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WWE NXT Takeover New Orleans Review

Saturday April 7th, from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana

North American Championship Ladder Match: ECIII vs Ricochet vs Killian Dain vs Lars Sullivan vs Velveteen Dream vs Adam Cole:[****1/4]

So we start off the night with the match to crown the first ever NXT North American Champion. Personally i wasn't expecting a stellar match because the athletes involved, expect for Ricochet, are not so suited for a ladder match but they went way over with my expectations(even on time) and delivered probably one of the best multi man ladder matches i've ever seen. It had not a perfect storytelling but it wasn't necessary because it could have only one kind of story: everyone trying and doing anything to grab the belt and win the match. Cool spots, guys risking everything to get the win, no dead moments, drama, it was very good. It was a spot fest for the ages where even lars sullivan looked good, because they had him do what he should do: destroy anyone. Dain got crazy for a big man, Cole did cole stuff, Velveteen kept impressing me, Ricochet stole the show and my man ECIII showed why he got back in WWE after they fired him a couple years ago. Personally i loved the finish with Cole waiting for the perfect moment to captalise the work and getting the win, because that what his character should be: a dick and opportunist heel who can win by any means necessary. To recap everything, the show starts off already with an awesome match and let's say it wasn't the only one.

NXT Women's Championship: Ember Moon vs Shayna Baszler:[***1/2]

Rematch from NXT Takeover Philly and a much better match from their previous one, which wasn't bad but did litteraly nothing for me. This time they got much better from the start, better sense of urgency, Moon kicking the crap out of Ember, the champ not backing down and also trying to hurt the challenger with one of her trademarks and then the finish with Ember going full babyface mode and trying not to tap but she was forced to pass out and lose the title. Personally the highlight of the match was Baszler trying to pop her shoulder back by hitting the post which is actually a really smart spot that you don't see too often in wrestling matches. Shayna winning was kinda expected as i was expecting the title change already at Philly, so they could move Ember to the main roster and have Shayna-Kairi squaring off after the MYC final.

NXT Championship& Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final: Undisputed Era vs Authors of Pain vs Roderick Strong&Pete Dunne:[***1/4]

So as we saw on NXT, the final was moved to Takeover and became a triple threat match. Now, the match was good, but i didn't understood the rules: it started off in a big mess and then the referee remember them that they had to tag themselves into the match? Why, it just ruins momentum and makes no sense. But what makes sense is the ending with Strong finally joining undisputed era, because he is probably sick and tired to be so close to winning something and then losing everything: it happened first with the nxt title, then with the cruiserweight tournament and then the UK title against Pete Dunne and being with Dunne in the tournament, it makes me thing it was already set before the start of the match. Strong turning heel is a really smart move because his stuff as heel in PWG was awesome and he needs someone to cover his weeknesses when he has to cut a promo and Cole being the leader and mouthpiece of Undisputed will be perfect. in the next weeks, we might also see Strong winning the UK Title..

NXT Championship: Aleister Black vs Andrade Cien Almas:[****]

And we go on with another stunning match on this card. I think i already said that i loved how they rebuilt Almas with Zelina and this match was really good: wrestling and storytelling wise because Almas won the title because of Zelina, kept the title because of her and then lost the title because she tried to interfere and then got distracted and hit by Black Mass. They went all out with a classic match and Black finally had that match we were waiting him to have, because we knew black was good but not this good and this Almas helped him shine big time. Expected title change not because they needed to get the title off Almas, who has been good as a champ, but because it feels like they want to build Black like someone who can go undefeated for a few month untill he matches the right one. I also think Almas is about to be called up soon in the main roster, so i expected him to lose also the rematch and then go to SD Live or Raw, so that's why we had the title change now.

Unsanctioned Match: Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa:[*****]

So let me say one thing before i talk about this match: he is called T O M M A S O not Tomasso or Thomas. Now, this match was PERFECT and i dare you to say otherwhise. Great storytelling, great in ring psychology, great wrestling match, great build up to their storytelling, great crowd which was super into the match(Ciampa entrance was so good because they didn't covered the crowd with his theme and let everyone tell him how much an asshole he was). I loved how they used every spot really wisely, because they didn't went just for a spot, but because it was a spot that made sense for the story and for the match: i loved how they recalled their post match in the CWC, i loved how Johnny didn't felt for the trap at end, loved how Ciampa pushed hard to beat him after being sidelined for a knee injury. I loved how Johnny finished the match using the knee brace to apply more pressure. Ciampa went full heel dick mode and showed everyone how a heel should be at the moment and Johnny showed how to go over as a face with the crowd: we don't like babyfaces that behave like superman, we want babyfaces that can we relate to, that we can cheer for and that can represent us in that ring. Gargano winning was also a good moment because for once the underdog has to win and it was the right moment and setting to do it. Now, i believe their rivalry will continue and also will go on also on the main roster, just like what Sami Zayn and Kevin owens are doing right now. To recap everything, i would say that this is the match of the year right now with Almas-Gargano: personally i would pick this one over Gargano-Almas, because i am a big fan of great storytelling, but even Gargano-Almas was nuts. I'm not sure about this but probably we had the best takeover match so far, maybe i'm not 100% sure, but it's definitely in the top 3.

Overall: So, what to say about this event? Best Takeover ever? I'd say yes, because honestly, i don't remember a takeover with every match this good, everything was great, everything was well booked and you can't find anything bad about this event, because even the matches that didn't delireved big time, were good. NXT is at the moment the best WWE product and it's the less WWE style product you can imagine, because some of the stuff you see on the NXT, you won't see it on the main roster. So if you want to see 3 hours of great wrestling, then watch this show because you won't regret it. [9]