NXT this week was headlined by a title match between Johnny Gargano
and The Velveteen Dream. Gargano defended the North American
Championship tonight in a match that has been heavily promoted on NXT
for weeks now. Did he prevail, well we’ll find out more on that later.
Meanwhile, some other programs on NXT have gotten started as the shows
leading into the NXT Takeover: Blacklist event continues. Tonight’s
edition of the show was kicked off by Aleister Black coming down to the
ring for a match.
Aleister Black vs. Roderick Strong – 
  Remember that last week’s show ended with The Undisputed Era
attacked Aleister Black and Ricochet. Black faced Roderick Strong in
this match and tried to get revenge on the group. The rest of The
Undisputed Era members stayed in the back as Strong made his entrance
alone.

  Strong took Black down as he went for his leg, then he made his way
up to the wrist. Black took over and dishes out his signature kicks and
knee strikes. Strong was quick to hit back with some chops before
tossing Black outside of the ring. He slid through the middle rope and
hit a dropkick on the former NXT Champion. As of that was not enough,
strong hit a backbreaker on Black right on the steel ring steps.
  Another backbreaker from Strong as they reentered the ring. He
tried to keep Black grounded and held him down with some holds. Black
rose up and charged after him in the corner of the ring. Eventually,
both men made their way up the ring post in the corner of the ring.
Strong tried to take Black down with a superplex but he slid out and
nearly reversed the move. Instead, both men made their way down. Strong
hit a few more knee strikes after this, but Black fires back with kicks
and a caprada.
  Brainbuster from Black for a two count. Roddy is still in this one
for the moment. Black raised Strong up for Black Mass but he moved out
of the way and hit a knee strike. Strong recovers outside of the ring as
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Black jumps on the ring apron. Strong gets Black up on his shoulders
and drops him before getting Black back in the ring for a near fall.
Black and Strong continue to go back and fourth with Strong constantly
getting two count over the man from Amsterdam. Then, out of nowhere,
Black dodges Strong’s offense, turns around, and lands the Black Mass
kick to get the victory.
Winner: Aleister Black

  Unsurprisingly, The Undisputed Era members came down to the ring to
attack Black, but Ricochet met them there. The two good guys cleared
the ring and sent Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick
Strong to the back.
  Serena Deeb introduced recent WWE signees like Rachel Evers in a
video taken in WWE’s Performance Center. Suddenly, a shouting match
erupted between Shayna Baszler & the Horsewomen and various members
of the NXT roster. The girls separated and the locker room settled down.
  Bianca Belair talked about her great 2018 and Takeover match
against Shayna Baszler. Then she went off on the Sky Pirates. Belair
refuses to give Io Shirai a shot at Shayna Baszler’s NXT Women’s
Championship without a fight because she’s un-def-ea-ted.

  A quick recap video showing Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso
Ciampa, and Ricochet making their main roster debuts on Raw and
SmackDown earlier this week was shown.
  Mauro Ranallo then announced that the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
will be returning. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, Marcel Barthel &
Fabian Aichner, The Forgotten Sons, and The Street Profits make up half
of the teams. The other half will be decided on upcoming NXT episodes.
Xia Li vs. Mia Yim – 
  Two of the top standouts from last year’s Mae Young Classic
tournament competed in a match this evening. Mia Yim came down to the
ring with new entrance music. Li and Yim shook hands before the match
got underway. They locked up and took each other down with armdrags
early on. Li would take over until Yim doves some of her martial arts
kicks.
  Yim held out her hands for a test of strength, which she got the
better of. Yim tried to go for the pin but Li leapt high Into the air
and fought her off. Yim shoved Li down and hit a rolling senton in the
corner of the ring before going for a pin. Li hit some punches and kicks
which was good enough to score her a two count. 
  Back on her feet, Yim landed some more kicks on her opponent before
hitting Eat Defeat on Li. The announcers refered to this move as
“Protect Your Neck.” After this, Yim got the win. Unfortunately for her,
she didn’t get the chance to celebrate her win for very long.
Winner: Mia Yim
  Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir ran down to the
ring and attacked both women. Some of the lesser-known member ps of the
NXT women’s division ran down for the save, but the Horsewomen were too
much for them. Baszler kicked Yim down as Shafir and Duke held her.
  Johnny Gargano was shown preparing for his title defense backstage
when Candice LeRae confronted him. Tommaso Ciampa showed up and offered
his support. Gargano angrily warned him that he doesn’t need his help
and that he won the North American Championship on his own. He and LeRae
left shortly after this and headed to the ring.
  Matt Riddle was interviewed by Jeremy Borash and was asked about
his transition to NXT. He talked about defeating Kassius Ohno and Drew
Gulak, and then said that he wants to win gold in NXT now. The full
interview is up on YouTube right now.
  Mia Yim will face Shayna Baszler in a non-title match next week
The Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship –
  After winning the Worlds Collide tournament over Royal Rumble
weekend, The Velveteen Dream decided to challenge Johnny Gargano for the
North American title. Gargano has only been the titleholder since last
months NXT Takeover: Phoenix event, and this is only his first defense.
This is a match between two of NXT’s very best stars on the roster right
now.  Who will walk out as the champion here?
  The two wrestlers ran after each other right for. The moment that
the bell sounded. The did some mat wrestling at Dream took over, but
Gargano got to the ropes. Front face lock from Gargano as the two of
them traded various moves from their technical skillset. Given Gargano’s
years of experience, he usually was able to overpower Dream. During all
of this NXT Champion Tommaso Ciamoa was shown watching the match.
  The Velveteen Dream slapped Gargano so hard that it caused him to
run out of the ring to recover. The announcers suspected that Gargano
May have lost a tooth from that one. Back in the ring, Dream put Gargano
in a headlock until he reversed it. It was a stalemate before Dream
rolled out of the ring and Lou led on him from the top rope for a two
count. 
  Chops in the corner up next from Gargano. He gave Dream and Irish
Whip and charged after him in the opposite corner. Dream tried to up top
for a high-risk maneuver, but Johnny sent him crashing down to the
canvas. Gargano shoves Dream back into the corner and got more knife
edge chops in on him. Dream tried to get back into the match, but
Gargano was relentless as he unleashed the more ruthless side of himself
here. Two count from Gargano before he began bending back the arms of
Velveteen Dream.
  Gargano stretched out Velveteen Dream and really tried to bend
those arms back and damage the shoulders. Dream was propped up in the
corner and appeared to be unconscious. He was just playing possum though
as he dodged Gargano’s chops. He still tossed him out of the ring
before stealing Dream’s poses in the ring. Dueling chants from the fans
as Gargano strikes his opponent before slapping hands with some of his
own fans outside of the ring.
  Abdominal stretch was hooked in by Johnny until Dream fought out of
it and landed a spinebuster. He slapped Gargano and finally started to
get back in the fight. Kicks to the head from Dream before he sends
Gargano outside of the ring with a clothesline. He leapt off the top
rope and hit an elbow drop and rolled Gargano in the ring. That was
still not enough to get him the win.
  Up top, Dream tried to hit a hit an avalanche splash on Johnny but
the champion was able to get out of it. He scored another two count
before they stood up and exchanged punches. They crashed into each other
to even the score once again. On their feet again as Dream took over
with a knee. They battled on the apron next until Dream jumped back in
the ring and prevented Johnny from hitting the slingshot spear. On the
apron, Dream went for a Dream Valley Driver, but Gargano got out. The
latter hit a tope suicida on Dream before executing the slingshot spear.
  Dream’s not ending the match like that. He continued to fight and
got “Johnny Wrestling” down once again. He went up to the top of one of
the ring posts in the corner again but missed the Purple Rainmaker.
Gargano instantly hit a kick to the face, but Dream kicks out! 
  It’s Johnny who gets to the top turnbuckle next but Dream punches
him down. Dream gets Gargano in his shoulder and tries to go for for
Dream Valley Driver again. Although Gargano hit some elbows, Dream
overpowered him and still hit the move. Gargano kicked out somehow!
Dream tried to hit Purple Rainmaker outside of the ring on Gargano, but
Johnny superkicked him. Slingshot DDT from Johnny on Dream. Does that do
it? Nope.
  Full Sail University is going nuts as Gargano hits some blows to
Dream’s heads. Clothesline from Gargano and he then sets up for the
running knee strike. Dream actually encourages him to hit the move, but
Gargano is tricked. Velveteen Dream lands not one, but two Dream Valley
Drivers. He immediately went up for the Purple Rainmaker and finally won
the title. 
Winner and NEW North American Champion: The Velveteen Dream
  The Velveteen Dream was overjoyed to win the title. He literally
began bouncing up and down in the ring as Gargano slowly made his way to
the back. “Johnny Champion” is no more. However, Tommaso Ciampa was
shown watching the match and he seemed to be delighted with the outcome.
Now that The Velveteen Dream is the North American Champion he has
begun his first official title reign in WWE. It will certainly be
interesting to see what he is able to accomplish as a champion of the
brand.
  As expected, the main event title match was outstanding and the
crowd was delighted to see Dream win a championship. It makes sense for
Gargano to lose the strap since he’s a member of the main roster now,
but where is the storyline with him and Ciampa going? That still has yet
to be answered. Next week’s show kicks off the qualifying matches for
the returning Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. It will also
likely deal with the fallout of this match and, as always, feature some
great action. See you NXT time!