With the loss of Tommaso Ciampa due to injury, the biggest title in NXT is up for grabs. Plans have been scrapped; another dream match has been put on indefinite hold. What can NXT do to make for a big main event at TakeOver New York? Who can possibly save us?
Well, when NXT is in trouble, you call Triple H. If there's a family tree in NXT, Dusty Rhodes would be the grandpappy, but Triple H is definitely the father. So he came out with Ciampa's title in hand, and talked about how NXT is really something special (believe us, Hunter, we know), and this is the place where dreams become possibilities. For some, the dreams take a little longer as they scratch and claw their way into becoming something more. And for some, reality interrupts the dream and the reality is that the dream can end. He came there to announce that the main event at TakeOver New York was going to be Johnny Gargano vs Ciampa for the NXT title, but since Blackheart is out after having undergone successful neck surgery, that dream match is on hold. Although, when one dream ends, another one begins. So he's come to announce that that new beginning will take place in the form of a match on tonight's broadcast for the #1 Contender spot, and that will be between former NXT Champion Aleister Black, Former NXT North American Champions Ricochet and Adam Cole, current North American Champion Velveteen Dream, and the undefeated Matt Riddle in a Fatal 5-Way. A couple things: first of all, fuck yes to this match. Secondly, I'm really glad they didn't turn Ciampa's injury into some kind of angle. That was fine with Aleister last year because it allowed for new stories to be told, and he wasn't going to be out very long. With Ciampa, the road to recovery will be a long and arduous one, and it's really not to be taken lightly. So kudos for not turning this into "someone caused this injury", because that would make Ciampa the babyface and that would be the wrong decision at this time, particularly after the events of last week when Johnny finally got one over on Ciampa.
So it's going to be lots of interviews and video packages in this somewhat abbreviated episode. First up, we have Dasha with Kona Reeves, who I had honestly completely forgotten about, and when asked about tonight's match, he says it'll be okay, but it's not going to be the finest. Then Forgotten Sons come bursting out of the door and she asks their opinions on the match. They say that they've been forgotten again by everyone because they should be asked about their upcoming match against Ricochet and Aleister for the Dusty Cup. This is really the best opportunity that Blake, Cutler and Ryker have been given so far to show any kind of discernible character, and it's another whole lotta nothing. They're bikers. They wrestle. They're mean. And that's not enough to make it in the big leagues. While I'm not 100% certain (mostly because I really try not to read ahead in regards to NXT spoilers), I can say pretty confidently that they're winning the Dusty Cup because last I checked, Street Profits were tag champs in EVOLVE, Moustache Mountain are primarily in NXT UK, #DIY was bound to break up, and Ricochet and Aleister are not tag champs and should only be singles competitors, even if they're the ones I would most like to see take on War Raiders from purely a work-rate perspective, and frankly, I'm just not sold on Forgotten Sons at all.
Then there's a series of video packages/promos from all the competitors in tonight's match; Ricochet knows that he's buddies with Aleister, but they're both going to bring their best in the upcoming match, putting friendship aside. Velveteen says that he's looking forward to being NXT's first dual champion. Riddle is "stoked" to be in the match because he's finally getting an opportunity at a title, and that he's worked his "ace" off to get it. Cole says that it's ironic that, since he made his first appearance in NXT in the Barclays center two years ago, he'll become the NXT champion there.
In the middle of all this, there's a video package of Tommaso, his wife and his adorable baby at the medical center in Birmingham, with some doctors talking about his surgery and his prognosis and how he's undergone three surgeries in a relatively short span of time, regarding his knee and his shoulders and now his neck. And you do have to wonder what kind of hell Ciampa has been putting his body through and how long he's been working hurt. It shows both next-level commitment and something akin to insanity to work hurt like that. I'll tell you, though; when he comes back, it's going to get insane.
Then Dasha talks to Io Shirai and Kairi Sane in the middle of a photo shoot about the match tonight, and they're looking forward to finding out who's going to go to TakeOver. Then Dasha asks if they're be able to put aside their friendship in order to compete in the upcoming Fatal 4-Way at TakeOver for the NXT Women's title, and they say that it won't hurt their friendship (Aww! They're so damn cute!!) but that they both want the title. Then Bianca Belair comes up and gets in their faces to tell them that they shouldn't have gotten involved in her business and that since the match is now a 4-Way, she'll go through both the Sky Pirates in order to get at Shayna, and then walks away. Io wants to pursue, but Kairi begs her off. We'll get more into this match in the coming weeks, but Bianca has taken more of a lateral move in regards to her character. You can tell she's trying to work this whole "I was robbed" angle, and it's causing her to act like a brat instead of a potential champ. It's not the greatest look, but at least she's trying to make it work.
Now we finally get to the match, and I know that you might be thinking, "What happened to Dijakovic vs Lee?" Well, plans have to change every so often, and it's unlikely we'll see anything other than them brawling and not in an actual match until TakeOver.
