Aleister Black retained his NXT Championship, on a night at Allstate Arena where no titles changed hands. His match with Lars Sullivan at TakeOver: Chicago 2 was actually a little better than I personally expected, even if it will probably end up being the least impressive of the night (IMHO).
It certainly wasn’t helped by this spot, where Sullivan sold the champ’s Black Mass finisher despite the fact Aleister clearly missed...
Not The Best Black Mass.... #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/vgRFbdXKTR
— Brian The Guppie (@briantheguppie) June 17, 2018
And in case you don’t get the point, here it is getting the Curb Your Enthusiasm treatment:
#NXTTakeOver had to do it! pic.twitter.com/so8XAiNd44
— TheWokenClub (@thefosterclub) June 17, 2018
It wasn’t helped by Vic Joseph (replacing Mauro Ranallo as lead announcer for the night) calling it as if it landed clean. Nigel McGuinness guided commentary back onto the track, and Sullivan and Black rebounded for a good finish which included a nice visual of a bloody-mouthed Lars taking a second straight Black Mass. But, yeah...
Your reminder NXT is still developmental for many of the men and women working the brand.
Get all the results from June 16 in Rosemont, Illinois in our live blog here.