Saturday, January 27, 2018



Winner: The Velveteen Dream



I’m hoping this can deliver in a big way. Aleister Black is awesome. Adam Cole is okay. I can’t see this reaching the heights of Black/Velveteen Dream, but the Extreme Rules stipulation makes this one interesting. It’s not a style I straight up associate with either guy, though I have seen Cole have some solid hardcore matches. I don’t know if the feud is fitting of a stipulation like this, though I’ve been wrong about that in the past. Either way, this should be very good. I don’t like the idea of Black losing, but I’ve got my money on Cole winning the NXT Title soon, so I’m going with him.
WINNER: Adam Cole



This is one of the more uninteresting women’s matches on a TakeOver in a long time. Shayna Baszler has been booked like a monster so far and has looked great in short runs. Ember Moon as champion just isn’t very interesting. She had a lackluster build to being champion and was an uninteresting choice to win the title at the last TakeOver. Combine that with Shayna getting this shot a bit early, and I just can’t get invested. I’ll say Shayna wins

WINNER: Shayna Baszler



Winners: The Undisputed Era



EASILY the most interesting TakeOver NXT Title in years. Yea, I said years. Andrade Almas and Johnny Gargano had the second best NXT singles match of 2017, behind only Black/Dream, at TakeOver: Brooklyn. This story works very well and everyone doubts Johnny. It’s the kind of thing that makes you feel Johnny would overcome it all and win. But, then there’s Tommaso Ciampa. I think he returns and costs Johnny the match. Johnny’s the kind of face who can lose and remain over, while Almas could use a big defense under his belt.

WINNER: Andrade Alams