and technical-looking grappling and used this to gain the edge over AOP as they weakened Akam's leg and made constant tags to continue wearing him down. AOP were pushed as strong faces then, and played it up very well. They still looked very impressive with their power moves, aided by Fish and O'Reilly's superb selling and bumping. Razer got a very hot tag at one point and made me think about how he could perhaps be a fantastic singles star with all that energy. The finish was very cool, as it played off of the psychology of Akam's leg being so weakened that it ruined AOP's usual tag team move where they slam the two opponents into each other before hitting individual powerbombs. Akam's leg gave out under the weight which then allowed Fish and O'Reilly to capitalise and remove Razer before rolling Akam up for a cheap (but very exciting) victory. It was cool to finally have the NXT tag team titles being competed for in good matches again after the boredom that was Sanity's reign. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Good match from both team. I like the end, it was original. Maybe war machine will be next for UE, we will see ."

[8.0] "You can not tell me that AoP have not improved since last year. They are incredible now and fit the monster role perfectly. Fish and O'Reilly did great as well in being the heel underdogs. The ending was perfect also and a great way to send of AoP to the main roster."

[10.0] "Das war ein fantastisches Tag-Match. Sowas hat die man in der WWE noch nicht gesehen. Und man hat gerade im letzten Jahr durch DIY, AA und Revival schon sehr viel gesehen. Das besondere an diesem Match war, dass es einfach mal gar nicht nach einem herkömmlichen Standard gestaltet war, sondern man eher das Gefühl hatte, einen zermürbenden MMA-Fight zu schauen. Die Faszination enstand nicht durch spektakuläre Movefolgen, sondern eher wie UE die AoP so lange bearbeiten, bis ihre Power-Moves fahrig werden. Das ist ein bisschen so, als wenn man eine Schlange beobachtet, wie sie ihre viel zu große Beute verschlingt - es fasziniert, ohne dass man vom Hocker gerissen wird. Noch ein Wort zu den Akteuren: AoP haben sich mächtig gesteigert und sind inzwischen verdammt glaubwürdige Big Men; Fish und O'reilly sind diejenigen, die hier den neuen Touch bringen. Gerade letzterer bumpt genauso gut, wie er Moves durchzieht. Wie bereits mehrfach gesagt: faszinierend!"

[7.0] "Pretty good match, AOP have definitely upped their game over the past year or so and their chemistry with O'Reilly and Fish was good as well. The finish with the rana into the roll up was perfect and the rest of the match made for a good opener. (***1/2)"