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 It's Saturday night and I'm at home watching the WWE Network. That can only mean one thing! It's NXT Takeover Chicago II. The black and yellow brand is coming in hot after the best wrestling show of this and many other years at New Orleans. Since then a whole batch of post-Wrestlemania callups have caused a huge shift in the landscape so this Takeover is very much about resetting the table for the rest of the year. A word of warning! Mauro Ranallo is off on vacation calling a boxing match. At least I think it's boxing. I'm not sure because let's be honest, who the gently caress cares about boxing? Stepping into his shoes will be Vic Joseph who yes, really has been working for WWE for a year. Let's hope he's been working on his analogies. Anyway, let's take a rundown of the card.  NXT Tag Team Title Match Oney Lorcan and Danny Birch vs. The Undisputed Era Roderick Strong shocked the world at Takeover New Orleans when he was given the opportunity to best pals with the grumpiest man in British wrestling, Pete Dunne, and threw it all away so he could hang out with three grubby ROH rejects. Just as Dunne had the titles wrapped up for their team Roddy turned on HIS OWN PARTNER and stabbed IN HIS SWEET, INNOCENT BACK. Yes, I'm still very upset about it. Why do you ask? Although the moment was partially redeemed by the poo poo-eating hyena grins on the faces of O'Reilly and Cole as Roddy put on a TUE armband. Since then despite losing that match Roddy has somehow ended up as Tag Team champion with O'Reilly presumably because William Regal is getting a bit old now and can't tell the difference between two indie jobber geeks so he thinks that's Bobby Fish. Meanwhile, Oney Lorcan is a dude who likes to punch other dudes real hard. Meanwhile, Danny Birch is also a dude who likes to punch other dudes real hard. They had a few matches where they punched each other real hard before realising they'd have much more fun punching other dudes real hard together. Yes, Otacon, love can bloom on the battlefield. Although we all know the team won't be truly complete until Birch starts calling himself Twoey. These two good-hearted fightlads have since discovered that O'Reilly and Roddy look real nice when covered in bruises and now want to spend all their time smashing them up a bit. It's a simple, old-school kinda rivalry, Oney and Twoey are solid brawlers and we all know how great TUE are so this will no doubt be very good. And somehow Cole will find a way to put himself through a table because he just can't stop himself. Look, Adam, we're your friends. We care about you. We think you need help.  Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream In one of the biggest gets in NXT history, Ricochet debuted in New Orleans as part of the stunning six-man ladder match and about five seconds later he was already flipping halfway across the arena. Ricochet would die three times that evening and yet somehow his body lives on to continue competing. The One and Only (just don't google Will Ospreay) has made an immediate impression not least on the Dream who has been begging for another pretty boy to flirt-fight with. They faced off in a match which was just starting to be fire when a big angry gorilla came out and flattened them. Boo gorillas, they are the worst of the animals. For a hot minute it even looked like love would triumph over hate as the two teamed to face said gorilla only for Dream to crush my naïve shipper heart by turning on his partner. All of which leads us to here. Dream says that anything Ricochet can do he can do better. Well, Ricochet can do this:  Your move, Dream! But getting serious for a moment, there's a good case to argue for both men winning. Ricochet is the latest from NXT's conveyor belt on indie darlings so he's obviously heading for big things but a win could set Dream up nicely for the desperately necessary reunion with his true love Aleister Black in Brooklyn. Either way this is the sleeper pick for match of the night. From the little flashes we've seen these guys work great together and we all know how much effort Dream puts in everything he does so I fully expect him to be busting out corkscrew moonsaults before the match is done.  NXT Women's Title Match Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki Cross Before she was even the Women's Champion Shayna was already throwing her weight about the division. Then she took on Ember Moon in a title match which saw Ember turn her tactics back around by dislocating her shoulder only for Shayna to pop it back in by SHOVING HER ARM INTO A TURNBUCKLE LIKE A loving TERMINATOR because Shayna is a robot from the future sent back to the past to prevent us from seeing Lacey Evans matches. After winning the title Shayna's reign of terror truly began. And when I say terror, I mean terror. Especially for everyone's favourite kind and pure Dakota Kai. Shayna waged mental warfare on Dakota for months who tried to stand up for her but this match ain't Shayna vs. Dakota so take a guess how well that worked out. Instead let's talk about Nikki Cross. When Sanity were called up to the main roster Nikki was somehow lost in transit which is probably a good thing because Nikki is now back on NXT while Sanity are busy wrestling the Authors of Pain in the sixth dimension or whatever (also known as Main Event). Nikki soon spotted Dakota's troubles and all of a sudden everyone's second favourite Kiwi after Anna Paquin had a new BFF. This led to Nikki defeating Shayna in a totally fair and legal match to become the new Women's champion when Dakota counted the 1-2-3. However, Nikki has been generous enough to put the belt on line here and now Shayna will attempt to play mind games with a woman who is completely out of her mind. Expect Shayna to win this one because Ronda Rousey is currently is way too busy to do an angle with her.  