NXT Takeover: Chicago II Review

NXT Takeover: Chicago II took place on Saturday 16th June at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The card looks really good on paper, so will it live up to the hype? Let's take a look.

After getting used to not having Mauro Ranallo on commentary, we get Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch challenging The Undisputed Era for the NXT Tag Team Championship. The match goes at a fast pace before Roderick Strong hits a dropkick on Burch to get the advantage. Burch lands badly after another dropkick by Strong, which results in a cut to the head. A headbutt by Burch on O'Reilly gives him the chance to tag in Lorcan. They go on to hit their finishing move on O'Reilly but Adam Cole (Bay-Bay!) pulls him out of the ring and gets ejected. In the end, O'Reilly and Strong hit their finishing move on Lorcan to get the win. This match was a lot better then I thought it was going to be and it was a great way to start the show.
Winners: The Undisputed Era (1 for 1)

Now a match that I was really looking forward to; Ricochet taking on The Velveteen Dream. The match starts at quite a slow pace with headlocks and scissor moves before the pace quickens. Dream gets the advantage by bouncing Ricochet's neck off the ropes. During this time, Dream does some moves that are more athletic than what he normally does. Ricochet gets back into it with 2 awesome over the top rope moves. Dream hits a death valley driver from the top rope to get the 2 count. Dream comes close a couple of times and Ricochet hits the Purple Rainmaker, but it only gets 2. In the end, Dream goes for the Purple Rainmker but he misses. Ricochet then hits the 630 splash on Dream's back to get the win. I was quite surprised at the pace of the match at the beginning. However, it was a really good match.
Winner: Ricochet (1 for 2)

Our second Championship match is Nikki Cross challenging Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship. Cross fucks with Baszler at the beginning but Baszler slams her onto the ramp to get the advantage. Baszler goes on to hit a ton of knee strikes but Cross hits a belly-to-back suplex to get back the momentum. Cross hits a hanging neckbreaker but Baszler puts her foot on the rope. Baszler goes to put on the Kirifuda Clutch and Cross passes out, giving Bazler the win. I wasn't quite sure what to expect in this match but I found it to be quite entertaining.
Winner: Shayna Baszler (2 for 3)

 The penultimate match is Lars Sullivan challenging Aleister Black for the NXT Championship. Sullivan and Black go at a fast pace before Sullivan catches Black doing a moonsault and bounces him off the apron. The match goes back and forth and Sullivan goes for the Freak Accident but Black reverses it into a DDT. In the end, after a botched Black Mask, Black goes on to hit 2 more of them to get the win. Except for the botch, it was a good match. I didn't see Sullivan as a Champion but this match has opened me to that possibility.
Winner: Aleister Black (3 for 4)

The main event is a Chicago Street Fight between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampia.Some of the early highlights include:

• Gargano tossing Ciampia over the announce table, taking out Nigel McGuinness.
• Ciampia putting Gargano into a steel chair vice and throwing him onto the steel steps.
• Ciampia hitting White Noise onto the steel steps.

 The fight goes on to near the entrance and Gargano hits a White Noise, sending Ciampia off an elevated container through a table. Ciampia is treated by medics and put on a stretcher and it looks like the match is over. However, Gargano doesn't want to happen and takes Ciampia back to the ring, taking out officials and the referee in the process. Gargano puts Ciampia in handcuffs and attacks the officials trying to stop him. Unfortunately, this gives Ciampia time to recover and hit Gargano with a hanging DDT onto the exposed wood that was exposed earlier. The referee recovers and counts the pinfall, giving Ciampia the win.

This was a really good match to watch. I especially liked the ending with Gargano losing it, which led to hsi downfall. I can see them facing each other at Takeover: Brooklyn IV and I'm looking forward to that if it happens.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampia (4 for 5)

I thought that this was a really good Takeover with some enjoyable matches. The Takeovers are generally pretty entertaining. Hopefully the PPVs will start to be like that as well.