Ranking Every NXT TakeOver From Worst To Best
19. Chicago
Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate’s UK Championship battle was a special piece of work. Loaded with all the hostility of their original scuffle for the new prize earlier that year, this took the standard issue elite NXT March and bent its fingers back. Elevating both men and the often-redundant belt, this counter-wrestling classic was victory for the chemistry and continuity the young pair had crafted in their years of working together.
‘The Second City’ surrendered itself to a “UK” chant for a show stolen by two upstarts masking a hostile takeover of the scene they’d emerged from. Elsewhere, the last gasps for Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano’s sensational tag team run were given centre stage in a potent main event against AOP before the first beats of their epic rivalry played out right as the show was about to go off air. Ciampa’s violent assault on his confused and heartbroken friend pulled at countless loose threads between the pair and their perpetually-fraying friendship.
A surprisingly stellar undercard saw NXT Champion Bobby Roode and lost cause challenger Hideo Itami get more from a position underneath the headliner than in it, whilst Asuka continued to carry the Women’s division with a good-not-great Triple Threat against Ruby Riott and Nikki Cross.