Tag: Ricochet

WWE Super ShowDown 2020: Every Match Ranked

Another Saudi Arabia show is in the bag and…do you know what? I actually thought it was ok. Not great, not by a long way, but I don’t think there was anything particularly bad on the show and overall it was certainly no worse than any other B-show WWE PPV these days. The matches were still plagued with the standard problems that come with having to fly for 14 hours, spend two days running the media circuit and then wrestle in 100 degrees Farenhieght.

Let’s get to breaking down the matches.

9 – Goldberg def. The Fiend Bray Wyatt(c)
(Universal Championship)

Fine, whatever.

8 – Brock Lesnar(c) def. Ricochet
(WWE Championship)

Yup, thought so.

7 – Roman Reigns def. King Corbin
(Steel Cage)

It’s over! It’s finally over! Assuming Michael Cole didn’t lie to us about that…alright so maybe it’s not over.

Probably unsurprisingly, this match didn’t have anything interesting going on with it. What little in-ring chemistry Reigns & Corbin had has since been played out beyond the point of it being entertaining and the addition of the Steel Cage into the mix didn’t help the match quality at all. All it did was mean that every minute or so the action had to stop so one man could very slowly climb the cage only to be thwarted by the other.

Even though these two will technically be facing each other in the Elimination Chamber next Sunday, I’m just glad that we’re finally at a point where we can say we’re done with this feud. If Reigns vs Goldberg really is the plan then I actually think there could be some good stuff there, even if I would’ve preferred Reigns vs The Fiend and quite honestly, I couldn’t give less of a shit about who Corbin fights next.

6 – Mansoor def. Dolph Ziggler

Now we enter the “just fine” portion of the show, where the matches are enjoyable, but nothing noteworthy.

As far as opponents for Mansoor goes, I think Ziggler was a pretty good choice, admittedly, Dolph Ziggler as a heel seems to think that “slow the pace down and only do headlocks for offence” is the only possible way he can do it, which isn’t ideal, but Mansoor spent a pretty good portion of the match on offence and the match didn’t feel too slow.

In terms of Mansoor winning, that’s great, but like I say every time he does one of these shows, there’s no point in doing any of this or giving him these wins if you’re not going to feature him on other shows and try to build him into an actual star. I know that with this show WWE proved to us all that they just don’t want any new stars and would rather have the ones from yesteryear, but if you’re going to treat Mansoor like this big heroic wrestler, then us see him wrestle more than twice a year.

5 – Angel Garza def. Humberto Carrillo

Another match that was just fine.

I thought this match was enjoyable, it held my attention the entire way through and showed off a lot of what these guys have to offer, however, they’ve had better matches together before and they will almost certainly have better matches together in the coming weeks too.

My main problem with this whole feud comes with it’s proximity to Wrestlemania because unfortunately, it’s not a big enough match to get a one-on-one blowoff on that show, so it’ll probably end with one of them eliminating the other in the ARMBAR. I like both Garza & Carrillo, but there’s only a limited amount I feel ok with investing in both of these guys because time and time again, WWE will spend a couple of months building guys like this up, only to suddenly drop them with no explanation. I hope that doesn’t happen here, but I’m remaining cautious.

4 – Bayley(c) def. Naomi
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

Wow, Naomi’s entrance looks like crap when she’s not allowed to wear any of the glowing stuff.

Much like many other matches on this list, it was better than I was expecting in the circumstances. I’m sure the two of them could put on a much better match if they weren’t so restricted, but I think they did a good job with the hand they were dealt. The action the match followed was still a fair basic formula, but I thought it was an enjoyable incarnation of that formula, Bayley is really finding what heel style works best for her and she was able to ground and slow the action without resulting to five minutes of boring rest-holds.

Naomi’s comebacks were kind of exciting but again, she didn’t seem to be able to do a lot of her more crowd popping moves (speaking of the crowd, they were dead silent for this one). Even though Bayley won clean, there is the element of a dirty finish in there with Bayley using Naomi’s government-mandated shirt to trap her legs, so there’s room for Naomi to claim a rematch if that’s the route they want to go down, which at this point, I think it probably is.

