Top 3 Performers of NXT (January 23, 2019)

This week's NXT was the go home episode before Takeover: Phoenix hits on Saturday evening.

This week's episode started with NXT North American Champion Ricochet walking into Full Sail University,as he is set to square off against Johnny Gargano for the title at Takeover.

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The show then cut to the ring with Velveteen Dream making his way down the ramp. Velveteen Dream called out Ricochet for his NXT title but instead was cut off by the Undisputed Era's Adam Cole and Bobby Fish.

Velveteen Dream managed to successfully escape his attackers, sending them through the middle ropes before going back up the ramp and leaving an irate Cole and Fish in the ring. A match between Fish and Velveteen Dream would be announced for later in the episode.

A video package hyped the Takeover title fight between current champion Shayna Baszler and her number one contender, Bianca Belair.

The video package hyped Baszler being the first ever two-time NXT Women's Champion and her legitimacy against Belair's undefeated streak.

The video package mainly focussed on Belair as Baszler is a well-known commodity at the NXT main event scene, while Belair has spent most of her time facing off against more mid-card opponents.

This was followed by an announcement that the former NXT Women's champion Kairi Sane would be in tag team action with fellow NXT Superstar Io Shirai. Sane was recently sidelined with a sickness.

The first actual fight of the episode saw Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch go up against Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel.

Barthel has previously been used for enhancement talent, but his pairing with Aichner has been a step in the right direction.

Burch and Lorcan have slid down the card after they challenged the Undisputed Era for the tag team titles.

Lorcan also spent time on the sidelines while Burch would head to the UK to unsuccessfully challenge Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom title at NXT UK.

Aichner would get the first near fall after Barthel would hit Burch with a Tope Suicida and Aichner would land a Double Springboard Moonsault.

The match was a combination of high flying and hard hitting. Lorcan would pick up the victory with a roll up on Aichner as Burch held back Barthel on the outside.

Next was Io Shirai and Kairi Sane against a team of Amber Nova and Tanea Brooks. Unsurprisingly, Shirai and Sane dominated the contest. Sane would cut Brooks in half with an interceptor.

While Shirai hit a Tiger Feint Kick and a springboard double dropkick on both Brooks and Nova. Shirai then popped Sane for her Insane Elbow drop, while Sane returned the favor to boost Shirai into her Moonsault.

The two would be great contenders for the newly announced women's tag team titles on the main roster. Their tag team moves were exceptional, and stand them out from many of the female tag teams that the WWE currently has on the main roster,

Finally, the main event of the night saw Velveteen Dream face off against Undipusted Era's Bobby Fish. The match seemed a little sloppy at first as both Fish and Dream missed their spots and timing.

Fish quickly escaped to the outside trying to get away from a rampaging Velveteen Dream. As the two wrestled on the outside, Fish began to target the Dream's knee, which he would sell for the remainder of the match.

He would wrest back supremacy, but before he could build up momentum, Fish would cut him off by targetting his knee.

Fish looked to have the ascendency after he locked in a knee-bar. However, the referee noticed that Adam Cole was hoping the ropes away, which made Fish release the hold. Velveteen Dream would then hit the Dream Valley Bomb followed by Purple Rain Maker for the victory.

The night would end with an in-ring face-off between the NXT North American titleholder Ricochet and his Takeover: Phoenix Challenger Johnny Gargano. Ricochet started in the ring calling out Johnny Gargano, Gargano and Ricochet would attack each other.

While Ricochet would take out Gargano, Ciampa would sneak into the ring and attack Ricochet from behind.

Ciampa would get a taste of his own medicine as Black would come and attack Ciampa from behind. Gargano would climb back into the ring and save Ciampa, by pulling Black off of him and hitting the former NXT Champion with a Super Kick. Once again, NXT saw the return of #DIY to close out an episode of NXT.

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#3 Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel

Aichner and Barthel have only been made a tag team recently on NXT TV after runs as singles competitors and enhancement talent.

While Aichner competed in the inaugural Cruiserweight tournament, representing Italy, Barthel spent last year as enhancement talent facing EC3 and a newly acquired Keith Lee.

Since being put together over at NXT UK, Aichner and Barthel have seemingly been able to turn their fortunes around having beaten the tag team of Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews.

The two faced off against the experienced pair of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Despite Barthel and Aichner coming off second best in the match, the two looked strong together and potentially have a great run as one of the talents in NXT's rebuilding tag team mid-card. The team could also be used to bolster the stocks of a thin UK Tag Team division.

# 2 Io Shirai and Kairi Sane

Normally, a performance like the one Shirai and Sane gave would be worth the top votes, and the two are unfortunate to miss out on the spot due to stiff competition on this week's episode.

The two battled against relatively unknown opponents, and the result of the match seemed too obvious from the outset.

Outside from that, the match was fresh and unlike the various other tag teams in the women's division, especially when it comes to the main roster.

While the WWE has created the newly acquired Women's tag team belts, again. While some natural female tag teams do exist, none of them seem to have the chemistry and joint move set of Shirai and Sane.

Specifically, towards the end, it was incredibly impressive to see Shirai pop Sane up for the elbow drop while Sane returned the favor for Shirai's Moonsault.

The two were incredibly fun to watch and felt incredibly different from the other female tag teams the WWE has at the moment.

# 1 #DIY

If someone said at the start of 2018, that in 2019 an episode of NXT would close with #DIY members Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, they would be dismissed out of hand. The two would spend half the year embroiled in NXT's most bitter feud.

Ciampa would cost Gargano his shot at the NXT title against Andrade and his spot at NXT. Gargano would then win his job at NXT back by defeating Ciampa at Takeover: New Orleans in one of the hardest matches of the year.

The two would continue to fight, including a Chicago Street Fight at Takeover: Chicago, and finishing with Ciampa retaining the NXT title against Gargano at Takeover: Brooklyn IV.

However, the go-home shot of the NXT heading into this weekends Takeover: Phoenix was Ciampa and Gargano standing at the top of the ramp about to shake hands after taking out Ricochet and Aleister Black.

The moment was interrupted by Gargano's wife, Candice LaRae, who pushed Gargano away from his former tag team partner. The story between the pair continues to be one of the most intriguing parts of NXT week after week.