NXT Title Match Lars Sullivan vs. Aleister Black So, er... this match is happening too I guess? I dunno, I've got to be honest with you, they've not done a great job with this one. Aleister Black is still awesome, the match he won the title in against Andrade 'Cien' Almas was absolutely nuts and now that he's champ he's got this great 'let's get down to business and fight' vibe that I really enjoy but they've not given him anything to work with so he feels a bit like an afterthought. Meanwhile, Lars Sullivan is taking it easy after hunting down the Infinity Stones and annihilating 50% of the universe's population (Sidenote: this is why we've not seen Street Profits in a while). Anyway, Lars would like the title and because he's a big angry shouty man he doesn't exactly ask nicely so he's beat up a whole load of people including Black a whole bunch but he's not done much else. It's hard to get invested when we all know this is them giving Black his big unstoppable monster opponent for him to overcome before moving on to a proper feud. Still, Black doesn't know how to have a bad match and it's definitely going to be better than the Lars vs. Roman feud we'll all be complaining about in a year's time so let's appreciate it for what it is.  Chicago Street Fight Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano In a brutal unsanctioned match at Takeover New Orleans Johnny Gargano defeated his former best friend, Tommaso Ciampa, to find the emotional catharsis he needed and get back his job at NXT. Or so he thought. Just one problem with that. This is wrestling and when two dudes hate each other like Johnny and Ciampa loving hate each other then the genre insists they will keep on fighting each other until one of them drives the other out of town. And seeing as Gargano hasn't had a main roster callup just yet this means we wind up here. So what's changed from last time? Well, Ciampa has slowly driven Johnny more and more insane with his vicious ambushes and brutal attacks which has begun to drive a wedge between Mr. and Mrs. Wrestling as Candace LaRae is just tired of this whole loving thing. This all escalated to the point where Johnny was knocked back into Candace by Ciampa, leaving her sprawling on the floor. Just as it seemed like Johnny was going to listen his missus and put it all on the past he pulled a Vince Russo and swerved into challenging Ciampa yet again. So here we are running an essential repeat of New Orleans which Ciampa will win to set a rubber match in Brooklyn. The only question that remains is will Candace turn heel on her hubby and if so what insane troll logic will they use to explain it. And that's your card. On paper it doesn't have too much to get hype about but it's NXT, it's Takeover, it's gonna be a belter of an evening all the same.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:34
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All in on a dark-haired heel Candice LaRae after she turns on Johnny.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:39
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Good OP, still jet lagged as hell from Japan so I won’t be shitposting tonight lads, sorry 
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Jun 16, 2018 15:43
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rovert posted:All in on a dark-haired heel Candice LaRae after she turns on Johnny. Yes but will she make out with Ciampa
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Jun 16, 2018 15:45
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rovert posted:All in on a dark-haired heel Candice LaRae after she turns on Johnny. Only if her turn is exactly the same way as Ciampa's
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Jun 16, 2018 15:45
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gently caress yes, NXT Takeover time is the best time. No way they'll top the last one which was just loving incredible, but I have no fears that this is the show that will finally break the "every Takeover has been really loving good" streak.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:53
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The worst match on the card will most likely be Lars vs Alister and it will still be decent. I am going to savor tonight because Money in the Bank is going to suck tomorrow.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:55
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Money in the Bank will have some good ladder matches with maybe bad finishes
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Jun 16, 2018 15:57
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jesus WEP posted:Money in the Bank will have some good ladder matches with maybe bad finishes They won't be as good as that ladder match from New Orleans though. Hot drat, that was incredible.
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Jun 16, 2018 16:00
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quote:Then she took on Ember Moon in a title match which saw Ember turn her tactics back around by dislocating her shoulder only for Shayna to pop it back in by SHOVING HER ARM INTO A TURNBUCKLE LIKE A loving TERMINATOR because Shayna is a robot from the future sent back to the past to prevent us from seeing Lacey Evans matches. lmfao, good op
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Jun 16, 2018 16:02
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Shayna wins tonight, drops the title at Brooklyn to Kairi (so WWE can show the first ever Mae Young Classic winner went on to actually accomplish something), and then loses to Dakota and gets sent up to the main roster to feud with...*shuffles papers*...whoever the female version of Dolph Ziggler is. So Becky or Bayley.
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Jun 16, 2018 16:06
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Oh TakeOver, I missed you so. Are we getting any surprise ring-side appearances?
