WWE NXT TakeOver: Phoenix Results, Highlights, And Grades

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Ricochet (c) vs. Johnny Gargano For The North American Championship

Result: Johnny Gargano wins his first singles title in NXT

Rating: Amazing, The story-telling, the counters, the athleticism, the chemistry, the quality of wrestling…more greatness from these two men. Ricochet is a huge star in the making, and Gargano consistently produces the best matches of anyone in WWE. Early Match of the Year candidate.

Johnny Gargano is driven to win his first championship in WWE NXT, and he’s turned his attention to Ricochet’s North American Championship. As Mauro Ranallo noted, Gargano’s record at TakeOver is reminiscent of the Cleveland Browns frequent losing, but with the Browns rising under 2018 No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield, perhaps Gargano’s fortunes will turn. It won’t be easy, of course, against “The One and Only” Ricochet, and this match has plenty of show-stealing potential.

Gargano starts the match by showing off his incredible wrestling ability on the mat, but Ricochet was plenty game in the quickness department, evading Gargano’s sudden strikes. The opening exchanges could be headed for a stalemate, even as Gargano is the superior grappler.

Ricochet kipped up after Gargano’s shoulder tackle, so Gargano threw him back on the mat again. The counters here were difficult to keep track of, and this was an INCREDIBLE showcase of athleticism, particularly Ricochet’s slick reversals. The crowd certainly approved as a frustrated Gargano sat there in awe of the respectful “One and Only”, who offered his hand and asked, “Which Johnny are we going to get?”

And Johnny punched him in the face. Welp.

“Johnny Wrestling” tried to take control again, but Ricochet’s quickness and acrobatics earned him an advantage. Gargano scouted Ricochet’s initial attempt at a dive to the outside, but Ricochet hit a BEAUTIFUL moonsault; it’s not fair what he can do!

In an attempt to slow down the match, Gargano trapped Ricochet in a nifty submission, and he continued to do his best to take Ricochet’s legs out from underneath him. The pinning combinations and submissions from Gargano were excellent, and he truly is capable of putting on a master-class in between the ropes.

Ricochet snuffed out a slingshot spear and that went for a no-look standing moonsault on Gargano, hitting the former NXT Tag Team Champion in the back. Then, the two started trading strikes, with Ricochet coming out on top in this battle.

This time, it was Gargano’s turn to hit a crazy counter, as he seamlessly powerbombed a charging Ricochet, who was going for another headscissors. Gargano followed that up immediately with a crossface, manipulating Ricochet as best as he could to prolong the submission. Ricochet, however, made sure that Gargano couldn’t turn it into the Gargano Escape, his finisher, and ended up getting out of the predicament with a counter into a pin.

A potential turning point in the match occurred shortly after. Ricochet countered Gargano’s DDT and sent Gargano rib-first into the barricade (that was SICK), nailing him with a huge dive that got the crowd going.

Ricochet dazzled again, hitting a standing shooting star press and a parkour-style moonsault off the middle rope for a two-count. “This is awesome!” chants rang out as Gargano somehow stayed in the match, as the North American Champion was simply rolling with all of his big moves and impressive pre-match scouting.

Finally, Gargano caught up to Ricochet on the top rope and seemed poise to hit a momentum-changing move of his own. Ricochet briefly hoisted Gargano on his shoulders, but Ricochet countered. And Gargano went for a frankensteiner, but Ricochet landed on his feet to completely shock Gargano and the WWE NXT Universe!

And we got some more rapid counters and strikes! This match is ridiculous!

Gargano countered Ricochet’s handspring cutter into the Gargano Escape, but Ricochet used his strength to avoid what looked like a loss for the North American Champion!

Sensing a huge top-rope move, potentially the finisher, from Ricochet, Gargano rolled to the far side of the ring. As he saw Ricochet charging at him, Gargano moved to the outside to safety…but he wasn’t so safe after all. Ricochet dove on him to the outside and immediately ran to the top rope for a picture-perfect 450. But Gargano somehow kicked out!

Gargano blocked a shooting star press from the top rope by an increasingly motivated Ricochet, who nearly had the match in the bag, and he almost paid for it dearly, barely kicking out of a small package. Clearly, Gargano has done his homework on Ricochet, too!

In another insane moment, Ricochet caught Gargano’s suicide dive and went for a fireman’s carry, but Gargano countered that into a reverse-rana. Gargano threw Ricochet into the ring, hit a slingshot DDT, and just barely got a two-count! Ricochet showed that he’s just as resilient as Gargano, getting off the mat at the last possible millisecond to save his championship. This match!

Enraged, Gargano started pacing to the outside and yelling at himself, and he dug deep into the Tommaso Ciampa bag of tricks, pulling off the mat covering on the outside. Oh no! Gargano put Ricochet in position for an elevated DDT on the exposed surface, but he finally came to his senses and put Ricochet back in the ring.

Distracted, Gargano got rolled up by Ricochet but also kicked out at two-and-a-half. Ricochet went back up to the top rope, rolled through the miss, and ate a superkick from Gargano. Ricochet locked in the Gargano Escape and held his opponent in his own finisher for what felt like an eternity as a desperate Gargano screamed. But thankfully for Gargano, Ricochet’s grip gave out as Gargano crawled essentially from one side of the ring to the other.

Ranallo wisely noted that fatigue will likely lead to the critical error that decides this match, and we all sat there on the edge of our seats. After hitting Ricochet on the ring post, Gargano stood there for a hot minute, contemplating sending Ricochet int the exposed floor.

https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1089332119942291456

And he did it. He did the damn thing. He hit Ricochet with a vertical suplex on the exposed floor. This man has officially sold his soul.

Gargano rolled Ricochet back into the ring and labored up to the apron, moving in for the North American Championship. He slapped Ricochet with a slingshot DDT to pick up a win and his first singles championship in WWE.

Wow. What a match and what a story. Ricochet will one thousand percent get his revenge, but this was about Gargano finally winning the gold…and losing his soul in the process. This hasn’t been a fairytale for quite some time, but Gargano has truly lost himself, especially in the moment where he used the exposed surface to win.