It’s TakeOver time! Will the NXT event once again set an impossibly high standard for the main roster guys and gals to follow? With the line up of matches and the talent they contain, quite possibly yes, but nevertheless, let’s find out:
Tag Team Championship Match: Undisputed Era (c) v. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch
My Prediction: Lorcan and Burch
We kick things off with a title match and a huge pop for the heels followed by a moderate one for the faces. The challengers have the upper hand early on, but the fans are clearly behind the champs as a chant of ‘Undisputed!’ fills the arena. Lorcan and Burch deploy quick tags and stiff-looking strikes to keep Strong and O’Reilly down.
The heels control the next portion of the match isolating Burch and working on his arm. At some point Bruch’s head starts bleeding (man, he gets cut open easily) and it is a headbutt that sets up the hot tag to Lorcan. He clears the ring before landing a huge dive over the ropes that makes up in effectiveness everything it lacks in grace.
A couple of near falls follow for the challengers but their momentum halts when O’Reilly pushes Lorcan off the turnbuckle, causing him to take a nasty bump on the apron. The champs then get a near fall of their own and O’Reilly very nearly gets Burch to tap out to an armbar as the first ‘This is awesome!’ chant of the night goes up.
Lorcan and Burch fight their way back into the match and get another near fall with only the interference of Adam Cole saving the day for the champs. He gets ejected from ringside much to the displeasure of the crowd, who make their opinion on the ref’s decision loud and clear.
The pace picks up as the team trade near falls. A sequence with both Strong and O’Reilly trapped in submission holds and fighting their way out brings the audience to its collective feet. Undisputed Era then finally get the victory with what looks like the AoP’s Last Chapter. They literally stagger up the ramp with the belts while Lorcan and Burch get a standing ovation in the ring.
Winners: Undisputed Era
Prediction Count: 0/1
Match of the night contender already? Both teams went at it full pelt and didn’t just warm the crowd up – they brought them to boiling point. Who can follow that?
Ricochet v. Velveteen Dream
My Prediction: Ricochet
Here are two guys who certainly can follow that! The match starts off slowly with both guys looking for a psychological advantage and engaging in a series of holds and counters. Even then, the crowd are still hot, reacting loudly to very move, counter and taunt.
Dream’s theme in the build was ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ and he attempts to prove that by stealing some of Ricochet’s athletic moves (he can’t do them better, but he can do them!) Ricochet eventually starts to show him how it’s done, earning a couple of near falls of his high-flying moves.
An exchange in the corner allows Dream to deliver a Death Valley Driver off the second rope. The fall takes it out of him as well though and Ricochet is able to kick out of a late cover. Another huge move comes soon after as Dream hits a suplex off the turnbuckle to the floor. Both guys barely make it back to the ring before the count of ten.
Another Rolling Death Valley Driver, this time with a quick cover, leads to another near fall for Velveteen Dream. A spinning DDT leads to another as Dream starts to wonder what he needs to do to keep Ricochet down. He tries some trash talk but it costs him as he ends up on the end of his own moves – a Death Valley Driver followed by a Purple Rainmaker off the top rope. That gets Ricochet a near fall. He then goes for a shooting star press, but Dream gets his knees up. Velveteen goes for a Purple Rainmaker at Coast-to-Coast distance but misses. That opens the door for the 630.
Winner: Ricochet
Prediction Count: 1/2
Match of the night contender no. 2? The story told here was fantastic – the one-upmanship, the stealing of moves, and the extraordinary lengths both guys had to go to in search of victory. Velveteen Dream though needs a big win after this to avoid becoming a nearly guy.
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Shayna Baszler (c) v. Nikki Cross
My Prediction: Shayna Baszler
More mid games at the start of this contest as Nikki Cross simply holds her arms out and tells Baszler to ‘do it.’ The crowd chant her name as she unnerves the champ, eventually trapping her in a sleeper hold. After getting trapped in the ring apron, the champ fights back by dumping Cross onto the ramp.
Baszler then takes out her frustrations on the challenger with a series of strikes and illegal holds. Cross gets up from each attack with a big smile on her face. A crossbody from the top rope gets the Scot a near fall as does a reverse DDT onto the apron. Another near fall comes after a swinging neckbreaker, but Baszler gets her foot onto the rope.
Baszler then locks in the Kirufida Clutch after going for the move several times throughout the match. Cross holds out much longer than anyone has done to date, refusing to tap and smiling to the crowd as she passes out.
Winner: Shayna Baszler
Prediction Count: 2/3
Nikki Cross is such a great character. The crowd were clearly behind her and clearly disappointed when she lost. Her time will come. Both these ladies offer something different to the usual WWE Women’s fare and it is certainly a welcome sight to see a legitimate fighter go up against an unhinged and unorthodox brawler with no hint of diva about it.
