foodwithchewi
- Aug 31, 2020
- 6 min read

Takeover: Cardiff

A year ago today I travelled to watch NXT UK Takeover Cardiff.

I have been thinking about this post for months, ever since the first food memories I did which was back in April. But now it is actually here, surprise surprise I have writers block! So, I will do the best that I can.

Note! I ramble on a lot before I get to any food talk so feel free to scroll down if you're here just for food talk!

NXT UK is the United Kingdom based brand of pro wrestling promotion WWE, and like the NXT brand in America they host special events every few months called takeovers. Takeovers are held in certain cities, so far takeovers in the UK have been hosted in Blackpool (twice), Cardiff & one was announced in Dublin but due to the Covid pandemic it has been postponed until further notice.

Any additional information you might like I will leave the Wiki link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NXT_UK_TakeOver:_Cardiff

Now... I would love to tell you that whilst in Cardiff we sampled some amazing food but in truth the only really had a burger from Burger King, which I will recreate along with some themed food that related to the day.

It was very busy due to there being a rugby world cup warm up match on between Wales & Ireland, but we will cover that later on! It was packed and the weather was hardly ideal with it throwing it down and we didn't really know our way about, but thanks to goggle maps we got by.

I don't think I had ever visited Cardiff before takeover but I was meant to back in 2002. I used to be a season ticket holder for the Leicester Tigers back then when I was younger and we would travel to watch them home and away, rarely missing a game. We had made it to the Heineken cup final (European cup), which was held in Cardiff's principality stadium. But I had a school trip on that day to Dunfield House and I was unable to go and watch the final. I don't remember much about it but looking at some pictures of the place online brought back a memory or two.

The trip lasted the whole weekend, I think. I remember having harry potter pyjamas, having do some swimming activity even though I couldn't swim then & still cannot swim now. As well as having an indoor football tournament which we won! That was about the only part I really enjoyed to be honest. It was a beautiful place though, and tigers won the final and were champions of Europe & of England in that season I do believe!

Anyway! Back to the subject at hand!

We had a decent walk around Cardiff when we arrived, after we grabbed some lunch from Burger King. Parking was good because it was right next to the motorpoint arena, which was handy because that was where takeover was being held.

There were a few points of interest/landmarks I wanted to see before we had to go and queue to get in to the venue. The principality stadium & Cardiff castle being high on the list. We had to pay to get in to the castle grounds and we had a good look around. Along the walls (above and below), and even in the castle itself. Now I don't do well with heights so when I got to the top of the castle, I think I just wanted to stay up there!

So, we had our walk around the area and our plan was to go see the stadium, go back to the car and then queue. Which would leave plenty of time so there would be no rush, but the most unlikely of things happened. We were walking past the stadium, just standing there taking pictures when we notice a steward walking towards us (I will put the photo up, he is in the bottom right hand corner). We thought we were going to get a telling off or something but he said that a pair of tickets had been handed in by a couple of people that could not make it and wondered if we wanted to go in and watch the second half. I think it's pretty safe to say that we bit his hand off!

The stadium is something else and it was nice I finally got to see inside and watch some rugby after I missed out last time with what would have been the 17-year difference. The game between Wales & Ireland was a warm up match for the rugby world cup that was coming up a few short months later.

We got into the stadium at the half time break and Ireland were winning 15-3, the second half was good but if I'm honest it took me until after the final whistle for it to sink in what had actually happened.

The game ended 22-17 to Ireland, with a spirited fightback from the welsh but it just wasn’t enough on the day.

So, after full time, time was not on our side so we had to scramble across Cardiff with the other 60,000 people that were in attendance! We dropped our stuff off back at the car and we headed for the motorpoint, which already had a decent queue formed with people waiting for the doors to open.

We were surprised by the seats we had because I thought we would be up in the tiered seats because of the arena map when I booked the tickets. It turns out we were sat right next to the entrance isle and was very close to the ring.

The show was unreal with some crazy & amazing moments. The crowd were amazing as well.

I think the moment of the night was Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster winning the tag team titles in their hometown, becoming the first ever welsh champions ever in WWE.

Seeing Rhea Ripley in the pre-show, Zack Gibson, Walter & a surprise match between IIja Dragunov & Cesaro were standout for me personally.

It was an amazing night and I even make an appearance at the end of the show after being caught by the camera.

Finally, onto the food I have made for my day out!

I wanted to keep it themed to the day & I like a good reference in my food so every post has some kind of meaning. I came up with four ideas I wanted to cook & bake.

Rugby Cupcakes

To highlight an amazing and unexpected gesture that really added to and made our day. Although it was good, there is nothing worse than talking to the people next to you and admitting your English whilst sat in a stadium full of Welsh & Irish fans!

For this I decided to make some muffins! Cranberry & white chocolate muffins to be exact.

