NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day: Top three moments from the show

2. Johnny Gargano and Kushida’s mat masterpiece

This was another match where most fans looked at the participants and assumed it could take home “Match of the Night” honors at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day. However, with Johnny Gargano established as a cowardly heel and with his shiny new “The Way” stable never far behind him, it wasn’t unfair to expect this match with Kushida to get watered down by a bunch of overbooking.

However, we didn’t get that. Thanks to miscast babyface Dexter Lumis abducting Austin Theory, which forced Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell to look for him., Gargano had to face the junior heavyweight legend on his own.

Consequently, this gave two of the best workers in the world a chance to tell a story without the usual WWE bells and whistles, and these two lived up to their lofty respective reputations.

Without the threat of any interference spots, Gargano and Kushida kept the narrative simple: Gargano worked over Kushida’s neck in preparation for the Garga-No-Escape and the One Final Beat DDT while Kushida weakened Gargano’s arm for the Hoverboard Lock.

All told, this was a fun technical chess match between two of the smoothest wrestlers in the world. You can argue that the wrong person won — Gargano retained his title after hitting the One Final Beat on the ramp and in the ring — but there’s no arguing against this being one of the five best matches of 2021 so far.