3 – The Undertaker won the Turwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match

Well, the in-ring action wasn’t anything interesting, but the storytelling was pretty compelling.

To be entirely honest, when I saw R-Truth starting off against Bobby Lashley, I thought we were in for 3 or 4 matches of Lashley running through people until Mysterio came out, but the way they turned it around and had R-Truth picking up a bunch of surprising victories over some fairly imposing heels was a lot of fun. Going through the 24/7 Championship stuff over the past year has led us all the slightly forget that Truth is actually a very capable wrestler when he wants to be and I found myself rooting for him with each victory in this match.

Then there’s the stuff with The Undertaker, which to be entirely honest with you, I thought was goofy and cheesy, but absolutely brilliant. The way the scene was set up with The OC beating down on Rey Mysterio only for that to suddenly be turned around to the OC getting beaten up. I particularly loved the way those black boots & coat stepped into frame, it was a nice variation on revealing The Undertaker outside of the usual gong hitting. It built this hype towards the entrance because we all knew it was The Undertaker, but first, they wanted to make us really want to see The Undertaker.

I doubt we’ll ever see the trophy again and it’s certainly not going to be mentioned in The Undertaker’s eventual Hall of Fame induction, but the story told throughout the phases of this match was well-done and quite enjoyable.

2 – The Miz & John Morrison def. The New Day(c)
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Don’t worry everyone, the tag teams will save the day with good matches!

This is the first time since his return that I’ve actually been glad that he’s back. The stuff he’s been doing in the build to this has been fun and all, but this is the first time that I’ve been able to see the value in him returning as an active competitor in the company. It’s no secret that for the majority of 2018, The Miz was floundering as a face and once his short feud with Bray Wyatt was over, it was entirely possible that he was going to go right back to that formula, happily, his reuniting with Morrison has made The Miz as a face and interesting character again and I’m very glad they’ve won the titles.

Once again, this match was slightly slower than it probably would’ve been under normal circumstances, but I still thought it was a very enjoyable watch. Big E felt like the MVP of the match to me as he seemed to be able to keep the pace going just enough throughout the moments where it seemed like the action was dropping. Although the chair shot was a little “blink and you miss it” it’s entirely in-keeping with Miz & Morrison as characters and gives The New Day plenty of reason to get back on their feet and keep this feud rolling into Wrestlemania, where hopefully, they’ll get a chance to tear the house down.

1 – Seth Rollins & Murphy(c) def. The Street Profits
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

I really don’t understand why people seem to be down on Rollins & Murphy as tag champs, it seems to me like they’re exactly what the Raw tag division needed to become interesting again.

As I mentioned in my predictions, Rollins has slid so naturally back into a heel role and this new Farcry 5 esque spin on his heel persona has been such great fun to watch in recent weeks. Thankfully, this also extends to the matches, where I think all four guys involved got a chance to feature themselves and keep the fun rolling the whole way through the match. Rollins seems to be learning his lessons from his last heel run and is able to make himself look beatable in the ring, without looking like a total chump. This extends to Murphy too, who I’m very glad is still being treated like a competent wrestler, rather than a bumbling sidekick.

Given how little build The Street Profits had for this match, I’m very glad they weren’t just cast aside like they were no threat to the champions at all and that Rollins & Murphy had to resort to slightly underhanded tactics to win the match. I’m not entirely confident that any of the credibility gained in this match will carry over for very long into the coming weeks and months, but for this moment at least, I think this match was nothing but beneficial to everyone involved AND it was a lot of fun to watch.

So there you have it! Those are my thoughts on WWE Super ShowDown, thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please, let me know what your thoughts on the show are, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back this way next Saturday as WWE give us little time to breathe, and I’ll be covering Elimination Chamber!