Burger King’s XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger

I always have the same thing from Burger King, the bacon cheeseburger. Sometimes the XL version if I’m feeling it. It is one of my favourite fast food’s ever and I have always wanted to make my own.

Imperium Rock Cakes

Now Imperium are the main bad guy group in NXT UK, if you look at the storytelling. The main attraction for me is Walter from Austria, he is incredibly violent. He formed a stable called Imperium which is made up from Marcel Barthel & Alexander Wolfe, who are both from Germany and also Fabian Aichner from Italy.

It is the European group that hate the English type of story, which draws a big reaction from fans.

So I decided to use some mini flags I got to recreate the entrance.

Lastly I made a playlist for takeover.

Making playlists chills me out and I like me memories a song or songs can bring. This playlist has the theme song for takeover which was 'Brick by Brick' by Junior, well as some songs from welsh bands, a few songs from The S.L.P and a few more. I will leave the link.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/23cCwQfMAuEeI3usUCMpoI?si=UWKfuxiFSLKLrcD1JP9siA

So that is it for now! I hope one day when things get back to a normal state, I could maybe see another takeover in the UK. If there is ever a takeover Cardiff 2, I’ll be there!

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading and I’ll speak to you all soon!

Takeover: Cardiff

A year ago today I travelled to watch NXT UK Takeover Cardiff.

I have been thinking about this post for months, ever since the first food memories I did which was back in April. But now it is actually here, surprise surprise I have writers block! So, I will do the best that I can.

Note! I ramble on a lot before I get to any food talk so feel free to scroll down if you're here just for food talk!

Any additional information you might like I will leave the Wiki link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NXT_UK_TakeOver:_Cardiff

Now... I would love to tell you that whilst in Cardiff we sampled some amazing food but in truth the only really had a burger from Burger King, which I will recreate along with some themed food that related to the day.

It was very busy due to there being a rugby world cup warm up match on between Wales & Ireland, but we will cover that later on! It was packed and the weather was hardly ideal with it throwing it down and we didn't really know our way about, but thanks to goggle maps we got by.

Anyway! Back to the subject at hand!

We had a decent walk around Cardiff when we arrived, after we grabbed some lunch from Burger King. Parking was good because it was right next to the motorpoint arena, which was handy because that was where takeover was being held.

The stadium is something else and it was nice I finally got to see inside and watch some rugby after I missed out last time with what would have been the 17-year difference. The game between Wales & Ireland was a warm up match for the rugby world cup that was coming up a few short months later.

We got into the stadium at the half time break and Ireland were winning 15-3, the second half was good but if I'm honest it took me until after the final whistle for it to sink in what had actually happened.

The game ended 22-17 to Ireland, with a spirited fightback from the welsh but it just wasn’t enough on the day.

So, after full time, time was not on our side so we had to scramble across Cardiff with the other 60,000 people that were in attendance! We dropped our stuff off back at the car and we headed for the motorpoint, which already had a decent queue formed with people waiting for the doors to open.

We were surprised by the seats we had because I thought we would be up in the tiered seats because of the arena map when I booked the tickets. It turns out we were sat right next to the entrance isle and was very close to the ring.

The show was unreal with some crazy & amazing moments. The crowd were amazing as well.

I think the moment of the night was Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster winning the tag team titles in their hometown, becoming the first ever welsh champions ever in WWE.

Seeing Rhea Ripley in the pre-show, Zack Gibson, Walter & a surprise match between IIja Dragunov & Cesaro were standout for me personally.

It was an amazing night and I even make an appearance at the end of the show after being caught by the camera.

Finally, onto the food I have made for my day out!

I wanted to keep it themed to the day & I like a good reference in my food so every post has some kind of meaning. I came up with four ideas I wanted to cook & bake.

Rugby Cupcakes

To highlight an amazing and unexpected gesture that really added to and made our day. Although it was good, there is nothing worse than talking to the people next to you and admitting your English whilst sat in a stadium full of Welsh & Irish fans!

For this I decided to make some muffins! Cranberry & white chocolate muffins to be exact.

Burger King’s XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger

I always have the same thing from Burger King, the bacon cheeseburger. Sometimes the XL version if I’m feeling it. It is one of my favourite fast food’s ever and I have always wanted to make my own.

Imperium Rock Cakes

It is the European group that hate the English type of story, which draws a big reaction from fans.

So I decided to use some mini flags I got to recreate the entrance.

Lastly I made a playlist for takeover.

Making playlists chills me out and I like me memories a song or songs can bring. This playlist has the theme song for takeover which was 'Brick by Brick' by Junior, well as some songs from welsh bands, a few songs from The S.L.P and a few more. I will leave the link.

So that is it for now! I hope one day when things get back to a normal state, I could maybe see another takeover in the UK. If there is ever a takeover Cardiff 2, I’ll be there!

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading and I’ll speak to you all soon!

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