NXT returned with its latest special last night with TakeOver: Portland, emanating from the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. You can find the results at the live blog here.
Is Turnabout Fair Play?
The main event of Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa was what you’d expect from a big TakeOver main event title match.
They like to kick out of finishers a bit too often. Certain moves, such as superkicks, just aren’t getting sold for long, if at all. It’s something not everyone is going to enjoy, and even I would prefer a bit less of the “epic” vibe every time. Save those bits for the really big matches, not every TakeOver main event.
But despite those issues, they also are usually very entertaining and tell a good story.
And the story of the match itself, not the match-ending angle which we’ll get to very soon, was Tommaso Ciampa’s neck injury and his obsession for gold. Early on in the match, Psycho Killer was laser focused on winning Goldie back. But then the champ back dropped Ciampa on the announce table, with the edge of the table landing just below Tommaso’s surgically repaired neck.
That’s when it came down to Tommaso’s obsession to win versus his own health.
And he chose Goldie. Because Cole could not put his opponent away. It took a betrayal to allow Adam to retain his gold.
When the champ’s position was looking too precarious, the Undisputed ERA interfered, trying to take advantage of their numbers. They weren’t successful at first. In fact, it was Johnny Gargano who turned the tide.
With the referee down after all the Undisputed chaos, Daddy Ciampa was in prime position to use the championship as a weapon (something Cole already tried) to win the match. That’s when Johnny Gargano ran out and grabbed the title. First it looked like he didn’t want his friend to win that way, but then he smashed the title over Tommaso’s head allowing Cole to retain.
I can understand the reaction that it’s too soon to go to this well. We’re not that far removed from a long series of matches between these men. But at the same time, it works to run it right now.
Gargano and Ciampa never finished their feud. It abruptly ended almost a year ago due to Ciampa’s required neck surgery. We should get an ending.
Revisiting it but this time with the roles reversed could be very interesting. There’s going to be a shade of gray they can explore. Yes, Gargano is the villain here. But isn’t he also justified? Because he never got that revenge against Tommaso Ciampa, who tormented Johnny for over a year. Maybe Tommaso has this coming. Or maybe you can say he paid the price when he missed all the time for neck surgery. Those are the layers they can delve into that could justify running this feud again so soon.
The other thing I appreciate is how this played into the earlier match with Finn Bálor.
The match itself was fine. It was by no means bad. In fact it was good, but nothing about it will stick with me beyond tonight. In fact, I don’t have much to say about it so I’ll just touch upon it here.
Finn Bálor walked away victorious, which was the right move. There’s more to be gained from a Prince victory. And if the play is heel Gargano vs. face Ciampa, the loss doesn’t matter.
In fact, it helps sell the turn. Because the match between Finn and Johnny was about being the soul of NXT. That’s something Gargano prided himself on. He liked being the guy who carried the promotion on his back after Finn left for the main roster. Then Bálor came back and defeated Johnny, taking that spot right back.
Given how much that role meant to him, it explains his actions at the close of the show.
So overall, a fun main event, though I wish NXT would save some of their finisher kickouts and no-selling for more special occasions.
The Epic Rubber Match
There’s something special about these Keith Lee/Dominik Dijakovic matches. In the WWE landscape, there’s nothing like them. There are plenty of big guys. There are plenty of athletic guys. There aren’t many guys who have both to this degree though. And we just so happen to have two of them right here who have incredible chemistry together.
These two brought it for their finale, with some amazing demonstrations of both power and agility (for me, the moment of the match was Dijakovic’s springboard into a 450 cannonball onto Keith Lee, who was seated outside the ring).
Dominik looked superb here, and it’s possible he looked even better than the always impressive Keith Lee. That’s important. There was no doubt the Limitless One was retain his championship. Making sure Dijakovic impressed was vital.
They had a strong moment post match that was better than a handshake to show respect. After sharing a hug, Dijakovic was too worn out to climb the turnbuckle after Keith suggested he take a moment. So Lee lifted him up so the crowd could show Dominik his due respect. It was a touching moment to conclude an epic rivalry.