Anyway, this match. This. Match. Remember everything you loved about Halftime Heat? Well, this gets pretty goddamn close to that. As I was watching the match, I kept thinking, "how are they going to top this?", and then they kept topping it. There were really three stories being told: one was the story of how Matt Riddle is eventually going to face Velveteen for the North American title at TakeOver, because those two had a lot of back-and-forth going on. The next story was will Ricochet and Aleister actually take each other on? The answer to that question was no, because once they got into a stare-down, they shook hands and were circling each other until Cole pushed Ricochet into Aleister to break that up. The third story was the redemption of Adam Cole (BAY BAY!). For a while now, we've seen Cole eat a lot of pins, and he always seems to keep coming up short unless he has his Undisputed Era flunkies in his corner. But this ended with a series that seems like it was worked on for weeks, but really just boils down to excellent in-ring chemistry. First, Riddle had Dream in The Bro-mission, but Cole pulled the ref out, got a punch from Riddle, Black hit Black Mass on Riddle, Black got hit with the Dream Valley Driver, went up top presumably for Purple Rainmaker, but Ricochet intercepted and hit a reverse 'rana to send him into Cole and Black on the outside, and hit a shooting star press on Riddle from halfway across the ring, and had him pinned, but Cole came in and hit Ric with Last Ride and pinned him for the win. So yeah, it's going to be Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Championship at TakeOver New York! This makes me very happy because A: it means that Johnny will be facing the 2nd best heel in the Men's division; B: that we're still looking at Riddle vs Dream for the North American title and C: Cole pulled off a massive victory. I don't know what this means, if anything, for Black and Ricochet, because I'm still betting they're going to be facing The Revival for the Raw Tag titles at Mania, so they won't need to be at TakeOver. Any way you cut it, this is the best outcome we could have hoped for regarding Johnny's match without facing Ciampa.
And Mauro called Aleister "Sir Kicks-A-Lot" during the match and I laughed my bollocks off.
I'm still extremely bummed about the lack of Ciampa vs Gargano for the title, and this card doesn't seem nearly as stacked as what we got last year at TakeOver New Orleans since we're looking at a pretty ordinary tag team facing War Raiders, and a potentially very messy Women's title match, but hey, I've been wrong before when it comes to a less-than-100% enthusiastic prediction for a TakeOver.
So that's it for this week... or is it? I might have a surprise coming your way this weekend in regards to Wrestlemania, so you might keep an eye out here or on my Twitter for that! Either way, you're certainly going to get my recaps next week of both Raw and Smackdown as well as NXT!
Until next time, kids...
Well, when NXT is in trouble, you call Triple H. If there's a family tree in NXT, Dusty Rhodes would be the grandpappy, but Triple H is definitely the father. So he came out with Ciampa's title in hand, and talked about how NXT is really something special (believe us, Hunter, we know), and this is the place where dreams become possibilities. For some, the dreams take a little longer as they scratch and claw their way into becoming something more. And for some, reality interrupts the dream and the reality is that the dream can end. He came there to announce that the main event at TakeOver New York was going to be Johnny Gargano vs Ciampa for the NXT title, but since Blackheart is out after having undergone successful neck surgery, that dream match is on hold. Although, when one dream ends, another one begins. So he's come to announce that that new beginning will take place in the form of a match on tonight's broadcast for the #1 Contender spot, and that will be between former NXT Champion Aleister Black, Former NXT North American Champions Ricochet and Adam Cole, current North American Champion Velveteen Dream, and the undefeated Matt Riddle in a Fatal 5-Way. A couple things: first of all, fuck yes to this match. Secondly, I'm really glad they didn't turn Ciampa's injury into some kind of angle. That was fine with Aleister last year because it allowed for new stories to be told, and he wasn't going to be out very long. With Ciampa, the road to recovery will be a long and arduous one, and it's really not to be taken lightly. So kudos for not turning this into "someone caused this injury", because that would make Ciampa the babyface and that would be the wrong decision at this time, particularly after the events of last week when Johnny finally got one over on Ciampa.
So it's going to be lots of interviews and video packages in this somewhat abbreviated episode. First up, we have Dasha with Kona Reeves, who I had honestly completely forgotten about, and when asked about tonight's match, he says it'll be okay, but it's not going to be the finest. Then Forgotten Sons come bursting out of the door and she asks their opinions on the match. They say that they've been forgotten again by everyone because they should be asked about their upcoming match against Ricochet and Aleister for the Dusty Cup. This is really the best opportunity that Blake, Cutler and Ryker have been given so far to show any kind of discernible character, and it's another whole lotta nothing. They're bikers. They wrestle. They're mean. And that's not enough to make it in the big leagues. While I'm not 100% certain (mostly because I really try not to read ahead in regards to NXT spoilers), I can say pretty confidently that they're winning the Dusty Cup because last I checked, Street Profits were tag champs in EVOLVE, Moustache Mountain are primarily in NXT UK, #DIY was bound to break up, and Ricochet and Aleister are not tag champs and should only be singles competitors, even if they're the ones I would most like to see take on War Raiders from purely a work-rate perspective, and frankly, I'm just not sold on Forgotten Sons at all.
