(yes, I'm fully aware this isn't the actual logo, but the official one is ugly af so...)
[Royal Rumble OT]
Live from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona: welcome to 2019! Welcome to NXT Takeover: Phoenix!
Watch on the WWE Network: Watch from Saturday, January 26, from 7pm EST/4pm PST/12am GMT/1am CET (look it up elsewhere if you're outside either of those timezones). If you're not a sub already, you'll get a month's free trial on the Network - which includes NXT Takeover: Phoenix, the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber - for free! All usually for the mighty low price of…
But free!
Here's a recap of what happened last time at Takeover WarGames.
Matt Riddle def Kassius Ohno in record time
Shayna Baszler (w Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir) def Kairi Sane (w Io Shirai and Dakota Kai) to become the first-ever 2X NXT Women's Champion
Aleister Black def Johnny Gargano
Tommaso Ciampa def Velveteen Dream to retain the NXT Championship
NXT North American Champion Ricochet, WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne and War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) def The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and the NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O'Reily and Roderick Strong) in WarGames
And here's what to expect for the first Takeover of 2019.
Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno
There was meant to be four matches at NXT Takeover: War Games, but all of a sudden, a fifth was added right as the show started, a match planned for the following week's TV: the recent debuted Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno, a rivalry that stemmed from Riddle's arrival in NXT and Ohno wanting to have a go at its new toy.
That new toy beat him in less than ten seconds.
Since then, though, Ohno's been on the warpath. They met again on NXT TV at Full Sail, where Riddle won again but received a massive beatdown from Ohno. And on TV the week before Takeover, Ohno beat Keith Lee through a low blow which brought an injured Riddle to confront Ohno.
This'll be a good one.
The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reily and Roderick Strong) © vs War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) for the NXT Tag Team Championship
What can you say about The Undisputed Era at this point? It does feel like if WWE had to build their own version of Bullet Club, and this is saying something when it has four of its most influential members in the company including its founder, The Undisputed Era is it.
Part of its success has been down to Kyle O'Reily and Roderick Strong holding the tag belts for a lot of 2018 (Strong joined TUE at Takeover: New Orleans), while leader Adam Cole became the first ever NXT North American Champion. Not to mention, appearing in both NXT WarGame matches.
That could easily start to crumble, however, when they face Hanson and Rowe, the War Raiders, a team that has been a bane on the side of The Undisputed Era since NXT Takeover Brooklyn IV.
Now at Takeover, they could be the team that takes away the tag belts once and for all from TUE baring a brief break away from Moustache Mountain last summer.
This feud has been good. So expect this to deliver.
Title vs Streak: Shayna Baszler (w Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir) © vs Bianca Belair for the NXT Women's Championship
No, this isn't Baszler vs Kairi Sane IV as it arguably should be. Their match in Brooklyn last August where Sane won the title was great. Their match at Evolution where Baszler won the title again, albeit with an assist from Duke and Shafir, was brilliant.
But their two out of three falls match at Takeover WarGames was...not...good? Let me emphasise, it was good from a pure skill level but it felt super rushed, especially for a two out of three falls match. And the conclusion with Baszler winning in quick succession with a roll-up pin definitely didn't feel like a once and for all conclusion to their rivalry.
Considering how great their rivalry had been, do not be surprised if we see this one run one more time in Brooklyn in April with a proper feud closer.
Or it's possible we won't, especially if the UN-DE-FEAT-ED Bianca Belair has something to say. Belair won her opportunity in a fatal 4 way against Io Shirai, Mia Yim and Lacey Evans on the final NXT of 2018.
And since then, she's taken a sort of Dream-like face role against Baszler, who she slapped the taste out of the week before Takeover.
It does feel like Baszler has this. But there is also that element of maybe in Belair's favour. Either way, this has the ingredients of a great match.
Ricochet © vs Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship
Just like Aleister Black before him, Ricochet has now been caught up in the ensuing black hole of drama between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Ciampa, being the Venom in Gargano's body (SHUT UP, THIS IS A BETTER SPIDER-MAN 3 STORY THAN SPIDER-MAN 3), encouraged him to go after Ricochet's NXT North American championship as a way to keep him away from Ciampa and 'Goldie' (Ciampa's NXT Championship).
Both also have a claim to the title Mr. Takeover. Since his debut at Takeover New Orleans, Ricochet has numerous show-stopping matches at Takeover events including with Velveteen Dream, Adam Cole plus the six-man ladder match to crown the first NA Champion and his appearance at WarGames II, to say the least of his TV match with Pete Dunne last year.
But just last year, Gargano - who will make his 12th Takeover appearance, more than any other NXT superstar past and present (the person with most Takeovers beforehand was Asuka at 10) - had an average of 4.75 throughout his five Takeover matches despite losing all but one of them (5 for Almas in Philly, 5 for Ciampa I in New Orleans, 4.5 for Ciampa II in Chicago, 4.5 for Ciampa III in Brooklyn and 4.75 for Black at WarGames).
It's a losing streak he's keen to be rid of, however. Their feud has been great so far, including Ricochet with the best selling of a superkick I've ever seen, culminating on the go-home show before Takeover with a beat down on Ricochet in unison with Ciampa beating down on Black. Which brings us to…
(This will be fucking great)
Tommaso Ciampa © vs Aleister Black for the NXT Championship
By the time Saturday comes around, Tommaso Ciampa will hit day 184 of his epic reign to date. A reign that by all accounts has been controversial. From his feud, and subsequent 'control', of Johnny Gargano to his defeat of Aleister Black and taking down Velveteen Dream at Takeover: WarGames, needless to say, I don't think there's been a champion in NXT that has been as detested as Tommaso Ciampa has been.
Which brings us to Aleister Black, who has been dying at the bit to get his hands on Ciampa since he took his title last July. And he would have too at the following Takeover if it weren't for that meddling Johnny Gargano assaulting him at Full Sail to take him out of a planned triple-threat match in Brooklyn. That detour meant taking on Gargano a few times, including a match at Takeover WarGames and on TV in a steel cage, of which Black won the former and Gargano the latter (albeit with an assist from Ciampa to help set up DIY's finisher Meeting in the Middle).
Now, Ciampa and Black will look to settle this once and for all. But if this week's go-home show is anything with their simultaneous beatdowns on their respective opponents, despite Candice LeRae's best efforts, Black may also have to deal with Gargano, and thus an official DIY reunion, too.
So much for Do It Yourself.
Notes:
Takeover Pre-Show on the WWE Network with Charly Caruso and others plus the NXT End of Year 2018 Awards - 6pm EST/3pm PST/11pm GMT/12am CET
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