NXT TakeOver: Chicago, WWE.com
There have been some incredible WWE NXT live specials before, but NXT TakeOver: Chicago may have been the best.
On Saturday night, WWE NXT went back for its latest live special: NXT TakeOver: Chicago. They took over the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL, and put on a show to remember. From the instant classic matches to an unforgettable moment, it was a night that will be difficult to be rivaled with for the rest of 2017.
There have been over one dozen TakeOver events, but never one like this. It had all the necessary ingredients toward being a successful show, and turned into potentially the greatest TakeOver event of all time.
Why is this the best of them all? Well, let’s take a look at this stacked event and wonder:
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5. Hideo Itami’s Opportunity
It took over two years for Hideo Itami to get an NXT Championship Match. It looked like he’d get one right out of the gate in 2014, but injuries ate up the next 24 months of Itami’s career, sidelining him as other big names like Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens passed him by.
Well, on Saturday night, Itami got his long-awaited opportunity. He put on a fun match with Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship, lasting about fifteen minutes. The Japanese Sensation came close to winning a few times, but didn’t come out successful.
Despite the missed chance at winning the title, it was a positive to see Itami get involved in his first match for a belt. Given all the injuries he’s dealt with since 2015, saying he had one chance to try to achieve what he came to NXT to do is worthwhile. It’s also about the company getting a return on its investment, which they haven’t gotten much out of since TakeOver: Rival in February ’15.
It was an overall positive and redemptive story for Itami, making it one of the ways this TakeOver topped the charts. None had as unique of a tale as this, with nostalgia even factoring in. Hopefully it won’t be the last time he gets to go for the NXT Championship.
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4. Roderick Strong’s “Arrival”
Roderick Strong has already been with WWE NXT for eight months, which feels like a blink of an eye. He hasn’t exactly lit up the brand since debuting at Full Sail, but over the past month, things have changed.
It all started with two promo packages on Strong, detailing his life outside the ring, almost like a mini Beyond the Ring. We learned about Strong and were able to care about his character for the first time, which hadn’t been the case since his arrival.
At NXT TakeOver: Chicago, this came into play for the first time, as we saw the Allstate Arena shower the former ROH star with cheers and positive chants, almost overwhelmingly. He received his biggest reaction since the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which was a welcoming sight and seemed to give us the most inspired version of Strong ever.
What only helped was the eventual defeat of SAnitY, becoming the first NXT star to do this. He worked a babyface comeback for most of the match, and found multiple ways to manage the villainous stable. It got him a great reaction and allowed for an ample amount of momentum toward a future NXT Championship opportunity.
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3. Another Match of the Year Candidate for the NXT Tag Titles
The NXT Tag Team Championship used to be the match you could skip out on. While teams like The Vaudevillains, Blake and Murphy and The Lucha Dragons were talented duos, none of them provided memorable matches at NXT TakeOver events. Then came the likes of American Alpha, The Revival, DIY and The Authors of Pain, all of whom revitalized the NXT Tag Team Division into the best its ever been in its five-year existence.
At NXT TakeOver: Chicago, we received our latest treat of what the NXT tag teams can provide us. This time, it was DIY and the Author’s doing the job.
These teams closed this Live special with a Ladder Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship. It quickly led them rocking the house with one of the best tag team bouts in the brand’s history, which didn’t stop DIY’s with The Revival in 2016, but was still spectacular. The story told by both sides saw one trying to do everything they could to get gold, while the monstrous duo ended their hopes at every opportunity.
A match like this is something any card would take as its best of the night. It would probably be better than the bouts we saw at TakeOver: San Antonio and rival the tag titles at Orlando. However, a five-star classic stole the show.
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2. That WWE UK Championship Match
There was some hype around Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne before their WWE UK Championship Match at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. These two have had good matches since joining WWE in January, becoming the stars of the UK Tournament. Bate even won the title, becoming its inaugural holder.
Well, to say these two matched the hype surrounding them is an understatement. In fact, Bate and Dunne may have put on the greatest match in not only TakeOver’s existence, but NXT history.
From start to finish, these British stars rocked the Allstate Arena. They brought out just about every possible move from their arsenals, lighting up the crowd and sending them into awe with every technical bit of offense. Then came the more flashy moves, which were done perfectly and went along with the story being told in the ring of Bate not being able to pull off the Tyler Driver ’97.
Often it looked like the match was going to end, as they teased near-falls countless times by not even successfully using finishers. The only time a closing move came into play and worked, was when Dunne hit the Bitter End to win the WWE UK Championship, a great and underrated piece to the match of not ruining someone’s finishing maneuver.
By the end, the audience was standing on its feet going wild for the two men in the ring. They had just put on an instant classic and put WWE UK wrestling on the map. It’s going to be hard to top this in any promotion for the rest of 2017.
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1. The Shock and Surprise We’ve Missed
Two awesome matches, one of which is a front-runner for Match of the Year, and it still wasn’t the top thing seen at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. This came after the Championship Ladder Match, with one of the most shocking heel turns in recent memory.
As they walked down the stage, soaking up the crowd after defeat, Tommaso Ciampa threw Johnny Gargano into the TakeOver set, as everyone gasped. This led to the most personal attack and turn we’ve seen since Kevin Owens beat up Sami Zayn at TakeOver: R Evolution in December 2014. Those two had rivaled throughout Ring of Honor, though, and had their story told before. Ciampa and Gargano’s hasn’t happened before, which made it feel as fresh as it was stunning.
The shock and surprise of TakeOver endings used to be a recurring thing in 2014 and 2015, which were the golden days of NXT. This almost felt like a tribute to that, when the brand was hotter than ever. So could something like Ciampa turning on Gargano ignite that again? Possibly, because we’re in for the most personal feud we’ve seen in over two years.
Most importantly, Ciampa’s heel turn has everyone buzzing. You want to see what will happen next and be drawn to his next NXT appearance. Why did he do this? Was there a buildup? Are he and Gargano going to fight soon? Too many questions, all of which should lead to increased viewership for NXT.
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Was NXT TakeOver: Chicago the best NXT live special ever? Let us know below.