NXT TakeOver: WarGames (Nov. 23, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2019) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on November 23, 2019, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. It was the third event under the WarGames chronology, and the first to have a women's WarGames match, as well as the first to have two WarGames matches on the same night; it was also the second NXT TakeOver event in history in which the NXT Championship was not defended (the first being NXT TakeOver: Respect in 2015), and was the first which saw no title defenses on the card.

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Kick-Off: Angel Garza def. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott

Team Rhea (Rhea Ripley and Candice LeRae) def. Team Shayna (Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray, and NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler)

Mia Yim got taken out in a backstage attack at the end of the kick-off show and was replaced by Dakota Kai on Team Rhea, but if you didn't tune into the show until the main show started you wouldn't have known that at all since the commentary team failed to mention this. When it came for Dakota to enter the match, she snapped and savagely assaulted Tegan Nox to turn heel. Bayley needs to take notes from Dakota here. This is how you own a heel turn. Even though I think most people saw it coming from the moment that she was "buttering up" Mia Yim before her ladder match a few weeks ago after she wasn't picked for Team Rhea. My only problem with it was why go after Tegan? She didn't do anything. Rhea was the one who picked her last like the nerds nobody wanted on their team in gym class.

And it was at that moment, KLR realized she fucked up.

Kay Lee Ray definitely took a beating in this match.

Io Shirai with the dive of the night.

While Rhea was unsung hero in the match while coming across as a wrecking machine, MVP award goes to Io Shirai. I'm surprised Io didn't break her legs after that Moonsault from off the top of the cage as it looked like she tried to land on her feet from the landing but her legs hit the ropes anyway in the impact. There's absolutely no way she wasn't feeling that in the morning. I'm still not too keen on Candice LeRae's bottomless amount of endurance (despite her non-disclosed history to WWE fans that she used to fight men regularly) like her husband. WWE has to be careful about how hard they push her just because she's Johnny Failure Gargano's wife as it will come across forced and there's going to be a fan backlash. NXT UK's own Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray wasn't no slouch either as she took some truly gnarly bumps in this match that she sold like pure death.

Finn Balor def. Matt Riddle

This match was originally set between Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor, but Gargano had to miss this TakeOver event due to an injury - first time that he's missed one of these events since debuting for the brand actually. Fortunately, Matt Riddle was able to fill in for Gargano as an impromptu replacement, but had to bow out as the original 4th man for Team Ciampa in WarGames. For Finn Balor's first TakeOver match back on the NXT brand, he had to win here. It's not like going back to the main roster to lose to the Fiend again was going to do him any favors, especially after his great heel turn a month ago. Riddle put up a good fight but like I said earlier, the right man went over in this contest.

Pete Dunne def. Damien Priest and Killian Dane to earn NXT Championship Match against Adam Cole the next night on Survivor Series

Even though this match was pulled out of their asses at the last possible second mere days before this event, I thought this was a fun match and we finally got a payoff for these feuds that Dunne has found himself in the middle of for the last few weeks. The best thing about this match for me was all of the various combinations these guys were doing on each other to hopefully bulldoze the competition. Pete Dunne (AKA NXT's Roger Klotz)

Team Ciampa (Keith Lee, Donovan Dijakovic, Tommaso Ciampa, and Kevin Owens) def. The Undisputed Era (NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong, NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, and NXT Champion Adam Cole)

The kicker in this match was that everyone was wondering who the mysterious 4th man was going to be to join Team Ciampa since they came to the match without even announcing who they got to their 4th man. I knew they weren't going to rehash the Women's WarGames finish where it was the babyfaces dealing with overwhelming odds as that would have been redundant at this point and I like to think that NXT has better minds in their think tank in terms of booking and mapping out storylines. In the back of my head, I had three possible outcomes for the 4th man - John Morrison, Kevin Owens, and CM Punk. As of this posting (Dec. 4, 2019), John Morrison literally just signed his new contract with WWE, so that wasn't happening at that point. CM Punk would have driven that crowd absolutely bonkers if he was the 4th, but Kevin Owens made a lot of sense, given his ROH history with all of those involved along with the fact that he would have wanted payback for what the Undisputed Era did when they invaded Monday Night RAW.

The match ended with an insane Project Ciampa off the top of the cage through two tables. If that bump wasn't insane enough (especially for Ciampa who just came back from neck surgery and Cole who has been wrestling with a fractured wrist for the last month or two), the cameras got a reaction shot of AEW's own Britt Baker (AKA Adam Cole's girlfriend) watching from the crowd, clearly mortified from what she has seen just transpire.

Yep, that's Britt Baker alright.

