Hello its me TWB, and I am back after a taking a bit of a sabbatical from SLTD Wrestling, over the last few months I’ve been busy with starting college, but quoting Vince McMahon’s theme tune, “there’s no chance in hell” that I was going to let my streak of Takeover predictions articles to come to an end, so here I am. As briefly as I can, I’m just going to give a quick recap on what has been happening in NXT over the last few months, then I’ll get on with my preview and predictions for this Saturday’s NXT Takeover.
A Quick Recap of NXT
The biggest headline coming out of NXT over the last few weeks, was the big reveal of who attacked Aleister Black? And it’s safe to say I wouldn’t make a very good detective, as I remember saying that I was certain that Johnny Gargano wasn’t Black’s attacker, however I was proven very wrong, when the former beloved babyface unveiled himself as the one who took out the “Dutch Destroyer” the two men will clash in what could be a Match of The Year contender this Saturday at Takeover: WarGames.
Undisputed Era continued to try and play the numbers game, as Bobby Fish made his presence felt as he assisted his partners in crime, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, in retaining their NXT Tag Team Titles against the War Raiders. However, The Undisputed Era would finally get their comeuppance as NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne and North American Champion Ricochet joined forces with the aforementioned War Raiders to fend off the quartet of Cole, Fish, O’Reilly and Strong. NXT GM William Regal then announced that all 8 men will be involved in the WarGames match.
Shayna Baszler regained the NXT Women’s Championship against Kairi Sane at Evolution thanks to two of the four horsewomen of the UFC Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. Sane and Baszler will clash in a two out of three falls match at this Saturday’s Takeover.
Velveteen Dream was made the No1 contender for Tommasso Ciampa’s NXT Championship, the popular Dream has now become a fully-fledged face heading into his first NXT Championship match. The “King of Bro’s” Matt Riddle has made his in-ring debut in winning effort against Luke Menzies. Although as of writing it is unannounced, I expect Riddle to face off against Kassius Ohno on this Saturday night’s card.
Anyway, there was my round-up of the main storylines heading into this Saturday’s show, So, let’s going with the predictions with the match of the night.
Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno
I anticipate this will open the card on Saturday, it’s usually a norm for a Takeover debutant to open the show, and hopefully, Riddle will get a positive reaction from the raucous crowd that we’ve come to expect from Takeover PPVs in the past.
In the last few months Ohno has been targeting the newcomers to NXT, so this match makes perfect sense to happen, Ohno is considered as a veteran of the NXT roster, whilst Riddle is one of the newest recruits to the brand. Both men are hard-hitting wrestlers, and Riddle will want to impress on his 1st big night on the big stage.
I expect Riddle to win clean, perhaps with the submission move that he defeated Luke Menzies within his NXT TV debut, or even with the Bro 2 Sleep, which is a Go to Sleep into a German Suplex.
Winner – Matt Riddle
NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler vs Kairi Sane (Two Out Of Three Falls)
I presume this will be the final match out of the Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler rivalry, as it feels like it has gone on for quite a while now, and I can’t really see what else these two women can do with each other. The added inclusion of Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke to Baszler’s already dangerous arsenal must make her a heavy favourite to win this match, I wouldn’t be shocked if Baszler does go 1-0 down, due to Shafir and Duke interfering and assaulting Sane.
However I am going to take a bit of risk and say Sane regains her title, and sends Baszler packing, mainly just for one big reason, I could see Baszler, Shafir and Duke all debuting on the main roster at Survivor Series by helping their fellow horsewomen Ronda Rousey defeat Becky Lynch, this could then lead to a Four Horsewomen of WWE vs Four Horsewomen of UFC match, potentially at TLC or the Royal Rumble.
Winner & New Champion – Kairi Sane
Johnny Gargano vs Aleister Black
This for me is the match I’m most looking forward to, as everybody knows by now, I am a huge fan of Johnny Gargano, and although I’m not a supporter of him seemingly turning to the dark side, I have confidence in NXT and most importantly Gargano to make it work.
I think a similar finish to HBK vs Triple H from Summerslam 2002, would make sense here, Black just manages to defeat Gargano, but post-match Gargano just snaps and completely decimates Black, he practically turns into Tommasso Ciampa and lays out Black, who gets stretchered out of the arena. To add even more heel heat, you could have a kid like Bayley’s superfan Izzy, be holding a Johnny Wrestling sign, Gargano spots this and rips the sign to shreds, this would almost certainly make him the most despicable and hated heel on the NXT roster.
Winner – Aleister Black
NXT Championship: Velveteen Dream vs Tommasso Ciampa
Velveteen Dream has been one of the most popular acts on NXT for the last year, and even though his win/loss ratio isn’t the greatest, he is still considered as a main event player in NXT, and this Saturday night he will have the biggest match of his career so far, as he takes on NXT Champion Tommasso Ciampa.
Ciampa who has held the title now for roughly 4 months, is still a hated and despicable heel, but for some reason, I just feel he hasn’t been the big star of NXT that he ought to be, it just feels that the Who attacked Aleister Black storyline and the WarGames match has overshadowed the NXT title match for this Saturday. I anticipate that this match won’t even main event the PPV as the WarGames match should headline the card.
On last year’s WarGames Takeover, Drew McIntyre and Andrade “Cien” Almas were the semi-main event and we witnessed a shocking title change, however, I think we won’t see a switch here, Ciampa retains and moves onto a new challenger.
Winner – Tommasso Ciampa
Undisputed Era vs War Raiders, Ricochet and Pete Dunne – WarGames Match
For the second year running The Undisputed Era will be involved in a WarGames match, and if by chance they can top last year’s classic, then we’re all in for a treat, and I genuinely believe with their opposition this Saturday night they will.
Undisputed Era are very much an “Internet Darlings” stable, and even though they’re the heels in the storyline, it is very difficult to boo them. Their opponents consisting of North American Champion Ricochet, UK Champion Pete Dunne and the War Raiders have never stepped inside the WarGames structure before, so psychological advantage should go to the Undisputed Era.
I expect Ricochet will do something mind-blowing in this match, but I can’t possibly fathom what he could be planning. Personally I could the reason behind either team winning, Undisputed Era are a full-time stable going up a makeshift team of faces on the NXT roster, however, this is the War Raiders biggest platform to shine and a defeat could hurt their momentum, and do you really want either Dunne or Ricochet to be pinned, considering they’re champions in their own right.
My bold prediction is that Undisputed Era will lose after Cole gets hit by a 630 Senton off the top of the WarGames structure from Ricochet (just pictured how awesome that would be for a second)
Winners – War Raiders, Pete Dunne and Ricochet
Post-Match
Post-match it looks like Undisputed Era are saying their farewells despite O’Reilly and Strong still holding the tag belts, and then all of a sudden, they turn and beat-up Cole and rip his Undisputed Era armband up, and the leader is kicked out of the group.
This may seem an unpopular decision considering how great the quartet have been over the last year or so but I think Strong, O’Reilly and Fish could all thrive as a heel trio, and then you can have Cole as the babyface wanting revenge against his former teammates, and because he gets that face pop every time, it’d be a shame to waste the opportunity to turn him into a fully-fledged good guy, and who knows if Cole needs some back-up around Wrestlemania time, I hear some Bucks could be on their way.
There are my NXT Takeover Predictions, but what are yours? Do you agree? Let me know below or @SLTDWrestling on twitter.
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