NXT TakeOver: New York was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. The event took place on April 5, 2019, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Johnny Gargano defeated Adam Cole in a Two-out-of-three falls match to win the vacant NXT Championship. Other matches on the undercard saw Walter defeat Pete Dunne to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship (also ending Dunne's historic reign at 685 days), Shayna Baszler retaining the NXT Women's Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match, Velveteen Dream ending Matt Riddle's undefeated streak and retaining the NXT North American Championship, and the War Raiders retaining the NXT Tag Team Championship against Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners Aleister Black and Ricochet.
Tag Team Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship
War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) (c) def. Aleister Black and Ricochet
I thought this match was a fun way to start the show. I felt there wasn't nothing too surprising given what we have come to expect from the talents involved. This match ended up being the swansong/goodbye for Aleister Black and Ricochet to the NXT crowd before they move up to the main roster for good. After seeing how the main roster has treated most of the recent NXT call-ups, I can see why Ricochet was crying. The sooner him and Aleister Black are regulated to singles feuds instead of tag team matches, I think they will be better off. I thought the War Raiders showing respect post-match was a nice touch as well.
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| Nothing but respect from the champions to the challengers after a hard-fought battle. |
Minor gripe, but I was so damn happy that NXT gave Aleister that platform that raises him up for his entrance here. It looks so stupid to me on the main roster to see him walking out without any flair or mystique about him like every other generic guy on the roster.
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| Triple H wishing another batch of his NXT kids best of luck on the main roster. |
NXT North American Championship Match
Velveteen Dream (c) def. Matt Riddle
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| Velveteen Dream invoking his own version of the State of Liberty scene from Ghostbusters 2. |
Match of the weekend for me personally. Topped my personal favorite TakeOver match between Shinsuke Nakamura and the then departing Sami Zayn going to the main roster. I had to laugh at Dream coming out dressed like the Statue of Liberty with entourage of "boys" carrying him out to the ring. Sadly, Dalton Castle would say "hold my beer" and top this entrance the next night during G1 Supercard.
The majority of this match consisted of Riddle beating the piss out of Dream with strikes, only for Dream to "hulk up" like Hulk Hogan and invoke a lot of the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan's offense.
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| I still cringe watching this spot. To say that Kota Ibushi will take this exact same bump the following night on G1 Supercard. |
At one point, Riddle performs a deadlift german suplex off the ropes to forcefully bring Dream back into the ring from off the ring apron. Dream landed and sold that shit so well that I thought he literally died off that bump. They really drew me into the drama off that spot, even more so than before up to that point.
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| A well-deserved fist bump. These two "bros" killed it tonight. |
WWE United Kingdom Championship
Walter def. Pete Dunne (c)
I'll admit that I don't watch NXT UK nowhere as much as I should on a weekly basis. Despite that fact, I thought this was an impressive showcase of Walter's power and in-ring ability. I have seen a little of his work in the UK prior to signing to WWE, but seeing it on display here during this TakeOver match, I can easily see why they call him the Ring General.
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| Pete Dunne will never stop looking like the real life version of Roger Klotz to me. |
Even though Walter was beating on Pete Dunne like he was Mr. Bone's nephew bullying Roger Klotz on that one episode of Doug, Dunne didn't give up nor went down easily. They told an excellent story here of Dunne gradually getting more and more offense in on the powerhouse than anyone originally expected he would. Eventually, Pete Dunne was able to turn the tide into his favor, finally hitting the Bitter End after multiple unsuccessful attempts.
That top rope Last Ride/Avalanche Release Powerbomb from Walter reminded me of Ultimo Guerrero doing the same thing to Kazarian a few years ago during the World X Cup 2008 (I think?) competition, throwing him across the ring like yesterday's garbage. At least this dude actually won off that shit.
NXT Women's Championship
Shayna Baszler (c) def. Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and Kairi Sane by submission
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| The Sky Pirates are truly something else on this roster. |
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| Say what you will about Bianca Belair, but there's no denying her power. |
I know I wasn't alone in being shocked to see Shayna Baszler pick up the win here. I was certain that she was losing the title to one of her challengers here tonight and getting called up to the main roster. That decision alone makes me intrigued on what the plan is going forward for her and the NXT Women's Championship.
