NXT Takeover comes to Chicago as part of MitB weekend.
Will the gang from NXT once again outshine their main roster counterparts? Let’s find out!
Preshow
The preshow kicks off with hosts Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts and Pat Mcafee doing the usual hype for tonight’s card. Around the midpoint of the hype show EC3 joins the panel to discuss the Ricochet vs Velveteen Dream match and its implications regarding future title challengers. When they shift to the topic of the Tag Title match, Mcafee begins criticizing how Undisputed Era came to hold those titles. This brings out NXT North American Champion Adam Cole (Bay Bay!) to defend his Era brothers and inform us that their title defense will be up first on tonight’s card.
Roll the package and start the show!
Tonight’s announce team is Percy Watson, Nigel McGuiness and Vic Joseph (Mauro Ranallo is “on assignment” aka covering boxing for Showtime tonight)
NXT Tag Title Match: Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong© accompanied by Adam Cole (bay bay!) vs Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch
I’m surprised to see UK Champ Pete Dunne not accompanying his allies Lorcan and Burch, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be out later in the match to help balance the numbers. O’Reilly and Burch start with some beautifully smooth work against one another. Lorcan tags in and helps his partner establish some dominance over the champs who are forced to regroup on the outside momentarily. Burch and Lorcan maintain control until a bit of double teaming finally allows Strong to takeover and isolate Burch in the Era’s corner.
Undisputed maintains control via tandem offense and isolation with O’Reilly eventually trying to get and armbar on Danny Burch, but Burch gets his foot to the ropes for the break. Both men eventually get the hot tag to their partners and Oney Lorcan is on fire! An impressive series of offensive maneuvers gets Lorcan a 2 count on Strong. Tandem finishing move by the challengers almost gets the win but O’reilly breaks up the pin. All 4 men are so quick it’s difficult to keep up.
Burch breaks up another o’Reilly armbar attempt by grabbing the bottom rope. Undisputed now trying to double team Burch but he head butts his way out of it. Lorcan hits a blockbuster on the floor against both champs and the challengers follow up with another double team finisher. This time Cole interferes to break up the pin and gets thrown out by the ref.
Lorcan has Strong in a submission and when O’Reilly tries to break it up he gets put into a submission of his own by Burch. It looks like we might have new champs until Kyle finds a way to kick Lorcan and break things up. All 4 men now trading blows in the center of the ring. Finally, the champs are able to hit a double team move on Lorcan and score the victory.
Winners and still Tag Champs: Undisputed Era
Fantastic match to kick off the show with the hard hitting tandem of Burch and Lorcan looking like winners even in defeat.
Lars Sullivan is shown warming up back stage while Kairi Sane is shown watching the show ringside.
Ricochet vs Velveteen Dream
Two of the most popular rising stars in the company are going to attempt to steal the show with an “anything you can do I can do better” mentality. Dream seems to be forgoing his usual purple for a Hulkamania inspired orange and yellow look tonight, including Hogan inspired poses as he struts around the ring. The “one and only” Ricochet is out next with a new wing themed cape.
The match starts with a stare down and an acknowledgment of the hot crowd cheering for them both. We start with some basic technical work to build anticipation before the pace picks up. Next a bit of flipping back and forth against the ropes and over each other leads to another reset. Ricochet tries to take flight, but Dream causes him to drop onto the ropes.
Velveteen now has his opponent back in the ring and is stomping away. A neckbreaker gets Dream a two count. Dream flies over the top rope onto Ricochet and scores another near fall. Ricochet finally starts showing signs of life again leading up to 2 back to back suicide dives for control of the match. A jumping neckbreaker following by a standing shooting star press leads to a 2.5 count for Ricochet. He climbs up but gets dropped onto the ropes by Dream who then hits a Death Valley bomb from the middle rope. Both men now struggling to get back to their feet.
A struggle in the corner leads to Dream suplexing Ricochet from the apron to the floor. Both men are nearly counted out but make it back into the ring at the count of 9. They use each other to climb to their feet where velveteen hits another Death Valley bomb for a 2 count. Stumbling and trading fists now until Dream tries for a DDT gets countered into a northern lights suplex.
Velveteen Dream now smack talking Ricochet and telling him he “belongs in a bingo hall.” Ricochet responds with a Death Valley bomb of his own followed by imitating Dreams Purple Rain Maker elbow from the top rope but only gets a near fall. Ricochet climbs the ropes again to go for his shooting star press, Dream moves but Ricochet travels 2/3 of the ring only to land on dreams knees. Dream goes for a Purple Rain Maker of his own and misses which allows Ricochet to hit a 630 from the top and score victory.
Winner: Ricochet
Solid match. Not the show stealer I expected from these 2 men, but they both come away looking strong and might have been saving something for a possible rematch.
Tommaso Ciampa is shown brooding out back as we’re reminded that it’s been a full year since he turned on his former partner, but up next is the Womens Title Match.
NXT Womens Title Match: Shayna Baszler© vs Nikki Cross
Baszler assumes a fighting stance, but Cross just stands unintimidated and says, “do it!” Nikki continues playing mind games until hopping on Shayna’s back in attack mode. The champ transitions into her own choke which Cross breaks by backing into the corner. They trade a similar series of holds on the outside until Baszler establishes control. Back in the ring Baszler is clearly showing frustration with the unhinged Cross. She hits a series of aggressive knee strikes on her challenger but Cross responds by smiling and screaming.
