Posts
**Hey everyone! Ever since Night Of Champions 2015, through multiple accounts, every month before major WWE pay-per-views, I’ve come on here and booked the cards to make them as exciting, intriguing, and best possible scenarios for the future. I do both NXT and main-roster pay-per-views, as well as the occasional big RAW or Smackdown weekly show. Without further ado, here is how NXT Takeover Phoenix should be booked!**
> MY RUMBLE WEEKEND NXT TAKEOVER POSTS OF PREVIOUS YEARS:
* NXT Takeover San Antonio (2017): https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5qjm3k/how_nxt_takeover_san_antonio_should_be_booked/
* NXT Takeover Philadelphia (2018): Didn’t do one.
> KICKOFF-SHOW:
* The kickoff shows for Takeovers are never anything special, but as usual on the panel we’ve got Charly Caruso, **the coolest person on earth** Sam Roberts, and Pat McAfee, who is quickly becoming my favorite non-wrestler act in WWE. He’s so great. The panel give their predictions and show us video packages throughout the half hour and we get backstage interviews throughout with the all challengers in championship matches that night, namely Johnny Gargano, The War Raiders, Bianca Belair and Aleister Black. The panel give their final predictions for the NXT Championship match, and we get to the main show.
> MAIN-SHOW:
* From San Antonio, to Philadelphia, to Phoenix, yet another Royal
Rumble weekend Takeover is upon us. Last year we saw one of the greatest
professional wrestling matches I’ve ever seen with Almas vs Gargano, and I can
only see magic like that continuing this time around. This card is STACKED, and
for the first time ever, WWE have actually completely copied the suggested card
for this show that I had at the end of my WarGames 2 post and applied it here,
minus Black and Ciampa being FCA. Thank you very much Paul. I know you’re
reading these whilst sipping from your many oversized starbucks cups. Without
further ado, LET’S TAKEOVER PHOENIX.
**1ST MATCH: Ricochet (c) vs. Johnny Gargano (Singles match for
the NXT North American Championship)**
* This should 100% open the show. If it’s any later in the card,
with how good it’s bound to be you’ll risk taking the crowd out of Black and
Ciampa completely. The women’s match doesn’t have enough hype to really be fit
to open, Riddle and Ohno already opened WarGames, and the Tag Titles ALWAYS
start Takeovers. Let’s switch it up for once. Plus, the dynamic of Takeover
beginning *AND* closing with members of DIY winning and retaining their titles
would be fantastic. **Ricochet is out first followed by Gargany Johno. The
match goes just around 20 minutes, and we get formal ring introductions**. Some
big spots/moments in the match are as follows:
* Gargano hoists Ricochet up and runs toward the corner of the ring to try for a Lawndart, but Ricochet lands on his feet, leaps up to the top rope, and hits a corkscrew moonsault on a STANDING Gargano.
* With Ricochet inside the ring and Gargano dazed on the apron, Ricochet tries a REVERSE FRANKENSTEINER on Johnny over the top rope into the ring, but Gargano manages to maintain his balance, doesn’t go over and dumps Ricochet to the mat seemingly landing on his head and neck, and then hits a vicious Slingshot Spear for the near fall.
The match ends when **Ricochet is up top and does a 630 Senton
Splash, but Gargano ROLLS JUST ENOUGH OUT OF THE WAY TO GET ON TOP OF RICOCHET
AND LOCK IN THE GARGA-NO ESCAPE and torques it back in such a way that Ricochet
has no choice but to tap out**. Gargano must win the title here, it’s a crime
he hasn’t captured one singles title in NXT yet, and this is definitely the
time. I think it’d be cool for Ricochet to form an alliance with Velveteen
Dream and have a run as Tag Team Champions for a short while, which would begin
in New York, which I’ll have my full card for at the end of this post.
**WINNER by SUBMISSION and NEW NXT North American Champion: Johnny
Gargano**
* We get an ad for Tapout.