I don't blame WWE for doing this either as it was her own stupidity to coming to a rival promotion's PPV and sitting in the crowd. Don't show up at the show if you don't want to be shown on TV. I have to agree with Cornette on his remark about she should have been fired if she didn't clear it with AEW firsthand. Of course, AEW didn't do anything other than parody it on their own programming the following week...

My reaction to AEW and all of their callbacks and cheap knocks to WWE...

My only issue with the events of this TakeOver event was that it didn't affect anything the following night on Survivor Series, which we'll get into in the write-up on that event, but at least we got a proper follow-up on NXT Wednesday night.

NXT TakeOver: Toronto (Aug. 10, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: Toronto (2019) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on August 10, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including two taped for the following week's episode of NXT. In the main event, Adam Cole defeated Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the NXT Championship. The undercard saw NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream and NXT Tag Team Champion Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) retain their titles.

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Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) def. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) Tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship

This was easily the best match that I have seen the Street Profits compete in their entire NXT careers to date. Going into this show, I was convinced that they were dropping the titles to the Undisputed Era since they have been seen hanging around on the main roster backstage for the last few weeks now. They haven't been wrestling any matches, so I guess WWE figures that they can juggle both roles without any problems for the time being.

Montez Ford might want to look into wearing a singlet for his gear as his "odd" looking nipples are a red flag for possible steroid usage. So yeah, he might want to hide that. He's got that same look going on that Jinder Mahal had a while back. Dude's got a bigger chest than his damn wife (Bianca Belair FYI). That being said, he's easily the star of this act. The Street Profits could split up tomorrow and Ford could be EASILY pushed to the moon as a singles act with his charisma and in-ring ability. Angelo Dawkins isn't bad - it just seems like that dude is moving in slow-mo half of the time. Besides, I would like to see these guys against teams who don't have a record of excellent performances under their belt for I can truly determine whether or not they are that damn good or the former members of reDRagon along with other noteworthy NXT tag teams have been making them look better than they actually are.

There was a brawl between Matt Riddle and Killian Dane at one point of this show, but it didn't result into a full blown match between the two. Riddle got the jump on Dane for once and it ended after Dane jumped off the stage with Riddle still latched on his back with a sleeper hold applied while performing a STO on one of the poor unfortunate security guards in his wake.

Io Shirai def. Candice LeRae by technical submission

Throughout this match, I couldn't buy into the beating that Candice LeRae was on the receiving end for, especially when I have seen her take FAR worse punishment from opponents of the opposite sex. At the same time, I was not ready to see her "hulk up" like Cena or Hogan and turn around to win this thing either. Her husband does enough of that bullshit where he's kicking out of a million and one finishers and getting up for more. I don't want to see them rehash the same thing for her. I'm sure the Full Sail crowd doesn't want to either.

Heel Io going over was the right decision and I'm glad that NXT went that way, even though I thought her turn was stupid to begin with. Too bad Asuka isn't around for we could have seen that feud in NXT.

This was arguably the best match on this entire card to be quite honest.

Velveteen Dream (c) def. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong Triple threat match for the NXT North American Championship

I popped for that trip down nostalgia lane for The Mountie's theme before this transitioned into a performance by the Toronto Raptors' dance crew to see Velveteen Dream down to the ring. We better enjoy these elaborate entrances for him now because we know that they are going to neuter that the second he gets called up. Just look at what they did to Aleister Black's entrance and Finn Balor's. I can count how many times we have seen the Demon on the main roster on one hand.

This match was a lot of fun, but ultimately, it felt like it was missing something before you could regard it as something truly phenomenal. Without a shadow of a doubt, we all know that these three men are amazing individually, but sue me for expecting a little more here. Plus, they really lost me during the finish where they telegraphed that someone was going to screw the other out of the pinfall. That was my biggest knock against this match.

Shayna Baszler (c) defeated Mia Yim by submission Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the weakest match on this card. From her tenure in Impact Wrestling as Knockouts Champion and various bouts in the indies, I know that Mia Yim possesses the ability to be a threat for Shayna's NXT Women's Championship, but she hasn't been built up as such in NXT thus far. This whole story seemed hastily put together and this match suffers as a result as Yim is setup as the one with everything to lose here.

To be fair though, I did enjoy the psychology of this match with Yim systematically wearing down Shayna's arms so she couldn't use the Clutch, but Shayna's technical savvy and experience led her to improvise by using her legs to secure the win regardless.

After another successful defense for the Queen of Spades, I pose this question - who is left for Shayna to beat or beat her? She's gone through just about every big name that they have on that roster and then some. They have to be ready to call her up to the main roster at this point. She can remain undefeated too if they want to sweeten the deal.

