NXT TakeOver Chicago live results: Four titles on the line
NXT comes to Chicago for its latest big show as the Allstate Arena hosts TakeOver: Chicago tonight.
There are four title matches scheduled, with Bobby Roode vs. Hideo Itami for the NXT Championship set for the main event. Itami won the title shot by defeating Roderick Strong on television and this will be perhaps the biggest moment of his WWE career thus far.
Elsewhere on the show, Asuka defends her NXT Women’s Championship in a triple threat match against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot. And the NXT tag titles will be up for grabs as DIY challenge The Authors of Pain in a ladder match.
With Jim Ross joining Nigel McGuinness on commentary for one match, the WWE United Kingdom Championship will be defended as Tyler Bate once again faces Pete Dunne. Strong will also continue his feud with SAnitY and its leader Eric Young.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET.
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Eric Young (w/SAnitY) vs Roderick Strong
Strong picked up a somewhat surprising win after a third jumping knee and a releasing suplex into a backbreaker.
Strong ran in through the crowd during his entrance, posting Killian Dane and giving Alexander Wolfe a backbreaker on the dasher boards. Strong shined on Young and had the advantage until Dane ran him over on the outside of the ring, which Tom Phillips claimed the referee didn’t see, even though the referee was watching until a second before the point of impact. Phillips also claimed that Strong was attacked before NXT TakeOver: Orlando and hadn’t been seen in weeks after (that was No Way Jose).
Strong took over with a dropkick when Young jumped off the ropes, but Young gave him the Wheelbarrow Neckbreaker outside the ring for a near-countout. Strong made his comeback, kicking Dane off the apron and throwing Young into Wolfe. Young climbed to the top rope, but took a Nestea Plunge to Wolfe and Dane when Strong hit a jumping knee, which led to the finish.
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Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdon Championship
Jim Ross got his own entrance and a standing ovation as he joined the broadcast table for this bout.
A fantastic, show-stealing match. If you have never seen either of these two wrestle, you owe it to yourself to check this match out. In one match they made the UK Title mean more than the Cruiserweight Title does.
The finish saw Bate go for a pescado, but Dunne stepped aside and threw him into the black mats, before winning the title with the Bitter End in the ring.
Early on the fans chanted for both, but Dunne’s fans lasted longer, with chants for Bate dying off. By the time the match ended they were chanting “UK” and “Fight Forever”. That’s not to say they were against the champion, as they cheered for him just as well. Dunne was working the joints of Tyler’s fingers and tried to stomp on them, but Bate moved out of the way. However Bate was dropped on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, with an X-Plex.
Dunne went for an X-Plex in the ring, but Bate landed on his feet and hit a standing Shooting Star Press to Dunne, which led to a very close near fall. Bate went for a second one, but got caught in a Triangle Choke. From the Triangle Dunne threw punches and elbows at Bate, but instead of tapping, Bate lifted him and dropped him with the one-armed power bomb. Bate used an exceptionally long and fast Airplane Spin and collapsed on top of Dunne for a 2 count.
Bate came off the middle rope, but got caught with a forearm and laid out as Dunne hit a X-Plex into a Sit Out Power Bomb for what everyone thought was the finish, but it wasn’t. The crowd exploded as they got to their feet swinging away at each other. We had a series of moves where one would be hit, fall off the ropes and come back with another move and the other one would fall off the ropes and come back with their own. Dunne went for the Bitter End, but Bate turned it into a DDT. Bate then hit an Asai Moonsault to the floor and a Corkscrew 450 Splash in the ring, but Dunne kicked out of that. Bate went for a dive, which led to the end.
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Asuka vs Ruby Riot vs Nikki Cross for the Women’s Title
Asuka retained the title by pinning both Ruby and Nikki with a running low dropkick to the face.
The story of this match is Asuka’s confidence has almost completely turned into cockiness. Her moves, while just as crisp as before, were done almost with a sense of boredom. Early on the fans were into Asuka and Ruby, not so much for Nikki (outside of her entrance), but really got into Cross when she caught Asuka in the ring apron and waylayed the champ with forearms. They tried a different 3-way spot where Nikki had laid out Ruby, but Asuka nailed a Missile Dropkick on Cross, but landed in a splash on Ruby.
Asuka was outside the ring and Cross dove off the apron, but got caught with a nice looking knee to the face. Ruby later on went for a top rope legdrop, but Asuka moved out of the way and locked on the Asuka lock. She would have had to tap, but Cross broke it up. Nikki then laid out Ruby on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring.
They did the normal triple threat spot where each lady would be laid out outside of the ring and the other two would square off. No one believed Nikki or Ruby would win, but they still enjoyed what was a good match.
Ember Moon was shown watching in the stands during the match.
