"The Most Emotional Night in NXT History" My honest Thoughts on NXT Takeover: New York

Last night Wrestlemania weekend kick-started on a huge high when the stars of NXT took over New York! With five Championship matches on the card and dream collisions taking place, this was a night to not miss out on and boy did these stars raise the bar ahead of Wrestlemania! In today’s blog post we are going to be looking back at the NXT Takeover: New York live special and discussing the best and worse moments and what I honestly thought of the show.

War Raiders vs Aleister Black & Ricochet

Kick-starting the night was the tag team division with Dusty Rhodes tag team classic winners Aleister Black and Ricochet taking on War Raiders for the NXT tag team championships. Now, I have mentioned several times before both here on my blog and over on Social media that I haven’t been the biggest fan of the alliance between Black and Ricochet for the simple fact I don’t like seeing two big singles stars paired together and I have felt as though an opportunity was taken away here from a major up and coming team however, this opening match was truly something special!

The first few minutes of this encounter saw Rowe and Black feel each other out in some chain wrestling that had fans hooked from the get-go and as things progressed the pace really did speed up as did the intensity. The contest was full of amazing spots that left everyone completely captivated. Ricochet and Black worked amazingly well together as we have seen in recent weeks and this was by far my favourite tag team title defence from War Raiders since their crowning as champs and my favourite WWE performance of theirs so far! The end result saw the titles remain on Hanson and Rowe but after such an epic fight mutual respect was shown and an emotional and special moment took place as Ricochet and Black said Farwell to NXT. An epic and exciting opening contest and one of the best tag matches of the year so far.

Velveteen Dream vs Matt Riddle

One of the more unpredictable matches of the night was the North American title bout which saw Velveteen Dream take on Matt Riddle. As a huge Dream fan I, of course, was backing the champion but a tough challenger in the former of Matt Riddle made things very difficult in predicting who would walk out the victor. Dream surprised no one by making a huge grand entrance making sure the spotlight was firmly on him but the match itself saw Riddle take control and dominate for the first half. Removing the spotlight from Velveteen Riddle dominated his opponent and a slower paced start certainly favoured Riddle. Now, I did struggle to find myself truly engaged in this match during the early stages but I did eventually find myself completely hooked and stunned! The spots these two performed were so risky, so daring and so captivating I could not take my eyes off the screen! So many close calls left fans on the edge of their seat wondering who would get the win come the end. In a surprise turn of events, Dream was able to find the perfect moment to pick up a quick, smart and sneaky win over Riddle, a decision that honestly surprised me!

I personally was not expecting this match to conclude with Dream still the champ, but I could not have been happier. I was surprised to see the WWE give Riddle this loss but with such an amazing showing from both no one could be mad at this end result. The crowd were firmly behind Dream from the get-go and the respect shown from both at the end was very special and a great touch.

Pete Dunne vs WALTER

Up next fans saw the WWE United Kingdom championship defended as Pete Dunne took to the ring to square off against WALTER. Now, this was an exciting contest that I just grew to love and enjoy more and more as the time went by. I was surprised to see the match go on for as long as it did and I was even more surprised to see just how close Dunne came to retaining to the point where I believed that he was going to do exactly that. Now, the end results seeing WALTER walk away the new Champion shocked no one and its clear a dawn of a new era has begun for the NXT UK scene. This was a hard-hitting contest and by far WALTER’s best showing in the WWE to date.

Shayna Baszler vs IO Shirai vs Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair

A match that did surprise me was the NXT Women’s championship match. Confident Baszler was going to drop the title this past Friday I was massively shocked to see the Queen of Spades retain her championship in one epic fatal four way and I have now been left wondering just how will go on to defeat and dethrone Baszler?

The match itself was one of my favourites of the night. Every single woman had a great showing and a standout moment that had everyone thinking they in that moment were going to get the win. It's hard to pick out one standout performer but for me, there really was one woman I could not keep my eyes off and that was IO Shiari. Looking like a superstar from a comic book movie she moved around the ring effortlessly and with complete grace and from start to finish looked like a champion. Kairi Sane also had one of her best performances since arriving in the WWE and I’m confident a main roster debut is coming up very soon for her! Bianca Belair was another major standout coming a close second in my opinion. She truly showcased so much character and her strength was showcased greatly in this fatal four-way match; I do, however, worry for her momentum after tapping out to Baszler for a second time.

Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano

If you want to know what a five-star match looks like simply check out last nights main event. Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano in a two out of three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship, an instant classic. Showcasing the future of the WWE perfectly these two former indie stars tore the house down in one of my favourite matches possibly in the history of NXT. The pair have been dubbed by fans as two of the best wrestlers on the black and gold brand today and in the WWE right now and they proved those comments to be right during this encounter. The fans in attendance appeared to be firmly behind Adam Cole who did go on to score the first fall of the match but as things progressed it really did become difficult to tell who was going to walk out the victor especially once Gargano picked up the second fall.

During that last section of this match things really did pick up massively and it was clear Johnny Wrestling was not going down without a fight! Kicking out of every single cover it was evident on the face of Cole that he simply did not know what it was going to take to put his opponent away. Gargano came into this match full of heart and passion and that drive led to him making history, picking up the win, becoming NXT champion and the first superstar to hold all three NXT titles!

This was an emotional NXT Takeover. From Ricochet and Aleister Black’s farewell to the mutual respect shown between Riddle and Dream to Pete Dunne’s historic title reign coming to an end all the way to Gargano winning the big one and seeing that very special ending involving wife Candice and Tommaso Ciampa. I can honestly say I enjoyed every single match on the night and there wasn’t one single weak link! I, of course, would love to know what you guys think so feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me over at @TezangiVictoria.

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