WWE Super ShowDown 2020: Predictions & Analysis

The problem with these Saudi shows happening twice a year is that I’m sort of running out of things to say about them. I will say the placement of this one is really weird. I’ve said plenty of times that I don’t think there should be a PPV between the Rumble and Mania, but to put one of the big “Wrestlemania-sized” shows in there? Seems a little bit redundant if you ask me.

As it stands, the card for this show actually looks pretty decent for the most part. I’m sure it’ll fall victim to the usual issues of these shows, but I’m going to maintain a cautious optimism about the quality of the show because…well for the sake of my own sanity to be perfectly honest.

Let’s get predicting, shall we?

Andrade vs Bobby Lashley vs AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio vs Erick Rowan vs R-Truth
(Tuwaiq Trophy Gaunlet Match)

Jesus Christ, talk about pointless…

Seriously, what is the point? It’ll be mentioned for one, maybe two weeks after the fact (if that) and then we’ll all move on completely forgetting about it so very quickly. Couldn’t it have at least been for the US title or something instead of a totally pointless trophy? I looked up what Tuwaiq is and while I don’t understand the exact geological terms, it’s essentially a big canyon, it’s like having the “Grand Canyon” trophy, or the “Death Valley” trophy and while that second one actually sounds pretty awesome, my point still stands that this whole thing is pointless and stupid.

I’m not even sure the match will be all that interesting to watch either. If Andrade & Styles get some time in the ring together that should be pretty good and I imagine Rey & Andrade will also go on a bit of tear against each other, but I expect this to be more along the lines of the Tag Gauntlet match from Crown Jewel last year. A bunch of quick pins with little action between until someone inexplicably wins.

Speaking of winners, I’m not overly confident but given the rumours that a match with The Undertaker is on the horizon, I’m going with AJ Styles.

Roman Reigns vs King Corbin
(Steel Cage)

Oh, thank the lord! I thought we were going to get a break from this feud for five fucking seconds, you had me worried there WWE, good to know you’re still pushing on with this.

I made a big song and dance in the last entry about it being a pointless match, but when it comes to this one, I mean come on, who’s honestly still invested in this story? At least with their match at the Rumble, I could understand the desire to cap it off with Roman getting his win back so he could move on to bigger and better things, but at this point, what is there for anyone to gain from winning this match? If Roman wins, then it means basically nothing because he’s already beat Corbin several times over in various forms of matches and if Corbin wins, it’ll feel like a massive anti-climax and we’ll probably have to suffer through more of this bollocks until Elimination Chamber.

On top of that, it’s in a Steel Cage, which means it’s virtually guaranteed to be a snooze fest and an absolute cluster fuck with all kind of people needlessly getting involved. Roman Reigns is going to win, because if he doesn’t then I may sigh so hard that all of the gas in my body gets expelled at once and I’ll suffocate.

Seth Rollins & Murphy(c) vs The Street Profits
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

Well, there’s not going to be a great deal of tension in this one, but it should at least be fun.

When Rollins & Murphy first won the Raw tag titles, I was a bit sceptical. I thought it would’ve served AOP better to have the titles and I worried that it would continue the descent of the titles to be totally forgotten amongst a singles feud between Owens & Rollins, but actually, I think things have been going pretty well. Rollins is doing a great job of making his heel persona this time around feels different to what it was during his initial turn in 2014/15, he’s still got that slight cowardly edge, but it doesn’t dominate his character and it feels a lot more calculated. He’s surrounded himself with other tough guys, not because he doesn’t want to fight his own battles, but because it protects him from babyfaces like Owens getting one over on him every week, and most importantly, it’s actually working.

Compare this to Corbin’s alliance with Ziggler & Roode and you can see exactly why that doesn’t work. It’s partly because Roman is out-smarting them at every opportunity, but also it feels like there’s no cohesion between them as a unit. They’re not brothers in arms fighting for a common cause, they’re just three people who don’t hate each other at the moment. Looking back at Rollins, Murphy & AOP, it’s clear to me that there’s a lot more thought behind this and at least some semblance of a long-term goal, so I’m quite happy with how things have been going.