Adam Cole (c) defeated Johnny Gargano 2–1 Two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Championship

I feel like a broken record when I bring up my issue with these Johnny Gargano main events on these TakeOver specials. He does FAR too much in his matches. In this case, he and Cole took the cake and then some in that regard. We already seen Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano do a Best of Three Falls match in the past and they are just recycling the same concept with different stipulations for each fall. I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking in the first fall when they blew through most of their big moves and near-falls right off the bat and turned the match into a bunch of nothing until Gargano got himself disqualified like a moron. That played into the next fall being into his favor with it being a Street Fight, but it just came off stupid to me since they kept doing more and more spots and not trying to get any pinfalls off of it. When a babyface gets himself/herself disqualified in multi-fall matches like this, it's to quickly get the next fall and even things up. Nope, that wasn't in the playbook at all here. The match quickly spiraled into doing shit just to do it until FINALLY Gargano got the fall to tie things up.

When I saw the barbwire steel cage, I honestly busted out laughing as they had it decorated like the last round/finale of Impact Wrestling's Lethal Lockdown Match, save for the Hell in a Cell style roof on the top. (Laughs) NXT ran out of early 2000s (and some current) Ring of Honor stuff to rip off and now they are moving onto Impact Wrestling's catalog. Can't say that I blame 'em at this point. Just when you thought this match was going to probably end soon, it didn't. This dragged on for what felt like an eternity as Cole and Gargano scaled the cage walls gingerly to each bring down each of the marquee weapons hanging up on display on the side of the cage walls until Gargano thought it was a wise idea to cut off a piece of barbwire (using the wire cutters that were in a bag that I'm sure the crowd was fooled into thinking had thumbtacks, broken glass, or something vile to use within). For some reason, this scared Cole up onto the platform setup on top of the cage with Gargano in pursuit. The two then shoved each other off the top and through the two tables that were setup below. Unfortunately, they only hit one of the tables (barely at that...) and Cole was the one fortunate enough to roll over onto Gargano to get the pin and retain the title.

(Laughs) I guess Johnny Failure came out to play after all.

I'm sorry, but this whole match from start to finish gets a huge "Meh" from me. After all of that and it ends with essentially a draw to (hopefully) close out this feud? In the post-match video that WWE shared on social media, Regal was raising Gargano's arm and the crowd was cheering as if this is the last time that we would see him on the black and yellow brand. If this match was his swansong, then whatever I guess, but he's got more than enough "good" to "great" performances to hold his head high about on his resume as he heads up to the main roster.

NXT TakeOver: New York (April 5, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

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.

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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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

The Sky Pirates are truly something else on this roster.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Sky Pirates teaming up throughout this match only to for them to be heartbroken as they had to face off against each other towards the end. Kairi Sane looked like she was genuinely heartbroken to have to fight against her best friend. Io Shirai gave Kairi her best too and I really hope they follow up with this down the road. A TakeOver match featuring them going against each other one on one is pure money. It doesn't even have to be for the NXT Women's Championship either.

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

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.

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.

Afterthoughts

I'm writing this review/write-up of sorts AFTER watching everything from WrestleMania weekend, namely Impact Wrestling's United We Stand, Ring of Honor/New Japan's G1 Supercard, and WrestleMania 35, and I have to say that this was the best show from top to bottom without a doubt. Consistency across the board in terms of match quality and nothing that I can say that I flat out didn't enjoy. I'll never understand how people can go and call every TakeOver event the best one ever when all of these shows are consistently good. That's all I can say really. NXT continues to be the brand that sets the bar in terms of quality for WWE's eventful weekends like this of professional wrestling and it's always a tough act to follow.

NXT TakeOver: War Games II -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event that took place on November 17, 2018 in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The event was produced by WWE for the NXT brand that is streamed live on the WWE Network.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. In the penultimate match, Tommaso Ciampa defeated Velveteen Dream to retain the NXT Championship and Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano.

Note: Much like my Survivor Series 2018 write-up, I'm not covering this show in order that the matches played out.

WarGames Match
NXT Champion Ricochet, WWE U.K. Champion Pete Dunne & The War Raiders def. The Undisputed ERA

I don't remember much of the old WCW WarGames matches and I kick myself every year for not revisiting them with adult eyes, but I never was too crazy about this match type when TNA/Impact Wrestling did their own spin on it with their Lethal Lockdown annual matches in this format. Boy, did NXT make me a fan of this match type over the past two years though. Honorable mention goes to MLW doing a stellar WarGames match earlier this year too by the way.

Amazing - that's the best way to describe this match during it's final quarter. I hate the first part of these matches like this because you know nothing good is going to happen until all 4 members of each opposing team are in the match and the cliched gimmick to this match is that the heels always have the advantage until that point - not to mention that Pete Dunne was dealing with a real life injury but you couldn't tell that from too much as he was protected for the bulk of this affair. Despite all of that going on, everyone involved managed to keep things interesting.

This was the coming out party for the War Raiders. This was giving me flashbacks to their feuds with Fish and O'Reilly as reDRagon during their War Machine days in Ring of Honor. For a big guy, I find myself always surprised at how mobile and agile that Hanson is. If he wasn't above 205 lbs., I'm sure WWE would have found a way to push a guy like him with the cruiserweight title.

NXT Championship Match
Tommaso Ciampa (c) def. Velveteen Dream to retain the title

I felt sorry that these two had to follow Black and Gargano on this card, but to my surprise, this match delivered big time as well. They had me fooled, just like everyone else, with the near fall after the Macho Man Elbow Drop. I thought they were going to have Ciampa drop the title to Dream there for sure. Then they did the "injury" finish and that moment of excitement went completely out of the window. I guess they really are keeping the NXT title on Ciampa until WrestleMania weekend. I honestly don't see anyone dethroning NXT's top heel anytime soon, especially while Gargano is doing this "crazy" gimmick for a while. He should look at what Eddie Edwards did in Impact over the past year and take notes of the mistakes of running that angle too long - people are going to stop caring and start tuning out. I'm anxious to see where they go with Velveteen Dream from here because it's not like a loss here is going to hurt his stock value. The fans still dig him and I'm sure Triple H and the rest of his NXT staff are fully behind the guy. I'm hoping a North American Championship run/title shot in the cards soon. His first encounter with Ricochet may have been in a loss but it wouldn't hurt to have his rematch result in a win. If I were to suggest a match, how about a triple threat between him, Adam Cole, and Ricochet with the gold on the line if you don't want to keep Dream in the NXT title conversation.

Aleister Black def. Johnny Gargano

Black and Gargano put on a masterclass showcase here as they showed off how to make your strikes look as vicious and stiff as possible without legit injuring your opponent. I hope Nia Jax took notes. Great storytelling here from start to finish and I thought the right man won here. Black was robbed of his opportunity to regain the title that he lost mistakenly to Tommaso Ciampa, thanks to Gargano's obsession, and he got his payback here.

As it currently stands on NXT programming, they are set to have a rematch at the next TakeOver special during Royal Rumble weekend, but I honestly don't see a point. Black beat the piss out of Gargano here. Doing a rematch in a steel cage isn't going to make me to expect any other different result. I'll give Gargano credit where it's due though - every match that he's had at TakeOver events for 2018 have been nothing short of amazing from bell to bell. The only downside is that as great as those matches are, he never wins when it matters. He keeps this up and people really are going to be calling him Johnny Failure. The one I think back to fondly is the one against Ciampa where he came out decked out in the Captain America Avengers: Infinity War gear and flat out lost. I just found that to be comical given to the events of that film.

NXT Women’s Championship 2-out-of-3 Falls Match
Shayna Baszler (c) def. Kairi Sane to retain the title

While I enjoyed this match, my biggest issue with it was the feeling like they were rushing for time. The first two falls went by extremely too fast for my taste, but they made up for it on the third. I marked the hell out watching this live when Io Shirai showed up to make the save and honestly rolled my eyes into the back of my head at Dakota Kai coming out to even the odds against Marina Safir and Jessamyn Duke helping out Shayna. I get why they put Kai in there as payback for all of her months of getting bullied and jobbed out to get Shayna over as a heel, but I felt that they could've added Mia Yim for that last bang that this faction needed.Then again, Dakota Kai needs something to sink her teeth into too and it wouldn't hurt to have her into a high profile program like this to erase the stigma of her being merely enhancement talent and finally ascend to a prominent role on the NXT brand instead of just being filler air time on both the NXT TV tapings and even the recent NXT UK episodes that aired to boot.

As for Shayna's title reign, I don't see anyone beating her for that title before WrestleMania weekend, unless they really plan on fast tracking a suitable challenger for the title by then. I read the spoilers and I'm already aware that Bianca Belair is going to challenger her next at the next TakeOver special, so that should be interesting there. Much like the Velveteen Dream, Belair is really talented, but I personally feel like she's missing something before moving up as NXT's face of that division. I just can't put my finger on what it is.

Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno

This was an impromptu match to kick off the show following a promo from Riddle calling out Ohno. As soon as the bell rung, Ohno did the job here, getting KO'd literally for Riddle to pick up the win. To say that Ohno's current gimmick is him being upset that he's welcoming mat for the newest NXT signees, he sure didn't do anything here to argue that point. Great way to introduce Riddle, but did absolutely nothing for Ohno here. So much for his moniker as a "Knockout Artist" when he's the one who got knocked out (laughs).