Ranking Every NXT TakeOver From Worst To Best
4. Portland
NXT faced a rather unique type of pressure during the build to the first TakeOver of 2020 and the first to be entirely consumed by the USA Network era for the show.
It was to be the longest ever based on matches and the reasonable expectations for all of them, with a build fraught with complications thanks to a Worlds Collide show against NXT UK the prior month and main roster interjections into the Women's Championship match. These proved not to be caveats for its failings but measures of just how massive a success the event was.
No single match threatened the ludicrously luxurious top tier of TakeOver tussles, but all of them were excellent and illustrative of the how high the bar had been permanently set. Finn Bálor and Johnny Gargano lived up to sky high expectations with an elegant exercise in elevation, whilst The Broserweights combo of Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne continued their tag division saviour mission with an exhilarating victory over perpetual stewards The Undisputed Era.
Elsewhere, Adam Cole and Tommaso Ciampa were recipients of some glorious overbooking in a thrilling take on the somewhat overdone headline formula, and Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai celebrated the women's division's status as the best in wrestling with two rippers over belts and broken friendships respectively.
A white hot crowd and a Poppy double-header opening the event only increased the heat - this was a total triumph.