Street Fight
Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai got their deserved TakeOver street fight. And they brought it.
From the early onset, they weren’t holding back, selling the personal issues between the two. It was the perfect match to follow the North American title match as it was completely different. That was two big guys who respected each other doing wild maneuvers. This was two gals who hate each other trying to hurt the other. It was different enough that it didn’t have to try to match the opener. They just had to do their own thing.
Both women brought the pain. If anything, maybe Tegan took things a bit too far a couple times. Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix can argue that Dakota brought all of this on herself all they want. But it’s jarring to see the hero put a chair around her foe’s neck and plan to jump on it. That’s hitting a bridge too far territory. That’s the type of moments reserved for vicious heels. Not righteous babyfaces.
That move never happened. They debuted Raquel González as Dakota’s heavy. She pushed Tegan through a table from the top rope. The table didn’t break, which led to a scarier moment than if Nox had been tossed a bit farther. It was the way to go, but didn’t play as well as it should have. The crowd didn’t know her (maybe she should have worked a couple squash matches on TV first) and the failed table spot dampened what was overall the right finish.
Because Dakota had to get the win here. She couldn’t take two Ls to Nox in a row. Changing things up to add a bodyguard will help her heel run. Due to questionable booking after WarGames, her run as a villain was weakened. Mixing the formula can help fix that.
Challenge Accepted
Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley, to borrow a phrase from the EST, showed up and showed out.
My expectations for this match weren’t super high. Both women are great characters, but neither have been doing this for that long. So an “OK level” match wouldn’t have surprised me. Luckily, it was much better.
This was probably one of the best matches for both women that I recall. They used those huge personalities and the strength of both women to put together a really fun match. It was more of a hard hitting brawl than the more technical match of Bálor/Gargano that proceeded it. But that’s what works best for these two ladies.
Ripley survived. Belair continued to look like a star. And then we got our answer from Charlotte.
The Royal Rumble winner attacked the champ from behind before officially accepting her challenge. On the way out, she attacked Belair, who was still recovering from the match outside the ring. Hopefully this means that if the Mania match isn’t a triple threat that they run Charlotte vs. Bianca prior to Tampa.
Personally, I think I’d probably prefer seeing both as singles matches than as a triple threat.
New champs, Bro
Once again, an NXT tag team match delivers. At this point, it’s really assumed it’ll go that way.
What was different this time was Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish actually losing the titles. But it was the right move.
The BroserWeights are insanely entertaining, and that just can’t be denied. Even if the plan was to break these two up and feud them, they had hold off to get more mileage out of them as a team. If something works, go with it. And the odd couple pairing of Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne absolutely works.
The match did many things well, but the most impressive may have been engineering a convincing false finish toward the end. Riddle and Dunne made a series of mistakes, accidentally hurting each other. Playing into the possibility of them turning on each other, it was very easy to believe that the BroserWeights ride ended then and there.
But Dunne kicked out of Chasing the Dragon, allowing him and Riddle to get back on the same page for the victory.
This is another piece of the ERA’s prophecy broken, signaling their time may be nigh (though until Cole loses the title, Undisputed still holds the power). And now we’ll get more entertaining antics from the BroserWeights.
TakeOvers are always enjoyable. It’s been awhile since there was a bad one (if there ever was a true bad one). So the question is where do the good ones like tonight stack up with all the other good ones?
They did a lot of great things. The North American title match was fantastic. As was the bulk of the street fight. NXT tag team matches are always fun. And overall I liked the swerve at the end of the main event, leading us to a new chapter of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa’s relationship but with the roles reversed.
It wasn’t perfect though. As I mentioned, I think the NXT main events are getting too predictable in their style. Gargano and Bálor was a bit forgettable (despite still being good) after such a strong build. And the end of the Street Fight wasn’t executed well.
Still, it was a fun show.
Grade: B+
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