It’s the final match of the night – which I legit forgot was happening for a minute, then thought I’d somehow missed the whole damn thing. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and it’s time for Gargano Vs. Ciampa!!!
Both men make their way to the ring, Ciampa to no music, just an arena full of boos. Weirdly, Gargano and Ciampa’s ring gear looked almost identical. Dunno what they were going for.
Unsanctioned Match
Tommaso Ciampa Vs. Johnny Gargano
Johnny FREAKIN' Wrestling has arrived!@JohnnyGargano #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/z0Hi5saCfM
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 8, 2018
The bell rings and they just stand there staring at each other for a moment. Ciampa talks some trash, but Gargano stays quiet. Then they start throwing hands in rapid fire and the fans love it. Gargano takes control with a Thesz press followed by a slingshot spear through the ropes. Gargano puts Ciampa in the corner and stomps a mudhole in him until the fans go nuts. He clotheslines Tommaso out of the ring and hits him with a suicide dive that he almost botched.
Ciampa gains some control by throwing Johnny into the barricade. Ciampa then gets thrown over the barricade and into the crowd. Gargano goes flying over the wall at him to take him down in the crowd. Ciampa then drops him on the barricade and clubs him in the back repeatedly. He rips up part of the floor mat surrounding the ring to expose the concrete beneath. Ciampa tries to suplex Gargano onto the floor, but Johnny counters, climbs the apron and hits a running kick to the face. Gargano then grabs Ciampa and throws him over the announce table into the commentators. The fans start to chant “Mamma Mia” for Mauro Ranallo.
Gargano brings Ciampa onto the table and looks for a piledriver or a powerbomb. Tommaso counters it and grabs an iPad and hits him with it. Ciampa grabs Gargano and hits a superplex from the table down to the floor! That was a nasty bump for both men. Ciampa takes the lid from the announce table and leans it on the table, then picks Gargano up and slams him through it! Ciampa brings Gargano back in the ring and slows things down by draping him over the apron and stomping on him over and over. The fans begin chanting “fu$k you Ciampa”. Johnny tries to fight back, but Ciampa keeps beating him down.
.@ProjectCiampa is unrelenting. #NXTTakeOver @JohnnyGargano pic.twitter.com/Tjc0gc257S
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 8, 2018
Ciampa locks in a cloverleaf submission and Mauro says Gargano will never tap to this man. Gargano grabs the rope, but the rules make it so it doesn’t matter. He eventually breaks free, but Ciampa starts stomping on his head as he lays on the apron. Ciampa sits down smiling smiles and sarcastically claps for himself as the ref checks on Johnny. The fans boo again He looks for something under the ring but doesn’t find it. He hits a running knee before grabbing crutches from a fan at ringside, who I’m guessing was just planted there to get some heel heat.
Ciampa lines up for a big shot with the crutch, but Gargano avoids his wild swings. Gargano rolls Ciampa over for the rolling kick to the head. Tommaso rolls to the apron and pulls Johnny’s legs out from under him. Ciampa counters a slingshot DDT and picks Gargano up on his shoulders. He’s looking for a backbraker onto the exposed concrete but Johnny ends up escaping his grasp and powerbombs him onto the exposed concrete from the apron. Both men are slow to get back to their feet once they roll into the ring – you can see Ciampa’s bruised back. They both reach for the same crutch at the same time and fight for control of the weapon. Gargano wins the battle and starts teeing off on Ciampa with the crutch, and he’s really cracking him. He catches Ciampa with a slingshot DDT for a quick two count. He rips a cover off of a turnbuckle, but Ciampa prevents him from using it against him.
A stiff elbow to the jaw takes Gargano off his feet. Ciampa picks up Gargano for a spinning powerbomb for another near fall. He sets up for his half of DIY’s finisher in the corner and nails Gargano with a running knee to the back of the head for yet another two count. The fans are getting more and more into this one. Johnny counters a powerbomb and hits a huge clothesline. He hits a few more before Ciampa turns him inside out with his own clothesline. Gargano tries to hit a reverse hurricanrana but they botch it and Gargano lands on his head. Gargano locks Ciampa in the Gargano Escape but the fans are completely silent for some reason. Ciampa gets to the ropes but there’s no rope break here, so Ciampa rakes the eyes to force him to break the hold. Tommaso pulls the wrist tape off of one of his hands to choke his former friend. Gargano catches him first and they begin exchanging punches with the tape holding them together.
BATTER UP! @JohnnyGargano #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/DxaInBtO7v
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 8, 2018
Gargano starts getting the better of Ciampa, but then the psychopath resorts to a low blow to win the exchange. He grabs a crutch and hits Gargano with it before hitting the powerbomb backstabber. Somehow, Gargano manages to kick out and the fans cheered. Ciampa grabs him and yells at him. Johnny fires-up and unleashed some hard slaps to the face and a superkick. He picks up Ciampa on his shoulder and rams his head into the middle exposed turnbuckle like a lawndart. Another kick to the face puts Ciampa down so Gargano can hit his running superkick. That seemed like all she wrote but Ciampa kicked out!
Johnny goes to the top rope and Ciampa follows – you can see a huge black eye for Ciampa and Johnny looks worse for wear too. Ciampa looks for a backbreaker but Johnny elbows his way out, then Gargano sets up for a hurricanrana. Ciampa counters and hits a powerbomb backbreaker from the middle rope! Gargano kicks out again, causing the fans to erupt! Ciampa pulls his knee brace off to expose his knee, then stands in the corner, waiting to run and hit his knee to the back of the head. As he takes off, Gargano grabs the knee brace and hits him in the leg with it. Johnny picks up the crutch and breaks it in half. Gargano lines-up a big shot with the crutch but stops short when he goes to use it as a weapon and stares at his former partner. They sit down next to each other for a moment of great story-telling. Suddenly Ciampa tries to use the knee brace as a weapon, but Gargano ducks it and locks Ciampa in his finisher. Again the Sicilian Psychopath will not tap, so Johnny grabs the knee brace and uses it to really crank back Tommaso’s head and he finally taps out!
Winner: Johnny Gargano
Wow, what an insane match. So many false finishes and it just kept going, those guys went to war. The fans were hot at the start, died in the middle but then came back big for the end. And with that win, Gargano has been reinstated to NXT. Gargano celebrates in the ring and out comes his wife to join in. The show closes with Johnny holding the crutch and Ciampa’s knee brace above his head.
Defeat your friend-turned-rival: ✔ Get your job back: ✔ Celebrate: ✔#NXTTakeOver @JohnnyGargano @CandiceLeRae pic.twitter.com/BlUns6FeSZ
— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2018
That’s it for NXT TakeOver: New Orleans! Let us know what you thought of the show and come back tomorrow for all your WrestleMania coverage! Until then, safe travels!