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Jun 16, 2018 16:38
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J-Ro posted:Oh TakeOver, I missed you so. Maybe Keith Lee. Don't think anyone else will show up. Deonna and Io are currently doing STARDOM stuff at the moment (they have a show tonight).
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Jun 16, 2018 16:40
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DarkstarIV posted:Maybe Keith Lee. Don't think anyone else will show up. Deonna and Io are currently doing STARDOM stuff at the moment (they have a show tonight). We'll have to wait until next takeover for ringside Io with the biggest vape rig you ever did see
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Jun 16, 2018 16:53
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The regular thread is closed so I just wanted to say that’s the first time I’ve seen Bianca talk and she seems like a natural.
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Jun 16, 2018 18:59
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Dang, I'm gonna have to miss the beginning, but I guess I can catch up on it tomorrow.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:12
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Endless Mike posted:Dang, I'm gonna have to miss the beginning, but I guess I can catch up on it tomorrow. Just watch it all tomorrow, pretend it's the regular PPV.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:18
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Aphrodite posted:The regular thread is closed so I just wanted to say that’s the first time I’ve seen Bianca talk and she seems like a natural. If WWE didn't hate black people she would have a rocket strapped to her rear end on the main roster. Bianca's gonna go far in wrestling.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:20
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It's kinda hard to be excited for Burch and Lorcan vs TUE when the actual match people want (TUE vs British Strong Style) is already announced for the London show. Rest of the card looks good. Ricochet vs Dream seems like one of those "HHH vs Foley in 1996" kinda things where five years from now we will look back at it as the beginning of the new era. I can't wait to see what sort of craziness Gargano and Ciampa get to. I'd love to see some backstage stuff happen, that would be new.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:33
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I can't watch this till it hits Hulu because real life, but I'm very hyped
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Jun 16, 2018 19:51
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I went to the first Takeover in Chicago and it was amazing. I don't really follow NXT that much but the Takeovers are always so loving amazing I'm glad I'm going to it live again.
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Jun 16, 2018 20:00
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Getting hyped for a live Takeover. This is gonna be good.
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Jun 16, 2018 20:30
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Continuing on the convo from the main thread, another favorite Takeover moment for me is Andrade's title win. I never expected Drew to drop it so quickly. It's another one I saw in person - the crowd was so heavily behind Andrade, and when he won I became a kid again and leapt out my seat yelling like a fool. The energy in the crowd was amazing. Also War Games is my favorite gimmick match so seeing that brought back in person was awesome.
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Jun 16, 2018 20:47
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Black Bazler Birch & Lorcan Dream Ciampa And since I didn't get to post my favorite Takeover moment before the NXT thread got locked, it was the double tapout for the third fall in the DIY vs. The Revival match.
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Jun 16, 2018 20:59
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I'm holding out hope for my favorite partially-shaved gorilla, Lars Sullivan.
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Jun 16, 2018 21:21
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Takeover as usual is gonna rule. Why not showtime yet??
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Jun 16, 2018 22:53
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Soon. (TM)
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Jun 16, 2018 23:13
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Jerusalem posted:gently caress yes, NXT Takeover time is the best time. No way they'll top the last one which was just loving incredible, but I have no fears that this is the show that will finally break the "every Takeover has been really loving good" streak. Bloom only says this stuff when he means it. https://twitter.com/NXTMattBloom/status/1008093576906133507
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Jun 16, 2018 23:59
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Wonder if they'll get the main event again
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Jun 17, 2018 00:00
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Looks like we get Adam Cole on the pre-show panel at least 
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Jun 17, 2018 00:03
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Santino is sounding suspiciously American all of a sudden 
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Jun 17, 2018 00:12
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Rarity posted:Santino is sounding suspiciously American all of a sudden It's... weird seeing him talk normally
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Jun 17, 2018 00:14
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21 Hoot Salute posted:It's... weird seeing him talk normally i saw a video of dusty talking normally once and i really wish i hadnt, it was too much to process daddeh.
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Jun 17, 2018 00:17
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Is it just me or does this feel like the most low key Takeover in quite awhile? Not a lot of matches that feel like the stakes are truly huge like usual.
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Jun 17, 2018 00:21
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Refreshed my stream and got surprise Finn Balor 
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Jun 17, 2018 00:23
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I got pretty good seats I think 
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Jun 17, 2018 00:26
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21 Hoot Salute posted:It's... weird seeing him talk normally where is Jim Cornette to slap him for breaking kayfabe?
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Jun 17, 2018 00:27
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Sam Roberts alert 
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Jun 17, 2018 00:28
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Rarity posted:Refreshed my stream and got surprise Finn Balor  
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Jun 17, 2018 00:30
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You know, everyone always gives Renee Young a ton of cred but Charley Caruso is pretty drat awesome too
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Jun 17, 2018 00:32
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