NXT TakeOver: Portland (February 2020)

 

Original Airdate: February 16, 2020

From Portland, Oregon; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Beth Phoenix

Opening NXT North American Title Match: Keith Lee v Dominik Dijakovic: They criss cross early, leading to a reversal sequence that ends in Lee hitting a rana to stun Dijakovic. Another reversal sequence leads to another criss cross, with Dijakovic actually managing to stay vertical as they trade shoulderblocks. Lee responds by going basic with a wristlock, but Dijakovic chops him, and uses a big boot to knock Keith to the outside. Dijakovic dives, but Lee catches him, and Dijakovic narrowly escapes a powerbomb on the floor. He manages to muscle Lee into a suplex across the apron, and Dijakovic is in control as the action heads back inside. Dijakovic tries another suplex, but Dijakovic manages to block this time, and he pounds his challenger with left hands. Dijakovic with a release suplex for two, but Dijakovic escapes a fireman's carry, and throws a big boot to set up a flying corkscrew senton splash for two. Dijakovic tries his own fireman's carry, but he has trouble lifting Lee again, and it turns into a slow slugfest. Dijakovic manages to get the better of it, and he knocks Lee to the apron with a clothesline. Dijakovic pulls Lee to the top rope from there, and brings him down with a death valley driver for two! He looks for a follow-up, but Lee channels his inner bull, and just sends Dijakovic flying into the corner to buy time. Dijakovic bails to the outside, so Lee goes after him with a few hard chops, but Dijakovic fights him off with a superkick. That leaves Lee seated in one of the announcer's chairs, and Dijakovic goes to the top with a springboard flying somersault senton to knock him out of it! Inside, Lee tries a series of moves, but Dijakovic just keeps landing on his feet. So Lee gives him a sitout-powerbomb, and Dijakovic STILL somehow manages to land on his feet! Lee with another sitout-powerbomb to end that bullshit, but it only gets two. Lee tries to take him upstairs for a version off the top, but Dijakovic gives him a shove to send Lee crashing to the floor. Dijakovic is too battered to follow up, allowing Lee to get back to the top, but Dijakovic nails him with a big boot to block him again, and a Spanish fly off the top gets him two! He tries to lift Lee up for a slam, but he just can't muscle through it, and Lee death valley powerslams him to retain at 20:21. This was generally good, but I didn't like the way they were selling the extreme fatigue at, like, the ten minute mark. Not that it wasn't believable (I'd be gassed two minutes into this), but it just didn't work for a twenty minute match with the story they were telling. It's not a disastrous flaw, because the storytelling was still strong, but it definitely made for a much slower match than it needed to be. *** ¼

Street Fight: Tegan Nox v Dakota Kai: Kai attacks in the aisle during the entrances, but Nox reverses a shot into the guardrail, and then puts Dakota through it. She tries a slam on the downed rail, but Kai counters with a DDT on it instead, and she rolls Tegan in to officially start the match with a cover for two. Kai fetches some weapons, but Nox is coming back to life, so Dakota chucks her into the steps before she can fully recover. Kai wedges her knee between the steps and the post, but a swing with a cricket bat misses, hurting Kai's hand. Nox capitalizes with a bodypress from off of the steps, and she covers Kai over with a trash can to set up a dropkick... only to overshoot it, and land right on her tailbone. Ouch! Inside, Nox still gets a two count out of it, and speaking of 'tails,' we've got some whale tail going on from Noxy Cleopatra. Nox sets up a table on the floor to try a suplex on, but Kai blocks, and she smacks Tegan with a trashcan lid. She tries to put her through that same table with a running big boot, but Nox dodges, and fires off a few superkicks. Nox unloads with a trashcan, and a German suplex onto the can gets two. Shining wizard, but Kai dodges, and hits a sunsetbuster for two. Tegan bails, so Kai tries a big kick to the face from the apron, but Nox catches the leg, and sweeps her. Nox goes up top, but Kai boots her in the face during the climb, and she follows up for a superplex - only for Tegan to chokeslam her off, and then dive with a flying somersault seated senton for two. Haven't seen that one in a while. Tegan grabs a chair, and sticks Kai's head in the gap for a kill shot, but Dakota dodges. Dakota boots said chair into Nox's face instead, and Tegan bails again. Kai is hot on her tail for a shot into the post, and she finds some duct tape, using it to tie Tegan to the post. That leaves her prone for a pair of big boots, and Nox is on dream street. Also, her hair has gotten huge. Kai grabs another weapon, but Nox swipes at the knee to block, and she finds a chain on the way back inside. Nox pounds on Kai's knee with the chain, then wedges the leg in the chair for some Pillmanizing. Shining wizard follows, but Nox wants more punishment before a pin attempt is made. She brings a table in and puts Kai on top of it, wedges her head into a chair, and heads up for the finish - only for Raquel Gonzalez to show up and hit her before she can dive. Raquel pushes Dakota out of harm's way, and chucks Tegan off the top rope through the table. That allows Kai to crawl over for the pin at 13:26 (14:21 total). This was a fun brawl that, and this is a big thing these days, didn't overstay its welcome. ***

