Kevin’s NXT TakeOver: New Orleans Review

The show starts with shots of the crowd in the dark, though there are a bunch of gold glowsticks around. The band Cane Hill, who provided the TakeOver theme, performs live over a video package hyping the show.

NXT North American Championship Ladder Match: Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream

Dream has every opponent painted on his tights, but they’re wearing shades. ole and Dream jump Ricochet and dump him outside. EC3 calmly exited on his own. Dream and Cole get dumped out, leaving Lars and Dain to collide. EC3 cheers them on from the apron, so they decide to work together and corner him. It leads to everyone brawling outside. Ricochet takes them all out with a springboard shooting star press and then retrieves the first ladder. Dream fights him off in the ring, but gets overwhelmed with Ricochet’s wild athleticism. Ricochet tries another springboard but Dream cuts him off and he crashes hard. Cole pulls Dream off the ladder. They trade shots and Cole stomps away in hte corner. Enziguri keeps Dain off the apron. Over the knee neckbreaker by Cole. EC3 enters and catches Cole with a jawbreaker. He knocks Lars off the apron. Stinger splash by EC3, followed by a neck snap on Cole. Lars clotheslines him down and avalanches Cole. Popup powerslam on Cole and body slam on EC3. Dain sends Lars outside and hits a tope suicida. Inside, Dain gets Dream on his shoulders and catches Ricochet, but Cole kicks him down. Those four trade shots. They get joined by EC3, but Lars takes them all out by throwing a ladder at them. He rams it into Dain, Cole, EC3 and then does a Terry Funk style ladder spot on everyone else. He throws Dain into a ladder in the corner. He press slams Dream onto a ladder. Lars climbs to boos. Ricochet greets him up top to a huge pop. He wants a sunset flip bomb off it ,but Lars blocks. EC3 and Dream help. Still not enough, Cole climbs up and punches Lars down to complete the move. Cole realizes he’s alone only for Dain to pull him down. He talks smack, so Dain drops him. Ricochet charges, but Dain back body drops him onto a corner ladder. EC3 hits a facebuster off the ladder on Dain. EC3 and Cole form a temporary alliance to team up on larger opponents. They get a huge ladder and bridge it over the apron and announce table. They send Dain into it. The alliance ends when EC3 does a BAYBAY of his own. Cole starts firing off sueprkicks galore. Ricochet takes the best one as he comes off the top. Cole correctly does a BAYBAY. Cole still gets prevented from grabbing the title. Dream hits a HUGE Purple Rainmaker on Dain from across the ring. He adds another onto Cole. Dream adds a third onto the back of Ricochet’s head. Lars traps Dream in the corner behind a ladder, so he throws it at Lars when he charges in. Dream climbs the ladder for the biggest Purple Rainmaker yet and hits it on Lars to a huge ovation. EC3 prevents Dream from getting the title with a powerbomb off the ladder onto another ladder in the corner. EC3 hits weird offense that gets no reaction on both Dain and Lars. He climbs but Cole pulls him down. They battle on the ladder and EC3 delivers a TKO off it. Dain stops EC3 from winning and hits a bicycle kick. Dain throws Cole to the corner and slams EC3 down. He puts a ladder on EC3 and crushes him with a BIG BOY SENTON. Dain wants a Vader Bomb but Cole stops him. He hops on Dain’s back, who still does the Vader Bomb. Time for Ricochet to go wild, as he hits everything moving. He’s in with Lars and Dain. Lars launches him across the ring. Not to be outdone, Dain grabs Ricochet and throws him back to Lars. Ricochet bumps wildly on it and falls outside. Lars and Dain collide. Dain wins out at first, but Lars catches his cross body with a powerslam. Ricochet returns to try and stop Lars from climbing. He gets him down adn kicks him in the head. Ricochet climbs. Lars tilts the ladder backward, so Ricochet just moonsaults off onto Cole and Dain outside. Ricochet and EC3 fight and EC3 gets laid out on a ladder. Ricochet hits him with a shooting star press. Ricochet climbs but Dream interrupts. He misses a shot with the ladder and it gets stuck in the corner. Ricochet delivers a right hand. They position the ladder as a bridge in between the turnbuckle and the open ladder in the middle of the ring. Dream drapes Ricochet on the bridge and climbs. Ricochet hits him as he gets to the top. Ricochet trips him onto the bridge but gets kicked in the gut. Dream puts Ricochet on his shoulders for the rolling DVD and they HIT IT. Outside, Lars clotheslines Dream. He lays Dream down on the bridge outside. EC3 tries hitting him, but Lars pulls him onto the apron. He hits EC3 with the Freak Accident onto Dream and through that ladder. Dain puts Ricochet on the other bridged ladder outside. Cole stops him and they fight on the apron. Dain does some kind of driver onto Ricochet and the  ladder, which also meant he sat on Ricochet as it broke. Lars comes close to winning but Dain is up top with him. EC3 stops both with a ladder of his own. He sets one up next to the big men and climbs with Cole. Dream tries getting involved and is sent back. He sets up a third ladder and Ricochet climbs with him. They all fight. Dream comes closest to winning. He wails on Ricochet, who responds with a huge neckbreaker. Lars then delivers an avalanche Freak Accident to Dain. Lars climbs but Ricochet springboards onto him and it causes the ladder to snap. Ricochet climbs, but the ladder gets knocked over by Adam Cole. He climbs and wins.

