NXT TakeOver: Phoenix was a professional wrestling show produced by WWE for their NXT brand and streamed live on WWE Network. The event took place on January 26, 2019, at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NXT TakeOver: Phoenix was the twenty-third overall show held under the NXT TakeOver banner and the first to be held in 2019.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Tommaso Ciampa defeated Aleister Black to retain the NXT Championship. In the penultimate match, Shayna Baszler defeated Bianca Belair by technical submission to retain the NXT Women's Championship. Other matches included War Raiders defeating The Undisputed Era to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, and Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet to win the NXT North American Championship.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match - War Raiders (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) def. The Undisputed Era (c)
A solid opener, but I felt that this was deja vu to a few years ago when these guys where in Ring of Honor. Replace Roderick Strong with Bobby Fish and you couldn't have told the difference between this or any of their previous encounters during their days as War Machine and reDRagon in Ring of Honor for those coveted tag titles. That being said, it wasn't a bad match at all. I say it time and time again, but damn, Hanson's agility surprises me every time. Him and Rowe really play off each others' strengths and it shows brilliantly. Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly were the perfect guys to bump around for them and take that punishment while simultaneously reminding everyone why they have held the NXT Tag Titles for so long.
The title change here was a little jarring since Undisputed Era made that declaration that they would be holding all of the gold in 2019, but I can see them getting it all back come WrestleMania weekend. If I'm perfectly honest, I can't see Undisputed Era collectively staying in NXT past Summerslam/Survivor Series this year. I'm sure that WWE Creative would love to shoehorn them into a Survivor Series elimination match this year. I mean c'mon... they can't be in War Games THREE years in a row. That would be overkill at this point.
Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno
This was my least favorite match on this entire card if I'm perfectly honest. After the quick KO (no pun intended...) during the last TakeOver special, I didn't need to see them go at it again, especially in a long, drawn out match like this when they had a similar match on NXT programming a few weeks ago. No offense to the talent involved, but this match did absolutely nothing for me. That's not a knock on the talent either as I've seen both Riddle and Ohno in some stellar bouts. I just felt like this was a slight mismatch of talent - not to mention that Ohno is sitting on a pile of losses here in terms of TakeOver appearances.
NXT Women's Championship Match - Shayna Baszler (c) def. Bianca Belair
After the NXT episode over the past week, I was a little surprised that the Full Sail crowd were actually turning on Bianca a bit after Shayna's "overrated" comment. Outside of her performance in the initial Mae Young Classic, I honestly don't see all of the hype behind Belair and her husband (Montez Ford on the Street Profits) from a lot of podcasters and journalists, touting them as the "future" of the product. Let's be real here... the Street Profits will go down as another failed Cryme Tyme clone, just like the Primetime Players before them. Ford might see some gold in a singles run, same for Bianca down the road, but there's far too many other noteworthy talent that can and will overshadow them in the meantime. Don't forget that NXT, along with the main roster, is STACKED with talent that they've raided from the indies and every other promotion that isn't AEW. It's hard to say that WWE's "homegrown" prospects will be allowed to shine over the more seasoned and more experienced "indie darlings" as how Triple H used to refer to them before he started making a profit off of them.
In relation to this match, I saw it as make it or break it time for Bianca. The first half of this match wasn't bad at all with Bianca enduring everything that Shayna was throwing at her. Then the ref bump happened and this match seemed to fall apart in a sense. Maybe it was nerves, but Bianca hit one of the worst and weakest looking slams on Shayna during this entire show for what was supposed to be the cliched "near-fall" but the ref was still down. Marina Safir and Jessamyn Duke race down to make the save and they took some awful (as in execution) looking bumps to the mat. I'll give Marina a pass as she was wearing a facial protection mask as she must've gotten roughed up training but geez, her and Jessamyn don't seem to be taking to this wrestling thing as well as Shayna and Ronda have.
The match continues a bit longer after the ref bump, only for Bianca's "undefeated" (insert ghetto ass claps for each syllable) streak to end after she passes out in Shayna's hold to retain. I still want to know what was in Bianca's weave whip thingy to make it cut Shayna across the abdomen like that.