Johnny Gargano v Finn Balor: They size each other up to start, and it turns into a feeling out process. Basic stuff on the mat, but all really well executed all around. Johnny lands the first big strike with a roundhouse kick to the head, but Balor is quick to return fire as they criss cross. Finn pounds him with chops in the corner, but he gets into trouble while trying a series of cross corner whips, and Gargano unloads his own chops. They fight out to the apron, where Johnny manages to spear him to the floor, but a charge out there backfires when Balor uses a sling blade. Inside, Balor uses a seated dropkick to the back of the head for two, and a snapmare sets up a half-straightjacket. Johnny uses a single-arm DDT to escape, and he stays on the arm from there. Balor fights him off in the corner, and manages to take a shot at the leg to put Johnny in a bad way. Finn works the part, until Johnny manages to shake him off with a leg-feed enzuigiri, and a series of quick attacks. Balor bails to the outside, so Johnny dives with a tope, but Balor catches him. 1916 on the floor, but Gargano blocks by shoving Finn into the steps, and he dives with a somersault senton from the apron. Gargano with the slingshot shoulderblock for two on the way back in, and a reversal sequence ends in Finn hitting an inverted DDT for two. Balor responds to the kickout by stomping the ever loving shit out of Gargano until Johnny just falls out of the ring, but he still has enough presence of mind to dodge a baseball slide. Gargano tries the slingshot DDT on the way back in, but Balor blocks, so Johnny chucks him into the turnbuckles instead. Reversal sequence ends up in both guys collapsing, with Johnny happening to land on top for two. Slugfest ends in Johnny throwing an enzuigiri, but another slingshot shoulderblock misses, and Balor dives with a flying double stomp to a prone Gargano, but Gargano dodges that, and hits the slingshot DDT for two. Criss cross leads to Gargano hitting a pair of forearms to take Balor down, but Finn returns fire with a sling blade. Running dropkick, but Gargano blocks with a superkick. Balor blocks his follow-up, and manages the running dropkick this time around, but the Coup de Grace misses, and it's the Gargano Escape! Finn escapes with a double stomp, but Gargano counters 1916 into the Escape again. Balor has to get the ropes to save himself this time, and he bails to the outside to avoid getting locked in the hold again. Gargano chases after him with a running dropkick into the guardrail, but an attempt to slam Balor onto an announce table gets reversed. Finn then charges across the other table with a running dropkick into the rail of his own, and he rolls Johnny in to hit with the Coup. 1916 then finishes at 27:22. Some really good stuff baked in, but went on for way too long, and all the extensive arm and leg work in the first half just went absolutely nowhere. Like, in the opener they spent literally the entire match building up how Dijakovic's back couldn't hold up, and then that actually factored into the finish. Here Johnny worked the arm for a while, Finn worked the leg for an even longer while... and it didn't build to a damn thing. *** ¼

NXT Women's Title Match: Rhea Ripley v Bianca Belair: They measure and feel each other out to start, until Belair misses a charge, and Ripley starts hammering her with a series of short-clotheslines. Dropkick knocks Belair into the corner for some abuse, but Belair makes a fiery comeback, and grabs a cravat to slow the champion down. Ripley slugs her way free, so Belair uses a standing moonsault for two, and a sloppy looking brainbuster is worth two. Belair works a full nelson, but Rhea fights her off in the corner, and hits a backdrop. Ripley throws a series of clotheslines, and a snapmare sets up a seated dropkick. Electric facebuster gets two, so Ripley tries a submission, but Belair shoves her into the post to escape. Belair with a schoolgirl for two, and a rotating spinebuster is worth two. Belair tries a superplex, but Ripley blocks, leading to an intense slap fight that ends in Bianca whipping her with the hair braid. Belair muscles a press-drop, but a handspring moonsault hits the knees, and Ripley tries the Riptide, but Belair blocks. Reversal sequence ends in Belair hitting a spear, but she's battered, and can't make a cover. That leads to a slugfest, controlled by Belair, and she backdrops Ripley over the top in dramatic fashion. Belair dives after her with a somersault suicida, but Ripley drops her onto the stairs when Belair tries taking things back inside. Ripley tries a sunsetbomb on the way back in, but Belair keeps blocking, so Rhea turns it into the Riptide instead at 13:31. Solid action here, and they did a good job of making you think Belair might actually pull it off, even if she never really got close to. And then afterwards, Charlotte Flair attacks Ripley to set up their WrestleMania match. ** ½