Winner and First NXT North American Champion: Adam Cole in 31:16

A wild match filled with crazy spots. Some say it was just a spot fest because they only seemed to go for big moves rather than the title. A closer look shows that they went for the title early and kept getting cut off, so they took to trying to end one another. Fantastic. [****1/2]

Backstage, Andrade Almas warms up.

NXT Women’s Championship: Ember Moon [c] vs. Shayna Baszler

Ember gets a live performance for her entrance. Ronda Rousey and Jessamyn Duke are in the crowd. Ember charges with the dropkick but Shayna had it scouted. She moves and punches Ember. Ember pulls her outside and dropkicks her into the steps. Inside, Ember hits a leaping Codebreaker for two. They fight outside, where Shayna catches an Ember kick and slams her on the apron. Inside, Shayna wants the arm, but Ember fights her off. Gutwrench from Shayna. Kick gets two. Ember fights out of her grasp with a head scissors. Handspring forearm by Ember but Shayna responds with a corner knee. Ember rolls her up for two. Shayna hits another knee for two. Shayna takes a kickout and turns it into a submission. Ember fights off and breaks it by slamming onto her back and squashing Shayna. Ember avoids Shayna and fires off knees and strikes. Dropkick connects. Modified suplex and kip up by the champ. She hits a sliding facebuster of sorts for two. Ember gets Shayna in position and stomps on it the way Shayna did to Dakota Kai. Shyana showed fear for the first time ever. Ember climbs up, but Shayna hits the ropes to crotch her. Shayna’s left arm is done. In a badass move, Shayna goes to the corner and uses the ringpost to pop her shoulder back into place. Ember knocks Shayna to the outside and comes off the top with the Eclipse on the outside! Both women manage to beat the count back in. Shayna catches Ember in the choke, but Ember pulls on Shayna’s bad arm to break it. As she fights, Shayna traps her in a triangle choke. Ember fights out with a powerbomb and gets two. Shayna blocks the next Eclipse spot in mid air and puts on the choke. Ember tugs on the arm several times, so Shayna resorts to using one arm to keep hold. Ember fights hard and refuses to quit. Finally, he passes out.

Winner and New NXT Women’s Champion: Shayna Baszler in 12:55

Way better than their Philadelphia match. They told a tremendous story by calling back to their past matches and previous stuff Shayna had done, like the arm stomp spot. The finish was really cool. [****]

Paige gets a backstage promo to give us a preview of the upcoming movie about her life. The clip has The Rock in it.

Backstage, Adam Cole gets checked on and is in bad shape.

Aleister Black warms up backstage.

NXT Tag Team Championship and Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Undisputed Era [c] vs. The Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering vs. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong

Adam Cole slowly walks a bit behind O’Reilly. Kyle wears both Tag Titles, while Cole carries his new title. Jeff Jarrett and Goldust are shown in the crowd. AOP attacks UE to star the match. All six men brawl. Kyle eats a boot, while Cole gets worn out by Akam. Dunne is hip tossed over and out by Dunne. Kyle is left alone with TAOP, who hit a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo. Cole makes the save. Cole gets thrown outside and AOP set up the Spanish announce table. Strong runs in but is kicked. AOP double powerbomb Cole through the table, even after he fought out. Kyle takes out Akam with a big knee and adds a boot to Rezar. Strong eats a knee, but Dunne stops Kyle’s momentum with a hanging Kimura. Kyle gets out into an armbar. Dunne escapes. Kyle kicks and slaps him around. Strong hits both AOP members as they come in.Kyle knocks one out, then eats a backbreaker. Kyle manages to catch Strong in a triangle choke, while also grabbing an AOp member in an ankle lock. The other AOP member powerbomb Dunne onto Kyle to break things up. Things calm down into a more traditional tag. Kyle eats a German and fires up, but immediately falls outside in a delayed spot. AOP manhandle Strong in the corner. Kyle returns and interrupts the Last Chapter. Strong kicks AOP around and wants to tag Dunne. Kyle stops him. Strong kicks him back and Dunne gets the hot tag. he lights up Akam with strikes and a knee. Kyle knees him. Dunne flips over and has a German blocked. He lands on his feet on a German and kicks Kyle in the neck. He catches Rezar with a swinging DDT. Dunne and Kyle exchange vicious strikes until Akam wipes them out with lariats. Kyle gets dropped with the Last Chapter, but Strong breaks up the pin. He hits a knee. Dunne snaps Rezar’s fingers. Strong hits him with a knee and adds the Olympic Slam for two. Strong hits Kyle with a backbreaker on the apron. Dunne adds a double stomp. Strong and Dunne attack Rezar with knees. Tandem Bitter End hits, but Akam stops the pin. More awesome back and forth from Dunne and Kyle. Dunne hits Bitter End but Strong stomps on Dunne’s head to break the pin. END OF HEARTACHE! He puts Kyle on Dunne and that’s it.

