How NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 Will End
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano is a traditional wrestling blood feud in an era where we're told nothing traditional sells anymore. It features babyfaces and heels being babyfaces and heels in their actions and words, with fans responding in kind. Logical pathways to logical conclusions. Logical reason for logical treason. Logical blood. Logical sweat. Logical tears.
One cursory glance at any Monday Night Raw quarter hour is a reminder of how 2018 is neither the place nor time for any of this, yet Gargano and Ciampa have somehow tightly bottled it between their separate-but-together 2015 debuts and this Sunday's potential payoff. At TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 though, the two will - for the first time - have to cope with one of wrestling's grim facts instead of one of their beautiful works of fiction. For better and worse, a triple threat with former NXT Champion Aleister Black has become a high pressure singles bout after 'The Dutch Destroyer' suffered a groin injury on a house show.
Black's impending absence was covered by a vignette featuring him being left incapacitated by a mystery assailant, but original plans calling for his inclusion suggested that the Brooklyn main event wasn't going to be the end of the Ciampa/Gargano story. Black had believable grief with both, dragged into their conflict by virtue of his cheap title loss weeks earlier. Gargano's impetuousness made an innocent victim of the former champion, justifying perhaps why 'The Man From Amsterdam' may have wanted to make a guilt-free victim of 'Johnny Wrestling' when they finally collided.
Gargano's descent into darkness since his TakeOver: Chicago defeat hasn't exactly mirrored Kazuchika Okada's mental health meltdown masterclass following his own mammoth loss, but he's been enough of a broken man to justify a level of unparalleled violence in their upcoming Last Man Standing clash. But what if he wins? And at this point, what even is a win?
His tightest friendship was scorched by Tommaso's betrayal. His relationship with his wife has been stretched to breaking point by his own obsessive bloodlust for his former bestie. His best match ever (maybe) TakeOver: New Orleans victory - still the most cathartic babyface triumph in WWE since Daniel Bryan held two belts aloft in the same city at WrestleMania XXX - has been lost to time thanks to his over-exuberant thirst for Ciampa's demise in their Windy City rematch. He could take Ciampa's title, and even emerge 'victorious' in their singles series with a 2-1 record. But Ciampa's been wicked enough to make almost any vindication utterly meaningless thanks to what he's already destroyed.
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