NXT Tag Team Title Match: Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly v Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle: The challengers tease Fish during their entrance to trigger a brawl in the aisle, and we get O'Reilly and Riddle inside to officially start. O'Reilly tries to keep pounding, but Riddle takes him down, and starts throwing kicks galore. Tag to Fish to slug it out with Riddle, but Matt gets the better of it with a two-alarm rolling gutwrench suplex. Tag to Dunne for a combo, and he wins a criss cross, so O'Reilly tries running in, but gets immediately taken down. Pete hits Bobby with an x-plex on the apron, and then gives Kyle one ONTO Fish on the apron. Didn't really work, but still neat. Inside, Dunne takes Fish to the mat to crank on the hand and fingers, but a trip to the top ends in Pete getting crotched. Tag to O'Reilly for a takedown using varied strikes, and back to Fish for a Samoan drop, as the champs cut the ring in half on Dunne. Miscommunication allows the tag to Matt, and he comes in hot. Suplexes all around. Senton splashes all around. O'Reilly eats a GTS into a bridging German suplex for two, but Kyle manages to block a charge, so Pete comes back in for a couple of tandem moves. Riddle tries a dive, but O'Reilly lifts his knees to block. O'Reilly with a German suplex, but Matt pops right back up. Again, same result. Riddle with his own German suplex, and they trade strikes, leaving both guys looking up at the lights. Riddle manages a spear on O'Reilly, but an attempt at a suplex gets cut off when Fish clips the leg. Fish with a wheelbarrow suplex for two, and the champs try a combo, but Riddle blocks and tags. Dunne slugs it out with O'Reilly, and tries for a cross-armbreaker, but Kyle counters to an anklelock. Dunne reverses, so Fish comes in to save, but Riddle cuts him off with his own anklelock. The champs manage to counter into their own holds (half-crab for Dunne, sleeper for Riddle), but Matt manufactures an escape for both. Dust settles on Fish and Dunne, and Pete gets the better of him. Tag to Matt for a combo, but Fish sends them crashing into each other, and then superplexes Riddle. O'Reilly adds a flying kneedrop to Matt's leg (with pinpoint accuracy), and he grabs a kneebar. No submission, and Pete gets the tag in to slug it out with O'Reilly. Both guys are battered, but Pete prevents him from tagging out by snacking on some finger sandwiches. Bitter End, but O'Reilly blocks. That draws Riddle in, but he ends up hitting Dunne, and the champs move in for the kill, but can't put Pete away. Blind tag to Riddle saves the day, and Fish eats a GTS combo to crown new champions at 16:59 (17:44 total). Awesome! I love these two as a team, and I was honestly getting tired of Undisputed Era's reign already. Not that they're bad, but it's time to give someone else a turn, and it would be foolish not to let Riddle and Dunne have a run. ****

