NXT TakeOver: Portland - Ranking every match

The latest edition of NXT TakeOver has come and gone. As usual, the show in Portland was a great one, though it fell short of equaling NXT TakeOver: War Games in November. In an unusual twist, the show came on a Sunday, and it had six matches instead of the usual five. Slowly but surely, the NXT creep continues. We can only hope that it doesn't reach main roster levels of spamming the viewer with content.

Anyway, let's take a look at the matches last night and rank the best and worst of them.

#6 Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa

This is a prime example of a great match ruined by no-selling and overbooking during the home stretch. Look, I get being enamored with false finishes, but there's a fine line you don't cross with them, because if you do, the whole thing looks ridiculous. We more than reached that point in the main event last night. Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole were kicking out of things that nobody should kick out of. It looked more like a fight out of Dragon Ball Z than it did a wrestling match.

The match felt like a replay of the Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano match in New York last year, but without the two-year journey of the latter toward the title. Ciampa's story was a (more real) journey on its own, but in this case, it simply felt like the sequel failing to live up to the original.

And then there was the end, with Gargano turning on Ciampa. Sorry, but it doesn't excite me. The time for the feud has come and gone. We've seen it to death. The role reversal is an interesting twist, but not enough to justify reviving the feud.

The NXT title needs a reset.

Before we move on to the next slide, gear up by listening to our exclusive interview with the former IMPACT Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie!