Here we are on the road once again to another NXT Takeover show. The company will be returning to Chicago, Illinois for the second year in a row for another Takeover event right before WWE’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view the very next day. No matches have been made official for the show just yet, but the ball has definitely started rolling on the buildup for the show. As for this show, fans were treated to Heavy Machinery starting the night off.
Heavy Machinery vs. TM61 –
  Shane Thorne and Nick Miller of TM61 have gotten increasingly more arrogant over the past few weeks as they have been cheating to win some of their matches. Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight took issue with the recent actions of the Australian tag team, so that is what led to this very match.

  It began with Otis tackling Thorne while the crowd cheered him on the entire time. The crowd was very into Dozovic, and even when he was on the apron during this match, the crowd was amused by his antics. Tucker tagged in and dished out corner avalanches to Nick Miller. The two big boys locked Miller into the corner of the ring before using Thorne’s body as a battering ram directly into Miller’s chest. Heavy Machinery were not so dominant for the remainder of this match.
  Tucker started to beat down on Nick miller some more before Shane Thorne managed to get the tag without Knight ever seeing it. TM61 then took turns tagging in and out whilst beating up Tucker Knight for several minutes. Tucker was finally able to counter them both by suplexing them both at the same time in an impressive feat of strength.
  Otis was finally tagged back in, and he wasted little time decimating his rivals. He tackled both TM61 members before giving a scoop slam to Miller. Dozovic then did The Worm before hitting an elbow on him. Tucker stopped Shane Thorne by giving him a belly-to-belly suplex. After Otis gave an exploder suplex to Miller, it looked like he had the match won. He decided to go up to the top rope, but he took too long to fall down onto Miller. This allowed Thorne to kick Otis back down to the ring canvas. Miller pinned Otis while Shane once again held his partner’s feet down on the ropes to get another victory.
Winners: TM61

  A quick video package hyping up Bianca Belair played. It showed all of her accomplishments in NXT so far, and she promised to show why she’s the “EST of NXT” next week.
  EC3 also appeared in a video and bragged about how successful he has been in NXT already. He promised to once again change NXT into NX3. He returns to the ring on next week’s show.
Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans –

