Akam & Rezar vs. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa

[8.0] "This is the story of two matches really. The first 15 minutes, while not being at the level of the DIY/Revival matches from the year prior, told a great story and was a lot of fun. The two smaller teams playing off each other while they try to kill the unstoppable monsters, the combination moves, the callbacks, they had the entire arena white hot electric for this match. And then the last 5 minutes where AOP just unceremoniously no-sells all the offense, eliminates DIY and then the crowd boos the heel VS heel dynamic until the flat finish. I get they wanted to get the monster tag team over, but to do it at the altar of DIY and Revival, two great tag teams who were very popular with the fans... NXT booking in this era was good but this is the most 2017 WWE thing I can imagine."

[8.0] "Many things to say about this match. The booking and the idea seem great to me, truly main-event level: having the most heel tag team on the brand vs the babyfaces who beat them vs the new monsters is top-tier, and on top of that, having the babyfaces and heels work together is brutal. The dynamic is excellent: seeing DIY collaborate with The Revival is awesome, and then, after managing to hurt AOP, they have to quickly turn on each other and start fighting among themselves, which is brutal, and the crowd really appreciated that dynamic. I think the entire first part of the match is extremely entertaining and is exactly what I want to see. And thanks to all these praises, I realized what I didn't like about the second part: when DIY lose, the dynamic breaks and the crowd goes cold because they've lost their babyfaces, while in the ring we're left with The Revival and a team of two monsters who obviously don't have much in-ring ability, and the result is something the crowd no longer really cares about, causing a massive drop. The match ends up feeling irrelevant, slow, and boring, ruining everything that had been built before. I think it would have been much easier to have DIY eliminate The Revival and then see DIY come up just short of beating AOP, with the same end result."

[9.0] "[4, 75 Stars] I think this match is far too overlooked, even though it's excellent. I would even put it ahead of Revival vs. DIY at TakeOver Brooklyn."

[10.0] "This match was absolutely brilliant--everything you could hope for from the peak era of NXT's tag team division. From start to finish, the three teams crafted a seamless blend of chaos, creativity, and pure storytelling. What made it so special wasn't just the action, but the dynamic between the teams: the unstoppable power of the Authors of Pain, the technical precision of The Revival, and the heart-driven resilience of DIY. One of the highlights was the unexpected--and genuinely magical--series of temporary alliances between DIY and The Revival. Seeing two rival teams, historically incapable of trusting each other for more than ten seconds, suddenly string together perfectly timed sequences to try to eliminate AOP felt electric. Their brief cooperation produced some of the most memorable moments of the match, a kind of "dream team" energy that fans didn't know they needed until it happened. Even then, despite their best attempts, nothing worked, which only reinforced how dominant AOP were at this point in their run. Every exchange had purpose: fluid transitions, crisp double-team spots, and near-falls that elevated the tension without ever feeling excessive. The pace was relentless but controlled, and every team got the chance to shine without overshadowing the others. It showcased why this era of NXT tag wrestling is still remembered so fondly. As expected, this was a standout masterpiece--high drama, inventive action, and storytelling at its finest."

[9.0] "Awesome match, even to this day, I pop seeing #DIY and FTR (then The Revival) working together to defeat this massive threat in AOP. AOP are honestly the MVPs of this match, and it's awesome seeing them do this much heavy lifting compared to what they got to do on the main roster. This is a fitting end to the Revivals NXT career, and a good send off for both, as they get to go out on a positive note as they get a lot of cheers throughout the match, they are more specifically directed at them in the second half of this match, but still get cheered in the first part too."

[6.0] "AOP look like absolute goofs here to me, they are intimidating enough until you see them work and pull out some of the weirdest looking facial expressions to standard moves. That big detracting feature aside, this was a very good match, some brilliant work from DIY and The Revival made up for how unimpressive AOP are between the ropes, and while I do not think this is the classic some regard it as, it is a very fun matchup for the majority. AOP get the win with a double powerbomb onto The Revival and this is definitely a fun watch, although I feel it would have been better sans AOP."

[4.0] "So clearly, a white hot take, but still, I can't find myself agreeing with everyone else's thoughts of this match. I very much disliked this one. The first half was awesome. Both DIY and The Revival made each other and AoP look great. But as the match moved on, it began to fall apart. AoP began to do their sluggish and one-note indestructible act. Taking out DIY like a couple of losers, and then squashed The Revival in a boring finale. **"

[7.0] "A pretty good triple threat match. At times it was a little too indy wrestling but DIY and Revivial caried this match to make AOP look the best. Solid match. 3.75/5 Stars"

[9.0] "This was an incredible performance from all three tag teams and a pretty underrated match. The spots were great and not overdone and FTR and DIY joined forces to take on AOP, but AOP were beasts and eliminated both teams."

[9.0] "My only complaint was the DIY's elimination as the first team. After that happened, everyone knew it was over as The Revival weren't credible enough to beat the unbeatable team in Authors of Pain. I knew it, the crowd knew it. DIY and Revival cooperating together to eliminate AoP was incredibly fun though. Not only that, but AoP were perfectly booked here. Not too dominant, not too weak. They had some troubles when they were outnumbered, but after DIY's elimination, they were in their comfort zone. Man, I wish they would be as strongly booked now as in their early NXT run"

[9.0] "Another masterpiece made by #DIY and The Revival, by far the best tag teams in WWE in those years. I really loved their alliance to deal with the status reached by Authors Of Pain as destructive monsters at NXT. Not at the level of the match at Toronto, but surely a masterful one expecially for its story-telling. (9/10)"

[9.0] "A very good multi-team match that is not complicated to follow. A big spot where the two challenger teams put Rezar through a table. The #DIY and the Revival join forces at one point, they exchange their takes. It was really good. The crowd is really present in this match. (4*1/2)"

[7.0] "Another Revival/DIY match that isn't nearly as great as remembered but still really good. It was cool having The Revival and DIY -- 2 teams with a deep rivalry -- team up here to try defeat their common enemy in the AOP monsters. The whole match followed the story of whether DIY and The Revival could work together to try take AOP out, and this was often pretty fun, like the times where they'd do so via hitting AOP with big moves as a team or via hitting individual attacks in quick succession. The best of these moments of 'team-up offence' were the spots where DIY and The Revival worked together logically and naturally, based on the specifics of the scenario at hand, since a few of their spots did feel needlessly artificial in set-up *just* for the sake of popping the crowd with the creativity of the eventual spot in question (e.g. Ciampa and Dash's very contrived Shatter Machine). I also could've done without all of DIY and The Revival's stare-downs in that very hokey, Marvel-tier, lack-of-subtly way. We get it -- you're rivals, and yes it's cute that you're instead teaming up here, but your constant eye-locking feels like desperate attempts at spoon-feeding the 'specialness' of these situations rather than letter those moments breathe and feel genuinely special. I liked their team-up moments more often than not, especially since both teams brought distinct styles of offence, making for a nice variety of attacks. Alongside the uniqueness of AOP's powerhouse work, the entire match was nicely varied due to the 3 teams' constant clashes of styles, and their strong chemistry obviously helped, too. Despite those mostly cool team-up moments, both teams (mostly The Revival) still looked *incredibly* stupid by refusing to ever just agree to a temporary alliance with the goal to eliminate AOP first, despite how they very clearly proved: (A) that such a plan was something they were capable of, and (B) that such a plan would increase both their victory chances. That was very annoying. When not working together, I also enjoyed the standard work from both teams, like how DIY were more speedy, agile, and precise with their attacks, while The Revival were more methodical and opportunistic. There were of course some typical annoyances from both teams, like Dax's goofy over-selling and Gargano's occasionally 'tic-tac weak' offence, but those were only ever minor. And aside from the praise I give The Revival and DIY here, AOP also deserve praise, since they truly looked like monstrous brutes as they ragdolled the 4 babyfaces all over the place, sometimes even doing so quite creatively. Even their rest holds were always compelling, too, and their character work mostly veered away from going into melodrama territory while still remaining quite intimidating and compelling. Their periods of brutalising and dominating both The Revival and DIY were actually ever some of the best moments of the match. Really good efforts from all 3 teams. ***1/2"

[8.0] "Definitely a great NXT black and gold match. The only issue with this match is that when DIY got eliminated it kinda lost steam and continued longer than it should have. Other than that, a great NXT classic."

[9.0] "What a great match build, Revival reaching the end of their historic NXT run and along with their great DIY rivals doing everything to beat the AOP champions who came out of this match like monsters and the challengers being applauded by the crowd super interested in the nonstop action between these teams (****3/4)"

[7.0] "Thought this was a really good match with a lot of great action. Not sure I loved the finish of the match but overall it was well worth the watch."

[10.0] "Let's start with a statement: I really like NXT 2.0; but if there's one thing I miss about the old NXT it's his incredible tag team division, and this match has made me miss it even more. I love this type of match were chaos reigns (but in a good way); it was insanely destructive and insanely fun to watch. I know a lot of people were furious for AOP's victory, but the match was excellent"

[9.0] "By defeating The Revival and DIY, The Authors of Pain have put an end to an era in NXT's tag team division. This fight has cemented AOP's reputation as a formidable foe that can defeat anyone."

