8 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Portland

2. Lee, Dijakovic Tear Down The House

What can you say about Keith Lee/Dominik Dijakovic that hasn’t already been said?

These two behemoths simply can go, and they gel together ridiculously well. What made Sunday’s North American Championship match special was how they played into their history so well. Their rivalry has been based on them being evenly matched and able to counter each other, so that’s exactly what we got for the first half of the contest, as Lee and Dijakovic traded clotheslines, whiffed on strikes and kicks, blocked or countered their moves, and occasionally hit a big one.

The match ratcheted up after both clotheslined each other to their knees, as they began throwing haymakers at each other. The high point had to be when they brawled outside and chopped at each other, leading to Lee taking a seat in a chair, and Dijakovic hitting an impossible springboard sommersault senton onto the seated Lee.

Shortly after, both men flipped out of chokeslam attempts, Dijakovic no-sold a Spirit Bomb, only to fall victim to another. In the end, Lee’s Big Bang Catastrophe was enough to keep his challenger down and retain the NA title.

And just to give the fans reason to cheer more, we got a nice show of respect afterward.