MarketNXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
Company Profile

NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia

NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia was the 18th NXT TakeOver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and took place on January 27, 2018, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as part of that year's Royal Rumble weekend.

Production
Background in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. TakeOver was a series of professional wrestling events that began in May 2014, as WWE's then-developmental league NXT held its second WWE Network-exclusive event, billed as TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of its major NXT events. Announced on January 26, 2017, TakeOver: Philadelphia was scheduled as the 18th NXT TakeOver event and was held on January 27, 2018, as a support show for that year's Royal Rumble pay-per-view. It was held at the Wells Fargo Center and was named after the venue's city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tickets went on sale on December 1. ==Theme Song==
Theme Song
The theme for this PLE was Asking Alexandria - Into The Fire Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT. On the December 6 episode of NXT, NXT General Manager William Regal announced that a series of matches which included Kassius Ohno vs. Johnny Gargano (the latter replaced The Velveteen Dream), Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole, Killian Dain vs. Trent Seven, and Roderick Strong vs. Lars Sullivan took place to have the winners of these four matches go into a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship. The winners were Gargano, and Sullivan, who then fought in the aforementioned fatal four-way match on the December 27 episode of NXT, which Gargano won after Black was distracted by The Undisputed Era, granting him a match with NXT Champion Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia. On the December 6 episode of NXT, Aleister Black defeated Adam Cole to earn a spot in the fatal-four way number one contender's match. On the January 10 episode of NXT, Shayna Baszler made her NXT in-ring debut against Dakota Kai, which ended in a referee stoppage after Baszler injured Kai's arm. After the match, Baszler continued to attack Kai while the medical staff were tending to the injury, causing NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon to rush to the aid of Kai to stop the attack. During a January 24 conference call promoting TakeOver, Triple H confirmed that a matchup between Velveteen Dream and Kassius Ohno would take place at TakeOver: Philadelphia. == Event ==
Event
Preliminary matches The event opened with The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar). After Akam collided with Rezar, O'Reilly pinned Akam with a roll up to retain the titles. Next, The Velveteen Dream faced Kassius Ohno. Near the end of the match, Ohno hit Dream with a ripcord rolling elbow for a near fall. Ohno went for another Rolling Elbow, but Dream countered it with a Death Valley driver, and followed it up with the "Purple Rainmaker" from the top of the ring post for the win. After that, Ember Moon defended the NXT Women's Championship against Shayna Baszler. As Baszler applied a cross armbreaker, Moon countered into a pin to retain the title. After the match, Baszler attacked Moon and applied the "Kirifuda Clutch" on Moon, who passed out. In the fourth match, Aleister Black faced Adam Cole in an Extreme Rules match. Cole performed a superkick into a chair on Black, who fell through two tables outside the ring, and scored a near-fall. Black performed a Death Valley driver on Cole onto two chairs. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) interfered and performed "Total Elimination" on Black. SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain) appeared and attacked Fish and O’Reilly, with Dain performing a suicide dive on Fish, O’Reilly, Young and Wolfe. Black performed a double knees on Cole through the announce table. Black performed "Black Mass" on Cole for the win. Main event In the main event, Andrade "Cien" Almas, accompanied by Zelina Vega, defended the NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano. Gargano performed a slingshot DDT on Almas onto the ring apron for a near-fall. Gargano performed a superkick on Almas for a near-fall. Almas performed a double knee smash on Gargano, who was seated in the corner, for a near-fall. Gargano applied the "Garga-No-Escape", but Almas escaped. Whilst the referee was distracted, Vega attacked Gargano with a hurricanrana off the ring apron into the steel steps. Almas performed a hammerlock DDT on Gargano for a near-fall. Candice LeRae (Gargano's wife, who was seated in the front row) attacked Vega and chased Vega out of the arena. Gargano performed another slingshot DDT on Almas for a near-fall. Gargano applied the "Garga-No Escape", but Almas placed his foot on the bottom rope. Almas performed a double knee smash on Gargano, who was seated against the ring post. Almas performed an elevated hammerlock DDT on Gargano to retain the title. After the match, as Gargano and LeRae left, Tommaso Ciampa made his return from injury and attacked Gargano with a crutch as the event ended. ==Reception==
Reception
The match between Johnny Gargano and Andrade "Cien" Almas received widespread acclaim, being rated five stars by Wrestling Observer Newsletter journalist Dave Meltzer. ==Results==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com