One more thing, can we finally have Bianca Belair shut the fuck up about she's "UNDEFEATED" now? She's lost CLEAN to Shayna twice now, there's no way she can keep making that excuse like she's in denial. Don't give me that shit about she's undefeated in her mindset either as that sounds even stupider.
Two-out-of-three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship
Johnny Gargano def. Adam Cole 2–1
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| Crazy. |
First two falls did absolutely nothing for me as everyone knew that they were just milking it until the final fall - just like every single one of these best of three matches in WWE currently. NXT is no different in that level of predictability in this match type.
As usual, Gargano does FAR too much here in a single match. At the same time, Adam Cole was at fault too for WAY too many damn Super Kick spots to the point where I started rolling my eyes in response. Between the Young Bucks, the Usos, and almost everyone from Lucha Underground have bastardized that move to the point I really don't buy into that move being a finish/signature period anymore. It's just a spot for cheap pops that is overused as much as a tope/cross body out of the ring or damn superplex.
It was really clever for Cole to use Ciampa's "Fairy Tale Ending" finisher to garner a near-fall via count out, but it was out at ringside for a table bump so that was a little odd too.
I'll admit that found myself caught up in the finish with all of the near-falls, but once again, it's abused in Gargano's matches to it's detriment. I get it - there's a lot of people who love Gargano's matches for that, but out of all of Gargano's TakeOver matches, I liked his one with Aleister Black solely for the fact that it was a one and done affair where it was like someone had to beat the life out of Gargano to keep him down, only for him to keep popping up like that Robot Chicken Jesus meme.
All members of the Undisputed Era poured out of the locker room to assist Adam Cole in hopes of helping him capture the gold. Unfortunately, their interference got another near-fall at best, only for Gargano to Superman/John Cena his way through the opposition to fight them off and pick up the win.
In the end, Adam Cole ended up being a great filler villain for Gargano to topple to end his story or rather ascension to the top of the ladder of NXT as it's first Triple Crown Champion, winning the NXT Tag Team, NXT North American, and NXT Championships. I don't know where he's going to go from here, but the sky's the limit for Johnny Wrestling.
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| I know kayfabe's dead, but you don't have to remind me with stuff like this. |
I know that I give Gargano a lot of shit at times and love making fun of his showcomings since that gives me an excuse to use that "Johnny Failure" moniker that Velveteen Dream cooked up, but the guy is at his best on NXT as the babyface underdog, scratching and clawing his way to victory. Tonight was the perfect example of that as the culmination of a two year journey to the top of the NXT brand. Unlike like a lot of NXT Champions, I don't want to see Gargano get called up to the main roster anytime soon. Without Ciampa, I can't see him working magic with anyone on the main roster as how it stands. Remember how well Kevin Owens did once he had his best friend turned bitter rival, Sami Zayn, to battle on the main roster for months on end. I expect to see those two tied at the hip on the main roster as well. Besides, it won't hurt to keep Gargano on the brand a while longer until Ciampa heals up. There's a ton of talent that he hasn't had high profile matches with on the brand and a wealth of talent down at the Performance Center that could benefit from his wealth of knowledge to boot. I'm sure Gargano doesn't want to be separated from his wife either to say that the NXT brand has barely done anything with her either.
Speaking of Ciampa, I have mixed feelings about him coming out and joining Gargano and Candice LeRae in the post-match celebration. I get it - they are best friends outside of the ring in their personal lives. That's what made their feud for the past few years so great. It was "real" - but that's part of the problem. We just saw Ciampa attempt to turn on Gargano again, only for it to backfire as Gargano threw him off of the stage in the same manner that Ciampa did to him to break up DIY. That was the angle to write Ciampa off television to go get his neck surgery while Triple H vacated the NXT Championship.
To see him come out here and hugging both of them like nothing transpired was a bit of a slap to the face. I know people are going to say that kayfabe's dead, but stuff like that is always going to irk me as an older wrestling fan. I know it's not "real" but c'mon let me stay in the moment, y'know? They could've saved that bit for a WWE 24 special or something backstage. I didn't need to see that to close the show. The shot of Candice hugging Johnny in the ring was enough to close on for me - either that or the shot of him celebrating in the crowd.
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