WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland results
The shock interventions, surprise announcements and eventual winners of WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland
With Wrestlemania 36 only two short months away, there was plenty at risk for the contenders for this TakeOver. With several NXT Championship titles on the line, it would be a show defined by some shocking interferences and betrayals...
NXT North American Champion - Keith Lee defeats Dominik Dijakovic
Keith Lee - aka The Limitless One - retained his NXT North American champion title after defeating long-time rival The Rare Breed Dominik Dijakovic. Lee finished off Dijakovic with a Big Bang Catastrophe, but respectfully helped him to his feet for an embrace afterwards.
It was an emotional match for Lee, who wore a “Maberry Strong” shirt in his entrance in honour of his school football coach who recently passed away.
Dakota Kai defeats Tegan Nox
In the first-ever Street Fight in the NXT’s Women’s Division, Dakota Kai didn't even let Tegan Nox finish her entrance, ambushing the Welsh wrestler before the match even officially started. It wasn't long before the two were destroying barricades as a bin, steel chairs and even a cricket bat getting involved. Nox even targeted Kai's surgically repaired knee with a steel chair, before wrapping it around her neck.
Nox was set to win - until the surprise intervention of Raquel González, who knocked Nox through the table and allowed Kai to climb atop just long enough for the 3-second count.
Finn Bálor defeats Johnny Gargano
Finn Bálor aka The Prince reunited with Johnny Gargano after putting him out of action for several weeks last TakeOver, and didn't make his return to NXT's stage an easy one. The rivalry was felt with plenty of one-upmanships, with Bálor even dropping Gargano onto a monitor on the announce table.
However, it was Bálor's tremendous 1916 DDT that once again won the match for The Prince.
NXT Women's Champion - Rhea Ripley defeats Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair used her edge in athleticism in an effort to take the NXT Champion crown from Rhea Ripley aka The Nightmare, but it wasn't to be. Ripley outmanoeuvred the former athlete, countering with a pump handle into The Riptide to finish her off.
But it wasn't the fight that had everybody talking - moments after celebrating her victory Ripley was ambushed by Charlotte Flair aka The Queen, who formally accepted her Wrestlemania challenge. Flair then delivered a Natural Selection for good measure, before grabbing her former NXT Women's Title for herself.
NXT Tag Team Champions - The BroserWeights defeat The Undisputed ERA
Despite having less than two months to prepare together, the BroserWeights did the impossible by vanquishing industry stalwarts The Undisputed ERA this TakeOver.
After arriving firing insults in the BroserMobile with the Dusty Cup trophy in tow, Riddle and Dunne provoked their opponents into fisticuffs before the bell even sounded. Despite seeming to be out of the match early on, the BroserWeights came back from the brink to perform some incredibly in sync moves, with the Original Bro launching Fish into a leaping kick from Dunne that set them up nicely for the 3-second count.
NXT Champion - Adam Cole defeats Tommaso Ciampa
This match was just as epic and fierce as you'd imagine, with Adam Cole hitting enziguris, Ushigoroshis and backstabbers to Tommaso Ciampa's surgically repaired neck. This wasn't enough to stop Ciampa aka The Blackheart, who hit Cole with two power bombs through the announce desk which sent him crashing through the table into a pile of rubble.
Even an interception by The Undisputed ERA wasn't enough to take Ciampa out. Cole even shoved Ciampa into the referee, rendering the situation lawless as Ciampa managed a pin. It was only the shock entrance of Gargano that turned the tide - betraying his former partner as he grabbed the NXT title and clocked Ciampa around the face with it allowing Cole to go for the pin. Three years after the Blackheart betrayed Gargano, he got his revenge.
