NXT Takeover: Chicago II Results

Here are the main happenings from last night’s NXT Takeover: Chicago at the AllState Arena.

Vic Joseph replaced the absent Mauro Ranallo on commentary and although nobody can bring Ranallo’s level of energy, excitement and knowledge to a broadcast, he did a reasonable job.

Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong retained the NXT Tag Team Titles when they beat Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan in arguably the match of the night.

This was a career best performance for Lorcan and Burch who were treated as the heels by the Chicago crowd who reacted far stronger to The Undisputed Era during their entrance and the early going, but the sheer quality of the match turned them around to the point that they gave Lorcan and Burch a standing ovation at the end. Adam Cole was at ringside for most of the bout but was ejected by the referee after he broke up a pinfall. O’Reilly and Strong won after a Total Elimination-style finish on Burch. All four men worked at a laser-fast pace throughout.

Ricochet pinned Velveteen Dream after the 720 splash in a good match. Dream came out dressed like Hulk Hogan doing all of Hogan’s mannerisms and poses.

The story of the match was Dream trying to one-up Ricochet for athleticism and although he obviously couldn’t, he gave it the old college try. The match ended after Dream tried to leap the entire length of the ring with the Purple Rainmaker and missed, and Ricochet hit the 720. The right result for establishing Ricochet as a player in NXT.

During the show Kairi Sane, EC3 and most notably, Keith Lee were shown in the crowd.

Shayna Baszler retained the NXT Women’s Title when she made Nikki Cross pass out to the Kirifuda Clutch. A decent story-based match, with Cross showing no fear to Baszler early and almost beating her with her finisher before she got caught in the submission. Cross smiled before passing out so the story was that although ‘The Queen of Spades’ retained, she was pushed to the limit and confused by Nikki’s refusal to be intimidated.

Aleister Black retained the NXT Championship pinning Lars Sullivan after a third Black Mass.

As good a match as could be expected. Black got a great reaction coming out and came back from a Sullivan mauling to retain.

Tommaso Ciampa defeated Johnny Gargano in a dramatic, super-heated and creative Chicago Streetfight.

Candice LeRae came out at the start with a crutch and instead of continuing the story of trying to talk her husband out of going too far, she gave him the crutch and with it her blessing to “kick his ass”!

There were all kinds of weapon shots and brutality but the match really came alive for the finish, which mirrored what happened at Takeover: Chicago last year when Ciampa helped Gargano up the ramp then turned on his then tag team partner. ‘The Sicilian Psychopath’ did the same thing, trash talking to his former best friend all the way, then ripped off Johnny’s wedding ring and spat on it, tossing it away! Then Gargano turned the tables with a White Noise through a table. Ciampa did a full stretcher and neck brace job, echoing what happened to Gargano at his hands on NXT TV a few weeks ago, but Johnny tipped him off the stretcher and dragged him back to the ring. A wild-eyed Johnny Wrestling, realising what Ciampa had done with his wedding ring, fought off officials and the ref, handcuffed Tommaso and applied the crossface but the ref wasn’t there as Ciampa tapped out. The suited officials again tried to prise him off his mortal enemy but after flattening them all again, Gargano got caught by Ciampa who DDTd him on the wooden ring boards he’d exposed earlier in the match. His hands cuffed behind his back, the Psycho Killer collapsed on Johnny for the three count. The show ended with Ciampa hobbling up the ramp, smiling sickly in celebration, before he turned to do his patented wave goodbye at the stricken Gargano.

This feud must continue! Hurray!

Although there have been better, this was still the usual strong NXT Takeover. But what did you think? Let us know! Comment below!

• ricochet
• johnny gargano
• Aleister Black
• adam cole
• shayna baszler
• Danny Burch
• kyle o'reilly
• Roderick Strong
• Vic Joseph
• mauro ranallo
• Oney Lorcan
• Velveteen Dream
• candice lerae
• Hulk Hogan
• Lars Sullivan
• Tommaso Ciampa
• nikki cross
• nxt

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