Dear God,
Me again. I know that I lashed out at you over the three sisters segment several weeks ago. You were probably saving an innocent person from being butchered like Texas ham (or Chicago I guess), but I couldn’t get past my selfishness. But for the last two weeks, you’ve given us fans a reason to be proud wrestling people. First with NJPW’s Dominion, the return of the insanity known as Lucha Underground, and now NXT Takeover: Chicago. Thank you, very much good sir.
So Tomasso Ciampa is an asshole. The guy is so deplorable at the moment that if you punched your father to release your anger over his actions, then your actions are rightly justified (I don’t think the cops would feel the same way though. Happy Father’s Day!). Ciampa is arguably the best heel in the world at the moment and I feel the time is right to give him the NXT Championship. His match with Johnny Gargano was another gem. I personally felt this was slightly better than there match at New Orleans. However, I wouldn’t argue with someone if they enjoyed the New Orleans match more. I know that this is the PG era, but I feel that the inclusion of blood would have been a nice wrinkle to add to this match. Nevertheless, this was still a strong match and the story of Gargano’s emotions getting the best of him was well told.
Undisputed Era vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch was arguably the best WWE tag team match this year. Burch and Lorcan have always been great but were mostly enhancement guys until recently. Honestly, I’m having such a hard time deciding if this or the Velveteen Dream/Ricochet match was the second-best match on the show because they both were just so damn good.
Speaking of the Dream/Ricochet match, holy [frick]ing shit, what a fun ride! It’s so great to see how Dream has transformed into one of the most entertaining acts in the company. I pray that Vince “gets” the Dream act when he arrives on the main roster, but I won’t hold my breath. Both guys were fantastic and I look forward to seeing the direction they go in next.
Nikki Cross vs. Shayna Baszler was fun. It was no Ember Moon/Asuka, but the antics of Cross are consistently entertaining and Baszler’s performance continues to pass my expectations as well. The ending seemed to tease another match between the two, which I’m not against whatsoever.
Keith Lee is finally in NXT! If you have no clue who the person with the hairline to be jealous of is, then you’re definitely in for a treat.
Last, but certainly not least, Aleister Black vs. Lars Sullivan was good despite that big botch with the Black Mass. Look, Sullivan feels like generic powerful big man number 152. There’s only so many of these wrestlers you can have on your roster. There needs to be something added to his character to make him stand out from the crowd. However, the guy had a good match with Black.
Black is in a weird situation as I don’t feel he needs to be NXT champion. The guy has star written all over him and as I mentioned previously, I feel Tomasso Ciampa should be the next NXT champion. I would have Ciampa win at Brooklyn, distract Gargano with a side feud as Ciampa has his reign, and then these two can clash again in January with the title on the line.
Once again, NXT Takeover is a show worth going out of your way to see. Every match is different and has a purpose. The only thing bad about this show was the missed Black Mass in the NXT title match, but those two recovered very quickly from that. Was this better than New Orleans? No, but this was still a damn good show. NXT continues its streak of proving why it’s the best brand in the WWE.
So what do you think? Do you agree? Or do you think I’m an idiot who’s wrong about everything? Feel free to comment below. Follow me at
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