It’s that time, fans!
WWE returns to the Allstate Arena this evening for their NXT TakeOver: Chicago 2 event in Illinois. The show will air live via the WWE Network as part of WWE Money In The Bank 2018 weekend.
Keep your browsers LOCKED to eWrestling.com all night long for live play-by-play results coverage of the entire event, which will take place on this page. Make sure to refresh this page often to view the latest results from the show.
NXT TAKEOVER: CHICAGO 2
The NXT TakeOver: Chicago 2 event opens up with the Kickoff Show pre-show on the WWE Network. The panel features Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts and Pat McAfee. The trio break down tonight’s show, looking at all of the matches scheduled for the show from an extensive analytical standpoint. The archive of the NXT TakeOver: Chicago 2 Kickoff Show can be seen below.
Aside from the usual panel discussion, we also see some backstage segments and trailers for tonight’s matches. One of the segments showed Lars Sullivan arriving to the Allstate Arena for his showdown against NXT World Champion Aleister Black, who is also shown in the locker room.
EC3 and some other guests join the panel throughout the pre-show as well, with the Superstar joining the aforementioned trio of Caruso, Roberts and McAfee to break down tonight’s matches.
Stay tuned, the actual NXT TakeOver: Chicago 2 event is scheduled to begin momentarily.
NXT Tag-Team Championship
Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny BurchThe show opens up with Nigel McGuinness welcoming us to the event inside the Allstate Arena. He is joined by Vic Joseph, due to Mauro Ranallo being on a Showtime Boxing assignment, and Percy Watson.
From there, we go straight to the ring and out comes The Undisputed ERA, as Kayla Braxton does the introductions. NXT North American Champion Adam Cole leads the NXT Tag-Team Champions, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly, down to the ring. Out next are their opponents for what will be our first match of the evening, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan.
Lorcan and Strong start things off for their respective teams. Eventually, Burch and Lorcan establish control and start utilizing tags to keep a fresh man on O’Reilly.
The duo of Strong and O’Reilly are going to Adam Cole for advice fairly often. The action is starting to pick up now, as things are really in the heat of the battle at this point.
Things are getting good now, as the fans are breaking out into loud “This Is Awesome” chants as the end of the match starts to feel like it’s drawing closer.
In the end, Lorcan ends up taking a Total Elimination for the 1-2-3. Strong and O’Reilly retain. After the match, The Undisputed Era stops at the top of the ramp and the fans give them a passionate standing ovation.
Winners and STILL NXT Tag-Team Champions: Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly
Backstage: Lars Sullivan, Kairi Sane
Following our first match of the evening, we break for a quick backstage segment. We see Lars Sullivan warming up for his NXT Championship shot against reigning title-holder Aleister Black later in the show.
After the brief backstage segment, we see former Mae Young Classic tournament winner Kairi Sane sitting at ringside for tonight’s big event.
Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream
Well, I guess he’s not as badly injured as we thought. After The Velveteen Dream makes his lengthy entrance to the ring, Ricochet’s music hits and out he comes next to a big pop. One-on-one action is up next in our second match of the evening.
The bell rings, the two stare each other down and the crowd goes nuts. Then, Velveteen Dream stops and poses and shows off as Ricochet stares him down hardcore.
They finally start going at it as the crowd’s energy picks up along with the pace of the match inside the squared circle. Early in the match, Ricochet hit a big dive to the floor, similar to the one that reportedly injured him at the NXT house show in Paris earlier in the week. The crowd went nuts for that.
As the action continues, it turns out that previous suicide dive was nothing, as Ricochet would do SEVERAL more before was all said-and-done. He is a risk-taking somebody! The fans are appreciating it as well, as they break out into thunderous “This Is Awesome” and other various passion-filled chants. Both guys end up taking a dive onto the floor as the fans chant “Holy sh*t” and the referee nearly counts them both out. They finally both get back into the ring just in time for the match to continue.
Ricochet goes to the top rope and poses like The Velveteen Dream does before hitting a big Purple Rainmaker flying elbow for a close near fall. Ricochet is in shock. Now he hits the big 630. Ricochet goes to the top but Dream rolls to the middle of the ring. Ricochet goes to leave but ends up changing his mind. The crowd loved that. Ricochet leaped out with a crazy Shooting Star Press but Dream ended up getting his knees up and Ricochet landed on them hard. Ricochet still managed to kick out when Dream tried to pin him.
