WWE held NXT TAKEOVER: New York from a sold our Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event featured five unique matches, and history was made after the the longest WWE Championship reign since 1988 ended when Pete Dunn lost his WWE United Kingdom Championship. The night ended with what can be considered as one of the all-time greatest main events for the vacant NXT title.
1. NXT Tag Team Championship: War Raiders(C) defeated Aleister Black & Ricochet to retain the championships
The crowd was hot for both teams and the first half of this match was a solidly wrestled tag match. The crowd’s energy added to this match. The last half of this match was all action. Both teams traded flips which included Ricochet doing a corkscrew flip to the outside and Hanson doing a flip senton onto all the guys. Inside the ring Rowe and Black traded stiff shots, it ended with a perfectly hit Black Mass by Black which led to Ricochet hitting a shooting star press for a near fall. The end came when the War Raiders hit Fallout on Ricochet for the win to retain their titles.
Post match saw War Raiders bow down to Ricochet and Black. The fans gave both guys a standing ovation and a visibly emotional Ricochet said goodbye to NXT.
2. NXT North American Championship: The Velveteen Dream(C) defeated Matt Riddle to retain the championship
The Velveteen Dream had a majestic entrance very similar to Randy Savage’s at Wrestlemania 7. The crowd again loved both guys with Dream being the slightly more popular. As far as match went this match was mostly dominated by Matt Riddle. As the match went on the more punishment Dream took the more fans got behind him. They traded several near falls with most of Dream’s near falls coming from a counter to an offensive maneuver by Riddle. The finish saw Riddle having Dream locked in a choke but Dream countered it by rolling back and pinning Riddle’s shoulders to the mat. The crowd loved the finish and the match showcased both guy’s strong points.
3. WALTER defeated Pete Dunne(C) to become the WWE United Kingdom Championship
Walter ended Pete Dunne’s historic 685 day reign as WWE UK Champion. This match was what you would expect from a Walter vs Pete Dunne match. There was lots of stiff chops, stomping, forearm strikes, and finger breaking in this match. This was a slower paced match than the first two and had a unique dynamic with Dunne playing the plucky underdog against the gigantic Walter. The finish saw Walter hit a big top rope splash to end Dunne’s historic reign.
4. NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler(C) defeated Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Kairi Sane to retain the championship
This was a fantastic match with all the woman shining and showcasing their strength. Belair has improved leaps and bounds over the course of the year and this match showcased a lot of it. Most of the match had Io and Kairi working as a team which made you excited to see them as an actual tag-team. Shayna has an aura about her that just screams badass. Everything she does in the ring looks authentic and really makes anyone taking it a sympathetic figure. The finish of the match was Shayna choking out Bianca after a long struggle.
5. Johnny Gargano defeated Adam Cole to win the NXT Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match
This was an absolute all time classic match. It had all the drama you would expect. The wrestling was top notch and story telling was amazing. The match started off a bit slow it looked they were pacing themselves for a very long match but towards the end of the first fall it went full throttle and never let up. The first fall went to Adam Cole. The 2nd fall went to Gargano who made Cole tap to the GargaNo Escape. This was such great storytelling instead of Cole struggling to escape the submission he tapped out right away since he had the one fall advantage so he could afford to tap and also save himself from punishment. The last fall had everything a classic match has, tons of near falls that had the crowd out of their seats. They had a spot where Gargano was nearly counted out but he got back in the ring right before the ten count. Then the crowd was going absolute nuts and was ready to riot when The Undisputed Era came out to help Cole out. This led to several near falls but Gargano kicked out each time and gained him sympathy. Finally Gargano was able to fight off the Undisputed Era and lock in the GargaNo Escape to make Cole tap a second time and become the new NXT Champion. At the beginning of the match the crowd was solidly behind Adam Cole and wanted him to win but as the match went on the crowd slowly but surely wanted Johnny to become champion.
Post match Candace LeRae comes out ecstatic to celebrate with Johnny. As they’re heading up the ram Tomasso Ciampa comes out and embraces Johnny and Candace officially putting an end to their feud. This was a great moment and a fitting end to the Gargano and Ciampa story.
Instinct Culture 