[9.0] "Absolutely great work from all 3 teams, I love how The Revival and DIY set there feud aside to take out the bigger threat in AOP, DIY getting eliminated first was a little weird but besides that this was a fantastic match. ****1/2"

[8.0] "This is classic wrestling right here. The interactions between DIY and The Revival, the hope spots. ***3/4"

[10.0] "Brilliant, almost perfect. The level of psychology in the ring was through the roof, and Authors of Pain made it look like legit monster heels. The match was written perfectly, it made sense for #DIY to come out on top considering they lost multiple times to AoP, plus the Revival character was highlighted. In the last part of the match I would have liked The Revival to make the turn, but that also depends on the audience, and the Orlando crowd didn't exactly seem to be the smartest. Unbelievable what a match they managed to pull off!"

[10.0] "After two masterclasses of American-style tag-team wrestling, this match caps off the must-watch Revival vs. #DIY TakeOver trilogy with a match that's comfortably the weakest in terms of pure in-ring quality, as you'd expect from a match with lengthy heat segments courtesy of a still slightly limited at this point AoP, but uniquely brilliant in its drama and storytelling. #DIY and Revival's rivalry is exploited expertly to create drama, high spots, and a consistent and compelling narrative throughout the match; the respect that the teams have for each-other is nearly enough to overcome their mutual dislike for long enough to guarantee new champions, but The Revival's constant need to get the better of #DIY ultimately costs both teams. I lost my mind at the time for the "unholy alliance" segment of the match, as commentary dubbed it, and I still lose my mind for it to this day no matter how many times I watch it back. Their rivalry is also exploited expertly to showcase and put over the Authors of Pain; despite already being the champions coming in, this match was a real star-making exhibition for them. The only flaw of this match, and a fairly major one that's nearly enough to knock a point off, is the ill-advised choice to eliminate #DIY first. The intention seemed to be to use it to turn The Revival de-facto face for the remainder of the match, and it was an interesting idea that sorta-almost worked, but the gamble didn't entirely pay off, as while the crowd did start to get behind them, it was a fairly dampened and muted response that left the match lurching to a halt by the end. Having #DIY eliminated a few minutes later, having them eliminated second, or even just having the match end a few minutes quicker would've done wonders here, but honestly? The closing stretch is still pretty good, and the rest of the match up to that point is flat-out special. This match barely scrapes a perfect score, almost on a technicality, but for capping off the story of the #DIY vs. Revival trilogy so beautifully, so excitingly, and so inventively, while also getting the absolute most out of AoP's involvement and executing the often-awkward format of a three-way tag match so well, it can't be any less than a 10/10 for me."

[8.0] "Great match, but a ton of energy was sapped from the match when the one face team was eliminated leaving the heels to go at it. Still a great effort from everyone involved. ****1/4"

[10.0] "A top three all time favorite NXT match for me. The storytelling in this one is about as rich as it gets. Seeing DIY and Revival have to team together in hopes of taking down AOP was awesome and the crossed finishers was so neat. Hot crowd really helped too. And AOP looked like total monsters, this really put them over big time."

[10.0] "A damn near perfect match, all three teams have such great chemistry together and never cease to pump out great match after great match. Beautiful storytelling from every team with the doing each other's finisher spot being a highlight. Only thing really letting it down was the camerawork missing some big spots in particular. Superb."

[9.0] "A fantastic match that was nonstop action from the opening bell. The storytelling was seriously on-point here with the Revival and DIY, bitter rivals, being forced to team up to defeat the AOP, which helped bolster how monsterous they truly are. The spots in this match were nothing short of fantastic, with the highlight being Dawson's superplex to Ciampa onto the heap of bodies. What awesome imagery. Unfortunately, the elimination stipulation really hurt the match towards the end, as once DIY was eliminated, the once hot crowd pretty much turned on the match. I don't blame this on the AoP, as they were great, but it was pretty clear the Revival weren't going to win, and the heel vs. heel dynamic inherently leaves you no one to really root for. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic match and an easy MOTY candidate. **** 1/2"

[8.0] "If the match had ended at the point when DIY was eliminated, I would have given 10. Unfortunately, only 8 points because of what happened after that. The match itself was awesome with a lot of innovative spots, storytelling. I loved how DIY and Revival worked together and did finishers combination to take down AOP. The superplex and powerbomb through the table was well done. Sadly, the match suddenly felt flat after DIY was eliminated. AOP was so dull after that and dragged it down."