…what was I here to talk about again? Oh yeah, the match. Not really much to say if I’m honest, Seth Rollins & Murphy are definitely winning and it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being a glorified squash. That said, if Street Profits are actually given a chance to make this competitive, then I think it could easily be a match of the night contender; fingers crossed, I guess.

The New Day(c) vs The Miz & John Morrison
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Don’t get me wrong, I like John Morrison, but was bringing him back just for this really worth it? I understand that there isn’t exactly much room for him in the singles division at the moment, but when I envision John Morrison’s return, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

I’ll admit though, I’ve enjoyed watching his reunion with The Miz and it’s clear there’s still some great chemistry between them. Whether that chemistry extends to the ring remains to be seen, but I have confidence that these guys will pull something great out of the bag. As it stands, I don’t think there’s a better team for them to go against right now than The New Day. From a character perspective, they have that comedic edge that Miz & Morrison can bounce off of so well and when it comes to the ring, they’re easily the best in WWE right now, so a good-to-great match is all but guaranteed.

When it comes to picking a winner, I’m not as confident as I probably should be, but I’m going with The Miz & John Morrison to pick up the titles. Morrison losing his first big opportunity following his return would make the whole thing feel extremely pointless and it’s not like The New Day have anything to lose right now and in fact, having them chasing the titles going into Mania might make for a more compelling story.

Bayley(c) vs Naomi
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

After Crown Jewel last year where Saudi Arabia finally allowed a women’s wrestling match to take place in their country, I can only hope that they’re going to slowly but surely loosen up the restrictions on what these women can do in the ring. Nevermind the fact that WWE are congratulating Saudia Arabia for doing this, even though they’re still a number of centuries behind the rest of the world, I’m hoping that this will actually get to be a match, rather than an over-glorified training routine.

Don’t get me wrong, the match between Evans & Natalya at Crown Jewel was absolutely an important and necessary first step, but you can’t deny that they wrestled an extremely safe, by-the-book and boring match that was entirely designed to be as inoffensive as humanly possible. If this happens here it would be an incredible disservice to these two great performers who I think, given the chance could put on a really great match.

I have absolutely no idea what the plans are for the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania (and if the dirt sheets are to be believed, neither do WWE) but I think it would make the most sense to have Bayley go in as champion. I know Naomi has the heat of the return, but there’s been basically nothing in the way of build to this match, so a Naomi win would seem very strange and out of nowhere.

Brock Lesnar(c) vs Ricochet
(WWE Championship)

You know that scene from the first Avenger’s film where The Hulk smashes Loki into the floor over and over? Yeah, that. That’s what’s going to happen.

I’d love to live in a fantasy world where Ricochet gets a chance to look competitive against Brock and essentially spends 10 minutes flipping circles around the Beast, but let’s be real, it’s just not happening. This match isn’t going to last very long and it’s going to consist of Ricochet’s internal organs being turned to paste before Brock Lesnar walks out with his title.

The Fiend Bray Wyatt(c) vs Goldberg
(Universal Championship)

No! Not again. Please don’t do this to us again.

This match is in a weird position because my perspective on whether or not it’s a good idea depends entirely on the outcome. If this is a chance for The Fiend to get a really strong win before facing off with Roman at Wrestlemania, then I think it’s fantastic and will benefit The Fiend even past him inevitably losing his title to Roman at Mania. However…if the result of this is Goldberg carrying the title in Wrestlemania, then I’m absolutely against it.

I actually think Goldberg vs Roman could be a pretty fun match for Wrestlemania, but it’s not worth sacrificing everything that has been built up around The Fiend for. I’ve said this so much over the past 8ish months, but The Fiend is something unique and special and has all the potential in the world to go down as one of the all-time great gimmicks in wrestling, but it won’t happen if he’s unceremoniously sacrificed to Goldberg here.