As for this post-match comment/rebuttal aimed at Sam Roberts, who apparently went "heel" shooting on Bianca Belair not deserving to be in this match and Shayna having nothing to be afraid of, I can't tell if they trying to get an angle going out of this or what. I tend to tune out a lot of what Sam Roberts says nowadays since he's wired into WWE's bubble, so you can't trust if he's working people or trying to be legitimate anymore. That being said, I didn't think Bianca was ready for a title match either, but at the same time, I'm not going to bury her like he did there, saying that her match belonged on the preshow. Bianca's not ready for that spot now, but that doesn't mean she won't pick up steam down the road. Remember Sasha Banks' rough beginnings on NXT? It wasn't until she refined what "The Boss" character was down there and picked up in stride to get the ball rolling where she was force to be reckoned with on NXT. Just give it time. Baby steps.
NXT North American Championship Match - Johnny Gargano def. Ricochet (c)
When this match started during the introductions, I joked to a friend that I wanted Gargano to lose here just for everyone can say that shit hasn't changed for Johnny Failure. Everyone on social media seems to be raving about the actual ring work in this match, but I was more impressed by the narrative from bell to bell. The story here was that as good as Gargano THOUGHT he was in terms of keeping up move for move, counter for counter with Ricochet, it wasn't enough. All of 2018, Gargano would put his all into these TakeOver performances, earning the moniker of "Johnny TakeOver" as printed on his trunks here tonight, but ultimately, he would fall short of the victory every single time, causing many people - notably Velveteen Dream, to refer to him as Johnny Failure. Johnny Failure wasn't going to chuck up another L in the column tonight as he did what he thought he would never do and crossed the dark side to cement his victory over the One and Only.
While Ricochet did some impressive stuff here in this match, I wasn't losing my mind about it (double goes for Gargano's ring work) when I've seen the guy work in New Japan, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and Lucha Underground doing similar theatrics. I'm more surprised that they would take the title off Ricochet so soon, but I guess they must have plans for him to capture the NXT Championship sooner more than later. There seems to be talk/rumors floating around about a title for title match to be the finale in the Gargano vs. Ciampa series during the NXT TakeOver special during WrestleMania weekend and I hope that's not the case. I rather see a multi-man match for the title instead of another played out Gargano/Ciampa match.
That being said, this was easily the match of the evening without a shadow of a doubt.
NXT Championship Match - Tommaso Ciampa (c) def. Aleister Black
This match had an interesting narrative about it too, but nowhere as great as the one in the match that proceeded it. Ciampa was at his worst of his villainy here, doing everything in his power to cripple Aleister Black. He targeted his knee and lower calf for the majority of this match. Boy, after tweaking BOTH of my knees/lower calf within the span of a week I couldn't help but sympathize with Black's pain and agony here. Aleister Black did put up a good effort in this match, but ultimately fell short to recapture the NXT Championship. They fooled me for sure with that near-fall (or rather no fall after Ciampa rolled onto his stomach) off that sickening SMACK off that one Black Mask from out of nowhere. I thought that was it for sure. It was a nice touch to have Ciampa troll Black by raising his head off the mat with his foot like how Black did to Gargano at the previous TakeOver special.
I know people are convinced that Aleister Black is pretty much a lock to be moved to the main roster, but I'm not buying into that. He still has unfinished business in NXT. He hasn't repaid both Ciampa and Gargano properly after their unofficial DIY reunion in the steel cage match and I wouldn't mind seeing him get one more crack at the NXT Championship before being called up. I think we deserve an Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream rubber match for the NXT Championship before either one of those guys get called up and it would stupid not to book that match sooner more than later.
All in all, I thought this was a solid show, despite a few hiccups with the NXT Women's Championship Match and that Riddle/Ohno bout. As always, I'm anxious to see where they go from here. They got three months of NXT tapings to layout the ground work for the next TakeOver special during WrestleMania weekend, so it should make for some good TV.
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