NXT TakeOver: Chicago II (June 2018)

Original Airdate: June 16, 2018

From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph, Percy Watson, and Nigel McGuinness

Opening NXT Tag Team Title Match: Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong v Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch: Everyone's wearing pretty generic short black tights here, which along with the dark mat color and darkened arena really gives this a cool throwback vibe. Strong and Lorcan start off, and they trade off on the mat with Strong dominating, but he runs into a backelbow as they criss cross. Both tag, and Kyle manages to headlock Burch down, but he gets slugged as they criss cross, and Lorcan comes in for a tandem backelbow. That draws Strong in, so the challengers tandem suplex him, then clothesline both heels over the top to clean house. The dust settles on Kyle trying to outfox Lorcan, but he can't match his speed. Burch hits Strong with a 2^nd rope flying dropkick, but gets dumped to the outside, where Kyle again uses his brains to distract Danny for Strong to baseball slide into. They unload on him in the corner on the way back in, and Kyle side suplexes him down into a leglock. The champs cut the ring in half on Burch, as Adam Cole cheers them on from ringside. Man, that North American title belt is MASSIVE on that dude. Just like oversized wristwatches, I know it's the trend now, but I always preferred more medium sizes. Not so small that they look dinky, but not so big that it looks almost comical. That North American's not even close to worst offender, though. Have you ever seen the old UFC Super Fight belt? Anyway, hot tag to Lorcan, and both champions end up on the outside for him to dive after with a somersault plancha. He tags Strong back in for a suplex, followed by a running uppercut for two. That brings Kyle back in, so Lorcan hits them both with a double somersault neckbreaker, and Burch comes in for a tandem spike DDT on Strong for two. They go for the kill, but Kyle shoves Lorcan off the top rope before he can dive at Strong, and he drops Burch with a brainbuster for two. Cross-armbreaker looks to finish Danny off, but he makes the ropes to save himself. The champs double up on him, but Danny manages to dump them both to the outside, where Lorcan dives off the apron with a double flying somersault neckbreaker! He rolls Kyle back in for an electric chair/flying backelbow combo, but Cole puts Kyle in the ropes at two to save! That gets Adam ejected by the referee, and allows the challengers to go for the kill with another tandem spike DDT, but Strong pulls Burch out to stop it, and Kyle is able to latch on with a guillotine choke to Lorcan! It looks to be all, but Lorcan manages a northern lights suplex to escape, so Strong comes in to try and get it done, but gets powerbombed into a cradle for two. Lorcan keeps on him with a half-crab, but Kyle comes in to save, so Burch cuts him off with a crossface. The 'both partners get trapped in side-by-side dramatic submissions' spot is almost becoming an NXT cliché, but it always gets a good pop, so I can see why they keep going back to the well. Kyle manages to kick Lorcan off while in the hold, leading to all four guys slugging it out, and Lorcan eats a Total Elimination at 16:03! This might have went on for a bit too long, but once it got past the heat segments it was just nonstop blistering action! *** ¼

Velveteen Dream v Ricochet: Dream comes out dressed like Hulk Hogan, which has to be more rib than tribute. Feeling out process to start, with lots of gymnastics mixed in with the usual stuff. Ricochet tries a springboard, but Dream shoves him off the top to block, and he unloads on Ricochet in the corner. Dream with a unique take on a slingshot somersault senton splash, followed by a neckbreaker for two. Ricochet fires back with an elbow, but Dream dumps him to the outside as he tries following up on it, and Dream dives after him with a springboard somersault senton. Another unique interpretation on that one. It gets two on the way back in, so Dream grounds him in a chinlock, but Ricochet escapes. He tries dumping Dream to the outside repeatedly, but Dream keeps hanging on, so Ricochet tries a leg-feed enzuigiri, but Dream ducks that as well. Ricochet responds with a dropkick to finally successfully knock Dream to the outside, and he capitalizes with a tope. Corkscrew moonsault suicida follows (cool spot, but he didn't really stick the landing), and a springboard flying backelbow on the way back in is worth two. Ricochet with a neckbreaker and a shooting star press for two, so Dream tries dumping him, but now it's Ricochet's turn to hold on. They fight up tot he top rope, with Dream able to get the better of it with a death valley driver down to the mat for two! Dream goes back up, but Ricochet manages to knock him down to the apron, only to have an attempt at vertical superplexing him to the floor get reversed! Both guys struggle to beat the count in, and Dream strikes first with a cartwheel death valley driver for two! They stagger up into a slugfest, which turns into a reversal sequence that sees Dream land a superkick, but get smacked back with a bicycle kick. Ricochet sends him flipping to the mat with a clothesline, but Dream drops him with a DDT for two before any follow-up can happen. Dream trash talks him, allowing Ricochet to hit his own cartwheel death valley driver, and a flying elbowdrop follows for two! He goes back up, but Dream starts rolling across the ring to get away from him, so Ricochet decides to dive anyway with a long distance shooting star press - only for Dream to lift his knees to block for two! Everything about that was tremendous! Dream goes up and tries his own long distance dive, but Ricochet is able to move, and Dream wipes out. That allows Ricochet to go back up, and his INSANE 630 senton finish at 22:12! There was no shortage of crazy spots here, but they also told a good story around all flying around, though parts of this felt too choreographed for its own good. *** ½