Nikki Cross has taken control now with a series of wild attacks leading to a splash from the top rope and then a reverse DDT on the apron. It’s only good enough for a 2 count though. After another near fall, Shayna now has her Kirifuda Clutch locked in center of the ring. The challenger refuses to tap but eventually passes out.
Winner and still NXT Womens Champion: Shayna Baszler
A relatively short but aggressive match between 2 very tough women.
EC3 and new signee Keith Lee are both shown in the crowd ahead of the NXT Title match.
NXT Title Match: Aleister Black© vs Lars Sullivan
The announcers are making the champ out to be the underdog in this match, but Black seems unintimidated by his larger opponent. A series of strikes by the champ lead up to Sullivan catching his first attempt at the Black Mass kick. Sullivan hits some stiff arms on Black, but the champion continues to fight. Now on the outside Lars gets tossed into the ring post but Black tries to capitalize he gets caught by the big man.
The monster Sullivan is now firmly in control in the middle of the ring and trying to wear down the champ. Aleister manages to fight back to his feet but his punches prove ineffective against Sullivan who maintains control throws in some smack talk ahead of a big slam and a near fall.
The challenger climbs the ropes but gets caught with a kick from Black. The champ tries for a suplex but can’t get the larger man over. Sullivan eventually does reach the top rope and splashes down onto Black only to land on the champ’s knee. Knee strikes, kicks and a flip off the rope earn the champ a 2 count but Lars comes right back. The challenger now has Black’s knee wrapped around his neck but Aleister transitions this submission into a pin attempt. When Sullivan tries for his Freak Accident finisher Black turns it into a DDT. Sullivan power slams the champ onto the ring apron followed by another top rope head butt but it’s only good enough for a near fall. Black succeeds at hitting Black Mass for a 2 count. Sullivan catches the next Black Mass attempt but two more of those patented spinning heel kicks finally get the job done.
Winner and still NXT Champion: Aleister Black
Surprisingly good match between seemingly mismatched opponents. Sullivan held his own better than I expected from the monster, but I look forward to seeing Black move on to some of the other men on the currently stacked NXT roster.
Street Fight: Tommaso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano
Gargano is shown walking to through the back in some awesome Captain America themed gear when his wife Candace runs up, hands him a crutch, and tells him “kick. His. Ass!” Ciampa enters the ring with a crutch of his own and the battle is on.
Ciampa thrown over the announce table onto Nigel and then they battle into the crowd. Tommaso tries unsuccessfully to tear up a fan’s Johnny Wrestling sign. Johnny uses the sign as a weapon before revealing there is actually a metal stop sign inside. Gargano eventually tosses his former partner back into the ringside area and begins pulling weapons from below the ring. Ciampa hits a trio of suplexes on Gargano before taking one himself. A suicide dive brings us back outside the ring and while Johnny searches for more weapons Ciampa take control. He moves the steps from the corner to the side of the ring before wrapping a folding chair around Johnny’s neck and throwing him into the steps. We’re reminded that it wasn’t long ago that Gargano was in a neck brace.
Johnny crawls around the floor in pain as Ciampa gleefully hits him with a trash can. Tommaso maintains control back in the ring, continuing to beat down his former friend. The Sicilian Psychopath grabs hand cuffs from under the ring and tries to lock his opponent in them but Johnny fights back and proceeds to whip Ciampa with his own belt. Gargano places a trash can over Ciampa’s head and hits it with a superkick. He sets the can in the corner but before he can use it Ciampa regains control with a back breaker and trash can lid assisted knee strikes.
Johnny Wrestling is writhing in pain while Ciampa goes back under the ring. He proceeds to cut the canvas free and pull up the padding to reveal the hard, wooden layer of the ring. A limp Gargano is placed atop the corner but somehow manages to counter out of his foes attempt at a power bomb onto the wood. Both men on their knees and trading punches now as they slowly rise. Gargano goes for the can lid but gets hit with a knee. Ciampa goes for a crutch but gets hit with a superkick.
Ciampa charges at his opponent on the outside but ends up hitting his own surgically repaired knee into the steel steps. Back in the ring Gargano is pounding that knee with a chair until his opponent locks in Johnny’s own submission move upon him. He escapes only to take a pounding to the back of the neck with a crutch for a near fall.
Ciampa now stalking his prey on the outside of the ring and taking him to the stage area. Ciampa throws his opponent into the LED wall and then hits a hard knee strike with his braced knee. Tommaso now drags Johnny atop some equipment boxes, steals his wedding ring and tosses it away. This gives Gargano the opportunity to take charge and take them both through the tables below. Johnny now back atop the equipment boxes, watching as his nemesis gets loaded onto a stretcher. Gargano, fired up now by his empty ring finger, drags his stretchered foe back to the ring, removes the neck brace and locks in a Gargano Escape. Ciampa is tapping but there’s no ref to call the match. Johnny dismisses officials, puts the hand cuffs on Tommaso and then hits him with multiple superkicks before going back the Escape.
Officials drag Gargano away, but he fights away from them and returns to his opponent. Ciampa DDTs Johnny on the exposed wood of the ring and this time there’s a ref to count the pin.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
Fantastic match that even managed to surprise me with some spots I don’t think I’ve seen before. Gargano had multiple unofficial victories not seen by refs prior to Ciampa’s victory that was counted officially. Clearly, we’re going to get a rubber match for Summerslam weekend.
