NXT TakeOver: Portland Review

NXT TakeOver: Portland took place last Sunday at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The card looks pretty cool so, let's take a look.

After we start with a musical performance by Poppy, we get our first match, which is Dominik Dijakovic challenging Keith Lee for the North American Championship. After a little back and forth, Dijakovic hits a cyclone kick to get a little advantage and comes close a couple of times after hitting a corkscrew moonsault and later on, an avalanche Feast Your Eyes. Lee hits 2 spirit bombs but Dijakovic just kicks out. In the end, Lee hits the Big Bang Catastrophe and gets the win. This match was a lot of fun with both guys hitting some amazing moves.
Winner: Keith Lee (1 for 6)

 The next match is a street fight between Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox. Kai doesn't fuck around and ambushes Nox during her entrance. During the match, they use a cricket bat, a trash can, a steel chair and a table against each other. Nox is about to send Kai through a table when Raquel Gonzalez comes in and sends Nox onto the table. This gives Kai the chance to pin Nox and get the win. I wasn't a fan of the finish. Nothing against Raquel Gonzalez, but she isn't well known so it threw the crowd off slightly. Despite that, it was a pretty good match.
Winner: Dakota Kai (1 for 2)

Now a match that I was really looking forward to seeing: Finn Balor taking on Johnny Gargano. After some back and forth, Gargano spears Balor off the apron taking the fight to the outside but Balor hits a sling blade to get the advantage. Later on, Balor focuses his attack on Gargano's left knee. Balor goes for the Coup de Grace but Gargano avoids it and puts Balor in the Garag-No Escape. The match goes back to the outside and Balor reverse suplexes Gargano onto the Spanish announce table and follows up with a John Woo dropkick, sending Gargano off the announce table into the barrier. Balor then throws him back into the ring and hits the Coup de Grace followed by the 1916 DDT to get the win. This was a great match and I hope they have a rematch in the near future.
Winner: Finn Balor (2 for 3)

The next match is Bianca Belair  challenging Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship. Ripley starts off well with clotheslines and Flair chops before Belair manages to get in some offence of her own. After a while, Belair hair whips Ripley then hits a Gorilla Press Slam. Both ladies go for their finishers before Ripley tries a sunset bomb but Belair prevents it. Ripley manages to use the turnbuckle to help her hit Belair with the Riptide to get the win. Afterwards, Charlotte Flair attacks Ripley and announces that she will face her at Wrestlemania.  I thought this was a good match and I'm really looking forward to seeing Flair vs Ripley at Wrestlemania. Hopefully, they will find some way to include Belair in the match as well.
Winner: Rhea Ripley (3 for 4)

The penultimate match is for the NXT Tag Team Championship as The Broserweights challenge The Undisputed Era.  Matt Riddle leads the crowd in a sing along before Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish get pissed off and attack them on the aisle. When the match starts, Fish and O'Reilly strike Pete Dunne down to get the advantage. Dunne hits Fish with a step up enziguri, giving him the chance to tag in Riddle. Later on, O'Reilly manages to get Riddle in a knee bar but Dunne helps Riddle get out of it. In the end, the Broserweights do a GTS/kick combo to get the win and become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. This was another good match between the two teams and congratulations to Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne on becoming Champions.
Winners: The Broserweights (4 for 5)

The main event is Tommaso Ciampa challenging Adam Cole (Bay Bay!) for the NXT Championship.The match goes in and out of the ring in the early going before Cole does a wheelbarrow suplex, sending Ciampa onto the announce table. Cole goes on to focus on the neck. Later on, Ciampa gets back into it and, after powerbombing Cole through the Spanish announce table, hits the Project Ciampa for 2. After a few near falls by both guys, they start trying to get the other to submit. The Undisputed Era run in to attack Ciampa but it doesn't work. After Ciampa kicks out of another Last Shot, Cole pushes him into the referee. Johnny Gargano then comes in and hits Ciampa with the NXT Championship. The referee conveniently recovers and Cole pins Ciampa to get the win.

I thought the match was really good but I thought the ending was overbooked. We had people kicking out of multiple finishers, interference by The Undisputed Era and Johnny Gargano's heel turn. I just felt it was too much for me. As for Gargano vs Ciampa renewing their rivalry, I'm not too sure about it. The rivalry they had last time was great but I wonder if it's too early to start it up again.
Winner: Adam Cole (5 for 6)

Despite a couple of minor issues, I really enjoyed NXT TakeOver. With the recent developments and the return of The Velveteen Dream, I'm really looking forward to see how the next few weeks of NXT go.