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Johnny Gargano is simply the best professional wrestler in the world.
It was Johnny Gargano’s 14th NXT Takeover. He has been putting on five-star classics for the last two years in the "developmental" brand. While the main event was another classic, the rest of the card was equally fantastic as well. We had a hot opener, a brutal ladder match and a lot of new champions as well.
I hope we never get to see a bad Takeover. The first twenty-five have been amazing. Here it is to another great twenty-five to come. I am sure they will be just as memorable as Saturday night.
With all of this in mind after another amazing NXT Takeover, I present my list of the top five most surprising moments of NXT Takeover XXV:
#5 Matt Riddle Has His Best Match In NXT
Matt Riddle isn’t just simply a bro. He is one of the best technical wrestlers in the NXT brand. We finally go to see his unique offense against the constantly underrated Roderick Strong. It was just the perfect opener for the very hot NXT crowd.
Roderick Strong has an impressive sequence in the middle of the match with a jumping knee followed by three very fast paced forearms. It led to one of the best near falls of the night. Riddle sold his injuries well and also sold the believable near falls throughout the fifteen minute match.
Riddle has an impressive arsenal of knees, kicks and punches that simply look painful. He is a future main event star and he finally showed why at Takeover XXV. I hope we get to see a Strong-Riddle rematch again soon.
#4 The Brutal Nature of the Ladder Match
Poor Kyle O’Reilly.
The four-team ladder match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship was a very unique ladder match. The eight competitors didn’t do a lot of high flying moves with the ladder. They simply had dozens of brutal and painful looking falls onto ladders. I am sure Kyle O’Reilly will especially be sore based on the multiple drops he had on his back onto ladders. Ouch.
Montez Ford showed his impressive athletic ability with his perfect leap from the ropes onto the ladder and knocking off Wesley Blake to get the win. It is amazing to think the Street Profits have been a team for over three years and this was their first Takeover match.
They are a popular babyface tag team and it will be interesting to see what they can do with the tag titles. You cannot deny they deserved it after the brutal ladder match on Saturday night.
# 3 Tyler Breeze Loses By Distraction
There sure were a lot of selfies in the North American Championship match.
As limited as he has been on the main roster since 2015, it is easy to forget how good Tyler Breeze is in the ring. That was on full display in his match with Velveteen Dream. Both of them are very charismatic personalities and it was on full display at Takeover.
Both wrestlers has believable near falls but the surprise was in the finish of the match. Tyler Breeze could have won the match by count out but stopped the ref’s count. He even stopped Dream from using the championship belt but received Dream’s finisher as a reward.
Is either wrestler turning heel? It didn’t seem so after the post-match selfie. But it does seem to set-up a continuation of the feud going forward. It is great to see Tyler Breeze in NXT again.
#2 Shayna Baszler Retains Again...
Shayna Baszler matches all seem to end the same. Her opponent will control a majority of the match and Shayna will hit her submission move for the win. Shayna is a credible champion, but it seems to be dragging on and on at this point.
Io Shirai is one of the most athletic female wrestlers in the entire WWE roster. All her high-flying moves looked so smooth in the ring. She sold her injured arm as well through the title match. She even was really good on building sympathy with the extended fight to get out of the Kirifuda Clutch submission finisher.
While Baszler won again, Shirai snapped after match. She has some brutal looking kendo stick shots to Baszler. You cannot deny people really want to see Shayna lose soon. Here is hoping Io Shirai takes care of that wish at the next Takeover.
#1 Adam Cole Wins the NXT Championship
Johnny Gargano has been the best wrestler in the world for nearly two years. He has been part of the main event of six NXT Takeovers in the last two years as well. He has had classics with Almas, Ciampa and Adam Cole. His match with Adam Cole at NXT: New York was rated by many as the best in both of their amazing careers. It would be impossible to top it with Gargano-Cole II on Saturday night, right? Wrong.
I believe the main event of NXT Takeover XXV was even better then their previous encounter. The pace for the thirty-minute match was incredible. They had so many believable near falls, sequences of brutal kicks and very little cheating all around. Both Cole and Gargano looked great throughout. But to see Adam Cole take the title from Johnny Wrestling with a clean pin fall? That was the biggest shock of the night.
Johnny only had the NXT title for two months. While Adam Cole needed a big win, it was still surprising to see.
It is doubtful anyone would complain about a third match between the two. I hope we get to see it at the next Takeover. It will be worth the wait.
