NXT TakeOver: Chicago results – May 20, 2017: Betrayal rocks #DIY after brutal Ladder Match main event
#DIY's feel-good story reached a tragic conclusion in Chicago when Tommaso Ciampa double-crossed Johnny Gargano following their loss to The Authors of Pain in a historic NXT Tag Team Title Ladder Match main event.
Roderick Strong faces Eric Young in a highly emotional battle at NXT TakeOver: Chicago: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
CHICAGO — As unapologetically depraved as he is, Eric Young may have learned a lesson at NXT TakeOver: Chicago: You mess with a man’s family, you pay the price.
Following controversial comments from the SAnitY leader, Strong — a new father — vowed to put Young down. He almost made it look easy, too. The Messiah of the Backbreaker entered through the crowd to dispatch of Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe then battered Young from pillar to post with a flurry of kicks and chops. SAnitY wasn't going to make it so simple, though.
It was the massive Dain who first stopped the explosive Superstar, smashing him onto the arena floor with the momentum of a locomotive. Strong rallied with a well-timed dropkick and a debilitating backbreaker, but Young halted him again with a wheelbarrow neckbreaker on the outside of the ring.
SAnitY’s leader nearly vanquished Strong again with a top-rope elbow drop, but the gutsy Superstar refused to give up. After knocking Young off the top rope and into his SAnitY cohorts, Strong tossed Young into the ring, fired him into the ropes and destroyed him on the mat with a spectacular suplex release double knee backbreaker.
The three-count netted a personal victory for Strong, but, more than that, it was a win for his family.
The Bruiserweight lives up to his nickname as he delivers a bruising attack on Tyler Bate in their WWE United Kingdom Championship Match: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
The WWE United Kingdom Title became a championship back in January. It became an integral sports-entertainment prize at NXT TakeOver: Chicago when Pete Dunne beat Tyler Bate to claim the title in a match that made a massive statement for U.K. competitors in WWE. They're not here to take part, they're here to take over.
It didn't take long for this instant classic to get going. The rivals began the contest with the type of sophisticated back-and-forth mat wrestling that we’ve come to expect from the U.K.’s top competitors. Of course, in true Bruiserweight fashion, things got ugly in short order on the outside of the ring as Dunne brutalized Bate with his patented X-Plex on the unforgiving edge of the apron.
It was going to take a lot more than that to keep the 20-year-old champion down, however. Bate’s explosive power and startling agility were on full display as he busted out a standing shooting star press and followed up immediately with a deadlift suplex. Dunne halted Bate’s momentum temporarily by trapping him in a triangle choke, but the champion countered in a spectacular way by lifting Dunne off the mat with one arm and slamming him back down.
Bate, who defeated Dunne back in January to become the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion, came within a millisecond of pinning the challenger after a nauseating airplane spin. The Bruiserweight got right back into it, though, knocking Bate out of the air with a forearm and then plastering him with a suplex setup that ended in a sitout powerbomb.
By the time the two young upstarts were trading lefts and rights in the center of the ring, the Chicago crowd were on their feet and showing massive respect with chants of “U.K.! U.K.!” The Superstars in the ring were just getting started, though. Bate countered Dunne’s Bitter End with a DDT that spiked the challenger directly on his head. The champion then hit a moonsault on the outside and a corkscrew 450 on the inside. Somehow, still, Dunne survived.
The deciding moment came seconds later when Bate attempted a risky dive to the outside, but ended up getting planted into the arena floor by Dunne. Back inside, The Bruiserweight again went for The Bitter End and succeeded this time to claim the WWE United Kingdom Title.
If you’ve yet to see this match, watch it on WWE Network now. This is one they’ll be talking about for a long time to come.
The Empress of Tomorrow shows off her wide-ranging offensive attack as she defends her title in a Triple Threat Match: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
The seemingly unstoppable run of NXT Women’s Champion Asuka continued at NXT TakeOver: Chicago, as WWE’s longest reigning titleholder beat Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in a chaotic Triple Threat Match.
As expected, it was every woman for herself from the opening bell — not once did any two Superstars attempt to team up to take out the third. Instead, this was a full-on demolition derby with each competitor keeping her foot down on the gas until the final bell.
