Background in
Phoenix, Arizona.
TakeOver was a series of
professional wrestling shows that began in May 2014, as
WWE's then-
developmental league NXT held their second
WWE Network-exclusive event, billed as
TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of their NXT live specials. Announced on January 24, 2018, TakeOver: Phoenix was scheduled as the 23rd NXT TakeOver event and was held on January 26, 2019, as a support show for that year's
Royal Rumble pay-per-view. It was held at the
Talking Stick Resort Arena and was named after the venue's city of
Phoenix, Arizona. Tickets went on sale on October 26.
Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed
heroes,
villains, or
less distinguishable characters that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program,
NXT. On the July 25, 2018, episode of
NXT,
Tommaso Ciampa defeated
Aleister Black to win the
NXT Championship when interference by
Johnny Gargano, who was feuding with Ciampa at the time, backfired and instead he cost Black the title. After their interaction, in August, Black was injured by Gargano backstage, preventing him from getting his rematch against Ciampa. Black returned a few months later and on the December 5 episode, a match between the two was scheduled for TakeOver: Phoenix. On the December 26, 2018, episode of
NXT, after three weeks of qualifying matches,
Bianca Belair defeated
Io Shirai,
Lacey Evans, and
Mia Yim in a
fatal four-way match to become the new number one contender for the
NXT Women's Championship. On the January 9, 2019, episode of
NXT,
War Raiders attacked
The Undisputed Era during
EC3's match with
Adam Cole. General Manager of NXT,
William Regal announced via
Twitter that at TakeOver: Phoenix, The Undisputed Era's
Kyle O'Reilly and
Roderick Strong would defend their
NXT Tag Team Championship against The War Raiders. On the December 19, 2018, episode of
NXT, Johnny Gargano defeated Aleister Black in a
Steel Cage match after interference from Tommaso Ciampa. The following week, via a video recording, Ciampa suggested that Gargano go after the
NXT North American Championship so he and Gargano could "take over the world" in NXT. On the January 9, 2019, episode, champion
Ricochet told Gargano that he only needed to ask for a title shot, though he questioned if Gargano would ask face-to-face or attack from behind, referencing Gargano's attack on Black. Ciampa came out to further the conflict between Ricochet and Gargano, but was attacked by Black. This confrontation distracted Ricochet, allowing Gargano to give him a superkick, and the match was made official later in the night. ==Event==