Then there's a series of video packages/promos from all the competitors in tonight's match; Ricochet knows that he's buddies with Aleister, but they're both going to bring their best in the upcoming match, putting friendship aside. Velveteen says that he's looking forward to being NXT's first dual champion. Riddle is "stoked" to be in the match because he's finally getting an opportunity at a title, and that he's worked his "ace" off to get it. Cole says that it's ironic that, since he made his first appearance in NXT in the Barclays center two years ago, he'll become the NXT champion there.
In the middle of all this, there's a video package of Tommaso, his wife and his adorable baby at the medical center in Birmingham, with some doctors talking about his surgery and his prognosis and how he's undergone three surgeries in a relatively short span of time, regarding his knee and his shoulders and now his neck. And you do have to wonder what kind of hell Ciampa has been putting his body through and how long he's been working hurt. It shows both next-level commitment and something akin to insanity to work hurt like that. I'll tell you, though; when he comes back, it's going to get insane.
Then Dasha talks to Io Shirai and Kairi Sane in the middle of a photo shoot about the match tonight, and they're looking forward to finding out who's going to go to TakeOver. Then Dasha asks if they're be able to put aside their friendship in order to compete in the upcoming Fatal 4-Way at TakeOver for the NXT Women's title, and they say that it won't hurt their friendship (Aww! They're so damn cute!!) but that they both want the title. Then Bianca Belair comes up and gets in their faces to tell them that they shouldn't have gotten involved in her business and that since the match is now a 4-Way, she'll go through both the Sky Pirates in order to get at Shayna, and then walks away. Io wants to pursue, but Kairi begs her off. We'll get more into this match in the coming weeks, but Bianca has taken more of a lateral move in regards to her character. You can tell she's trying to work this whole "I was robbed" angle, and it's causing her to act like a brat instead of a potential champ. It's not the greatest look, but at least she's trying to make it work.
Now we finally get to the match, and I know that you might be thinking, "What happened to Dijakovic vs Lee?" Well, plans have to change every so often, and it's unlikely we'll see anything other than them brawling and not in an actual match until TakeOver.
Anyway, this match. This. Match. Remember everything you loved about Halftime Heat? Well, this gets pretty goddamn close to that. As I was watching the match, I kept thinking, "how are they going to top this?", and then they kept topping it. There were really three stories being told: one was the story of how Matt Riddle is eventually going to face Velveteen for the North American title at TakeOver, because those two had a lot of back-and-forth going on. The next story was will Ricochet and Aleister actually take each other on? The answer to that question was no, because once they got into a stare-down, they shook hands and were circling each other until Cole pushed Ricochet into Aleister to break that up. The third story was the redemption of Adam Cole (BAY BAY!). For a while now, we've seen Cole eat a lot of pins, and he always seems to keep coming up short unless he has his Undisputed Era flunkies in his corner. But this ended with a series that seems like it was worked on for weeks, but really just boils down to excellent in-ring chemistry. First, Riddle had Dream in The Bro-mission, but Cole pulled the ref out, got a punch from Riddle, Black hit Black Mass on Riddle, Black got hit with the Dream Valley Driver, went up top presumably for Purple Rainmaker, but Ricochet intercepted and hit a reverse 'rana to send him into Cole and Black on the outside, and hit a shooting star press on Riddle from halfway across the ring, and had him pinned, but Cole came in and hit Ric with Last Ride and pinned him for the win. So yeah, it's going to be Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Championship at TakeOver New York! This makes me very happy because A: it means that Johnny will be facing the 2nd best heel in the Men's division; B: that we're still looking at Riddle vs Dream for the North American title and C: Cole pulled off a massive victory. I don't know what this means, if anything, for Black and Ricochet, because I'm still betting they're going to be facing The Revival for the Raw Tag titles at Mania, so they won't need to be at TakeOver. Any way you cut it, this is the best outcome we could have hoped for regarding Johnny's match without facing Ciampa.
And Mauro called Aleister "Sir Kicks-A-Lot" during the match and I laughed my bollocks off.
I'm still extremely bummed about the lack of Ciampa vs Gargano for the title, and this card doesn't seem nearly as stacked as what we got last year at TakeOver New Orleans since we're looking at a pretty ordinary tag team facing War Raiders, and a potentially very messy Women's title match, but hey, I've been wrong before when it comes to a less-than-100% enthusiastic prediction for a TakeOver.
So that's it for this week... or is it? I might have a surprise coming your way this weekend in regards to Wrestlemania, so you might keep an eye out here or on my Twitter for that! Either way, you're certainly going to get my recaps next week of both Raw and Smackdown as well as NXT!
Until next time, kids...
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