May 22, 2019 – Winter Park, Florida
William Regal sets a four way ladder match for Takeover to determine the new tag champs now that the titles are vacant. The Street Profits will face the Forgotten Sons, Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan, and reDRagon.
The Undisputed Era comes out in full force to show they’re all on the same page and to claim that they’re ready to win all the gold in NXT. Johnny Gargano comes out and cuts a very funny promo replying to Cole’s funny math and big brag about winning the first fall and how that would have made him champion in a traditional match has that been the stipulation in New York. Matt Riddle interrupts the proceedings to attack Roderick Strong, and Gargano saves him from the Undisputed numbers.
Mansoor def. Sean Maluta
It’s nice that Mansoor didn’t have to wait forever to graduate from jobber to plucky undercard winner. This is Maluta’s first time on TV since August and his first time on NXT since last July and frankly I figured he wasn’t going to be used anymore. The match was a good time while it lasted, more competitive than I thought it’d be. I wouldn’t mind seeing both guys more often **¼
Regal chews out the Undisputed Era in his office. He books reDRagon vs. Riddle & Gargano for tonight and Riddle vs. Strong for Takeover. The efficiency of storytelling on this show is just gorgeous.
Velveteen Dream comes to the ring to do his usual bragging. The Proto-Dream Tyler Breeze interrupts him to point out that a knockoff version of Price Pretty is flat. Dream fires back with digs at Breeze’s skits with Fandango and his lack of success on Raw and Smackdown. He’s not going to give Breeze a title shot, but he’ll take a selfie. Breeze agrees, but then points out that Vince McMahon didn’t call him up after Takeover: Brooklyn 4 (referring to his tights on that show) because he wasn’t interested. Then Breeze slugs Dream with his cell phone. This episode is killing it in the promo department. Both guys pulled out great cuts against each other. This was all it took to get me interested in their inevitable Takeover match, and all but made me forget that the injured Dominik Dijakovic was supposed to be in this spot.
Candice LeRae def. Reina Gonzalez
Well goddamn, they snuck in a dope match in the very little time they were given. LeRae was able to overcome the much larger Gonzalez’s brutality and use her expert ring awareness to put the cowgirl down. Gonzalez looks very much improved to the point that I’m starting to think there’s a real role for her on TV. The Horsewomen attack LeRae after the match but Io Shirai and a kendo stick make the save. **½
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly def. Johnny Gargano & Matt Riddle
My only beefs with this match is that they threw the tag rules out the window about halfway into the thing, and I wanted it to go on longer (it went just shy of 15 minutes). Other than that this was beautiful. Riddle is just the most fun wrestler to watch. He and Gargano mostly dominated here, though the Era’s control segments were nothing to sneeze at. The assists from Cole & Strong were appropriate, allowing three Takeover matches to get some juice out of one segment. How can you not love this show? ***¾