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What’s the story?
After the conclusion of this past weekend’s NXT TakeOver: New Orleans and WrestleMania 34, Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer has finally revealed the match ratings for the two mega WWE events and as expected, WWE’s NXT brand has earned two five star matches to its name.
In case you didn’t know…
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans was a stacked match card featuring four title matches and one Unsanctioned Match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, who main evented the evening in New Orleans.
Elsewhere on the card, we witnessed Shayna Baszler capture the NXT Women’s Title, the crowning of the first ever WWE NXT North American Champion as Adam Cole won a six-man ladder match, a heel turn from Roderick Strong who joined the Undisputed ERA, and Aleister Black dethroning Andrade “Cien” Almas in order to win the NXT Championship.
The heart of the matter
As noted, respected Professional Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has given a five-star rating to the Six-Man NXT North American Championship Ladder match from NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
The first-ever NXT North American Title ladder match featured the likes of Lars Sullivan, Killian Dain, EC3, The Velveteen Dream, the high-flying Ricochet, and the eventual winner of the match Adam Cole.
Also, this was indeed the very first time the likes of Sullivan, Dain, EC3, and Dream earned a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer, whereas, both Ricochet and Adam Cole have previously wrestled each other in a six-man tag team match in PWG which was also awarded a full five-star rating from The Observer.
Similarly, Dave Meltzer also awarded a five star rating to the main event of TakeOver: New Orleans which featured Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in a one-on-one Unsanctioned Match.
This was the first five-star match in Ciampa’s illustrious pro wrestling career, whereas, Gargano himself is coming off another five-star bout against Andrade “Cien” Almas from NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, which took place on the 27th of January.
What’s next?
Following his win over Ciampa, Gargano has now earned his job back in NXT. Without giving away any spoilers, Adam Cole is set to defend his championship for the first time very soon. Gargano and Ciampa may both be in line for something massive as well.
Author’s Take
The NXT North American Title bout and the Unsanctioned Match between Ciampa and Gargano were two absolutely amazing contests in terms of both storytelling and in-ring presence as well. In my opinion, the two bouts totally deserve a five star rating.
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