"The match is disappointing regarding the previous confrontations between the Revival and DIY. It's stupid to eliminate DIY first."

[8.0] "Some pretty awesome and innovative stuff going on for the first portions of this match. DIY and the Revival carry this match to a respectable level, and make it pretty damn entertaining. However AoP just suck. They are losers and not worth watching. Not sure why they were involved in this match. They are early 90s stereotypes of power wrestlers. Lame. GTFO. The other four guys are great, and somehow make this a pretty rad match. ****, but could have been even better."

[8.0] "Was looking like a 5 star classic until DIY got eliminated first. After that, it fell off a cliff with Revival becoming underdog faces by default, a role which does not suit them and AoP stopped selling and became monsters again. Regardless, the stuff before that is just spectactular with DIY and Revival reluctantly teaming up to take out AoP and it seemed like they would succeed any moment. Overall, a very good match though. ****1/4"

[9.0] "This match was storytelling at its finest. The story of three different styles attempting to out do each other. The Revival being the technicians, DIY being the Strikers and Highflyers, and the Authors of Pain being the destructive powerhouses. Once Revivial and DIY realize they're better off teaming up to take down AOP, this match goes nuts. Absolutely incredible psychology, execution and creative offense used by all the teams. Check it out!"

[10.0] "Amazing match, quite possibly the best three way tag-team match in a decade. Considering the Authors of Pain are still so young and new to the game, it's even more amazing. DYI and The Revival helped to carry the match perfectly but it wouldn't be cool without the monsters to battle."

[7.0] "A wisely booked and highly entertaining match in which the men w/ talent and experience in this position were allowed to roam free and create spots around their much larger, much more inept, opponents. WWE knows that the decision to put the AoP over the much more over teams would elicit groans so the bulk of the encounter had the faces up, but being unable to put the monsters away. However, my enjoyment of this only went so far as I Really disliked the spot in which members of both teams had their submissions on a member of the AoP, and held it for at least a half a minute. Great way to kill-off both faces' finishers. I'm also in agreement w/ the majority that the match partially died when #DIY was eliminated. However, I cannot deny the massive energy within the building and it elevated my enjoyment. 7. 25"

[9.0] "Amazing, well-done fast paced tag match with some incredible three-team segments. DIY and The Revival brought their A-Game as always, but I didn't expect the Authors of Pain to rise to the occasion like they did and hold their own with the two other top notch teams. Loved the segments were DIY and The Revival had to work together. Great convincing false pins on AOP. My only issue with this match is it sort of stumbles after DIY are eliminated and there is some down time were everything is slow and the ending is sort of flat. Otherwise it probably wouldn've went 4. 75 for me. ****1/2"

[10.0] "Absolutely incredible and a near perfect one for sure. Loved the story with DIY and The Revival working together to take out The Authors Of Pain, just made the AOP look like the monsters, that they already are. Also loved how DIY and The Revival went straight at eachother every chance they got. If the elimination of DIY was the full match, I would've give this 5 stars easily, but for now (****3/4) will do."

[9.0] "This was easily the match of the Night. Could have gone on to being a five star classic if the match had ended with just DIY being pinned."

[8.0] "Really liked this match a lot. A lot of creativity from DIY/Revival particularly. My only gripes are the stipulation kind of took away from the match in that the last few minutes could not match the majority that had preceded it. Best match of the show overall."

[9.0] "Holy Freaking ****. The match is one of the best triple threats of all time. Everything The Revival touches turns to gold, then #DIY polish it and the big hosses keep it to themselves. The hate of Dawson & Wilder and Ciampa & Gargano to each other, them teaming up despite their hate to take on the monsters, the monsters that destroy everyone in their path - all of it was simply awesome. And that's only the story, the actual wrestling contains table spot, Superplex to the outside and multiple memorable moments that kept you on the edge of your seat. This is tag team wrestling at its finest and I enjoyed every second of it."

[8.0] "This was a great match, once again DIY and Revival decided to steal the show here and booy were they awesome. The story and the callbacks to their previous outings were so fucking great, AoP were booked like the unbeatable monsters, and there were some memorable spots too. The only problem was the booking, Revival should go first, because with them and AoP being left at the end there was no real drama, and the finish was just flat. With all that said, this was the best match on the show. ****."

