Every NXT Takeover of 2018 RANKED

5. NXT Takeover: Chicago II

Putting Takeover: Chicago II at the bottom spot on this list is a testament to how great these shows were. This show featured three great matches of Gargano vs. Ciampa, Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream, and Undisputed Era vs. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan.

Undisputed Era vs. Burch and Lorcan was maybe the most underrated tag team match of the year. The match had a difficult time at the start as the Undisputed Era were greatly popular despite being heels and Burch and Lorcan were relatively unknown. The match succeeded in spite of their difficult start as the rugged Burch and Lorcan had the best match of their careers with the uber-talented Undisputed Era.

Ricochet and Velveteen Dream had a great match centred around a game of one-upsmanship. Velveteen Dream tried his best to outperform Ricochet with high-flying moves but quickly learned that no one can outperform Ricochet. Eventually Ricochet was ables to hit his 630 splash and pin Velveteen Dream to pick up the win in a very athletic match.

Gargano and Ciampa’s match here was right in the middle of their year-long feud. Their Chicago Street Fight was a continuation of their brutal Unsanctioned match from the previous Takeover. Gargano’s dark side continued to manifest during this match as he was unable to stop himself from going back to attack a prone Ciampa. Eventually Ciampa was able to catch Gargano with a DDT on the exposed ring board to complete a great show.

The only things keeping this show from placing higher on this list were the quality of the Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki Cross and Aleister Black vs. Lars Sullivan matches. Black vs. Sullivan was a fun match but it was well below the standard of NXT Championship matches and Baszler vs. Cross may have been the worst Takeover match of the year (with the exception of Riddle vs. Ohno).

With that being said, this was a great show but it takes the spot as the bottom of this list.

• johnny gargano
• TakeOver
• nxt
• wwe

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