NXT TakeOver: New York (2019): Five Matches, Two Classics, and Almost No Wasted Motion

War Raiders, Aleister Black and Ricochet open the live special with the kind of match that immediately establishes an elite floor for the night. The champions bring size and violent tandem offense, while Black and Ricochet answer with speed, striking and athletic counters that make the style contrast easy to follow even when the action accelerates. The match never feels like a routine title defense because the challengers are presented as fully credible and the crowd treats their big sequences as potential finishes. War Raiders eventually win with Fallout, but the result does not flatten Black and Ricochet because the match gives them a showcase worthy of their standing. At 9.3, it is an A-level opener that would be a plausible match of the night on most cards.

Velveteen Dream and Matt Riddle follow an elite opener without simply trying to reproduce its pace. Riddle's offense is direct and punishing, built around strikes, suplexes and submission threats, while Dream uses timing, counters and character work to keep the champion's personality central to the match. The contrast gives the bout a clear identity and makes Dream's survival feel different from a standard dominant-champion defense. Riddle repeatedly looks capable of ending the reign, which protects his undefeated aura even though Dream ultimately steals the decision with a roll-up. The finish is clever because it gives Dream the championship result while leaving Riddle with an immediate argument that he was not conclusively beaten. The match earns a 9.2 for combining excellent wrestling with booking that protects both men.

Pete Dunne and WALTER produce the first true classic of the night by making the championship feel inseparable from the physical struggle. Dunne attacks fingers, joints and openings with the precision that defined his long reign, while WALTER answers with chops, power and control that gradually make the champion look smaller without making him look helpless. The match takes its time, but nearly every exchange reinforces the same question: can Dunne keep forcing technique into a fight that increasingly belongs to WALTER's size and violence? The answer arrives when WALTER survives Dunne's best resistance and finishes him with the diving splash, ending the 685-day reign cleanly. Because the title change comes after a match worthy of the reign it ends, the result feels like succession rather than shock. A 9.6 recognizes an A-plus championship match with lasting replay value.

The women's four-way is the weakest match on the live card, which says more about the surrounding event than about the match itself. Baszler has a clear champion's role as the controlling threat, while Belair supplies power and Shirai and Sane provide the quicker exchanges that keep the match from collapsing into one-on-one rotations. The closing sequence gives Belair a brief surge before Baszler catches her in the Kirifuda Clutch and forces the submission, preserving the champion while keeping several future rivalries available. The match is busy and occasionally lacks the clean narrative line of the singles bouts around it, but it never becomes chaotic for its own sake. At 8.4, it is a strong B-plus title defense and the only part of the show that does not reach A territory.

Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole deliver the defining performance of TakeOver: New York and one of the era's most ambitious NXT main events. Cole winning the first fall gives the match immediate structure, Gargano tying it with the Garga-No-Escape restores hope, and the final fall becomes an extended test of whether Gargano can survive both Cole and the Undisputed Era around him. The match absolutely embraces the TakeOver epic style, including deep nearfalls, interference, superkicks and repeated finishing attempts, but the crowd's investment gives those excesses a purpose rather than making them feel detached from the story. Gargano surviving the faction's involvement and forcing Cole to submit creates the championship payoff the building has been waiting for. The post-match celebration with Candice LeRae and Tommaso Ciampa adds emotional release without changing the wrestling grade. At 9.9, this is an A-plus main event just short of perfect because the interference and escalation occasionally crowd the match's cleaner ideas.