NXT TAKEOVER NEW ORLEANS
NORTH AMERICAN LADDER MATCH: This was everything you’d want from the multiman ladder match. Everybody in the match got their own chance to shine and they managed to come up with some cool, innovative spots. I felt Cole needed the win given his relative lack of success after War Games, so in my opinion this was the right result. But given that everybody looked so good in the match, I don’t think you could have gone too far wrong on the night putting the belt on any of the six.
EMBER MOON vs. SHAYNA BASZLER: I thought this was a big improvement over their first match. Baszler for the most-part seemed more comfortable and the story and layout of the match was obviously a lot better. They had a tough act to follow, so in some ways this over-delivered, given Shayna’s experience level and the negative opinion towards their first match.
UNDISPUTED ERA vs. AUTHORS OF PAIN vs. PETE DUNNE and RODERICK STRONG: Having this and the ladder match on the same show and putting this second, I really wasn’t into seeing another multiman cluster at the start. Everybody worked really hard and it had enough cool moments that it ended up being worthwhile though. Didn’t see the Strong turn coming. I wasn’t keen on the idea of Undisputed Era winning a tournament they weren’t in, but the way they did it, strangely, makes it more palatable for me.
ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS vs. ALEISTER BLACK: Really good match that picked up considerably as it went on. The callbacks to previous Almas title defences were all really well done and the payoff of the finish seemed to really work for people. Black winning seemed the right call to me. Almas had a much better run than could probably have reasonably been expected, for pure match quality it’s up there with any NXT Title reign.
JOHNNY GARGANO vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA: I had some issues with the storyline heading into this, with yet another firing angle, but apparently nobody in the building was that bothered by it because the atmosphere for this was fantastic. This felt like a grudge match and was worked like a grudge match, the crowd played their part and the result was what I’m sure will be a memorable main event. With Gargano winning, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another, different match between these two next Takeover.
NXT APRIL 11TH 2018
Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans
Evans’s character has been starting to take form over the past couple of months. Before, she just had the look and nothing else was fleshed out, now she’s got a complete package to work with. This might have been the longest match she’s been in so far and she did a solid job. There were a couple of minor moments where it seemed like they might not be on the same page, but they were quickly recovered. Evans dominated most of the match to set up a Sane comeback and win with the InSane Elbow. Sane presumably needs the win for an imminent title challenge, but the next step for Evans will be giving her some victories. At the moment, she’s doing a lot of calling people out and then losing.
Recap of the North American Championship Ladder Match.
Dusty Classic Final recap with the turn of Roderick Strong. Cathy tried to interview Undisputed Era after the match about why Strong had joined them. Strong stopped Cole from explaining, saying he had this, then whispered something to Cole and the four of them left without saying anything more. AOP’s appearance on Raw and them leaving Ellering behind was then shown, before they showed a WWE.com interview with the two explaining that this wasn’t about Paul, before Ellering asked what they were thinking and Rezar told him that his chapter had ended in NXT.
Gargano versus Ciampa got the full big match theatrical recap treatment, with the footage of both of the entrances being shown before the highlights of the match.
Recap of Ember versus Shayna. Kayla interviewed Shayna afterwards, saying this wasn’t a bandwagon it was a war wagon, people didn’t get to jump on just because she was holding the belt and she knew who was with her from the beginning and who wasn’t. She was asked about Ronda’s, at the time, upcoming match and said it was just another weekend and this was where they’d lived and breathed the whole time they’d known each other. Shayna said NXT was going to change, it was going to be about who could wrestle and that’s what she was going to do. They then showed Ember debuting on Raw and an interview with Ember and Nia after the match. Ember was asked about not being able to get redemption on Shayna, with Ember saying her biggest regret was leaving the monster with the rest of the NXT women’s division, but she knew how strong they were and she knew they’d overcome and dethrone Shayna.
Last recap was on Almas against Black.
No Way Jose appearing on Raw was also shown, as was Peyton and Billie debuting on Smackdown.
Heavy Machinery vs. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss
These two have had some a couple of matches on TV this year. Their first one in January was surprisingly fun, their second match in February was more about storyline progression. This one took a while to really get going, but by the end it really didn’t matter about the match. The crowd got into Dozovic making a big comeback with repeated corner splashes to both opponents and when he hit the Caterpillar to Sabbatelli. The match would merely be a backdrop for a debut though, as Hanson and Rowe would end up hitting the ring and laying both teams out, with their new team name War Raiders.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: You don’t really need to see either match on this week’s show, but the Gargano/Ciampa recap video was cool.
NXT WEEK: Johnny Gargano makes his ‘official return’ and a rematch between Lars Sullivan and Killian Dain.