NXT TakeOver: Phoenix - Ranking all the matches

Another TakeOver is in the books. Usually, among WWE's most anticipated events, the critically acclaimed NXT TakeOver series has often shined brighter than the main roster pay per views which follow an edition of the yellow brand's big show.

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How will the Royal Rumble tomorrow night compare to what just went down in Phoenix?

As usual, there were five matches on the card, and while this wasn't the best TakeOver, and had a dull crowd by the series' standards, it was still a good show.

Here are the five matches ranked in order, in case you missed the show live.

#5 Shayna Baszler vs. Bianca Belair

Another letdown in the women's division.

Unsurprisingly, this match ranks the lowest. It wasn't the train wreck that many people were fearing, but it wasn't a good match by TakeOver standards. This was something that easily could have been done on regular television.

It didn't help that this followed the night's best match, either. Bianca Belair didn't deliver a breakout performance compared to what we've already seen her do, and the match was plodding for the most part until the very end, where it relied on overbooking to try and get its finishing sequence over. The crowd, for the most part, wasn't into it until the end of things.

The interference from Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke didn't help things either, as the spot where they made their entrance wasn't a critical one that actually cost Belair the match. It just felt unnecessary, and again made Shayna Baszler less of a champion compared to what she was in her first reign.

Tomorrow night's women's matches should easily be able to outdo this. If you don't want to watch the show in its entirety, don't feel bad about skipping this one.

#4 Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno

There wasn't a whole lot of interest in this match going in, seeing as it's already been done twice, but Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno delivered a solid performance tonight.

The match felt like a grudge match, and they made it feel that way with stiff shots all throughout the contest. Technical finesse was abandoned in favor of a match that felt more like a street fight (sans weapons).

The ending was unique too, as Matt Riddle didn't use an MMA submission hold like last time, but took the route of battering Ohno's brains in until he finally needed to call it quits. Riddle kept on battering him from there for a while after the bell rang, too.

It was a good way to put the sometimes goofy Riddle over as a fierce brawler when he needs to be that way.

#3 Undisputed Era vs. War Raiders

There was no way War Raiders were losing after that entrance. They got the crowd into them, too, as the match went on. A year after arriving, they're finally the tag team champions.

The match had a lot of moving parts, too. Bodies flew everywhere as it sometimes felt like we were witnessing a Texas Tornado match rather than a proper tag team contest.

That was fine, though, you needed to keep your head on a swivel to keep up with everything that was going on, which made this a lot of fun.

There were no shenanigans or hijinks, either. The War Raiders simply outfought their overmatched opponents.

This match got them over while crowning new champions, which is what should have always been the goal in Phoenix. It will be interesting to see where the tag team division goes from here.

#2 Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black

I'll flat out say that this match wasn't as good as the first one they had, back in July at Full Sail, but the absence of a shock factor wasn't enough to take away too much from this one.

This was another excellent title match and should go down as a match of the year candidate, albeit a low tier one (the crowd didn't help).

Ciampa targeted Black's leg throughout the match, wisely taking away most of his powerful moves.

Black sold like a champion. He battled through the injuries to bedevil Ciampa throughout the latter portion of the contest and even hit a Black Mass.

But Ciampa survived by hook or by crook as he always does, and went on to deliver three finishing moves in short order to finally win the match, retain his title, give Aleister Black his first clean loss in NXT, and end his TakeOver undefeated streak.

#1 Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano

This was easily WWE's best match of 2019 so far. Could you have expected anything else? I certainly don't expect anything tomorrow night to top this, good as the card looks.

Johnny Gargano and Ricochet fought and flew all over the place in Phoenix. The match seesawed back and forth.

You had no idea who was going to win, to the point that this one sucked most of the remaining energy away from the crowd.

Johnny Gargano seemed to complete his turn to the dark side as well, after this match and what happened later on in the night.

I don't want to spoil too much. If you can only watch one match on this card, this one is the easy pick. It's a can't miss. Don't be surprised if it winds up being listed as WWE's best match of 2019 when December finally comes around again.

Edited by Alan John