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NXT has had perhaps its best year to date in 2018. After critics began to argue that the brand was losing its touch at points throughout 2017, the 'developmental' brand has come back with a vengeance in 2018, establishing itself as the best show on WWE television each and every week.
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The phrase NXT Takeover has quickly become short-hand for high quality, innovative and thrilling wrestling, with the brand delivering shows that have consistently eclipsed their main-roster counterparts.
NXT delivered its final Takeover of the year this Saturday, and fans will now have to wait until January 2019 to see what the brand next has in store for us.
With that in mind, let's take a look back on the year that has been and take on the impossible task of ranking all five of this year's Takeover events.
#5 NXT Takeover: WarGames II
The very fact that this show, which featured one of the most innovative and violent matches of the year, is at the bottom of this list is a testament to what an incredible year NXT has had.
It really is difficult to place any of these shows on the bottom but WarGames II, the most recent of the Takeovers, just takes it.
While the card was incredibly consistent and featured two matches of the year candidates in the shape of Gargano Vs Black and Dream Vs Ciampa, it featured a squash match as the opener and probably could have done a better job with Sane Vs Baszler.
The titular WarGames match was absolute chaos and featured some of the most awesome spots seen on any WWE event this year, but it probably could have had 5-10 minutes trimmed from its runtime.
#4 NXT Takeover: Chicago II
Once again, the very fact that there were three shows that were even better than this one is nothing but a testament to all of the hard work Triple H and NXT's performers have put in during 2018.
From top to bottom, this was still an excellent card, with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano arguably topping their first encounter in the night's main event. The two men put on not only a brutal encounter but also one riddled with pathos and excellent story-telling.
Elsewhere on the card, Ricochet managed to defeat The Velveteen Dream after a thrilling encounter, while The Undisputed Era defeated Loney Orcan and Danny Burch in a match that was the very definition of a hot opener.
#3 NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
NXT Takeover: Philadelphia made history at the start of 2018 when it became the first NXT card to have a five-star rated match from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, also becoming the first WWE produced event in seven years to do so.
The match in question was the main event encounter between the then NXT Champion, Andrade 'Cien' Almas and Johnny Gargano. The two men put on a thrilling encounter, which is still arguably the best WWE match to take place in 2018.
Elsewhere on the card, Aleister Black and Adam Cole met in a street fight in what was another early match of the year contender.
The rest of the card ranged from good to great, with The Undisputed Era defeating The Authors of Pain in the opener, and Velveteen Dream putting on a highly amusing performance against Kassius Ohno.
#2 NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV
Narrowly missing out on the top spot is NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV, which took place in August during SummerSlam weekend.
Once again eclipsing the big main-roster PPV that followed, NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV featured several excellent matches and a few major surprises.
The night's main-event once again saw Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa beat each other to within an inch of their lives, with Gargano's temper getting the better of him, leading to one of the most dramatic finishes in their story so far.
Arguably the match of the night, however, came when Ricochet defeated Adam Cole in a thrilling encounter to capture the North American Title.
The two men put on one of the most innovative and exciting matches of the year and showed exactly why they are considered to be two of the biggest stars of the future.
#1 NXT Takeover: New Orleans
NXT Takeover: New Orleans, which took place just 24 hours before WrestleMania 34 may go down as one of the greatest PPVs in the history of the WWE.
From top to bottom the card was incredible, and it became the first WWE produced show to ever receive two five star ratings from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer.
The opening match, a six-man ladder match to crown the first ever NXT North American Champion was nothing short of incredible and is bound to find its way into the Match of the Year discussions at the end of the year.
While the night's main event, the first meeting between Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa at a Takeover show, was simply wrestling and storytelling at their finest.
Elsewhere on the card, Aleister Black defeated Andrade 'Cien' Almas in a match that would have been hailed as an instant classic had it not somehow been overshadowed by two others match on the card, while Shayna Baszler defeated Ember Moon in what would be the start of an exceptional run for the former MMA star.
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