Winners and Still NXT Tag Team Champions: The Undisputed Era in 11:33

Good, but not great. It was hard to get into the chaotic feel of this after the opener. The turn was one I didn’t see coming, so that was cool. [***1/4]

Cole and Kyle don’t seem to know what happened. Strong puts on the Undisputed Era armband and hands them the titles, before raising their arms. Bobby Fish joins them on crutches and they all do the UE pose.

Nita Strauss is shown in the audience.

NXT Championship: Andrade Almas [c] w/ Zelina Vega vs. Aleister Black

Almas wears the mask for his entrance. BIG MATCH IDOLO. Black explodes out of the gate and they trade blows. Black fires off kicks and chops, sending Almas to regroup outside. Black does his quebrada and nearly hurts himself. He then hits a moonsault to the outside on Almas. Black wants a modified octopus hold and struggles to apply it. He finally does but turns it into a pin for two. Almas regroups again. Black sends Almas back in and Vega takes him out with a leaping head scissors into teh steep steps. That only gets two. Almas sends Black into the post and stomps away. Split chants. Almas hits a hanging reverse DDT on his knee. Almas wears Black down. He fights out and they trade boots. Almas goes up for a spinning reverse DDT but Black fights off. Almas catches him with the draping armbar. They trade shots inside with Black hitting kicks. He runs over Almas and delivers a driving knee. Almas gets hit with the quebrada for two. Black goes up and Almas cuts him off. Black lbocks a sunset bomb and avoids the driving knees. Almas manages to catch him with a snap German. Almas delivers the always cool double moonsault for two. They trade blows again, with Almas avoiding kicks. He catches Black with a vicious back elbow for one. Black hits a bicycle knee for two. They hit each other with a stereo forearm, chop, and kick. Both are down. Almas uses Black’s momentum against him to send him to teh corner. Black intercepts the corner knees. He hits a kick and wants the quebrada again, but Almas has it scouted and dumps him outside. Almas then catches him with a springboard corkscrew plancha. Inside, he gets two. Vega takes the title and gives it to Almas. He brings it in and the referee disposes of it. Vega sneaks in with a spike rana that gets Almas two. Black blocks the Hammerlock DDT and pulls him into a pin for two. As Almas gets up, Black hits Black Mass. But, he’s too close to the ropes, so Vega puts Almas’ foot on the bottom rope. Vega gets involved again. Black kicks her away, but Almas stillg ets the opening to trap him in the corner. Almas climbs up and hits the diving double stomp onto the hanging Black. Back inside, Almas adds the double knees for two. Black avoids the Hammerlock DDT and takes a brutal dropkick to the back of the head. They fight on the apron. Black ends up resting on the post and Almas hits the driving knees like he did against Gargano. Almas wants the draping Hammerlock DDT, but Black counters and sends him outside. Black takes out Almas with a tope con hilo. he sends Almas inside, but is met with the Hammerlock DDT for another wild near fall. Vega comes off the top but Black ducks. Almas catches her and Black delivers Black Mass to win.

Winner and New NXT Champion: Aleister Black in 18:18

Almas does it again. Another tremendous match. They had the right amount of near falls and close calls. The finish was again great, as bringing Zelina into play was perfect for Almas’ story. [****1/2]