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Adam Cole v Tommaso Ciampa: Feeling out process to start, with Ciampa dominating at every turn. He tries the Fairytale Ending early, but Cole looks to counter with a superkick, so Ciampa just takes him back to the mat for another side-headlock. Ciampa turns it up again with chops in the corner, and he's just outdoing Cole at every turn here - blocking every single thing the champ tries. They spill to the outside, where Cole finally gets a shot to stick on Ciampa, but it only serves to righteously piss the challenger off, and he beats the piss out of Adam. This is just great! Ciampa tries to roll him in, but Cole won't stay inside, so Ciampa punishes him with a baseball slide instead. In, but Cole rolls back out again, so Ciampa drops him across the rail, and charges with a running kneesmash to knock him off. Ciampa pounds him into a seated position in the timekeepers chair, and then just murders him with another running knee to knock him out. Like, full speed. And then he kisses some random guy in the crowds head, just to be hilarious. Powerbomb on the floor, but Cole manages to counter with a wheelbarrow suplex into the announce table to block. That looked nasty, and earns a 'holy shit' chant from the crowd that even the Network's closed captioning acknowledges! Inside, Cole gets a two count out of it. Adam adds a neckbreaker to keep after the damage he aggravated, and he works the part from there. Cole goes up, but Ciampa follows for an Air Raid Crash off the top, only for Adam to counter with a lungblower - driving the knees right into the neck for two. Cole grounds him with a headlock, which totally works in this context since Ciampa has a well known history of neck problems, and Cole has been working the part. Ciampa uses a backslide for two to escape, but Adam blocks a suplex by throwing an enzuigiri at the neck. Cole tries a Canadian destroyer, but Ciampa is ready with a boot to block, and he starts making a comeback. Ciampa with a rackbomb for two, but Cole blocks the Ending, giving us a reversal sequence that ends in Adam hooking a crucifix cradle for two. Fireman's neckbreaker gets him two, so Cole takes it upstairs for a Canadian destroyer off the middle, but Ciampa counters with an Air Raid on the way down! Cover, count, two! I'm really digging how Ciampa is selling the neck all the while, doing subtle little winces and motions with every motion he makes. They spill to the outside again, where Cole tries a powerbomb onto an announce table, but Ciampa reverses! Crowd wants to see it again, so Ciampa obliges, this time putting Cole through the table with it. He hustles Adam back inside to finish, and he hits the Project, but it only gets two. Slugfest controlled by Ciampa, but Cole gets off a pair of big boots to get the final word, knocking his challenger to the outside. Cole takes a risk with a dive after him, but Ciampa is ready with a knee to block. He rolls Adam in, but Cole pops up as Ciampa follows, and hits a nasty looking piledriver! No cover, though that would have made a good finish on its own. Instead, Cole adds a suplex-neckbuster for two. Honestly, if Cole is retaining, the finish should have been somewhere in there. Cole drills him with a pair of superkicks to set up the Last Shot, but Ciampa has enough presence of mind to roll out to the apron to avoid getting pinned. Cole follows for a Canadian destroyer out there, but Ciampa catches him with the Air Raid on the apron! Unfortunately for him, he's battered, and now has to figure out how to get a loopy Cole back inside to pin. He tries the Ending on the floor, but Cole blocks, and finally hits the destroyer out there! Back in, but Ciampa summons a DDT on the way, and the Ending finally hits... for two. Give them this, the dramatic nearfalls are total clichés, but are totally working tonight. He's at a loss for what else to do, and while he's thinking it over, Cole pounces with a crippler crossface. Ciampa nears the ropes, so Cole lets off to drag him away, but the reprieve allows Ciampa to reverse the hold! Cole makes it into the ropes to save his title, and he immediately rolls to the outside to buy time. Cue the Undisputed Era to distract the referee and attack Ciampa, with O'Reilly and Fish managing to take him out on the floor. They roll him in for Cole to cover, but Ciampa gets a shoulder up at two. I expected the Era run-in, and it's logical, but I still wish it didn't need to happen. Ciampa chucks Cole over the top to take out his Era pals like bowling pins, but Adam manages to pop off a trio of superkicks on the way back inside. Last Shot only gets two though, so the Era pass him the title belt, but Ciampa blocks a shot with it. Project, but Cole shoves him into the referee to block, and nails Ciampa with a low blow. Destroyer, but Ciampa blocks, and he hits the Ending to finish... no referee! Ciampa looks near a breakdown, and wants to use the title belt as a weapon, but here's Johnny Gargano to talk him away from the dark side... only to whack Ciampa with the belt himself! That allows Cole to cover, and the dazed referee counts the pin at 33:24! I could have done without all the overbooking at the end, but it was a hell of a match regardless. It probably could have been shorter, but unlike some other recent matches, it didn't feel especially long. I didn't feel the length hurt the finished product. This had all the wild spots and everything we've come to expect, but it was all rooted in some great in-ring storytelling, which makes it significantly more interesting than just doing a spotfest. **** ½

BUExperience: After a few subpar (for this brand) PPVs, they went out and delivered a really great one here, with solid wrestling all night, some major happenings, and a barnburner of a main event. This is the way PPV should be.

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