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WWE NXT Championship Match for Takeover New York, Ciampa Neck Surgery Update, NXT UK Title Match

TJR Wrestling

Two new matches are official for NXT Takeover: New York on Friday, April 5th. The big one for the NXT Title was made official during last night’s WWE NXT broadcast, which was taped last Wednesday.

Triple H started the show with the NXT Championship in his hands because we all know that Tommaso Ciampa recently underwent neck surgery. Ciampa was forced to relinquish the NXT Championship, so Triple H announced how the black and yellow brand will move forward.

Triple H announced that the NXT Championship match at Takeover: New York was going to be Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano. Triple H said that the match is off due to Ciampa’s surgery. Meanwhile, Gargano still gets his title match against a new opponent.

That led to a Fatal 5-Way match with Ricochet, Adam Cole, Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream (current North American Champion) and the undefeated Matt Riddle.

The Fatal 5-Way match was a very exciting matchup with some great in-ring action and several moments where each guy looked like they might win. The winner ended up being Adam Cole of the Undisputed Era when he pinned Ricochet after hitting the Last Shot knee to the face.

The match was outstanding. I would rate it at ****1/2 out of five although I don’t do the NXT reviews here on TJWrestling. Kurt Zamora’s detailed review should be posted this evening.

That means it will be Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano for the vacant NXT Championship at NXT Takeover: New York on April 5th in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match. Both men tweeted about it.

TJR Thoughts: I’m going with Gargano for the win. I think he’s going to stay in NXT for most of the rest of this year, they’ll give him a title run and then he can go to the main roster full time. His presence is needed in NXT. If they go with Cole that’s fine too, but I think a babyface champion is a smart idea after Ciampa’s long heel run with the title.

As for Ciampa, this video aired during the NXT broadcast last night that showed him having surgery. His wife and young daughter were with him as well. He’s expected to be out of action for nearly one year. The doctor said that the surgery went perfectly.

https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/1108535819546046466

In addition to that, during yesterday’s NXT UK broadcast, WWE officially announced that WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne will defend against NXT UK newcomer Walter.

TJR Thoughts: This match is going to be outstanding too. I have no doubt about that. I realize a lot of you reading this might not know much about Walter before his WWE days, but he’s a very talented big man and he’ll put on an incredible match with Dunne. I can also see Walter winning the title here to end Dunne’s long reign as champion.

There are now three official matches for NXT Takeover: New York on April 5th.

For the vacant NXT Championship in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole

NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Kairi Sane vs. Io Shirai vs. Bianca Belair

WWE UK Championship: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Walter

NXT North American Championship: Velveteen Dream (c) vs. Matt Riddle

That last match was confirmed by a William Regal tweet today.

The other match is known because of what happened at the last NXT tapings. I covered them in this post last week, but I won’t mention it here since I know some people are against spoilers, which is perfectly understandable.

NXT TakeOver New York takes place on Friday, April 5, streaming live on WWE Network at 7 ET/4 PT.