8 Ups And 3 Downs From NXT TakeOver: Portland

1. Your Mileage Might Vary

Heading into the main event, everything looked poised for an Undisputed Era meltdown. Roderick Strong had lost his North American Championship a few weeks back, and Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish lost the NXT Tag Team Championship earlier in the night.

So had Adam Cole lost, UE would have been without gold for the first time in more than eight months. That’s a lifetime in today’s professional wrestling.

But Cole held onto his title with help from Strong, Fish & O’Reilly, as well as some unexpected assistance from Johnny Gargano, who knocked Tommaso Ciampa out with the title belt. And that allowed Undisputed Era to close out TakeOver celebrating.

The match itself was an emotional rollercoaster, and some will say it was incredible, while others will decry that it strained the limits of credibility with the kickouts, interference, ref bump and double-cross factoring into the outcome. So if you think this was a bit too much, especially with UE holding onto the main title, then this is a nod to you. The ending just felt like air being let out of a balloon, with Gargano turning and Ciampa thus falling short, and Cole continuing on as champ.

We’ll give the other side of the coin later.