**2ND MATCH: Kassius Ohno vs. Matt Riddle (Singles match)**
* This should be a slobberknocker, and hopefully the match that
sells any of the doubters that Riddle may currently have that he’s the real
deal. I loved the surprise match between these two at WarGames, it was such a
fun way to kick off the show. This match will be much more competitive and
exciting, though. **Riddle is out first followed by Ohno and the match goes
about 15 minutes**. The strikes are fast, furious and ear-piercing throughout
this match, and it’s a pure technical wrestling masterclass. **The match ends
after Ohno is in the middle of a comeback and tries for the Rolling Elbow, but
Riddle leaps up and sends a knee crashing into Ohno’s face, Ohno drops to one
knee, and Riddle hits a second consecutive Bro Knee for the victory**. This
would be the end of their feud in a great match and a star making performance
for Matt. Ohno is an established NXT-lifer at this point and his job really is
to put over younger, new talent. Riddle’s stock has risen and he’ll surely have
championship gold in his near future.
**WINNER by PINFALL: Matt Riddle**
* We get an ad for the Royal Rumble tomorrow.
**3RD MATCH: The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick
Strong) (c) vs. The War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe)**
* The Raiders Of War are out first followed by Roddy O’Reilly.
**The match goes roughly 13 minutes and we get formal ring introductions**.
It’s the raiders time. Undisputed Era are very slowly beginning to run their
course in NXT and they were main-roster ready a long time ago. The War Raiders
are honestly just insanely entertaining and great big guys. It’s definitely
time to crown new champs here. **The match ends when Hanson and Rowe hit
Fallout on Roderick, as they also fall on top of KOR, flattening both UE
members in the process. Rowe gets the pin on O’Reilly** for the titles. I definitely
see UE coming up to the main roster sometime this year, they’re more than ready
and have all the tools to get over. This isn’t the last we’ll see of Roddy and
Kyle though, as they’ll institute their rematch clause in New York in an
absolutely wild 4-way Tag match for the titles. Just wait till you get to the
card at the end of this post. It could honestly top New Orleans as the best
Takeover card EVER.
**WINNERS by PINFALL and NEW NXT Tag Team Champions: The War
Raiders**
* After the match, we go backstage to Aleister Black in his locker
room, preparing for the main event tonight. We then get a shot of the arena
from outside, and the *camera pans across the crowd and we see *KUSHIDA sitting
front row*.
**4TH MATCH: Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Bianca Belair (Singles match
for the NXT Women’s Championship)**
* Bianca is out first followed by Shayna. This was a hard one to
decide. **The match goes around 14 minutes and we get formal ring
introductions**. Neither girl can really lose at this point, although Shayna
can definitely afford a loss more so than Bianca, it’s not time yet for her to
be DE-FEA-TED. So as much as I hate non-finishes, especially on PPV, it’s the
best route here, and it can advance the feud until New York where maybe Shayna
moves up after Mania, and she manages to get a few last months of juice out of
her title reign. The match ends when Shayna begins to realize that she can’t
beat Bianca. Bianca is putting on a dominating performance that Shayna has
never seen against her before. **Bianca unleashes her MASSIVE…. hair… whip… and
is about to whack Baszler with it but Shayna locks in the Kirifuda Clutch and
won’t break it by the count of 5 from the ref, who calls for the bell**.
Neither girl has to get beat, and Shayna’s heel heat has grown massively. As a
consequence, Shayna would have to defend her title against 5 other women in a
match she’s inexperienced at in New York.
**WINNER by DISQUALIFICATION: Bianca Belair; however STILL NXT
Women’s Champion: Shayna Baszler**
* We go backstage once again to see Tommaso Ciampa in some dark
room backstage, admiring GOLDY. We get the graphic for the main event, the
video package plays, and we get to the final match of the night.