As for match quality, it could go either way. I don’t think it’ll be very long, but we’ve seen a whole host of short but good Goldberg matches since his 2016 return. Maybe it’s just denial, but I refuse to accept the fact that Goldberg could be Universal Champion TWICE in the space of 4 years in the modern era. I’m going with what I believe must happen, which is The Fiend Bray Wyatt retaining.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for reading these predictions, be sure to leave your own predictions either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back here Friday, where I’ll be running down all of the matches

 

NXT Takeover: New York Predictions

Wrestlemania weekend is quite the beast nowadays, with this year’s Wrestlemania looking to be the longest WWE show of all time, it’s in danger of wearing out its audience before the show’s even begun. However, the night before Mania we get to not worry about that for a few hours and watch what is arguably one of the most stacked cards in NXT history.

You don’t need me to tell you how geat Takeovers always are, but this one has a lot of intrigue to it thanks to a lot of storylines moving in directions I don’t think any of us were expecting. In part thanks to Ciampa’s injury and also thanks to sudden call ups.

So, we’ve got five matches which all look like they’re going to be amazing, so let’s get to predicting them.

War Raiders(c) vs Aleister Black & Ricochet
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

This match is arguably the easiest to pick on the whole card, purely because of what else is going on over on the main roster right now.

With Black & Ricochet having pretty much already left for main roster, this is quite clearly designed to be their farewell match. That said, this should be far from a phoned-in performance. We’ve seen all over the place for the past couple of months that these two seem to work really well as a team, granted they don’t quite gel like you’d expect a team to, but their offensive styles seem to complement each other quite well in the ring.

Meanwhile, War Raiders have always been great, and I imagine Black & Ricochet will give them a run for their money, but ultimately War Raiders will win, and Black & Ricochet will ride off into the NXT sunset together.

Velveteen Dream(c) vs Matt Riddle
(North American Championship)

The North American Championship seems like quite a weird one now I’m thinking about it because I don’t think we’re ever really going to get that long a reign with someone holding it.

While NXT veterans like Dream and Gargano have held it recently, for the most part it seems like it’s going to be used for people who are hot new stars on the scene, but aren’t ready to be thrown up into the NXT title scene just yet, which is exactly where Matt Riddle currently stands.

I like both of these guys, and I think Dream is going to have a field day when it comes to taunting, mocking and imitating Matt Riddle, but I’m not entirely sure if these two guys styles will mesh properly. They seem like two very different wrestlers to me, but I have faith that this one will at least be a fun match to watch.

As much as I’d love Velveteen Dream to hold onto this title for ages (mostly so he doesn’t have to go to main roster), it would be a bad idea for Matt Riddle to lose here, so I’ve got to go with him to pick up the title.

Pete Dunne(c) vs WALTER
(United Kingdom Championship)

I don’t often feel very patriotic, but when I look at these two…just wow.

Pete Dunne has been the lone constant in the WWE for the past couple of years, with almost 700 days as UK Champion, putting on amazing title defence after amazing title defence, it’s going to be very difficult to see with without a title over his shoulder anymore. I hope he eventually makes it to main roster and isn’t stuck in NXT UK forever, but for now, I’m going to enjoy it.

As much as I love Pete Dunne and wish he could remain UK Champion forever, Walter has to win here. NXT UK can’t really move forward in its current state, and I feel a new champion who doesn’t reign seemingly forever would be a good idea to help that along. Granted, I doubt Walter will lose the title very quickly once he has it, but having Pete Dunne at the top for so long hasn’t really done the UK scene many favours, even if he is amazing.

Shayna Baszler(c) vs Kairi Sane vs Io Shirai vs Bianca Belair
(NXT Women’s Championship)

Turns out this one is a really hard pick.

Generally, in a multi-person match for a title like this one, it’s generally a safe bet to say that the champion will retain because them losing the title in a multi-man would be a bit underwhelming.

That said, I can’t help but feel like it’s Baszler’s time to drop the title and move on from NXT before the summer. It’s inevitable that Duke & Shafir will get involved, although I imagine they’ll be easily repelled, but if I say that Baszler is going to drop the title, who to?

