What matches will we see when NXT TakeOver heads to the Moda Center on Feb. 16? Based on what’s been booked, here’s what we may get.
With WWE electing to stage their second Worlds Collide show prior to the Royal Rumble on Jan. 25 – a show that will center around a “brand supremacy” theme and likely only exists as a means to get some NXT UK performers stateside for the Jan. 26 pay-per-view – the NXT creative team will have some time to build a full card for February’s NXT TakeOver: Portland.
We already know that Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano’s contentious rivalry will finally come to a head and that new NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley (or Toni Storm) will defend her title against Bianca Belair on that show. But what other matches will we see make the card?
Who will challenge Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for their NXT Tag Team Championships? And will Keith Lee, who has a title shot in his back pocket, face Roderick Strong – a man who loves breaking backs almost as much as Bane does – for the NXT North American Championship?
We will get answers to these questions as the weeks go by, but while we wait for Triple H and his crew to unveil the rest of the card (when he isn’t humoring himself with sexist jokes) it doesn’t hurt to predict what it will look like before we get there.
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.
Roderick Strong (c) vs. Keith Lee- NXT North American Championship Match
By virtue of his win over Dominik Dijakovic, Cameron Grimes, and Damien Priest, Keith Lee is the number one contender to Roderick Strong’s NXT North American Championship.
Yes, Lee and Strong are scheduled to have said title match on next week’s episode of NXT, but there are still a few scenarios that could result in this match happening at a later date: they could shoot an angle before the match that forces general manager William Regal to reschedule it, book a rare non-finish to necessitate a rematch, or they could have Lee win the title and have them run it back in February.
No matter what they do next week, there’s still a decent chance that Lee and Strong will square off at NXT TakeOver: Portland. They can still give this match away on free television to compete with All Elite Wrestling (AEW): Dynamite. They could even slot it in a TV main event spot to give Lee a grand celebration should he wrest the belt away from Strong.
But given how Lee’s stock has risen since going move-for-move with Roman Reigns in that elimination match at Survivor Series last November, booking only one Lee/Strong match and putting said match on the weekly show would register as somewhat of a letdown for a man whom the fans have desperately wanted to see get a legitimate push since for at least the last year.
Booking this match at TakeOver: Portland would afford Lee and Strong plenty of time to create something special for the fans on a stage that’s fitting for wrestlers of their caliber.
Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) (c) vs. The BroserWeights (Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle)- NXT Tag Team Championship match
I dare to find a better tag team origin than the one for Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle’s out-of-left-field union (I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t exist). Riddle’s explanation for his partnership with Dunne alone is enough to warrant handing them the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic trophy and an NXT Tag Team Title shot.
Kidding aside, NXT’s semi-regular tag team tournament will likely culminate with an NXT vs. NXT UK final at Worlds Collide and unless the NXT bookers plan on keeping the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) around for a little while – which no one would object to – Dunne and Riddle stand out as the obvious favorites.
It seems highly doubtful that Fish and O’Reilly – the current NXT Tag Team Champs – would win given that whoever survives the bracket will probably be the de facto top contender. Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner would be an interesting choice, but the chances of the writers going down the heel vs. heel path seem slim; this would also eliminate the woefully underrated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson).
That leaves the odd couple pairing of Dunne and Riddle, who will likely flesh out the dynamic of the team over the next few weeks before feuding with two members of a faction that both men have interacted with in the past.
Given how thin the NXT tag team division is right now – you could reasonably argue that the Benadryl Bandits themselves, the Forgotten Sons, are the second-most prominent team on the brand – putting two singles guys that have nothing else going on together to challenge Fish & O’Reilly for the tag titles isn’t the worst idea in the world, especially when those two guys are Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle.