WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland early match card predictions

Adam Cole (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa- NXT Championship match

The NXT writers have spent the last three months building to this match and while there’s a chance they keep this one on the docket until WrestleMania weekend, it’s just as possible that this first-ever matchup happens in Portland.

Since returning from a serious neck injury last October, the former NXT Champion has stated his intentions to challenge the man who succeeded him as the brand’s top heel for what he calls “Goldie”. A Ciampa pinfall victory over Cole at NXT TakeOver: WarGames followed, but with the holiday season approaching, the bookers elected to simmer the feud down as 2019 came to a close.

But things picked up a little on the Jan. 8 NXT. It was on that episode where viewers watched a video of Ciampa waxing poetic about his 238-day reign as NXT Champion, going as far as to say that he is “empty” without it.

With Cole slated to team with his Undisputed Era stablemates at Worlds Collide against Imperium, don’t be surprised if we get some sort of angle where Ciampa confronts Cole following what will probably be the main event of that show (meaning that Undisputed Era will probably get a win over one of the non-WALTER Imperium members). Or, they could wait until the next episode of NXT to heat up the match. Either way, this match is an inevitability.