WWE NXT TakeOver: San Antonio Review: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bobby Roode

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NXT Tag Team Championship Match
DIY (c) vs. The Authors of Pain

Result: The Authors of Pain defeat DIY via pinfall to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

From the moment this match began, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa played the underdog role to the much bigger Authors of Pain. Gargano took a heavy attack midway through, including being tossed around like a rag doll and being slammed into the ringside barricade. DIY got some offense in between, but only in spurts.

A positive for the first half of the match is the crowd bought into the underdog role of Gargano’s, who made a hot tag to Ciampa to get things going for the champs. The former ROH star sent both members of AoP on their backs with belly-to-back suplexes that got the crowd riled up. They were two great feats of strength that you probably wouldn’t expect out of the Psycho, which really put the momentum in favor of DIY.

The double spear spot on Rezar was a great spot too. These seemingly impossible tasks of the smaller Superstars gave them plenty of fire with the NXT Universe.

The next intriguing part of this story would be DIY putting AoP into the simultaneous submissions, which is what won them the titles in Toronto. Like they did in November, Gargano and Ciampa channeled back to a previous match finish and integrated it beautifully. That’s textbook wrestling that makes bouts fantastic.

The Authors closing out with the win off the Super Collider Powerbomb gave them their first NXT Tag Team Championship win. These two monsters now get to run rampant through the NXT tag division with a ton of momentum, which they built plenty of during this match alone. Beating an underdog, fav-favorite tag team will get you a negative crowd reaction anywhere. So putting the tag titles on Akam and Rezar in this fashion works perfectly.

Paul Ellering’s duo also had their best and longest match yet. Maybe this was due to DIY being phenomenal in the ring, but they held their own

Fans will be disappointed that Gargano and Ciampa’s reign lasted just two months, but they’re back to being the chasers. This should lead to a great and dramatic rematch after NXT TakeOver; San Antonio.

The Revival also lurk in the background after saying before TakeOver that they want whoever is the champion by the end of the evening. Are we on our way to a feud with AoP?

Seth Rollins Calls Out Triple H

Right after this match, Seth Rollins stormed the ring to call out Triple H. What better place to do so than the brand that he runs? It made too much sense and a logical, but surprising call since main roster stars never appear on NXT, let alone NXT TakeOver shows.

This was a hot moment for the Rollins-Triple H feud, which will lead us into the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 33.