Unsanctioned Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa comes out to no music, just boos. “Fuck you Ciampa” chants. They have a staredown before trading blows immediately. Gargano wins out until Ciampa sends him to the apron. Slingshot spear connects and Gargano wails on him. Ciampa fights back to boos. Gargano stomps away on Ciampa. He doesn’t stop. Ciampa gets sent into teh corner and clotheslined over the top. Gargano follows with a tope suicida. Outside, Ciampa gets thrown into a guardrail and into the crowd. Gargano leaps over with a cross body. Ciampa turns things around and hits a backbreaker. He removes the mats like this is an old school match. Gargano slips free of a suplex and nails a kick from the apron. He throws Ciampa over the announce table and into the commentators. The fans chant “MAMA MIA”. Gargano wants some kind of move on the table but Ciampa fights out and uses a monitor to help. Ciampa delivers a suplex off the table onto the floor. Ciampa takes the top of the broadcast table, and back suplexes Johnny onto it. Kick to the back. He drives Gargano’s face onto the apron. Ciampa throws Johnny into the corner, where he takes a flip bump. Gargano fights back slowly and they trade shots. Ciampa with another back suplex style slam and Johnny kicks out at one. Cloverleaf attempt from Ciampa but Gargano makes it to the rope. However, that won’t break it in this kind of match. Johnny fights halfway out of the ring and gets out. Ciampa viciously stomps on Johnny’s head as it hands off the apron. Ciampa basks in the crowd’s heat. He steals crutches from the crowd and waves bye bye at Johnny. He uses one to lift Johnny’s head. He goes to strike with it but Johnny ducks. he ducks a shot to the back and fights back. Ciampa kicks him and tries again. Johnny avoids and uses the rollup kick. They fight on the apron, with Ciampa blocking a slingshot DDT. He gets Johnny in position for the move he put him throug the table with back in Chicago onto the concrete. Johnny slips free and his a powerbomb onto the exposed concrete. “You deserve it” chants. They both make it inside and sit across from one another. The crutch is in the middle of the ring. They go after it and have a tug of war. Johnny wins out and Ciampa sells that beautifully. Johnny hits him in the ribs and back. He uses it on Ciampa’s injured knee. Ciampa ducks the next shot and sends Johnny outside. Ciampa reaches for him, but eats a crutch shot to the head. Slingshot DDT inside gets Johnny two. Johnny exposes the middle turnbuckle for the Lawn Dart. Ciapa escapes and sends him into the corner. He hoists him up and awkwardly drops him on the apron. Big back elbow form Ciampa. Johnny wants the slingshot spear but does it into a knee. Ciampa hits a torture rack blue thunder bomb  for two. Ciampa stalks Johnny and does the DIY taunt. He hits the knee to the back of the head, but Johnny kicks out. Johnny blocks a powerbmob attempt, so he gets clubbed a bunch for it. Johnny escapes and nails some lariats. “THIS IS MY MOMENT” shouts Johnny. He grabs Ciampa by the beard nad wailts on him. Johnny runs into a big lariat. Johnny escapes the Project Ciampa. he hits a reverse rana and applies the Gargano Escape. Ciampa fights and makes it to the ropes. No break. Johnny stomps on his head and rollsl it back over to the middle of the ring. Ciampa digs into Johnny’s eyes to break free. Ciampa removes his wrist tape and looks at Johny, noticing something. He tries choking Johnny, who blocks. They are kind of handcuffed together by the tape as they trade shots. Johnny begins to win until Ciampa kicks him low, severing their link. With Johnny hurt, Ciampa adds a crutch shot to the back. Project Ciampa connects, but Johnny somehow kicks out. A beaten Johnny crawls to a crouched Ciampa as the crowd is mostly silent. CIampa holds Johnny and say something to him. “THIS IS MY MOMENT!” Johnny slaps him around to fight back. Brutal slaps from Ciampa. His spinning forearm is met with a superkick. Clothesline from Johnny. Lawn Dart into the exposed buckle works this time. Ciampa ends up in perfect position for Johnny’s DIY portion of Meeting in the Middle. Johnny adds another, but Ciampa kicks out. Johnny goes up top and Ciampa meets him there. He sets up for a super belly to back piledriver, but Johnny fights free. Johnny sets for a super rana, but Ciampa hits a super Project Ciampa and yet that still wasn’t enough. Ciampa removes the knee pad as Johnny struggles to his knee. He goes for the knee, but Johnny catches him with his own knee brace. Johnny gets the crutch and stomps on it to break it in half. He holds the top half and goes to spike Ciampa, who cowers. Johnny stops because he can’t bring himself to do it. They stare at each other as Ciampa looks apologetic. Mauro calls back to their CWC match, where Ciampa didn’t pull the trigger. Johnny sits next to him. Ciampa tries using the brace for a cheap shot, but Johnny was ready and ducks. He applies the Gargano Escape, but transitions into an STF style move with the knee brace for added leverage. Ciampa taps.

Winner: Johnny Gargano in 37:00

Wow. These two absolutely delivered. It did go a bit too long and went overboard on some of the false finishes, but still told a spectacular story. Being linked together by the tape, the DIY callbacks, Ciampa going for the move he did to Johnny back at Chicago, and Johnny growing into the kind of person who won’t fall for Ciampa’s tricks anymore leading to the finish was tremendous. Not perfect, but close. [****3/4]

Candice LeRae joins Johnny in the ring for the celebration