[9.0] "It was now time for the big 3 way elimination match for the NXT Tag Team Championships which had the Authors of Pain defending against both The Revival and DIY. The first fall was just absolutely amazing and told a great story with DIY and the Revival working together to attempt to eliminate the Authors from the equation and even saw Dawson & Gargano use the DIY finishing move and Ciampa & Wilder use the Shatter Machine on Akam & Rezar respectively. The match was heading towards ****1/2 territory for me till the eliminations occurred and that's when the match just fell flat for me. (****1/4) for it overall though IMO."

[10.0] "If the first 18 minutes and change of this match were the whole thing, DIY being pinned leading to AoP retaining, it would be EASILY 5 stars and probably my Match of the Year. The story of the monstrous Authors of Pain being such an obstacle that DIY & Revival actually needed to team up after their months of rivalry was so beautifully executed. The way they teased it, did it indirectly with the table spot, started to work together, broke down into fighting each other again off of Revival trying to sneak attack with chop blocks, and holy FUCKING shit when they showed they knew each other well enough to mix and match their tag finishes I went insane. This went beyond The Revival's usual shtick of remembering what happened in the last match and building around that, this showed that they UNDERSTOOD DIY on a level only true rivals do; pardon the lofty comparison but that's some King's Road shit. Akam & Rezar at the same time filled their roles perfectly; they dominated, bowled people over, threw people around, slowed the pace of the match, built to hot tags, etc. with Ellering raving and hollering at ringside. Then, as commentary so descriptively put it, Revival's animosity for DIY lead to them trying to take them out instead of AoP, and it cost them. I liked the shock elimination of DIY first, but the only blemish on the match from here is that it kept going for 4 minutes and change instead of about 2. If Revival got in their hope spots, then got stopped with Dawson DVD'd into the corner then beaten with one of AoP's finishes in 90-120 seconds instead of how long it took, this would've been the easiest 5 stars I've ever given, but as it stands, I'm questioning it just a little, especially since the crowd was a lot more quiet for the final sequence. Regardless, this is still one of the best matches of 2017 thus far and the best tag match of the year in a year of great tag matches. ****3/4, perhaps the full 5 on a rewatch"

[9.0] "A match that started off really strong before falling into an awkward position. It is practically magic whenever DIY and The Revival step in the ring together so of course the fans would be super hot for both teams, while the champs on the other hand, AoP, barely got any heat, at least in the beginning. This match had some great psychology as 2/3 of the match was just DIY and Revival working together to take out AoP. They even teamed to do some submissions and some sick spots together. Then things fell off quickly after DIY was eliminated. I mean on one hand AoP, who eliminated them, got some great heat since they were heels, but on the other end it just ruined the flow of the match having AoP and Revival, two HEEL teams finish off the match. There were still some cool spots in the final stretch, but the match lost so much energy by that point that the ending just came off very lukewarm. Great match with some odd booking brought down the match from what it could've been, ****1/2."

[6.0] "I can see why people love this match, but to me it had some issues. The idea of Revival and DIY working together was a great one, but they just couldn't stick with it and I felt both teams looked stupid for ignoring AoP half the match when they could have taken them out for good and focused on each other. Also AoP seemed booked way too strong, one member was able to take out all four other men alone at one point, and that's kind of nuts. Plus some weird rules, for some reason the table was not a DQ. Found that strange. A lot of very cutesy moments too, guys conveniently doing finishers with the wrong partner in perfect synchronization. Got a little hard to suspend disbelief. Still, there was a lot of great action and it might still have gotten a high mark from me, but when DIY was eliminated the match really deflated. Ah well, I still liked it, just not as much as many others."

[9.0] "Super awesome high energy match. Tons of fast paced action with great storytelling. This was headed for 4. 5*+ territory for me until DIY was eliminated. The match was still great but it jut lost a lot of its spark and so energy subsided. Could've been a classic but it's still fantastic ****1/4"

[9.0] "This match told a fantastic story throughout and continues the NXT streak of elevating the tag belts into maybe the best defended and competed for title in WWE."

[10.0] "before #DIY was eliminated it was a 5 FREAKING stars match but after that they got eliminated, I didn't have that much of an interest in the match but it was really good. ****3/4"

[10.0] "Thought that this was fantastic - red hot action from start to finish w/ great storytelling of Revival & DIY working together to try and beat the bigger guys in AOP - that truly made Akam & Rezar look great & feel like legit threats. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Keep in mind I haven't watched Supercard of Honor yet but this is easily the best match-up from Wrestlemania weekend I have seen thus far. Everything in this match just worked. It wasn't perfect but it was damn close, if you haven't seen this match yet you really need to go and check out Takeover."