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

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NXT Championship Match
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Bobby Roode

Result: Bobby Roode defeats Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall to win the NXT Championship.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

The first five minutes of this match stayed at a very slow pace. Nakamura and Roode methodically worked at each other in the ring with little hard-hitting offense. However, things picked up at ringside with the Glorious One using the outside barriers to his advantage. Actually, everything went to another level.

The match steadily saw Roode take over and actually dominate Nakamura, which is a bit surprising for any match of the latter’s. He grounded the former NJPW star for minutes, not really working on any part of his body, but keeping him in control

The turning point would be the knee injury to Nakamura, which was an element of the match. It happened after a knee to Roode on the apron.

Somehow, Nakamura had been able to hit the Kinshasa, but immediately went down and had the trainers check on him for minutes. But when he got back into the ring, this became all Roode. Two Glorious DDTs and a vicious half-crab did the 37-year-old in, who took a beating by the time the match closed. All the offense that had been built up became too much and ended up doing Nakamura.

This may have been the best NXT TakeOver main event since Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015. Finn Balor and Samoa Joe had fun headliners. So did the latter and Nakamura. However, none of these matches had the kind of drama and build up that this had. There was the drama with the knee and crescendo in pace. Roode picked it up and Nakamura certainly did too, combining for a match that the Freeman Coliseum invested themselves in.

What fans now have to embrace is Bobby Roode as NXT Champion and the third consecutive TakeOver with a title change in the main event. This is his first reign since coming to WWE and will bring with him the momentum he’s built since NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. He has the backing as a heel champion and should represent a fresh face to the title scene.

As for Nakamura, the talk will be about him going to WWE. There’s one issue, however—there’s nobody to replace him as the top babyface. So if you’re hoping he goes to the main roster, don’t be so sure it happens just yet. Maybe NXT is going to rely on Chris Hero/Kassius Ohno, but how marketable is he as the top face?

That does it for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. What did you think of the show? Let us know below.