NXT Championship Match: Aleister Black (c) v. Lars Sullivan
My Prediction: Aleister Black
Black goes for Black Mass early but once again Sullivan catches his leg. Unfazed, the champ gets a lot more offence in than his had in their encounters so far. It does not take long for Sullivan to power his way back into the match though, catching the Dutch Destroyer with one arm as he jumps off the top rope and dumping him onto the apron.
A powerslam gets the challenger a near fall. He then goes for a diving headbutt, but Black gets his knee up. The champ then takes over with his trademark quick strikes. His left knee, however, is bothering him from that headbutt block and Sullivan takes advantage. At one point he traps Black in a Horse Collar, bending the injured knee over his neck and leaving the champ dangling.
A Freak Accident attempt gets countered into a DDT, bur yet again, Sullivan powers his way back into control delivering a powerslam to the apron. He then connects with the diving headbutt for a near fall.
Black finally lands Black Mass but Sullivan shockingly kicks out, the injured knee meaning the champ was unable to connect properly. Another Black Mass attempt is caught but the next one connects. The Dutch Destroyer makes sure of victory by waiting for Sullivan to get to his knees for a second Black mass strike, and that’s the match.
Winner: Aleister Black
Prediction Count:3 /4
That was predictably all about Black finally landing the Black Mass kick. However, both competitors made the journey there fun. This was by no means a classic, but it was as good a big guy v. little guy match as I’ve seen in WWE recently, and Sullivan showed that he can do more than quick squashes.
Street Fight: Tommaso Ciampa v. Johnny Gargano
My Prediction: Tommaso Ciampa
For the second TakeOver in a row, we get Ciampa and Gargano in a variant of a no holds barred match, and no-one is complaining. Both guys come out in street clothes and sporting crutches, and it does not take long for the fight to spill outside the ring with Gargano tossing Ciampa over the announce table. Johnny Wrestling soon becomes Johnny Stop Sign, using one to beat his opponent’s back.
Back in the ring, the chair and trash can are brought into play. Ciampa, however, does not need them hitting a series of German Suplexes. He does make use of the ringside furniture later on though, trapping Gargano’s head in a chair and charging him into the ringsteps in a vicious looking spot.
Clothing becomes a weapon next as Ciampa uses his t-shirt to strangle Gargano and Johnny Wrestling later whips his foe with his belt. The crowd, on form now as they have been all night, shout ‘you deserve it!’
A near fall for Ciampa comes after he drives Gargano from the apron onto the ring steps. Taking things to the extreme, Ciampa then goes about redesigning the ring, ripping up the canvas and the mat to expose the wooden boards. Gargano narrowly escapes being dumped off the top rope and delivers a superkick to his foe, whom we discover is wearing red underwear, instead.
The weapons are used liberally, and yet the fans still chant for tables, about the only classic wrestling prop we haven’t seen deployed so far. Ciampa then walks Gargano up the ramp, trash talking the whole way and recreating the moment that started this all last year by driving his former partner into the LED screen.
After Ciampa removes Gargano’s wedding ring, spitting on it, and tossing it away, he gets caught out as Gargano delivers his own Air Raid Crash move to him through a table (as the fans wanted). The EMTs get called out and Ciampa is put into a neck brace and lifted onto a stretcher, screaming in pain as he is carried out.
That is not enough for Johnny Wrestling though, who attacks the medical team and the ref and hauls Ciampa back to the ring. He locks him in the Gargano Escape and beats up the officials who try to stop him. He then handcuffs Ciampa and delivers a series of superkicks before reapplying his submission hold. The crowd are lapping it up as more officials try to drag Gargano away.
Despite being handcuffed, Ciampa is able to trap Johnny Wrestling in the ropes and land a DDT onto the exposed floorboards. The ref, now recovered, makes the count much to the shock of those in attendance. The show ends with Gargano now receiving medical attention, the victor waving from the stage, and the crowd shouting ‘F*** you, Ciampa!’
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
Prediction Count:4 /5
Match of the night contender no. 3! That was as brutal as it was compelling. The whole story from last year’s TakeOver finale to this point has been a masterpiece of wrestling storytelling that it will be hard for anyone (least of all Roman Reigns and Jinder Mahal) to top.
Final Thoughts
NXT delivers yet again. We had three amazing matches and two very, very good ones. Five fights on the card may result in the likes of Adam Cole, Kairi Sane, and War Raiders having to miss out but when the quality is this high, it is preferable to quantity any time.