Dream now goes to the top rope while Ricochet is on the other side of the ring. Dream leaps with a big flying elbow attempt but misses and lands hard. Dream grabs his own shoulder in pain as Ricochet goes to the top rope now. Ricochet hits his 630 and covers Dream. 1-2-3. That’s all folks!
Winner: Ricochet
Backstage: Tommaso Ciampa
Following the awesome Ricochet-Velveteen Dream match, we shoot backstage for a quick segment. We see Tommaso Ciampa as the fans in the arena boo loudly. Ciampa is getting ready for his Street Fight against Johnny Gargano, which comes up after our next match, which features the NXT Women’s Championship on-the-line.
NXT Women’s Championship
Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki CrossWe head back to the ring inside the Allstate Arena for our second championship match of the evening, as NXT Women’s Champion “The Queen of Spades” Shayna Baszler will be defending her title against Nikki Cross. The video package for this match airs. After the video package ends, Cross makes her way to the ring, followed by the reigning champion.
After the formal pre-match introductions, the bell sounds to officially kick this one off. Baszler tries to punk out Cross early on, but Cross isn’t showing any signs of fear. The two finally start going at it. Cross is doing really well early on, to the surprise and dismay of the reigning title-holder.
The action spills out to the floor briefly, but once it returns to the ring, The Queen of Spades catches the challenger with a big kick to the face that changes the offensive lead in the match. Baszler is starting to take over now, beating down Cross and brutalizing her with tough moves like belly-to-back suplexes and big knees and punches/kicks.
Cross finally starts showing signs of life again and now she drops Baszler in the corner with a swinging neckbreaker. She gets a close near fall once again, but Baszler got her foot on the bottom rope to break the pin. They battle some more before Baszler rolls into the Clutch. Cross tries fighting out but Baszler rolls her over and keeps it locked. Cross appears to be smiling as Baszler has her stuck in the middle of the ring. Now Cross is fading slowly. The referee quickly calls for the bell as Cross goes out cold.
Winner and STILL NXT Women’s Champion: Shayna Baszler
Backstage: EC3 & Keith Lee
While it was not a backstage segment, after the NXT Women’s Championship match, we see EC3 sitting ringside at tonight’s big event. Additionally, we see independent wrestling star Keith Lee sitting ringside. That marks Lee’s first official appearance on television since signing with WWE.
NXT World Championship
Aleister Black vs. Lars SullivanAfter the video package airs, Lars Sullivan makes his way to the ring for his title shot. Out next is the current champion, Aleister Black. Our NXT World Championship main event is up next.
Kayla handles the formal pre-match introductions in the ring. The bell sounds and we see Black and Sullivan staring each other down from their respective corners. They finally, slowly meet in the center of the ring. Black looks up at Lars a little. Lars talks some crap and smirks a bit.
Sullivan looks to punch him but Black avoids it and the action gets going. Lars hoists Black up for the Freak Accident. Lars now counters a Black Mass attempt but Black ends up nailing him and sending him out to the floor. Black goes to work on Sullivan outside the ring, blasting him with knees.
The action returns to the ring and Sullivan drops Black with a big forearm. He follows up with a big knee to the face for a one-count on a pin attempt. Black is now regaining his composure and is working over Sullivan on the mat right now.
These two start picking up the intensity by several notches now as they start taking bigger risks and bigger bumps. Sullivan is focusing on the hurt leg of Black throughout a lot of his offensive domination.
Sullivan and Black start trading near falls and close submission attempts. They each start looking to hit their finishers for the final stamp on the match, however when all was said-and-done, it was Black who nailed a big kick to the head and covered Sullivan for the 1-2-3 to retain his NXT World Championship.
Winner and STILL NXT World Champion: Aleister Black
Street Fight
Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso CiampaOur final match of the evening, which isn’t technically even a match, as it is a “Street Fight,” features Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. It is up next. The video package for this one airs and the announcers set the stage to get the fans excited and at the height of anticipation. Here…we…go!