  Sane started off the match right away by going after her foe with a dropkick. Evans promptly recovered and took over the match from there. She dished out a huge chop before Kairi locked her in a waistlock. Evans got out of it and put the Mae Young Classic winner in a headlock. Although she was able to get out of it, Evans continued to dominate the match by ramming her knee into Kairi’s shoulder.
  A few more rest holds were displayed as Evans worked over just about every limb that Kairi has. Sane did gain some momentum after hitting a surprise spear on Evans. She then charged after Lacey and hit her in the corner of the ring with a sliding elbow. Evans immediately rolled outside to recover, but Sane followed her outside and hit the Flying Kabuki Elbow on her from the steel ring steps.
  Sane rolled her back inside the ring and tried to put her away with the Insane Elbow drop, but as Sane made her descent, Evans was able to pop right back up and hit her Women’s Right punch to secure a shocking win over Kairi. Evans’ husband and child were shown at ringside as Lacey picked up the biggest win of her NXT career so far.
Winner: Lacey Evans
  Cathy Kelley spotted Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano making their way to Full Sail University before the show. Gargano was in a neckbrace and revealed that he had made a decision regarding his future in pro wrestling. He decided not to tell it to Kelley, but instead wanted to tell the Full Sail crowd. He mentioned that it was not a decision that he wanted to make, but rather one that he felt had to be done.
  After defeating The Undisputed Era last week, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch appeared in a backstage segment and made it clear that their next goal is to win the NXT Tag Team Championships. Burch astutely noted that if they could beat them once, then they can definitely do it again.
  The Undisputed Era responded to their challenge in a backstage video of their own. They called Oney and Danny’s win a fluke victory. They refused to accept their challenge, and Adam Cole even claimed that he did not know who Oney Lorcan even was until last week. They blamed the loss on Pete Doone (not a typo, how they said it) on giving them false hope. Roderick Strong concluded the message by challenging Danny Burch to a singles match.
Ricochet & The Velveteen Dream vs. Lars Sullivan –
  Both men wanted to take on Sullivan after he ruined their match during last week’s show. Both men worked together as a cohesive unit for a while against Lars. The strategy for both men was to attack the monstrous Sullivan and to almost literally never stop until they won.
  Ricochet locked up with Lars until the big man threw him down onto the canvas. Now clear that the two of them will have to work together to beat Sullivan, they both started punching Lars before giving him a double dropkick which does not take him off of his feet. Ricochet did not stop moving for a moment as he launched into Lars with a springboard missile dropkick. The Velveteen Dream then got a chance to shine when he was tagged in, and it looked like these two rivals may actually have been developing as a functional tag team.
  Dream did double ax handles in three different corners of the ring. The two much smaller wrestlers took turns launching themselves into Lars, but no move they came up with seemed to do damage to him. Lars caught Ricochet at one point and threw him into the corner of the ring. Dream was able to save his tag team partner. They both issued some kicks and strikes to Lars before both hitting simultaneous superkicks on the freakish wrestler. Sullivan was still able to kick out in time.
  The two of them then attempted to suplex Lars, but this proved to be their fatal flaw. Unable to toss Sullivan over, Lars recovered an laid out both men with vicious lariats. Lars then spent a while attacking The Velveteen Dream and slamming him around the ring. It looked like the match was over after Lars hit the diving headbutt on the Dream, but Ricochet came back in just in time to save his partner and break up the pin.
  A furious Lars Sullivan chased Ricochet around the ring as the new NXT standout ran away. Ricochet ran back into the ring for what turned out to be a trap as The Velveteen Dream landed a surprise elbow drop on Lars upon reentering the ring. This was Ricochet’s chance to get back into the match. He punched Lars and gave him a standing shooting star press for a two count.
  Lars was down as both men took turns diving and splashing onto Lars out of desperation to finally get the big guy down. The match took a drastic turn with The Velveteen Dream gave Ricochet the rolling DVD before he went to the back. Sullivan then took advantage of the situation by giving Ricochet the Freak Accident to win. Lars may be moving on, but it is clear that the feud between The Velveteen Dream and Ricochet is only just getting started.
Winner: Lars Sullivan
  Dakota Kai will be taking on Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship on NXT next week. Kai was interviewed backstage and talked about how excited she is to compete for the title. She said that she has always been an NXT fan and that it was a dream for her to challenge for the Women’s Championship. Shayna Baszler strolled in and once again mocked Kai for believing that all of her dreams will be coming true soon. Baszler said that she didn’t stand a chance against her, but Kai confidently stated that she will see her next week.
  Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano came down to the ring together. This was the first NXT appearance from Gargano since Tommaso Ciampa viciously attacked him and sent him to the hospital. Gargano spoke in a low and somber voice as he expressed that he had to do what was best for himself, his friends, and his future. He asked the fans if all of the suffering he’s endured so far has been worth it. It sounded as though he was about to announce his retirement from the ring when he suddenly yanked off his neckbrace and called out Tommaso Ciampa. Candice looked absolutely distraught, almost as if her husband called an audible and was indeed supposed to retire from the ring.
  Ciampa did indeed come down to the ring, causing Candice to flee to the back. The two former tag team partners began to brawl for just a little bit until LeRae reemerged with some referees to help stop her husband. The officials pulled Gargano away and convinced him to begrudgingly make his way to the back, but after Ciampa couldn’t keep his mouth shut, Gargano ran back down to the ring. He stood on the apron before Ciampa knocked him right back down to the ground. The only issue was that Gargano ended up taking out Candice LeRae on his way down to the mats. LeRae laid on the ramp motionless as paramedics began to check on her. Ciampa walked to the back while Gargano was desperately calling for some help for his injured wife.
   It definitely looks like fans are in for a rematch between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch seem to be eyeing Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong’s tag team titles. It certainly sounds like an NXT Takeover event so far, but what will the other matches for the event be? Aleister Black will be coming back to NXT next week, so that may lay the groundwork for the next world title feud,. It will be interesting to see what the next few shows will bring on the way to the next Takeover show. I’ll see you NXT time!