Hello everyone, it’s me TWB, and for us wrestling fans Christmas has come early. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, it’s Wrestlemania weekend!
It all kicks off with NXT Takeover: New York this Friday night. Takeover takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and what a card we have to look at, so let’s get started…
WWE United Kingdom Championship: Pete Dunne Vs WALTER
‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne has been United Kingdom Champion for close to two years now, but this Friday I believe he faces his biggest challenge yet, as he takes on WALTER.
The Austrian star made his debut at the NXT UK Takeover in January at Blackpool, and he’s had eyes set on Dunne and his UK Title ever since. If given the time this will be a classic, both men are two of the best wrestlers in Europe, and this could tear down the Barclays Center. Personally, I think it’s time for Pete to drop the belt, he’s been champion now for almost 700 days which is I believe the longest title reign in modern day WWE history.
I think Dunne could be more of a regular on NXT in 2019 so him dropping the title to the newly signed WALTER is the best scenario for this Friday night. The Brain Picks: WALTER (New Champion)
NXT Tag Team Championship: War Raiders vs Ricochet and Aleister Black
I have really enjoyed watching the team of Ricochet and Black over the last few months on NXT TV, Raw and Smackdown, both are incredible in the ring and have seemed to get over with the main roster crowd since joining Raw and Smackdown in February.
Black and Ricochet earned a match against NXT Tag Team Champions War Raiders after winning the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic beating Forgotten Sons in the final. War Raiders have been champions for around two months and we haven’t seen them in action much, perhaps due to the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic returning it meant they’d be kept in the background for a while. Most NXT tag team title matches are unmissable, with some of my favourite Takeover matches being Tag bouts, for example, DIY Vs Revival from NXT Takeover: Toronto or American Alpha Vs Revival 3 years ago at Takeover: Dallas over Mania weekend.
I expect this match to be no different, you have two of best singles wrestlers in NXT against a Tag Team who have destroyed their way through the division to become champions. Assuming that Black and Ricochet will be on Raw or Smackdown permanently after Takeover this match is fairly easy to predict, War Raiders retain The Brain Picks: War Raiders
NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler Vs Kairi Sane Vs Io Shirai Vs Bianca Belair
I believe this match will mark the end of Shayna Baszler’s title reign and her time in NXT. Her 2nd reign as champion has lasted for just over 5 months, after winning the title at Evolution against one of her opponents at NXT Takeover: New York and former champion Kairi Sane.
The advantage of this being a fatal 4 way is that Baszler doesn’t need to be pinned to lose this match so she can still look fairly strong even if she drops her title. Both, Belair and Sane, have faced off against Baszler in title matches over the last 8 months and both ended up on the receiving end of defeats mainly thanks to her Horsewomen compatriots Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. I hope Io Shirai wins the title perhaps by pinning her Sky Pirates team-mate Kairi Sane for the victory.
Baszler can then move up to the main roster, whilst Io and Kairi can feud over the NXT Women’s Championship for the next few months. The Brain Picks: Io Shirai (New Champion)
NXT North American Championship: Velveteen Dream vs Matt Riddle
Velveteen Dream’s first title defence will be against the undefeated Bro Matt Riddle. I have found this feud really entertaining, from Dream interrupting a Riddle match sat on a couch to him cutting a promo where he seemingly made Riddle disappear.
Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose situation, Dream has only held the title for a few weeks, so if he drops it to Riddle then it’ll seem that the North American Championship has been hot potatoed too much over the last few months. However should Riddle lose his undefeated streak in fairly quick fashion, I think Riddle winning is best option, you can have him remain undefeated until possibly dropping the title to maybe Dominik Dijakovic around Summerslam Takeover time.
As for Velveteen Dream, it’s time for him to debut on the main roster, and in front of the raucous post Wrestlemania crowd would be ideal. The Brin Picks: Matt Riddle (New Champion)
Two out of Three Falls – NXT Championship: Johnny Gargano Vs Adam Cole
This is a match I have been waiting for, ever since Cole debuted almost two years ago. It’s no secret that these are probably my favourite two NXT superstars, so for me, I really don’t care who walks out as the new NXT Champion.
This originally was going to be Gargano Vs Ciampa, but due to Ciampa’s injury and requiring surgery the NXT Championship was vacated, and Cole won a five-way to earn the right to face Gargano. Gargano had appeared on a few episodes of Raw and SD over the last few weeks, but due to the Ciampa injury, perhaps his main roster plans were scrapped.
At the start of the year Adam Cole promised that the whole of Undisputed Era will be draped in gold in 2019, so him winning would be a great start to his promise. Gargano’s dream is to finally win the NXT Championship, he’s had attempts in the past, falling short against Andrade and Ciampa. I’m willing to take a massive punt
Imagine it’s 1-1, the referee gets knocked down, then Strong, O’Reilly and Fish enter the ring and of course everyone thinks they’ll attack Gargano, but instead they lay out their leader Cole and Gargano picks up the victory. Post-match Strong can rip off Cole’s wrist band and hand it to Gargano, who takes over as the new leader of Undisputed Era.
Although Gargano has just returned to the babyface side, I’d love to see him be a fully fledged heel, and then you can have roles reversed with a face Adam Cole having to go through his old teammates to get back to the NXT Championship. Then eventually Cole gets his chance either at Takeover: San Jose or Takeover: Toronto over Summerslam weekend. The Brain Picks: Johnn Gargano (New Champion)
Do you agree? Who do you think will walk out
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