It was nearly impossible to keep track of the bodies flying across the screen, but some moments were too outstanding to miss. At one point, when Riot looked to be a second away from pinning Cross and winning the title, Asuka grabbed her from behind and lifted her with pure power for a bridging German suplex. Later, when Riot went for a high-risk Senton on the champion, she suddenly found herself caught in an Asuka Lock, but was saved by a splash from Cross.
The most brilliant bit of strategy came from the unhinged Cross, who wrapped Asuka up in the ring skirt and began to brutalize her with forearms. The victory, however, belonged to Asuka. With Riot covering Cross in the center of the ring, Asuka bounced off the ropes and kneed Riot in the face before pinning both challengers to retain.
With that, Asuka kept her 413-day reign as champion alive and claimed her ninth victory at NXT TakeOver. With all due respect to Goldberg, Asuka may have earned a new catchphrase after this bout: “Who’s next?”
NXT Champion Bobby Roode ends up on the receiving end of Hideo Itami's ferocious strikes: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
If you weren’t convinced already, WWE NXT Champion Bobby Roode had to have won you over at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. His victory against Hideo Itami was, in a word, glorious.
Roode avoided that strike, but the champion’s body will wear the black and blue marks of the nearly uncountable amount of strikes Itami landed during the match. Ever the cagey veteran, Roode continually found ways to put the challenger on the mat. Yet, somehow still, Itami always kicked his way right back into title contention.
The title seemed to be within Itami’s reach after Roode went shoulder-first between the turnbuckles and into the ring post. Roode stayed in the fight, but looked to be in agony when Itami sent that same shoulder into the steel ring steps. Itami looked to finish him right there with a hesitation dropkick, but missed and badly damaged his left leg.
That injury stopped Itami from connecting with a GTS. When he finally landed the maneuver moments later, Roode fell to the outside of the ring. By the time Itami got him back into the squared circle, the champion had regained enough composure to kick out. Itami kept the pressure on, brutalizing Roode with palm strikes, but when he went for another GTS, The Glorious One countered and hit not one, but two consecutive Glorious DDTs.
Not only did Roode spoil Itami’s promise of taking his title, but he cemented the fact that NXT belongs to him. Act accordingly.
#DIY is no more after Tommaso Ciampa callously attacked his friend and tag team partner Johnny Gargano following their loss to The Authors of Pain: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
The incredible success story of #DIY came to an ugly end at WWE NXT TakeOver: Chicago.
Not only did Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa lose their NXT Tag Team Championship Ladder Match to the unbeaten Authors of Pain, but Ciampa attacked Gargano after the bell in an assault that was hard to watch.
It was a painful ending for a duo that had achieved so much through their heart and loyalty. Hardly 10 minutes before he was smashed through the stage by a man who he thought was his best friend, Gargano had pushed Ciampa out of the way of an incoming ladder and took the full brunt of the impact himself. That was the type of sacrifice that defined #DIY as a team.
It should’ve been another great night for Gargano and Ciampa. Although they were overpowered and oversized by their opponents, #DIY brought the fight to the titleholders with high-risk dives and well-oiled tag team offense. When they had to fight dirty, they did that too, brutalizing Akam and Rezar with steel ladders to keep them down.
When The Authors of Pain finally began to impose their will on #DIY, the Chicago faithful fell eerily quiet with concern for the tag team favorites, but Gargano and Ciampa somehow willed themselves back into the fight. At one point, they smashed Akam and Rezar through ladders that had been propped between the ring apron and the ringside barricade. Later, in a moment that will unfortunately be overshadowed by Tommaso’s ugly betrayal, Ciampa stopped Rezar from grabbing the titles by climbing up behind him and German suplexing him through a ladder that had been propped up in the corner.
#DIY fought so hard that at one point they were literally gripping the titles, only for The Authors of Pain to kick the ladder out from under them. With Gargano and Ciampa dangling over the ring, Akam and Rezar snatched them up and laid them out with their devastating Super Collider.
Seconds later, The Authors grabbed their titles and exited, but Gargano and Ciampa hardly looked defeated as they embraced in the ring with the capacity crowd awarding them a standing ovation. They made it all the way to the top of the entrance ramp before Ciampa grabbed his friend by the back of the neck and drove him headfirst into the TakeOver set.