**5TH MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs. Aleister Black (Singles match
for the NXT Championship)**
* Ciampa is out first followed by Allie Negra. **The match goes around 25 minutes, the longest of the night, and we have formal ring introductions**. The first match these two had back in July was fucking awesome. It was legitimately just shy of 5 stars in my opinion, it told an incredible story, and they had undeniable chemistry for two guys facing each other for the first time ever. All that being said, just imagine what we’ll see here. It’s an absolute nuclear war and **the match ends as Black goes for a Black Mass, but Ciampa catches Black’s leg, swats it out of the air, hooks his arms and nails a Fairytale Ending ONTO THE NXT CHAMPIONSHIP for the retain**. Aleister Blakc has SERVED HIS FAIR SHARE OF TIME in NXT. Like the Undisputed Era, he has been more than ready for the main roster for the longest time now. I know WWE just called up a swarm of NXT talent to Raw and SmackDown, but this is definitely fit to be his send-off match, and Black honestly deserves to be called up more than anyone that was chosen to make the move. *Post-match, Ciampa leaves the ring, poses on the stage with the title, and heads back through the curtains, but the cameras continue rolling and Black is lying in the middle of the ring. Black does an Undertaker-esque sit up, but rather this is slow, pained and depressing. The crowd are all on their feet, chanting “THANK YOU ALEISTER”, as we’ve seen how NXT sendoffs go before. Black sits in Indian style, then gets up, waves to the crowd, and Takeover goes off the air as Aleister goes through the crowd, slapping hands with everyone. Black’s music plays as he celebrates in the audience*. No need to be left wondering when we would see Aleister next, just simply remember the number 13.
All in all, I realize this would be a pretty lowkey show with no
super big surprises or swerves, but for these Takeovers the show quality is
really always usually determined by the amazing matches that the superstars put
on. My job is just to tell you who should win, the card order, how we get
there, and what will come in the future from it. That being said, I think my
TakeOver New York card could very well be the best thing in this whole post.
**WINNER by PINFALL and STILL NXT Champion: Tommaso Ciampa**
> FINAL RESULTS:
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
:--|:--|:--|:--|
1 | Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet (c) by Submission | Singles
match for the NXT North American Championship | 19 minutes
2 | Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno by Pinfall | Singles match |
15 minutes
3 | The War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) defeated The Undisputed Era
(Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) (c) by Pinfall | Tag Team match for the NXT
Tag Team Championships | 13 minutes
4 | Bianca Belair defeated Shayna Baszler (c) by
Disqualification | Singles match for the NXT Women’s Championship | 14 minutes
5 | Tommaso Ciampa (c) defeated Aleister Black by Pinfall |
Singles match for the NXT Championship | 24 minutes
> MY NXT TAKEOVER: NEW YORK CARD (April 5th 2019; Brooklyn, NY)
No. | Matches | Stipulations |
:--|:--|:--|:--|
1 | Tomasso Ciampa (c) vs. Johnny Gargano (c) | Champion vs.
Champion Winner Take All Hell In A Cell match for the NXT and NXT North
American Championships
2 | Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Candice LeRae vs. Io
Shirai vs. Kairi Sane vs. Rhea Ripley | 6-Woman Ladder match for the NXT
Women’s Championship
3 | The War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) (c) vs. Oney Lorcan and
Danny Burch vs. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) vs.
Ricochet and The Velveteen Dream | Fatal 4-Way Elimination Tag Team match for
the NXT Tag Team Championships
4 | Adam Cole vs. Matt Riddle | Singles match for Number One
Contendership to the NXT Championship
5 | Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee | Singles match
> I better not see comments saying they can’t do a ladder match
and a HIAC match in the same night; see WWE Unforgiven 2006.
Well, that was How NXT Takeover: Phoenix 2019 should be booked.
Thanks for reading. Tell me what you liked or disliked from the post, and what
from the post you’d like to see actually happen on the show. **As always, be
sure to look out for my post for the next upcoming PPV: “How WWE Should Book
Elimination Chamber 2019” the weekend of the show**. My Royal Rumble post
will of course be coming tomorrow. Enjoy the show, everyone.
