Opening Segment: Io Shirai & Kairi Sane vs. Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir

Highlights include:

Great handspring into a dropkick by Shirai on Shafir to cap their opening sequence.

Huge size difference between Sane and Duke when they’re tagged in. Duke taunts Sane, so Sane chops her pretty good and matches her move for move, following that.

Duke and Shafir do get a little double team advantage, finally, which results in a 2 count for Shafir on Shirai. Shafir lifts Shirai up into a fireman’s carry, tags in Duke for a beauty roundhouse kick. 2 count!

Duke continues to launch into her offense on Shirai until a push into her home corner provides an opportunity for Shirai to reverse the momentum. Tag to Shafir and Shirai nails her with an inverted DDT. Soon after, tag to Sane.

Blockbusters on Shafir! It’s signature move city for Shirai and Sane. Sliding D. Pop-up elbows from both ladies. InSane elbow on Shafir for the 1-2-3.

Winners: Io Shirai & Kairi Sane via pinfall in 8 minutes

1 cool point for the Sky Pirates who get a big win, and, for Sane, revenge on Duke and Shafir for costing her the nXt Women’s Championship. She and Shirai have some fun tandem moves and good chemistry together. This is the kind of match and feud that Duke and Shafir, as nXt rookies, will use to improve their all-around skills.

Highlights from nXt Takeover: Phoenix are shown. In the North American Championship match, Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet to become the new champ. He is interviewed, following the match, and mentions how he promised he would win. It feels great, too.

Second Segment: More Highlights From Takeover: Phoenix

Highlights from the nXt Women’s Championship match between Shayna Baszler (c) and Bianca Belair are shown. Baszler got the win, but it’s Belair who receives the post-match interview. Undefeated is a mindset, she says. Furthermore, Belair is still undefeated in legit competition because she only lost due to Baszler’s friends. To Sam Roberts and any other haters, Belair says, “Kiss my ass”.

Highlights from the nXt Tag Team Championship match between the Undisputed Era, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly and War Raiders are shown. The new champions, War Raiders, get the post-match interview. They say the Era has their respect, but their era is over. The “War Reign” begins now!

Third Segment: The Return of Halftime Heat and More Takeover: Phoenix

Highlights from the Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno match are shown. Riddle’s third victory over Ohno and he’s asked about his string of success against the knockout artist. Riddle says it wasn’t about wins and losses; it was about making a point. He made Ohno give up, and he will do the same to anyone else who wants to test him.

Paul Heyman tweets out about the greatness of “Project Ciampa”. With this, highlights of the nXt Championship match between Tommaso Ciampa (c) and Aleister Black were shown. Ciampa retained the title, and to end the show, Johnny Gargano joined him on the ramp. Both men held their titles high.

Just after the end credits showed, a 6-man skirmish developed on the stage with Gargano, Ciampa, Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black, Adam Cole and Ricochet. This turned into a 3 on 3 skirmish, which was deflated backstage by Triple H.
Announced for halftime of the Super Bowl, 20 years from its inaugural showing, is a return of Halftime Heat. It will feature a 6-man tag between Ciampa, Gargano & Cole against Dream, Black and Ricochet.

Main Event: Street Profits vs. Forgotten Sons

Highlights include:

Ford’s facial expressions and mannerisms. Dude is enter-TAIN-ing.

Fun double team work by Dawkins & Ford, shoulder blocking Blake down and flapjacking the returning Cutler on to his partner.
Attitude from Cutler when he hurts Ford with a backbreaker, slap and a suplex. Double uranage backbreaker after the tag for a 2 count on Ford.

Chinlock by Blake and the crowd really cheers for Ford to break loose. He eventually does, only for Cutler to get tagged in. The two men catch Ford with a buckle bomb from Blake on to Cutler’s knees. Near fall, but Dawkins breaks the count.

Ford gains momentum again. Blake tries to splash him, but he misses. Tag to Dawkins. He throws out both Cutler and Blake. Dawkins misses the 360 clothesline on Blake, thanks to a save from Cutler. Ford flies on to him in response, and Dawkins spears Blake for a 2 count.
Ford throws water on his own face! He goes to the top rope. Dawkins has Blake up on his shoulders. Blockbuster doomsday! 1…2….Cutler breaks the count.

Thrilling staredown, across the ring, between Jaxson Ryker and Dawkins. Tense moment there and then both men charge around the ring to meet one another. On the way, Blake dives on to Dawkins, hurting him. He’s rolled back in for a double team inverted DDT stomp. 1-2-3.

Winners: Forgotten Sons via pinfall in 8 minutes

1 cool point for the energy of the Street Profits. It continues to gain them fan support and sets them apart from other teams.

1 cool point for the Forgotten Sons. The numbers game worked to their advantage, although they did not cheat to win. They made the most of their double team attacks, which have been highly effective in all of their matches to date.
We can expect to see Forgotten Sons facing the next face team up in the rankings…likely Burch & Lorcan.

Takeover: Phoenix Predictions

Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno
Tag Team Championship: Undisputed Era (c) ret. War Raiders
Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler (c) ret. Bianca Belair (#1c)
North American Championship: Johnny Gargano def. Ricochet (c)
nXt Championship: Tommaso Ciampa (c) ret. Aleister Black (#1c)

4/5 is a passing grade. Just mixed up the tag team match result, but that’s fine. Happy for the War Raiders. Loved the Tag Team Match ending, and match of the night was definitely Gargano/Ricochet, for the spectacular stunts and the continuing saga of Johnny Wrestling, succumbing to the darkness. Or is he? Have a listen to my guest spot on Perfect 10 Wrestling, on LOP Radio, with TheImplications. Imp has an intriguing idea about how Gargano might be playing along with Ciampa’s games.

Follow @JCoolLOP

Catch up on nXt results: nXt Results- January 23, 2019
nXt Results- January 16, 2019
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