Johnny Gargano is shown backstage making his way to the ring. His wife, Candice LaRae, stops him and hands him a crutch. She then tells him to “go kick his ass.” He walks off and makes his way down to the ring. Tommaso Ciampa is out next, also carrying a crutch. They meet up at the ring ropes and they waste absolutely no time, as they start blasting each other with their respective crutches.
They are finally in the ring brawling wildly to kick things off in a hurry. It looks like Nigel McGuinness went down on a big spot outside the ring. Gargano hits a senton from the apron after a big super kick. The crowd is loving this.
Gargano and Ciampa are fighting through the crowd now. Fans are booing as Ciampa takes a Gargano sign from a fan. Gargano ends up making a comeback and using the sign, which reveals it had a Stop sign behind it, in old school ECW fashion. The fans begin chanting “ECW! ECW!”
The action continues in the crowd as the two are beating the living crap out of each other as fans chant “Holy Sh*t! Holy Sh*t!” Big German Suplexes, one after another, as the chant “Suplex City! Suplex City!” Gargano counters with a suplex of his own. He sends Ciampa to the floor and hits a wicked suicide dive, which sends Ciampa up the bottom part of the ramp.
Finally we’re back at ringside as Ciampa looks under the ring for some kind of weapons to use. He pulls out some tools. He uses a pair of bolt cutters to snip the things that hold the mat to the ring. He starts taking apart the ring! He’s cutting and yanking up the mats and exposes the hard part of the ring. Ciampa with a wild chair shot. Ciampa takes Gargano over to the exposed wood and brings him up to the top rope. He climbs up with him and yells in Gargano’s face, “You Deserve This!” Ciampa tries to drop Gargano but Gargano slides under him and tries to do the same. Ciampa hangs on as well, however, until he eats a super kick from Gargano. Now both end up taking the bump to the hard part of the ring. The fans go berzerk!
Things get more and more intense, if you can believe it. Ciampa puts Gargano on his shoulder and lifts him up by his hair. He says, “we were like brothers… you were like family, you did this to yourself, now you say bye, candice, and bye by to your whole career.” Ciampa throws Gargano into the LED video wall, which Joseph reminds us on commentary is just like last year when DIY broke up.
Ciampa blasts Gargano with a running knee and then said, “it’s not enough.” Ciampa drags Gargano to some crates and tables at the side of the stage area up near the top of the ramp. Ciampa yanks off Gargano’s wedding ring and spits on it. Wow. That was crazy. Gargano comes to and blasts Ciampa with a Celtric Cross from the top of the pile of crates onto wooden tables. This is just nuts at this point.
The referee calls for some help. Some medics make their way down and check on both guys. Gargano recovers, however Ciampa couldn’t. The medics check to see if he suffered a concussion. The medics then load Ciampa up on a stretcher. After loading him up and starting to cart him off, Gargano, who was calmly watching, looked at his ring finger. Nigel asks if Gargano has “become what he despised.” Gargano tosses the medics aside and drags Ciampa back into the ring. Ciampa is wearing a neckbrace. Gargano locks Ciampa in the GargaNo Escape and Ciampa taps out but there is no referee to call the finish. Gargano with a super kick. He puts Ciampa in the GargaNo Escape again as we hear Nigel McGuinness yell “Stop!”
Some guys in suits run in from the backstage area and pull Gargano off of Ciampa. Gargano ends up breaking free from them and going back to deliver some more punishment, however Ciampa recovered and surprised Gargano with a DDT onto the wooden floorboards to score the pinfall victory. Wow. Ciampa wins.
The referee holds Ciampa’s handcuffed hand up and refers to him as the winner. He sits at ringside laughing, then goes into convulsions as he makes his way to the stretcher. Nigel McGuinness notes that Ciampa found some vindication tonight. Ciampa uses the stretcher as somewhat of a crutch to help him up the ramp. The medics at ringside, Drake Younger and Candice LaRae all run down to check on Gargano. Ciampa does his creepy wave to end the show as the fans in the Allstate Arena loudly chanted “F*ck You Ciampa! F*ck You Ciampa!”
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
