Oh, What A Night – NXT Takeover: New Orleans Review, April 7, 2018

Adam Cole beats EC3, Ricochet, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan and The Velveteen Dream to become the first NXT North America Champion

Talk about a way to kick off the evening.

It’s hard to do a bad ladder match, but then it’s also hard to do one of, if not the most gripping ladder matches I have seen in my life.

You want high-flying spots? No Problem.

You want brutal ladder spots? Easy.

You want monstrous strength spots? Piece of cake.

This match had absolutely everything you could hope for and so much more. I am relatively new to the phenomenon of Ricochet, so seeing some of his incredible high-flying and selling was a treat to see.

The double ladder breaking spots were utterly brutal, and did you see Lars Sullivan at the end? I mean, he’s a completely terrifying human already, we don’t need to see him covered in blood – that’s just the stuff of nightmares.

There were about five times during this match when I thought the finish was seconds away, just to be proved wrong by a sequence of incredible wrestling.

I had EC3 to win this one, not that I wanted him to win, but it felt like something NXT could do to give one of their new stars a real boost.

On the subject of EC3 however, I have to admit that I wasn’t massively impressed by his WWE Network debut. His spots looked clunky, his selling wasn’t particularly convincing, and his move-set lacked… something.

Therefore, seeing Adam Cole climb that ladder was a welcome sight. He really was one of the MVPs of this match, although that could be said for most of the people in the ring, and belt just looks so good around his waist.

He’s charismatic, an incredible worker, and there were few people in the match that could have given the belt as much prestige as him. Despite being a heel, the crowd adores him, never failing to join in with the “Adam Cole Bay Bay!” chant.

I’m so excited to see who his first feud will be with because he’s capable of having amazing matches with anyone in that match.

If anyone had any doubt that this night of wrestling would be anything other than exceptional – this match would have erased all doubt.

• WrestleMania 34
• ricochet
• johnny gargano
• pete dunne
• Aleister Black
• Authors of Pain
• adam cole
• ember moon
• shayna baszler
• Bobby Fish
• andrade cien almas
• DIY
• kyle o'reilly
• Trending
• Roderick Strong
• The Undisputed Era
• Velveteen Dream
• WrestleTalkTV
• Lars Sullivan
• WrestleMania
• Tommaso Ciampa
• ec3
• Killian Dain
• nxt
• wwe

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