Kairi Sane seems like the easy choice, but we’ve already seen Sane & Baszler fight a lot and I don’t really feel like Sane needs the title right now. Bianca Belair could work, but I don’t think Belair could reasonably get away with beating Baszler in a one on one rematch, and she certainly can’t out heel Shayna Baszler to win. So what about Io Shirai? Well, there really is no tangible reason for her not to win the belt here, just for some reason I’m not feeling like it’s going to happen. I know she’s been around for a while now, and her winning the belt opens up opportunities for great matches, but it just feels like it’s too soon for me, and I can’t quite put my finger on why.

I’m going to take a risk and say Shayna Baszler is going to retain, hopefully, to lose the belt to Io Shirai in a one on one match at the next Takeover.

Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole
(NXT Championship)
(2 out of 3 Falls)

Match of the year, right here.

I don’t think there’s any debate over whether or not this match will be good, Gargano doesn’t even know what a bad match is and Cole has shown time and time again that he can hang with the best. The real debate here is who’s going to win.

I think my head might be messing with me a bit because I desperately want Adam Cole to win, and it seems obvious that Gargano will win since Cole wasn’t even supposed to be in the match, but I like to think NXT storylines are more complex than that. Sure, logic dictates Gargano wins, but the NXT writers could quite easily change the storyline on the fly.

You also have to consider that it seemed Gargano was originally planned to be joining Ricochet & Black on main roster until Ciampa got injured, so maybe that will happen anyway past Wrestlemania? However, The Undisputed Era has done pretty much everything there is to do in NXT, and they feel like they’re about to leave as well, and while I’d love to see it, I’d argue Cole doesn’t really need to win the NXT title to be seen as a big deal on main roster.

While I would be entirely happy if Cole won, I think Johnny Gargano will finally win the big one here, probably losing the first fall thanks to the Undisputed Era before overcoming the odds to win the gold.

As always thank you very much for taking the time to read, if you enjoyed then please share it around on social media and make sure to follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo for plenty of thoughts about what’s going on throughout Mania weekend. Tomorrow will be my predictions for Wrestlemania, and then in the days after I will have my review of both Takeover and Mania, so stay tuned!

NXT Takeover Phoenix: Every Match Ranked

Finally.

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but I’d never really found the time. However, NO MORE, as today is the day I get to talk all about my favourite thing in modern pro-wrestling.

Admittedly, I didn’t think this Takeover was quite as good as any of the ones that took place in 2018, but, there is no such thing as a bad Takeover and it was still an extremely high-quality show. So let’s break this down match by match and look at all the lovely wrestling details that lie inside.

5 – Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno

This should show how good this show was because even though I’ve ranked this match as the worst, I still thought it was great.

I was pretty interested to see what kind of stuff Riddle would pull out in his first big Takeover match like this. He didn’t necessarily blow me away in this match, but it’s clear he’s a brilliant talent and hasn’t shown all he has in his arsenal just yet.

There were some pretty gnarly spots as well, with Ohno and Riddle hitting each other surprisingly hard at some points in the match. Ohno also tried to eat Riddle’s toe, which is…..fine I guess? It’s what you get for wrestling barefoot I suppose. The finish was pretty fun too, with it referencing their NXT TV match in a couple points before Riddle would pick up a decisive victory.

Ultimately this wasn’t going to be anything amazing given that these guys have already been fighting a whole bunch since Riddle debuted, but it was a good introductory feud for him, I look forward to seeing where he’s going to go next.

4 – Shayna Baszler(c) def. Bianca Belair
(NXT Women’s Championship)

Belair’s stock just got shot into the stratosphere.

This match was nowhere near the level of Baszler vs Sane, but it didn’t matter, because it did exactly what it needed to do, make Belair look like a star.

I don’t think I was alone in that I wasn’t too crazy about Belair going into this match. Granted, I liked her more than Sam Roberts seemed to, but that’s beside the point. This match completely turned my opinion around on Belair though, as it seemed like the perfect showcase for her talents. Baszler naturally came in underestimating her, and it was exactly that which allowed Belair to get in some of her better shots and almost get the win on a couple of occasions.

