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NXT Takeover: New York opened up WWE's biggest weekend of the year last night and it was done in impressive style as the developmental brand once again set the tone for the entire weekend.
Johnny Gargano became NXT Champion for the first time last night, whilst WALTER became the only man to defeat Pete Dunne with the United Kingdom Championship on the line in more than two years.
It was a fantastic night for NXT as the Kushida was announced as the latest signing and superstar who appeared at ringside for a Takeover event and as Kushida committed his future to NXT, Aleister Black and Ricochet said their farewells to the brand after a fantastic opening match against The War Raiders.
Whilst the action in the ring definitely showed that the company is stepping up their game for WrestleMania weekend, there were a number of interesting stats and facts that came out of last night that the WWE Universe should be made aware of.
#4. That set looks familiar
Many of the WWE Universe picked up on the fact that WWE used the Monday Night Raw set for Takeover last night, obviously it appears that Monday Night Raw will be taking place from The Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York so putting the Raw set together two days early and using it for NXT as well as both a cost-cutting measure as well as a convenient move for WWE.
Tomorrow's WrestleMania event will be held in East Rutherford New Jersey which means that there will be no issues for WWE on Monday when they begin the deconstruction of the set for WrestleMania because the set for Monday night Raw will already be up and ready to go over in Brooklyn.
The NXT stars are not used to this kind of set and it gave the show an added boost, but it was apparent throughout for anyone who watches Raw regularly.
#3. First ever triple crown champion in NXT
Johnny Gargano battled Adam Cole in a two out of three falls match in last night's main event and interestingly it was Gargano who came out on top despite the rumors that he was heading over to 205 Live. Cole and Gargano are both former Tag Team Champions and North American Champions which means that the winner of last night's main event became NXT's first ever triple crown Champion.
Johnny picked up the win and took that piece of history before he was joined out in the arena by Tommaso Ciampa who is still recovering from recent neck surgery and his wife Candice LeRae. It appears that from Chicago 2017 up until Brooklyn 2019, their story has now come full circle and will probably be visited again on the main roster when Ciampa is fully recovered.
#2. The end of an impressive WWE streak
Pete Dunne put his United Kingdom Championship on the line last night against WALTER in the Austrian stars first ever Takeover match and impressively he was the man to step up and end Dunne's record-setting title reign at 685 days.
Dunne has held that Championship for 85% of its run in WWE after picking it up in Chicago back in 2017, the past two years have seen The Bruiserweight pushed to the forefront of the push for British Wrestling's spotlight and NXT UK has since become a reality.
WALTER's shock win also means that he is the first United Kingdom Champion in the short history of the Championship to not have come from the British Isles, which shockingly doesn't seem to affect the chances of challenging for the title in NXT UK.
#1. Most Championship Matches At A Takeover
Last night's NXT Takeover made history as the first ever event to house only Championship matches. Usually, the company has around six matches on the card, but last night all five were for titles as The War Raiders retained the NXT Tag Team Championships against Aleister Black and Ricochet, Shayna Baszler retained the NXT Women's Championship against Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Bianca Belair and Velveteen Dream retained the North American Champiohardip in a har fought match with Matt Riddle.
Pete Dunne lost his United Kingdom Championship to WALTER in what was a fantastic match, whilst Johnny Gargano walked out with the 2-1 victory in a 2 out of 3 falls for the vacant NXT Championship against Adam Cole.
NXT Takeover: New York truly has already set the pace for a fantastic weekend of wrestling action.
