Tiffany’s Takes: WWE NXT Takeover XXV (6/1/19)

Tiffany’s Takes tackles WWE NXT Takeover XXV, a historic night with two new champions! What did Tiffany think? See it here!

The twenty-fifth NXT Takeover is upon us! How will the next generation of WWE Superstars step up?

NXT Chmapionship – Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole: I’m not sure what is going on with the booking of Johnny Gargano. He’s easily the best wrestler/storyteller on the NXT roster, yet he never gets a long run with any one title. He seems to be stuck in transitional champion territory and that certainly was the story tonight.

The match between Gargano and Adam Cole was amazing and they have great chemistry with each other, but the fact that Gargano lost another title just a couple of months after winning it just feels disappointing, especially since it feeds the narrative that Gargano winning in New York was a fluke when it wasn’t. I’m guessing the feud will go on, but I have a feeling the Undisputed Era will be hanging on to that gold for awhile.

North American Championship – Velveteen Dream vs Tyler Breeze: This match was weird and not in a great way. I don’t get Dream’s gimmick and I’m not a fan of Breeze’s so I had no dog in this fight, which might be why I couldn’t get into it. Dream retained, which is good, I guess, but I think the big story is Tyler Breeze re-igniting his career after basically getting nowhere on the main roster.

NXT Tag Team Championship – Undisputed Era vs Forgotten Sons vs Street Profits vs Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch: I really wanted to be impressed with this match. Tag Team Championships and Ladder Matches tend to go together like peanut butter and jelly in WWE, but I was NOT overly impressed with this match. A lot of it seemed sloppy or not well thought out. How Kyle O’Reilly was able to move after landing on an open ladder is beyond me.

I was surprised that the Street Profits won since they’re the most over with the crowd and really didn’t need the belts. If I’d had to pick, I would’ve chosen Forgotten Sons. Undisputed Era have had the belts, Lorcan is on 205 and Burch will probably join him. However, I’m glad the belts have waists to go around and we’ll see how everything plays out, but this one was a no for me.

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NXT Women’s Championship – Io Shirai vs Shayna Baszler: I had something already typed up saying how much I HATED the end to this match and that Shayna Baszler needs to lose, but then Io Shirai went full blown psycho on Baszler and now I’m happy. It still sucks that Baszler won, but watching her get beat up made me much happier.

I actually thought that Candice LeRae might be the one turning heel, but I don’t think so now. I also don’t think Shirai is a heel, just a pissed off babyface who gave Baszler a taste of her own medicine.

Matt Riddle vs Roderick Strong: I will be the first to admit that I REALLY don’t like Matt Riddle. I’m not sure if it’s the whole ‘Bro’ thing, the fact that he wears shorts that don’t minimize his junk, or that he wrestles barefoot, or just something I can describe, but I do NOT like him. I can’t say I’m a big fan of Roderick Strong either, but I don’t find him nearly as obnoxious.

All that said, those two had an INCREDIBLE match! I actually wondered if someone getting a pinfall win over Riddle would hurt him, like it often does undefeated competitors, but it didn’t and Strong looked like a million bucks. I have a feeling this feud isn’t over, but if it is, it was a heck of a blow off.

Overall Thoughts: This was a pretty good show. I can’t say I was thrilled with any of the results since a lot of them didn’t make sense to me, but none of the matches was awful. The main event went a little too long for my liking, but it told the story it was meant to. Best part of the show was Shirai going absolutely berserk on Shayna Baszler. That was entertaining. Give me Shirai and LeRae as no fucks given tweeners beating everyone up.

I hated the end of the main event because it makes Gargano look like a fluke winner, rather than the best on the roster, which he is. However, there will likely be a rematch and hopefull things will be fixed. That’s it for Tiffany’s TakeOver…Takes! Tune in Monday night for RAW takes!