NXT TakeOver: XXV (2019): Adam Cole Wins the Title on a Five-Match Card with Almost No Weakness

Matt Riddle and Roderick Strong give XXV exactly the opener it needs: fast, physical wrestling that feels important without requiring a championship or a gimmick. Strong attacks the body with the sharp backbreakers and compact offense that made him such a dependable TakeOver performer, while Riddle answers with strikes, throws and sudden bursts that keep the match from settling into one rhythm. The appeal is less about suspense over a complicated story than about two wrestlers making every exchange look consequential. Riddle's victory arrives after both men have established how much punishment the other can absorb, and the crowd responds to the finish as a payoff rather than a foregone conclusion. It is an A-level opener and sets an unusually high floor for the rest of the card.

The vacant NXT Tag Team Championship turns a four-team ladder match into more than a collection of stunts, because every dangerous sequence is tied to the idea that one team will leave with a championship the division needs to reestablish. The match is chaotic without becoming impossible to follow: Lorcan and Burch supply blunt-force urgency, Fish and O'Reilly bring Undisputed Era precision, the Forgotten Sons add size, and the Street Profits provide the explosive athletic moments the crowd most wants. Montez Ford's leaps are the visual highlights, but Angelo Dawkins matters just as much in keeping the team credible through the heavier exchanges. The final climb gives the Street Profits their breakthrough and a clean emotional payoff. It is violent, inventive and purposeful enough to rank just below the main event.

Velveteen Dream and Tyler Breeze occupy the card's recovery slot, but the match is better than that description sounds because both wrestlers understand the character contrast they are selling. Breeze returns to NXT with enough credibility to make the title challenge feel meaningful, and his offense is crisp enough to threaten a champion whose persona can sometimes overwhelm the mechanics of a match. Dream controls the larger theatrical moments while Breeze keeps the middle grounded, producing a bout that is consistently competent without finding the urgency of the opener or ladder match. The finish protects Dream's reign and gives Breeze a respectable return without forcing an unnecessary title switch. On a lesser show this would be a clear positive; on XXV it is simply the one match that does not reach elite territory.

Shayna Baszler and Io Shirai wrestle a championship match built as much around pressure and frustration as spectacle. Baszler's submission control gives the bout a clear structure, and Shirai's speed creates the sense that the champion can be overwhelmed if the challenger finds enough space. The outside presence of Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir risks making the match feel familiar, but Candice LeRae's intervention prevents the interference from swallowing the title story. Baszler eventually forces Shirai to submit, preserving the champion while giving the challenger a reason to snap after the bell. Shirai's kendo-stick and chair-assisted attack becomes the lasting image and points toward the harder-edged character that followed. The match itself is strong rather than classic, but it performs important story work without sacrificing quality.

Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano take the burden of following their sprawling New York match and produce a sequel that feels like a championship main event rather than a reheated rematch. Gargano works from the confidence of finally becoming champion, while Cole wrestles with the urgency of someone determined to prove the previous loss did not settle their rivalry. The match leans heavily into TakeOver's signature escalation — counters, nearfalls, borrowed offense and increasingly dramatic finishing sequences — but the crowd stays invested because the title can credibly change hands throughout the closing stretch. Cole surviving Gargano's best answers and landing the decisive Last Shot gives the finish real finality. His victory also changes the direction of NXT, placing the championship inside the Undisputed Era and ending the 25th TakeOver with a major, cleanly understood moment. It is an A-plus closer and the strongest match on the card.