10 Greatest NXT TakeOver matches of all time

#1 Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

What a match!

A year and a half on, and this match still has everything to me.

The build to Gargano-Ciampa was carrying out to a tee. Ciampa's long-term knee injury that occurred the weekend he originally turned on Johnny Gargano added to the tension.

Gargano had been haunted for months by his former partner, who continued to work things with some stellar Twitter work to taunt his foe.

Once the Psycho Killer was cleared to return, he did everything to make Gargano's life miserable. Attacking Johnny Wrestling at every turn and even costing him his place on the roster at one point.

This set things up perfectly for their match at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans in an unsanctioned match with Gargano's NXT career on the line. The atmosphere in the building was red hot, cheering wildly for Johnny Wrestling whilst booing The Blackheart as he entered the arena.

What followed after this was an absolute war, with both men beating each other all over the building.

What a particularly loved was the throwbacks to their previous encounters. One was towards the climax as Johnny Wrestling went to hit Ciampa with the knee brace, but the latter begged for mercy.

The pair ended up sitting legs folded side-by-side, just as they did at the end of their Cruiserweight Classic clash in 2016.

Ciampa used this to help his villainous ways, however, attempting to hit Gargano with the brace, but Johnny Wrestling saw it coming and used the brace to intensify his Gargano Escape to win what was an absolute emotional rollercoaster.