NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019 match predictions

Adam Cole (c) vs. Johnny Gargano- NXT Championship Three Stages of Hell Match

Officially, WWE has listed this match as a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match, which is weird. Does Triple H not like the “Three Stages of Hell” name? Is he trying to further differentiate NXT from the main roster, albeit in a perplexing way? Or has he realized that in spite of all the well-produced video packages, this feud hasn’t reached the point where this sort of match is necessary?

After all, the worst thing Adam Cole did to Johnny Gargano, other than beat him for the NXT Championship, was go to Gargano’s father’s pizza shop and pin a picture of himself on the bulletin board while Mr. Gargano wasn’t looking.

Oh, and he cut a mundane — by Cole’s standards — heel promo at a Cleveland wrestling school that Gargano visited. What a dastardly villain!

Apparently, this was enough to draw Gargano’s ire, as he and Cole brawled throughout the Full Sail Arena two weeks later, which led to the general manager William Regal announcing this match for Toronto.

Thankfully, we got this wonderful Prime Target mini-doc that juxtaposes the brash Cole opposite the hard-working, “heart-and-soul” of NXT that is Gargano.

Of course, the contrived storytelling won’t matter once the bell rings. Cole and Gargano have already gifted the fans two Match of the Year-level encounters at back-to-back TakeOvers and anything short of that in Canada would be a disappointment.

Like most of these matches, this one will probably reach come down to the tiebreaker, with Regal choosing the stipulation that fall (Gargano chose a Street Fight for one of the first two falls, Cole chose a standard wrestling match).

No matter what match the GM selects, it will end with Cole outlasting Gargano and celebrating with his championship-adorned pals.

Prediction: Adam Cole beats Johnny Gargano 2-1, retains the NXT Championship