War Raiders are proving to be great NXT Tag Team Champions, so NXT’s Tag Team division looks to be in excellent hands. NXT truly is a special environment as evidenced by the fact that every superstar who leaves for the main roster seems to get emotionally choked up at their final Takeover event. Ricochet and Aleister Black are the two latest examples. Great things should be in store for them on the main roster.
Velveteen Dream had another excellent match with Matt Riddle. It was a good decision for Dream to keep his title due to his popularity as well as Matt Riddle being slightly new to the NXT universe. I am positive that Riddle is a future champion in NXT, but the universe will take a while to get acclimated to him.
Some superstars have the ability to come into an organization and resonate with fans very quickly and become champion in just a couple of months. This is not the case with Riddle, so Triple H made a very intelligent booking decision here.
It was incredibly shocking to see Walter dethrone Pete Dunne. Dunne held the title for nearly two years (as far as I am aware, only Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund have had longer WWE title reigns). As WWE’s NXT brand in the United Kingdom continues to grow, the significance of this title reign will begin to gain more prominence.
The NXT women’s division looks to be prospering, and Shayna Baszler is a good champion but not a great one. WWE has a very strong attraction to these UFC/Bellator types of people, probably because of how well Brock Lesnar has worked out.
Johnny Gargano has finally done it! It has been a long and tumultuous journey for him but I (and the entire NXT universe) is thrilled to see all of his hard work finally paying off.
It would not surprise me at all if Adam Cole ends up splitting from the Undisputed Era before the end of this calendar year.
Overall, Takeover: New York did not quite live up to the billing Adam Cole gave it as possibly being the greatest Takeover in the history of Takeover events. In my mind, Takeover: Phoenix was slightly better. Takeover: New York was still an excellent event and I have no complaints; it just probably wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen.