NXT TakeOver: New York

Background TakeOver was a series of professional wrestling events that began in May 2014, as WWE's NXT brand 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. On March 15, 2018, it was announced that WrestleMania 35 would be held at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the event's associated NXT TakeOver being held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 5, 2019. The event was in turn titled TakeOver: New York. It was the 24th NXT TakeOver event and was the first TakeOver named after the U.S. state instead of the host city. Tickets went on sale December 7, 2018, through Ticketmaster. The official theme songs for the event were "You Should See Me in a Crown" by Billie Eilish and "Are You Ready" by Disturbed. In the fourth annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Aleister Black and Ricochet advanced to the finals and defeated The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake) to win the tournament. This also earned them an NXT Tag Team Championship match against the War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) at TakeOver. After winning the Worlds Collide tournament during Royal Rumble Axxess for a championship match of his choosing, Velveteen Dream defeated Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship. Over the next few weeks, Dream had run-ins with Matt Riddle, who fantasized about what the championship would look like around his waist. After weeks of head games, it was eventually announced that Dream would defend the title against Riddle at TakeOver. This led to a match with Belair teaming with Io Shirai and Kairi Sane against the three women, and resulted in Shirai pinning Baszler. Belair, however, was not pleased as she wanted the pin and another shot at Baszler's title. During a match for a title shot at TakeOver, both Shirai and Belair were attacked by Baszler, who also choked out an assisting Sane. As she was leaving the building, Baszler was informed that, due to her actions, she would be defending her title against Belair, Shirai, and Sane in a fatal four-way match. On February 23, a title match between Dunne and Walter was scheduled for TakeOver: New York. == Event ==

Taped matches Before the event went live on the WWE Network, three matches took place that were taped for the April 10 episode of NXT. In the first match, Candice LeRae took on Aliyah. LeRae performed a Lionsault on Aliyah to win the match. In the second match, Danny Burch (accompanied by Oney Lorcan) took on Jaxson Ryker (accompanied by Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler). Ryker performed a Sitout Uranage on Burch to win the match. In the third match, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) took on Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel. The Street Profits performed an Electric Chair Blockbuster on Barthel to win the match. Preliminary matches The actual event began with The War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against Aleister Black and Ricochet. Hanson and Rowe performed Fallout on Ricochet to retain the titles. Next, The Velveteen Dream defended the NXT North American Championship against Matt Riddle. Dream pinned Riddle with a roll up to retain the title. After that, Pete Dunne defended the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Walter. Walter performed a Diving Splash on Dunne to win the title; this ended Dunne's record title reign at 685 days. In the penultimate match, Shayna Baszler defended the NXT Women's Championship against Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair and Io Shirai. After Belair performed a double Kiss of Death on Shirai and Sane, Baszler applied the Kirifuda clutch on Belair, who submitted, to retain the title. Main event In the main event, Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole competed in a two out of three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship. Cole performed a Last Shot on Gargano to win the first fall. Cole performed a second Last Shot on Gargano for a nearfall. Gargano forced Cole to submit to the Garga-No-Escape to win the second fall. Gargano performed a Slingshot DDT on Cole for a nearfall. Cole performed a Panama Sunrise on Gargano for a nearfall. Cole performed a Fairytale Ending on an announce table on Gargano. Back in the ring, Cole performed a Superkick on Gargano for a nearfall. Gargano applied the Garga-No-Escape but The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) appeared. O'Reilly attacked Gargano with an eye rake and Cole pushed Gargano into the referee. Fish and O'Reilly performed Total Elimination on Gargano and Cole scored a nearfall. Gargano performed a Back Body Drop onto Fish, O'Reilly and Strong on Cole and threw Strong into the ring post. Gargano performed a Superkick on Fish and a Tornado DDT off the ring apron on O'Reilly. As Gargano returned to the ring, Cole performed two Superkicks and a third Last Shot on Gargano for a nearfall. In the closing moments, Cole attempted another Last Shot, but Gargano avoided it and applied the Garga-No-Escape. Cole tried to make it to the bottom rope, but Gargano brought him to the middle of the ring and forced him to submit to win the third fall and the title. After the match, Candice LeRae, Gargano's wife, appeared to celebrate with Gargano. Tommaso Ciampa, the former NXT Champion, appeared and congratulated Gargano. Gargano celebrated with LeRae and Ciampa as the event ended. ==Reception==

The event received widespread acclaim. Jake St-Pierre of 411Mania rated the event a perfect 10/10 rating. He described it by saying, "It's getting to the point where I don't know which TakeOver event stands out the most, but I'll be damned if New York didn't throw its hat in the ring with authority". Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awarded, out of five stars, 4.5 stars for both the NXT Tag Team Championship and the North American Championship matches, 4.75 stars to the Walter-Dunne match, 3.75 stars to the Women's Championship match (the only match of the event below four stars), and 5.5 stars to the Gargano-Cole match. The Gargano-Cole match would later win the NXT Year-End Award for Match of the Year. ==Aftermath==

On the April 17 episode of NXT, Johnny Gargano talked about his NXT Championship win, but Adam Cole (along with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) called him the "uncrowned champion" of NXT, since Cole won the first fall at TakeOver: New York. Gargano then mocked Cole's "bay bay" catchphrase. Afterwards, Strong attacked Gargano from behind, and Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly joined the beatdown. The following week, Gargano defeated Strong due to an untimely assist by Cole. On the May 15 episode, a singles match between Cole and Gargano for the NXT Championship was made official for NXT TakeOver: XXV. The rivalry between Kairi Sane and NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler ended on the April 17 episode of NXT, where they battled for the title under the stipulation that Sane could no longer challenge for the title if she loses. Throughout the match, Baszler focused on injuring Sane's arm. In the end, Io Shirai shoved Baszler, who won via disqualification to retain the title. Afterwards, Baszler's Horsewomen stablemates, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, dragged Shirai out of the ring and forced her to watch as Baszler stomped on Sane's injured arm. After several more weeks of feuding, a match between Shirai and Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship would later be scheduled for NXT TakeOver: XXV. The match was scheduled for the May 22 episode, where Walter retained after interference from Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel. After the match, Aichner and Barthel sided with Walter, reuniting Ringkampf under the new name Imperium. ==Results==

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic bracket ==References==