NXT Women's Title Match: Shayna Baszler v Nikki Cross: Nikki acts generally psychotic at the bell, barely able to control her glee as Shayna takes her down, then barking like a dog and nipping at the champion's heels. Stop thinking, and start stomping! Nikki uses the crazy eyes to psych Shayna into a sleeper, and she dumps her to the outside, where she sandwiches the champ between the apron and the ring skirt for some pounding. Another sleeper out there, but Shayna drops back to drive her challenger into the ramp to force a break, then takes her in to hit with a knee for two. Baszler goes to work, but Nikki seems to be enjoying the punishment, throwing Shayna off her game. That allows Cross to side suplex her, and a Thesz-press puts Baszler down for some mounted punches. Nikki unloads in the corner, and she goes up with a flying bodypress for two. Shayna bails to the apron, but that strategy backfires when the challenger drops her with an inverted DDT out there, then rolls her in for two. Swinging neckbreaker, but Shayna fights her off with a knee for two, and grabs the chinlock, but Cross falls into the turnbuckles to shake her off. That allows her to hit an elevated neckbreaker out of the corner, but Shayna's in the ropes at two. Nikki responds with a crucifix cradle, but Baszler counters with her chinlock/bodyscissors combo until Cross passes out with a smile on her face at 9:28! This was a weird little match, but Nikki chewing the scenery was certainly entertaining. * ½

NXT Title Match: Aleister Black v Lars Sullivan: Black stuns him with kicks at the bell, managing to knock his challenger to the outside, where the champ dives off the apron with a double kneesmash. Back in, Black hits a bicycle kick for two, and goes to a fujiwara armbar, but Sullivan escapes. Sullivan absorbs some strikes and dumps Black to the outside, but Lars gets reversed into the post out there, and Black dives off the middle with a flying moonsault press - caught in a snake-eyes across the apron for his troubles! Sullivan with an avalanche for two on the way back in, and a few forearm shots get two. He grounds the champion in a chinlock, so Black escapes and tries a schoolboy, but Sullivan powers him into a slam instead for two. Pop-up front-powerslam gets two, so Lars goes up with a flying splash, but Black lifts his knee to block. I like the way Sullivan dives off the top, just dropping in an almost flop-like motion instead of leaping. Black starts making a comeback, and a springboard moonsault press gets him two, but Sullivan clips the leg to avoid a flurry of kicks. That allows Lars to wrench the leg to try for a submission, but Black reverses the momentum against him for two. Sullivan responds with a uranage, but Black counters with a DDT on the way down, and they fight out to the apron, where Black starts kicking at him, but ends up getting front-powerslammed on the apron. Sullivan with a flying headbutt for two on the way back in, but Black dodges a spear, and spinkicks him for two. The move missed by a good two feet, but Sullivan was kind enough to sell it for him anyway, bless his heart. That looked horrible. Black with a series of kicks, before finishing with another spinkick at 14:09. This was okay. It would have been severely disappointing as a main event, but since it isn't, it wasn't. **

