NXT Takeover specials have been some of the most highly anticipated events in all of wrestling for quite some time, and the Superstars of WWE’s nearly universally praised black-and-yellow brand certainly lived up to the hype this Saturday night in the desert of Phoenix, AZ.
Two championships changed hands at NXT Takeover: Phoenix, both taking place in some of the most extraordinary matches in the brand’s already stellar history. Perhaps the more notable of the two came in the middle of the show, as Johnny Wrestling finally embraced his inner “dark side”, defeating the high-flying sensation Ricochet to capture the NXT North American Championship.
🚨 WARNING 🚨
This is really, really painful to watch.#NXTTakeOver @JohnnyGargano pic.twitter.com/DtuRzk9yhI
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— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) January 27, 2019
While Ricochet stole the show with brilliant counters and even more astonishing high-risk moves that have to be seen in order to be believed, it was the troubled conscience of Johny Gargano that took center stage throughout the match.
Several times Gargano executed everything in his signature toolkit in a desperate attempt to defeat his opponent, but somehow every single attempt was met by an event more resilient champion who refused to stay down. Finally, seeing no other course of action, the once-friendly-babyface shed himself of the last bundle of moral fibers anchoring him to this plain of reality, driving Ricochet head-first into exposed concrete on his way to winning the gold.
Us: 😱😱😱😱😱@KingRicochet: 😎😎😎😎😎#NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/5lzgwvqjNQ
— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2019
That’s not all, as an incredible night of action actually STARTED with a title change. In the opening content of NXT Takeover: Phoenix, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly of the Undisputed Era defended their tag team titles against the brutish War Raiders, who were led to the ring by a cavalcade of Viking warlords.
In a performance that will have the entire main roster tag team division salivating (and/or asking for their releases), “War Beard” Hanson and Raymond Rowe put away the dominant champions with a serious of massive, thunderous tag team maneuvers, capturing their very first set of titles in WWE.
You GOTTA throw some 🤘🤘🤘🤘 up when you see something like this.@RAYMONDxROWE #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/S4f37lMTSx
— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2019
It's the end of an era… and the time to #JoinTheRaid.#WarRaiders @WarBeardHanson & @RAYMONDxROWE are your NEW #WWENXT #TagTeamChampions! #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/eVLRnDNYqW
— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2019