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A commercial aired for Rocket League, where a girl playing soccer goalie appears to dive head-first into a moving vehicle.
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The Velveteen Dream Patrick Clark re-re-re-redebuts this Wednesday.
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Bobby Roode vs Hideo Itami for the NXT Championship
Interesting match order. Also interesting to note that they showed the original angle where Itami was injured and you were led to believe that Kevin Owens did it. Also that angle happened two years ago today.
Bobby Roode continues his quest to break all time records for the longest walk to the ring in wrestling history, as tonight’s entrance clocked in at a tremendous 4 minutes, 25 seconds.
The finish saw Itami go for his second GTS, but Roode blocked it on the way down and hit two Glorious DDT’s to retain the title in an excellent title match that exceeded expectations.
Itami teased the Go To Sleep in the first 30 seconds of the match, but Roode was able to get out of it. Itami dropped Roode early and then dropped several knees. Hideo lowered his knee pad, which led to Roode covering up, so Itami just booted him in the mouth. Roode took over with the Buff Blockbuster. Roode concentrated on Itami’s shoulder, including using elbows to the shoulder, which the announcers didn’t notice.
Hideo would get spurts of offense, but Roode would quickly cut him off. This continued until Roode mocked him and Hideo began his comeback with a hard slap to the face. Turn about was fair play, as Roode slammed his own shoulder into the ring post, so he had a bruised wing. Itami used a Fujiwara Armbar and a Falcon Arrow, but Roode escaped both times.
Both men tried several times to go for their respective finishers, but one way or another neither would hit. Roode tried to send Itami into the steps, but they reversed it. Hideo then went for a running dropkick, but Roode moved and Hideo went crashing into the steps, possibly injuring his ankle. Back in the ring, Itami got the best of the YAY! BOO! punch spot, but injured himself on a running corner dropkick. Roode saw this and hit a Glorious DDT, but Itami kicked out. Itami finally hit the Go To Sleep, but Roode fell out of the ring, which seems to happen in every Bobby Roode title match. Itami slapped Roode like Roode owed him money before the finish.
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Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Kassius Ohno and Pat Patterson were all shown at ringside.
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Authors of Pain vs #DIY for the NXT Tag Team Championship in a Ladder Match
Authors of Pain retained the titles in a violent ladder match. There have undoubtedly been better ladder matches, but I have rarely screamed like I did when Johnny Gargano took a double team ladder shot right to the face. The match itself was excellent, but it will be remembered for the show closing angle.
Early in the match Ciampa & Gargano brought a giant ladder from up the aisle, which led to Gargano doing a Suicide dive through the ladder and onto the AOP. They went for a Hardy Boyz Poetry in Motion, but Gargano was caught and thrown on top of the kneeling Ciampa. Akam and Rezar teased being too big to climb the ladders, which is ridiculous since Big Show has been in several ladder matches without problems.
We got several creative climbing spots where AOP would pick up a ladder and Ciampa would run up it, or when the Authors went for a Super Collider, Gargano & Ciampa were almost high enough in the air to get the belts. Authors of Pain set up two long ladders from the ring apron to the dasher boards, but DIY used knees to lay the champs across them. There was a ladder in between the two ladder bridges, so DIY climbed it for a double dive off the tops of the ladder. Ciampa hit his on the money, but Gargano and Akam bounced off the ladder, without it breaking clean.
DIY had the titles won, but Paul Ellering ran in to stop Gargano from climbing. Gargano superkicked Ellering, which caused the AOP to freak out briefly. It didn’t last long, as Ellering was propped up against the dasher boards encouraging his team on. Akam and Rezar went for a ladder shot on Ciampa, but Gargano shoved him out of the way and took a brutally hard ladder shot to the face. That looked worse than anything Sheamus did to Jeff Hardy.
Rezar climbed, but Ciampa was able to rip him off with a German Suplex, which caused Rezar to fall into a ladder, exploding it on impact. Akam went to do the Terry Funk airplane spin with the ladder, but he got superkicked to his knees and DIY hit their double team knee strikes to him. They teased that as the finish, but AOP grabbed them, hit a double team power bomb and a Super Collider before finally climbing the ladder and claiming their championship belts.
The Chicago crowd gave DIY a standing ovation after the match, chanting “DIY”.
They teased ending the show with DIY embracing on the ramp, but instead, Ciampa attacked Gargano and turned heel. Ciampa threw Gargano face-first into the set before giving him a running knee. The fans, who were chanting “Psycho Killer” minutes earlier, booed as Ciampa laid Gargano out with a lifting knee strike to his now-former best friend.
Ciampa took Gargano to the top of the announce table, but dropped him with a White Noise off the stage and through some production tables set up off stage. The fans were simultaneously booing his dastardly deeds and cheering for how cool they were.