Main Event: Chicago Street Fight: Johnny Gargano v Tommaso Ciampa: Wife Candice LeRae gives Johnny a jagged shard of a crutch to use as a weapon as he makes his way to the ring, and Ciampa brings a crutch as well. I would have given this a standing ovation in my own home if she had put it in a brown paper bag with his name on it for him. Ciampa charges in for a dueling crutches, but quickly gets knocked to the outside, where Johnny superkicks him, and hits a flying somersault senton off the apron! He VIOLENTLY throws Ciampa into the announce table with such enthusiasm that he takes out one of the commentators in the process, but he doesn't even bat an eye, staying right on his man. They spill into the crowd, where Ciampa manages to take control, but gets distracted by a fan waving a pro-Gargano sign in his face. He snatches it away, but has trouble tearing it, and Johnny jumps him. Turns out there was a stop sign sandwiched in the middle of the papers, and Gargano beats him with it for a while, then dives off a platform with a flying bodypress. They brawl back to the ring, but Ciampa ducks a swing with a trashcan lid, and drops Gargano with a German suplex. He stomps on Johnny's head from there, but Gargano keeps slugging at him, so Ciampa decides to use a rolling German suplex on him. He gets through three alarms, but Gargano reverses a fourth, and Ciampa bails - only to get blasted with a tope! Poor guy nearly ended up bumping to the top of the aisle off of that one! Johnny throws him into the steps next, but gets kicked in the brain while looking for another weapon, and Ciampa throws him into the barricade. I like how both guys bothered to wear street clothes for this, as opposed to their regular gear. Ciampa grabs a chair and drills Johnny in the gut with it, then wraps it around his head before throwing him into the steps - Gargano's head and throat getting brutally wedged between the seat and the back on impact. Ciampa whacks him with a trashcan next, then puts Johnny on the steps - chucking the trashcan at his head. Inside, Ciampa pulls off his t-shirt to choke Gargano with, then pops him with a catapult underneath the bottom turnbuckle! Ciampa pulls out a pair of handcuffs next, and tries to cuff Johnny to the top rope, but Gargano fights him off with an enzuigiri, and a slingshot spear. Whenever guys have those weapons stored underneath the ring, it always makes me wonder if they're given ten minutes each before the show to hide their plunder, like Easter eggs. I mean, why else would handcuffs be underneath the ring? Or, like Triple H's sledgehammer or Mick Foley's barbed wire bats. Also, considering he's wearing pants, wouldn't it make more sense to carry them in his pocket? It's not like the referee pats them down before a Street Fight anyway. Johnny must have heard me, as he decides to pull his belt off and use that on Ciampa for a while, going to town on him before wrapping the trap around his fist and decking his former partner with it. He puts a trashcan over his head ahead of a superkick, but an attempt to snake-eyes Ciampa into it is countered with the Project Ciampa! Ciampa follows up by kneeing a trashcan lid into his head for two, and a second one knocks Johnny out to the apron - Ciampa following to drop Gargano with an Air Raid Crash onto the steps for two! Brutal! Ciampa loses it, and decides to go grab a set of bolt cutters! Okay, that may be going a bit to far. But instead of using it on Gargano, thankfully, he decides to start cutting up the ring itself, slashing the ties that bind it together, and pulling up the corner like a piece of carpet until nearly half the ring is just the exposed wooden boards underneath all the canvas and mats. That's absolutely awesome, though it seems like a lot of work compared to just pulling up the mats on the floor to expose him some concrete. Ciampa takes him upstairs for an Air Raid Crash onto the exposed boards, but Gargano slips free, and throws a superkick to knock Ciampa off the ropes. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, with Gargano able to win with an enzuigiri, and he adds a superkick. That allows Ciampa to grab his crutch, but Gargano whacks him with a trashcan lid before he can use it for two. Ciampa bails, so Johnny tries to dive after him with a plancha, but his former partner is ready with a trashcan lid to swat him out of the air! Really great timing on that block. Ciampa charges with a running kneesmash against the steps, but Gargano moves, causing Ciampa to bash his bad leg into the steel. He wants to remove his brace to relieve some pressure, but then remembers what happened in New Orleans, and thinks better of it. Unfortunately for him, Johnny's got a chair, and he starts teeing off on the leg. Ciampa shoves him into a corner mounted trashcan to prevent a hold though, and he takes Johnny down in a crippler crossface from there! Johnny grabs the crutch shard to try stabbing his way out, but Ciampa sees it coming, and lets off, instead opting to simply punching Gargano in the head until he's more docile. He's still clutching the crutch though, so Ciampa knees him in the head to knock it loose, then nails him with it for two. Johnny crawls out of the ring to get a breather, but Ciampa stalks after him, and drags his ass up to the entrance area, where he throws Gargano into the set. The referee wants them to wrap it up, but Ciampa angrily tells him that it's "not enough," and drags Johnny's limp body up onto a mountain of production equipment off to the side of the entrance set. As he prepares to finish him off, Ciampa adds one last insult to injury by pulling Gargano's wedding band off, and chucking it into the crowd to really make him suffer! That's just tremendous! What an absolute asshole! Unfortunately for him, Gargano reverses the Air Raid off the mountain and through a table! Ciampa's done, and the EMTs rush out to put him in a neck brace, and it looks like Gargano's going to be declared the winner because Ciampa can't continue. Johnny sits back and watches as the EMTs get a bloody, bruised, and welt covered Ciampa onto a stretcher, but then starts feeling his naked ring finger, and decides that perhaps he isn't done with his former partner just yet. Johnny commandeers the stretcher, dragging a strapped down Ciampa down to ringside, and unloading on the guy! He forces him into the ring, where Gargano rips the neck brace off, and slaps on the crippler crossface! Officials run in to break it up, so Gargano beats them up, and decides to get medieval by handcuffing Ciampa's hands behind his back, and superkicking him in the head over and over and over until he slumps over dead. Crippler crossface, and Ciampa is openly tapping, but there's no referee around anyway. A bunch of officials pull Gargano off, but he tenaciously fights through them, only to walk into a rope-hung DDT on the exposed wood boards from a still handcuffed Ciampa - Ciampa's limp body falling on top of Johnny for the pin at 35:28! What a freakin' war this was! I mean, the hate was palpable, with even the ring itself left with battle scars from it. You know this is a great series because I was rooting heavily for Gargano to win the first one, but I wanted Ciampa to win this one solely so we can get a rubber match out of it. What a week it was in the world of high level professional wrestling matches, with two state of the art five-star matches in a single seven day period! And what a year this has been for Gargano, with one classic match after another on the big stages. *****

BUExperience: Another TakeOver special, another night of awesome wrestling action from the NXT crew. I don’t even bother complaining about the main roster anymore. Let them do whatever it is they do to sell toys and keep their sponsors happy. NXT gives me everything I want out of professional wrestling anyway, with WWE production values coupled with old school sensibilities. 

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