According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, ticket sales are moving well for the upcoming NXT Takeover live special at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The show runs the night before WWE SummerSlam and two nights before WWE RAW, both being held in the same building, and is at this point guaranteed to draw the biggest crowd in the relatively short history of the NXT brand.
The original plan – which could still be the case – was to set up the arena for 5,000 people on Saturday night, and expand seating if necessary. Takeover faces competition the same night from Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Syndicate and a Jim Ross live show, all within the same general area in New York/New Jersey.
As reported, Kevin Owens will challenge Finn Balor for the NXT Championship in the main event. Owens will face off against John Cena for the U.S. title at SummerSlam the next night in a match he is expected to win. Traditionally it doesn’t make a lot of sense to book Owens in the main event of an NXT special – especially a high profile show where he is almost certain to loose – right before the biggest match of his career, but they needed the biggest main event they could find to sell the Barclays Center.
Current Balor/Owens is the only officially announced match on the show, but they will be taping the next month’s worth of television shortly, so we should have a better look at the card by the end of the week. The Vaudevillians defeated Enzo Amore and Big Cass to become the #1 contenders to the tag titles last week on NXT, but it’s likely that match will happen far in advance of Takeover, and a triple threat (or even a four-way with the new team of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) will be booked for the live special in August.
Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke is the expected NXT Women’s Championship match being set up right now, although it’s unclear if Banks recent debut on WWE television alongside Becky Lynch and Charlotte will change that going forward. There will likely be a Samoa Joe match on the card as well, as they’ll need all hands on deck to promote their biggest live event ever, but as of now Joe is without a program or obvious direction.
