The best thing about “TakeOver Aftermath” (as Mauro Ranallo calls them) episodes is how you end up watching the last few minutes of the TakeOver they’re aftermath-ing before they come on…
For a more detailed recap, check our live results post here.
A pre-open video package runs down everything that happened at TakeOver: New Orleans. Kairi Sane def. Lacey Evans via pinfall following the In-Sane Elbow. We see highlights of the North American Championship Ladder match and Tag Titles/Dusty Classic finals, followed by a non-interview where Roderick Strong convinces Adam Cole not to answer Cathy Kelley’s question about what happened in Undisputed ERA’s second win from Saturday night. Authors of Pain’s call-up to Raw and dismissal of Paul Ellering is addressed, and there’s a nice recap of Johnny Gargano’s career-saving win over Tommaso Ciampa, followed by news that Johnny Wrestling will be on next week’s show to address the Full Sail faithful.
After a bit of a rough start to the opening match, I really enjoyed this outing from both women. Evans appeared to be thinking through her every move in the early going – understandable jitters when you’re relatively new and opening the show on WrestleMania weekend in front of 15,000 rabid fans – but settled in to a nice groove. The First Lady of NXT showed off a few impressive moves (the handstand bronco buster in particular is a nice twist on WWE’s love of having tall women do moves that show off their legs), demonstrated a grasp of the psychology of the match (the neck/shoulder work on Sane didn’t factor into the finish, but it gave Kairi something to power through on her comeback) and worked her character throughout.
The Pirate Princess also responded to the crowd, delivering one of her more animated finishing sequences in recent memory. Her war cry after recovering following the Interceptor spear really motivated the crowd and added energy to the whole affair. Kairi is likely going on to face the new champ soon, so the outcome was never really in doubt. They were booked to look evenly matched, though, and Evans came across as a totally believable threat, so hopefully they have plans for her. The character lends itself to easily setting up matches, so I imagine we will.
Otherwise, the bulk of the first half of the show (and the second) was highlights. I recall these episodes usually having a little…