The finish was also great, with Belair breaking Baszler’s clutch the first time, and then almost breaking it on the second attempt before finally succumbing. She now feels like a much bigger deal than she did going into the match, and it means we don’t have to worry about what might happen to her now her UN-DEA-FEA-TED streak is over.

3 – War Raiders def. The Undisputed Era(c)
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

The team to finally take down the Undisputed Era was going to be a tricky one to work out. We thought it would be Moustache Mountain, but thanks to NXT UK starting up, UE got their titles back pretty quickly and moved on.

However, since last summer things have changed in NXT, ever since War Games, it’s felt to me like Undisputed Era are starting to wind down in NXT before bowing out later this year. Luckily, the perfect candidates to carry the titles next had just arrived in the form of War Raiders.

The thing with UE, is that, even though their small guys, you can’t just have some big dudes run them through. They proved that with Heavy Machinery, sure UE were outmuscled at every opportunity, but the whole point of UE is that their smart, they can duck and move and know exactly when to strike to ensure victory.

War Raiders aren’t just big dudes though. They’ve got the muscle sure, but these guys have the agility and speed to go with it, and they show a level of ring intelligence that UE hasn’t faced very often during their reign as champions. That’s the story I think they’re going to try and tell in the rematch, that UE were caught off guard by something new, and they lost before they could adapt.

UE has always shown such a high level of subtle, yet deep psychology that I’m seriously looking forward to this pair’s second match.

2 – Tommaso Ciampa(c) def. Aleister Black
(NXT Championship)

Kinda funny how Aleister Black’s entrance music claims “No man is ever truly evil” and yet here he’s facing the personification of evil in wrestling.

In terms of hype, this was certainly the match I was most looking forward to. Black is hands down my favourite wrestler in the world right now and Ciampa is arguably the best heel in the whole of WWE. Their styles also tend to be very hard hitting and often featuring lots of quick strikes.

I’m happy to say that’s pretty much what we got. The action here wasn’t exactly at a lightning pace, but it was deliberate and hard-hitting which helped the match feel like an absolute war. I’ll get into some of the similarities between Gargano & Ciampa’s matches later, but the callbacks to Gargano vs Black in this match were brilliant and seeing just how Ciampa was having NONE of the crap Gargano fell for.

I thought the finish was brilliant and made both men look really good, with Black kicking out of a second Fairy-Tale Ending, then being able to counter a third and only failing to hit with Black Mass because Ciampa had spent the whole match wearing down Black’s leg, before finally succumbing to a fourth Fairy-Tale Ending.

I don’t think Black is quite done with NXT just yet, and if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say a triple threat between Black, Gargano and Ciampa is on the horizon, and the way this match ended gives Black just enough to believably claim another title shot.

1 – Johnny Gargano def. Ricochet(c)
(NXT North American Championship)

Gargano strikes again, with another match of the year contender.

I don’t think anyone was ever doubting that this match was going to be brilliant, and yet I still managed to come out of this one blown away at how good it was. The extended sequences of the two going back and forth with all of the flippy stuff is just a joy to watch, and even if it’s not for you, you’ve got to admit there is an inherent sense of fun to it.

This match also gave us the continuation of the Gargano/Ciampa storyline, despite neither of them having any interactions with each other until the very end of the night. The idea that Gargano is trying to be Ciampa in order to echo his level of success is something that has never been more clear than right here, when Gargano would rip up the padding on the floor, as Ciampa would later in the night, and screaming “I win” in Ricochet’s face at the end of the match, just like Ciampa would at the end of his match.

The two of them standing side by side to end the show is just a great shot, and once again I find myself so interested for where this story’s going to go because I think it’s going to be great.

So that was my first ever NXT Takeover review! If you enjoyed it then please share it around on social media, so we can get more eyes on this, and come tell me what you thought of the show on Twitter @10ryawoo. I’ll see you soon!