I’ve been reviewing the last few NXT Takeover shows because they have been better than the ‘real’ WWE pay-per-view shows that followed it…and NXT Takeover: New Orleans will most likely be better than Wrestlemania 34.

There hasn’t been a bad NXT Takeover. It’s an impressive streak as they have been putting on four or five of them a year for the last four years. This Takeover may have been the best one yet.

We knew going in that this could possibly be one of the best Takeovers in history as the card was stacked. There were strong storylines and we all knew the six-way ladder match for the new North American Championship was going to be exciting as well.

Let’s get going…

Six-Way Ladder match for North American Championship (Killian Dain vs Lars Sullivan vs Adam Cole vs Velveteen Dream vs EC3 vs Ricochet)

The match started off with some big moves and of course the first spot Ricochet did in NXT was just beautiful.

The large guys were definitely utilized as ‘the guys who will catch everyone’s dives.’ They were put over as well and a Lars vs Dain feud seems like something that could be next for the guys. I’m a fan of watching two beasts just ramming into each other for 20 minutes.

Velveteen Dream was over as hell. They were chanting his name from the start. He took a hell of a beating and was able to hit some big moves of his own, like a Purple Rainmaker from the top of a very tall ladder onto Lars.

EC3 also made his debut in NXT and was in the match to be the punching bag. He took nearly every big move and was just getting killed…but to his credit, he kept coming back. I’m not sure how great that is for his ‘spoiled brat – one-percenter’ gimmick as he earned all the praise for his effort in this match.

The match used about a dozen ladders and two were even broken when the big guys threw guys, on top of other guys, to break them. 

The finish concluded with Adam Cole hitting a superkick party (Ricochet’s sell was damn great).

There were some other stuff in-between that and the finish, but they did ALL THE MOVES and the crowd went nuts. Cole found himself alone on the ladder and grabbed the belt…because he’s ADAM COLE BAY-BAY!

Ember Moon (c) vs Shayna Baszler for NXT Women’s Championship

I feel sorry for the ladies here as they faced the impossible task of having a non-gimmick match immediately after an insane ladder match.

The story of the match was Baszler trying to get a submission on Moon. She succeeded a few times and Moon tried to win the match like she did last Takeover, by rolling over and pinning Baszler while in a submission. Moon attempted many times to do that again, but Baszler smartened up and avoided it. 

Moon was able to get the best of Baszler at one point. She hit the Total Eclipse from the apron to the outside of the ring. I’m not sure why this move would be more devastating, other than Moon’s tailbone getting smashed.

Moon then was able to do the broken elbow spot that Baszler did to Dakota Kai. Baszler struggled with her shoulder from that point on. She event banged her shoulder on the ring post to try to pop it back in place.

The finish saw Baszler get her finisher on Moon. She couldn’t get to the ropes, but fought as a true babyface before passing out. Baszler is the new NXT Women’s Champion.

Three-Way Tag Team Match for the Dusty Rhodes Classic Trophy and NXT Tag Team Titles (Authors of Pain vs Roderick Strong/Pete Dunne vs The Undisputed Era (c) (Kyle O’Reilly/Cole)

Before the match, they showed Cole in the back getting his ribs taped up and telling O’Reilly that he may not be able to wrestle.

All the teams came out (even Cole), but he was pretty useless as he was destroyed from the ladder match.

Authors of Pain dominated this match with power moves, but Strong and Dunne used technical moves and speed to get the best of AOP and O’Reilly.

There weren’t a ton of memorable spots in this match, but the finish saw Dunne hit the Bitter End on Kyle O’Reilly and looked like he was going to get the three-count…until Strong broke it up! Strong then hit the End of Heartache on Dunne and put O’Reilly on top of him for the three-count. Strong is now a member of the Undisputed Era and will take Bobby Fish’s spot in the tag team while he’s out with a knee injury.

This was probably the worst match on the card, but the swerve at the end made up for it. Also, this match was still good, but this Takeover was just that damn great.

Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas (c) vs Aleister Black for the NXT Championship

It’s hard to really gauge how great this match was because the ladder match was awesome and the Gargano/Ciampa match was freakin’ epic. I think it was a very good match, but it will be lost to time as everyone will only remember those two matches when they bring up this Takeover.

Black took most of the match, but was thwarted by the interference of Zelina Vega. She hit a hurricanrana twice and put the foot of Almas on the ropes after a Black Mass kick.

There were some cool spots where Almas hit the double knees on Black twice, and once against the ring post. He also hit a foot stomp off the top robe and landed on the floor.

The finish came when Vega tried to interfere one too many times and missed a crossbody and hit Almas instead. Black then hit the Black Mass to become the 12th NXT Championship of all-time.

Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa (if Gargano wins, he is reinstated in NXT)

Ciampa comes out first to no music and drowned in boos. Even if he did come out to music, I doubt you would be able to hear it well, so it was a nice touch. The crowd chanted every curse word at him and even had a unison ‘Asshole’ and ‘F*ck you, Ciampa’ chants going before the match even started. The dude is the biggest heel in the entire WWE right now.

Gargano came out to the biggest babyface pop of the night. The crowd love him and he is at a Daniel Bryan-level of babyface-osity.

The two started the match with a stare down and then a hockey fight. Ciampa kept getting the better of Gargano early on. He tried for a rope break when Ciampa had a submission hold on him, but there are no rope breaks in this match.

Ciampa took the match outside and pulled up the outside mat, which will come into play later. They just kept doing punching spots with each guy looking dead after hitting each other with crutches.

Ciampa wanted to suplex Gargano from the ring to the exposed cement on the outside. Gargano reversed it and hit a power bomb…which made a God awful sound when Ciampa hit.

Gargano got the better of Ciampa at this point. He even lawn-darted him into an exposed turnbuckle. Ciampa got back into the match and hit a Project Ciampa off the top rope. He injured his surgically-repaired knee in the process. He took off his brace to help relieve the pressure.

Gargano came back as he won the punching spot. It looked like Gargano was going to finish him off when a broken crutch, but he hesitated.

The pair recreated the ‘sitting in the middle of the ring’ spot they did after their match at the Cruiserweight Classic. Ciampa was going to hit him with a cheap shot with his brace when Gargano got his GargaNO Escape submission hold on him. He realized it wasn’t going to make Ciampa quit, so he put on an STF and put Ciampa’s brace across his face for the tapout win.

Both guys came into this match in the best shape of their lives. They put on a clinic and is arguably the best match recent WWE history. Time will only tell if it will end up being remembered along the times of Hart/Stone Cold or Hart/HBK Ironman Match. This match was that damn good.

The WWE main roster will have their work cut out for them to even come close to this Takeover. Wrestlemania 34 has a pretty great card, but every single match will need to be perfect to come close to NXT Takeover: New Orleans.

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.