NXT TakeOver New Orleans Preview

NXT TakeOvers take place on the night before major WWE ppvs, and make a habit of stealing the weekend. They have fewer matches, longer matches, and usually, better matches. Will that happen this coming weekend? Here's my take!

Johnny Gargano vs. Tomamaso Ciampa, unsanctioned

This match is "unsanctioned" because Gargnao had to "leave" NXT after failing to capture the NXT title in a title vs. career match against champ Andrade "Cien"Almas. A match he lost due to interference by his former tag team partner and current nemesis, Tommaso Ciampa.

This match has basically unlimited upside. Gargano's match against Almas in the last TakeOver is the current top contender for 2018 match of the year, and you just know Ciampa and Gargano have been thinking of ways to top it. These guys are amazing wrestlers, great at every aspect of the game, from physicality to athleticism to storytelling. They are legit close friends, which enabled a different level of storytelling in the show and on social media, where Ciampa has basically been the best heel on the planet throughout the year.

This could go a number of different ways. Gargano could just win and "get his job back." Gargano could win and then be brutalized after the match by Ciampa to keep the feud going. Gargano could lose and show up on Raw or Smackdown or 205 Live. I'm going to put my money on a win by Johnny Wrestling, followed by shenanigans to keep the feud going.

Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream in a ladder match to determine the inaugural NXT North American Champion

Character-wise, putting this belt on EC3 seems to make the most sense, unless he's getting pushed to the NXT title sooner than I would expect. But apart from Dain, who is probably heading to the main roster very soon, a case could be made for any of these guys.

Cole is a top guy, and having a belt makes sense. Lars is probably not getting an NXT title feud, so this could be his belt. Velveteen Dream is in a similar place.

But I'm going to say Ricochet gets this. He is going to be amazing in the match, and this could be just a huge introduction for the indies star.

The Undisputed Era (??? and Kyle O'Reilly) vs. The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) vs. Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne

Will Bobby Fish get cleared? Will Adam Cole pull double duty? Will Adam Cole pull out of the NA title match? Will Kyle go it alone? Will they bring in a fourth member of Undisputed? And those questions are before we even mention the other two teams.

I don't see AOP going over here. I remain convinced that they will debut on Raw next week, where I would expect them to get the tag titles this year. If Fish were healthy, I am fairly positive Undisputed would be walking out with the title. With his injury, while Cole and O'Reylly winning is possible, I'm going to bet on the makeshift team of Dunne and Strong. I just want to see Dunne with two belts, y'all.

Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler for the NXT women's title

Their last TakeOver match told a strong story well, but it wasn't a classic. I am pretty sure they want to do better here. And they both need it. Ember is probably going to the main roster soon, and could use the boost. And Shayna needs to show a truly great match is something she is capable of, as her best match so far, her loss to Kairi at the Mae Young Classic finale, was only very good, and most of that was due to Kairi being amazing.

In case the last paragraph didn't make it clear, I think Shayna's going over after an absolutely brutal (in, like, the good sense) match.

Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Aleister Black for the NXT title

This is going to be very good. Almas tends to work up or down to the level of his opponent, and Black is amazing. As a worker, he is the Cesaro of NXT, in that there are no flaws in his game. He can do it ALL.

As you may have noticed, my predictions for NXT are often predicated on who I think is moving up to the main roster, and when. Even with Cien being the champ, I feel like this match is all about Black. As stacked with talent as NXT is right now, Black has the highest upside on the brand except for maybe Kairi Sane (whose ceiling is "biggest babyface star in the world for a solid decade"). Barring injury, he will be WWE World and Universal champ in the future. So the question is, does that trajectory require him to be champ? Because if WWE decides it does, he's going over. If they think it best to just move him up, he's losing through chicanery or winning via DQ. The only thing I know for sure is that Almas isn't going over clean. Sorry, Cien.

My overall prediction for NXT Takeover New Orleans is sustained excellence, and the kind of top to bottom card that puts the bar in a place so high that Mania can only hope to reach it in spots. So, business as usual.

My prediction of Match of the Night is Gargano vs. Ciampa, but I genuinely think every match except maybe the tag title match has a legit shot at it.

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Who do you think will steal the show tomorrow night?