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It's always a good night of wrestling when an NXT TakeOver special airs. This pre-Rumble edition in Philadelphia was headlined by an early match of the year contender between Andrade Almas and Johnny Gargano. Also, the show featured a stellar Extreme Rules fight with Aleister Black and Adam Cole. The wrestling was expectedly great, even if part of the show featured a noticeable lull.
In addition to those must-see matches, this TakeOver also featured a handful of botches and outrageous moments that will likely be talked about as well. From the extensive blood loss from Adam Cole's hand to a particularly unusual meme reference by Mauro Ranallo, this show had a handful of hiccups. So if you're done celebrating how amazing that main event match was, take a few moments to relive a few of the moments that WWE might wish they could do over.
#5 Death Valley Driver
Velveteen Dream vs. Kassius Ohno was a good opener featuring two talented guys, even if it wasn't the smoothest from bell to bell. The biggest example of this was this first Death Valley Driver attempt by The Dream. This was less of a case of him applying a power move to the Knock Out Artist than it was him simply falling with the man who just happened to be on his shoulders.
Dream tried for another DVD a few minutes later, struggling a little as he hoisted Kassius onto his shoulders. The outcome was way smoother the second time around and was the perfect setup for his big elbow drop to win the match.
#4 Tide Pod Mauro
You've got to give Mauro Ranallo some credit here, he stays current with pop culture trends (even if they're incredibly dumb). But if there was ever one mainstream reference that could've avoided a crossover into the wrestling world, surely it would've been the Tide Pod challenge.
Mauro's too good to even let that one pass him by, so he masterfully compared the high-risk maneuver that Ember Moon pulled off via Tope Suicida against Shayna Baszler to the "laundry pod challenge."
The social media reaction was divided whether this line was a sign of his brilliance or a reason to dislike him. Add me to the pro-Mauro category, but the division was more than enough to include it on this list.
#3 Almost fell during the spin
The NXT Championship main event between Andrade Almas and Johnny Gargano was absolutely fantastic. It was a half hour of gripping action and will be talked about among the greatest NXT matches for years to come. Because the action was so amazing, this slightly sloppy transition into a Gargano Escape probably went unnoticed for many viewers.
Almas picked his opponent up for a tilt-a-whirl off of an Irish Whip, but Johnny Wrestling continued with his momentum to cause a counter into his signature submission move. However, he almost completely lost his position while spinning around. He had a solid grip on Cien's hand and was thankfully able to hold on as the champ fell into position.
#2 Johnny's bloody mouth
As the main event continued on, Johnny Gargano visibly had a dark red ring inside of his mouth. It was clearly blood, but it was an injury that has an unknown origin. He definitely didn't have a bloody mouth at the start of this match, so if anyone knows how he got a taste of his own blood, drop a comment below.
Despite the amazing effort and even a fun bit of support from his wife, Gargano lost this match for the NXT Championship. To make matters worse for him, he even got attacked by his former friend Tomasso Ciampa as the showed went off the air. This TakeOver special turned out to be one crummy night for Johnny Wrestling.
#1 Bloody Cole
If you're going to compete in a match with an Extreme Rules stipulation in Philadelphia for a show that Paul Heyman did the opening voice-over for, it only makes sense for hefty bloodletting. Adam Cole's hand was a crimson mess midway through this match, forcing the referee to put on his super serious white gloves.
It was hard to pinpoint precisely when this injury occurred, but it appeared to maybe have happened when Cole set up a couple of tables outside of the ring. Perhaps there was simply a random jagged piece on the metal underwiring that caught his hand.
Medical personnel were able to sweep in and control the bleeding quickly. Noticeable on Cole's right hand by the time he's pinned by Black at the end was a hefty amount of black bandaging across his thumb and wrist.
