10 NXT TakeOver: Portland Impulse Reactions
1. Here We GarganGo Again
During the TakeOver: Portland main event, Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole had tacitly played off their separate histories with Johnny Gargano within the body of the match before the man himself appeared at ringside.
It felt like a strange choice for a match and programme that hadn't really involved the former Champion, until it wasn't at all.
Mileage appears to be varying based on how much people are ready to watch Gargano and Ciampa fight again, but 'Johnny Wrestling's heel turn allows for a completely different dynamic than the last time, and at long last proffers a payoff to the feud cut short by Ciampa's neck injury one year ago.
The series does not need Gargano walking across the Full Sail bridge and pretending to like the dark, but the omens are good based on how the turn took place. Mirroring two of the most heartbreaking moments from their epic arc, Gargano took the time to look and think about his action - a far cry from how he gifted the title to Ciampa at Aleister Black's expense in 2018. He did so in a DIY t-shirt - the clobber he was mocked with by Andrade and Zelina Vega when the pair took advantage of his frail state of mind just after the original split.
There are countless areas to mine and revisit for one bruising final battle. One hopes the last reward is one of spectacular glory for them both.