Adam Cole successfully defends his NXT Championship against Tommaso Ciampa with the aid of The Undisputed Era; and most importantly, Johnny Gargano
This match was great as the main event, despite me being worried about Ciampa’s neck every bump he took. The reason for this booking decision by Triple H might have been because he didn’t want to create another version of himself. Ciampa’s attitude surrounding the major title on the black and yellow brand was starting to become reminiscent of that of The Game back in the day; the attitude of “I need the title because that’s one of the only things I care about other than those I love.”
Ciampa’s obsession with Goldie was starting to turn him into another version of his boss. His longstanding rivalry with Johnny Gargano didn’t necessarily need to be resurrected to accomplish this, but I can’t complain because the entire WWE universe (including me) is extremely emotionally invested in Ciampa’s seemingly never-ending story and his ridiculous amount of chemistry with Gargano.
Adam Cole can, in my opinion, definitively say he is the greatest NXT Champion in history because he has now beaten the most recent champion. He is already at 261 days as NXT Champion, and he will pass Finn Balor’s record reign of 292 days before the next Takeover the night before WrestleMania on April 4. I was thinking he would defend the title at least one more time before then, but he now has a legitimate claim when he says he is the greatest champion in NXT history.
The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) lose the NXT Tag Team Championships to The Broserweights
Adam Cole is now the only champion left standing for The Undisputed Era. This title change was a case of two men in the form of Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne who have been working to improve their repertoires as performers for a long time. This statement holds true for them both in WWE and outside the company; fans have grown to have a great deal of respect for each of them. This is a great example of the phenomenon of “If you work hard enough, patiently and diligently, great things will eventually happen.”
Rhea Ripley retains her NXT Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair and is attacked after the match by Charlotte Flair; the WrestleMania match between Ripley and Flair is officially confirmed, and they can now solely focus on each other
One has to have a high level of respect for “The EST.” Several women on the main roster have publicly acknowledged that she is a superstar and the aura she creates is special, but this is The Nightmare’s time to shine. Rhea Ripley has truly connected with fans in a way that very few superstars can. She is so young, I could easily see her becoming a female version of Daniel Bryan, whereas the crowds have unwavering support for her.
Keith Lee retains his North American Championship against Dominik Dijakovic
The two big men kicked off Takeover: Portland with an unbelievable match that delivered everything the NXT universe has come to expect from them and just a little more; we saw a couple of moves that the universe has never seen from these guys – for example… a corkscrew moonsault from Dijakovic.
Lee just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, and he will one day become a massive star. As of now, he is much more over than Dijakovic simply because Dominik has not had a lot of time on the mic to give the audience an opportunity to get to know him and what he stands for. I have no doubt he can get there, but for now it was the right call to keep the North American Championship on Lee.
Finn Balor defeats Johnny Gargano, Dakota Kai defeats Tegan Nox
Both heels needed to win these matches to propel respective storylines forward and give them momentum to continue. If Gargano or Nox would have won, it could have been the end of their story and fans would no longer have a reason to care anymore. In the women’s match there was also the debut of a new superstar to NXT in Gonzalez, who is now firmly entrenched as a heel after helping out Kai. Another layer was successfully added to the story between the two women. The rivalry between Gargano and The Prince, however, is easily interesting enough by itself.