Opening Segment: Cole & Gargano Face Off

To open up the show, it’s a war of words, which firmly places Gargano aka Johnny TakeOver as the good guy, and Adam Cole as the guy who needs his cronies to win the big matches.
Gargano will FIGHT to fulfill his destiny of finally becoming nXt Champion.

Cole leaves the ring amidst Gargano’s theme music, but he stops at the bottom of the ramp to compliment Gargano on a lovely “Lifetime movie” story.

He says Triple H said the best 2 out of 3 falls match would be definitive; Cole says he was wrong because it will be undisputed. Standing on the stage behind him, next to the Dusty Rhodes tourney trophy are Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly. Undisputed Era in full effect to close that segment.

Last week, we see clips of Forgotten Sons beating up on Ricochet & Aleister Black, following last week’s nXt TV. The crowd chants “We Forgot You”, as the Forgotten Sons stand over their fallen foes. They will fight in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals later tonight.

Billie Eilish’s song “you should see me in a crown” is one of the official Takeover: New York theme songs.

Segment #2: Vanessa Borne & Aliyah vs. Lacey Lane & Kacy Catanzaro

Seems these two, Borne and Aliyah, have become a proper tag team, wearing complimentary pink outfits for this match.
Lane and Catanzaro competed in the most recent Mae Young Classic.

Highlights include:

Increased aggression from Aliyah, in the way that she hit her corner strikes on Lane. McGuinness says that has been visible on the live circuit, too.
Borne and Aliyah use the ropes to tie Lane up, striking her all over.

Suddenly, moving silently from the backstage area down the ramp are the 3 Horsewomen. Borne & Aliyah leave without argument, while nXt Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler isolates Catanzaro in the ring for a Kirifuda clutch. Catanzaro escapes using the turnbuckle to backflip out of it. She kicks Duke and Shafir off the apron, tries for a springboard attack, but Baszler wraps her in the Kirifuda Clutch. Catanzaro passes out.

Plenty of boos from the crowd as Baszler holds up the nXt Women’s title. Duke & Shafir applaud their friend and walk back up the ramp.

Winners: No Contest via pinfall in 3 minutes

Baszler walks over to Watson and says this will keep happening, as long as the champion keeps getting mistreated. She demands respect from the roster.

0 cool points given here. Would have been good to see these 4 ladies get a full opportunity to shine, but Baszler and company attract some extra heat, prior to TakeOver by squashing the competition. It’s assertive and I have no issue with their intimidation tactics. All it does is create more potential matchups down the road.

Segment #3: Matt Riddle vs. “The Finest” Kona Reeves

Highlights include:

Reeves’ arrogant personality, trying to show up Riddle with his strength and his words,
Riddle with a beauty running senton, moving to a gutwrench suplex on Reeves.

Suddenly, it’s Velveteen Dream’s music and he’s being pushed gently on to the stage, on a couch, by two ladies. His North American championship has its own place, on a pillow, on the couch.

Reeves tries to take advantage of the distraction. Huge back suplex gets a 2 count.
Riddle kicks out. Shortly thereafter, he fights out of a submission attempt, side headlock, by Reeves.
Nasty knee strike by Riddle to Reeves’ face. Riddle moves to elbow strikes to the sternum and then lays in the BroMission. Reeves taps out.

Winner: Matt Riddle via submission in 3 minutes

Dream interrupts the ring announcer, so he can announce “Matthew Riddle” as the winner and the man who gets to face the Dream at TakeOver: New York.
Riddle walks up the ramp to meet Dream. He grabs the goblet Dream was sipping from, takes a drink and throws it away.
Riddle grabs Dream’s mic and says he’ll see him in New York, bro.

1 cool point for Riddle. He manages to walk the line between being carefree and dangerous quite well. With his calm, laid back, RVD-like presence outside of the ring, it’s important that he do exactly the opposite once his match is underway. Riddle was thrown off by Dream’s appearance, but not enough to cost him the match.

That’s as much a comment on Riddle’s resiliency as it is Reeves’ inability to seize the moment and make his mark.
Riddle & Dream are two of the most celebrated nXt stars, and that match will have the entire Barclays Center cheering them on. Face vs. face.

Another official theme song for Takeover: New York is “Are You Ready” by Disturbed.

Main Event- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Ricochet & Aleister Black vs. Forgotten Sons

As usual, Jaxson Ryker is at ringside. Official introductions provided for this match. Crowd’s hyped and has lots to say and chant so far.

Highlights include:

Cool showdown between all 4 men, where Ricochet and Black beat up on Cutler & Blake on the outside. Black shows off his high kicks and Ricochet with a corkscrew splash to take out both men. They pose on adjacent corners for the crowd to admire.

Ricochet intends to do a handspring move off the ropes, but Ryker pushes him in the back, from the floor below, and stops Ricochet’s progress. Tide turns, allowing Blake to hit him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. 2 count.
Cutler prevents Ricochet from stretching to Black for the tag. Pretty neat move by Cutler, bouncing Ricochet’s legs off the ropes and then dropping him for a backbreaker. Quick double team attack for another 2 count.

Rear chinlock by Cutler on Ricochet slows down the pace and cues the audience to clap for Ricochet to break free. He does. Front roll and a dropkick. Ricochet leaps for the tag, but Black is pulled off the apron by Blake on the outside.
Blake accidentally launches Ricochet directly to Black for the open tag. Black lets loose with loud leg and knee strikes. Springboard moonsault wipes out both Cutler & Blake for a 2 count.

Double underhook backbreaker for Black. Cutler gets a 2 count only.
Ricochet leaps over Cutler, who was holding Black on his shoulders, to hit Blake with a hurricanrana.
Nasty lariat by Blake on Ricochet. He gets a meteora for his efforts from Black. Fans cheer loudly for that.

The Final Flurry

Numerous suplex counters by Blake and Ricochet, only getting their opponent up about 40% of the way. Finally, Ricochet executes a twisting, vertical suplex. Crowd chants his name. Ricochet climbs the turnbuckle, flips out of what he had planned and lands on his feet. He ascends the opposite turnbuckle, almost gets frankensteinered, but he lands on his feet. Blake didn’t connect! He’s stunned.

Euro uppercut! Ricochet is elbowed to break the hold. Black tags in for some tandem offense, but Cutler pushes Ricochet into his partner to interrupt the pinfall attempt.
Backstabber by Blake, joined by a flying elbow drop by Cutler. 1-2- Ricochet breaks the count!

Powerbomb throw by Blake into the knees of Cutler, sitting on the top turnbuckle. Ricochet’s out, but Black’s in. Blake goes for the powerbomb, throws Black up to land on Blake’s knees. Close pinfall attempt near the ropes, but Black gets a foot up. Ryker tries to push the foot away, but the referee catches him. Ryker’s tossed from ringside.

Black Mass on Blake. Black flies from the turnbuckle to the outside to take out Cutler. Meanwhile, 630 splash by Ricochet gets them the match victory and the tournament championship!

Winners of the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic:
Ricochet & Aleister Black via pinfall in 17 minutes

Confetti falls from the rafters, as Black & Ricochet celebrate with that massive trophy standing in the centre of the ring.

War Raiders approach the ring, nXt Tag Team Title Belts over their shoulders, and they face off with the tournament champs to close the show.

Let me begin by saying how sad it is that some of the heavy wrestling moves witnessed in tonight’s match seem to be merely a brief disturbance towards the final outcome. There were numerous times where all 4 of these guys executed an offensive move that would have believably won them the match. There’s no way these guys should be moving as well as they are, following some of the kicks, knee strikes, suplexes, etc.

Peace!

To help you prepare for nXt TakeOver, be sure to tune in to “The Doc Says” on LOPRadio next week. I’ll be talking state of nXt and TO: New York with him. Click the link in the “Radio” section for details.
Follow @JCoolLOP

Catch up on nXt results: nXt Results- March 20, 2019 (Fatal Five-Way)
nXt Results- March 13, 2019 (Dusty Classic Semis)

Have a take on what promises to be the high point in North American pro wrestling this year? Join the . There, you have plenty of opportunities to write your own columns, join in the discussions and meet a lot of great wrestling fans. Do it.