By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net reader Brian Oglesby attended the NXT Takeover: New Orleans event in New Orleans, Louisiana at Smoothie King Center on Saturday and sent the following report.
-What a great show. There were a few scattered empty seats in the arena more so in the upper level than anywhere else. Apparently glow sticks were supposed to be given out at the entrances but only a few hundred fans ended up with them.
-The crowd was hot for the entire duration of the ladder match. Huge Boos for any time it seemed Lars Sullivan may come close to the belt. The crowd loved Ricochet and Velveteen Dream. There was a massive pop when Adam Cole retrieved the title.
-Some fans around me seems genuinely surprised that Ember Moon passed out and lost the title to Shayna Baszler.
-The three-way tag team match was another fun match. I would say Pete Dunne was the most over person in the match other than Adam Cole. There was a big pop and lots of ” YES” chants when Roderick Strong joined the Undisputed Era.
-Aleister Black was very over, but Andrade “Cien Almas had his share of fans as well. There were multiple times during the match where dueling chants were going on for each wrestler. There was also a big pop for the way the match ended as Zelina Vega drew big heat anytime she got involved in the match. There was a big ovation for Black winning the title.
-As far as the main event, you couldn’t ask for much better of an atmosphere. Tommaso Ciampa had so much heat during his entrance and that heat carried the entire match. There were everal loud “F— you Ciampa” chants during the match as well as many ” Johnny Wrestling” chants. There was a huge reaction and very loud ” You deserve it!” chant when Ciampa received the powerbomb from the apron to the exposed concrete floor. The crowd also gasped when Ciampa suplexed Johnny Gargano off the announce table to the floor. It was everything you could have wanted. Ciampa was hated, Gargano was loved and the in-ring action and story had the crowd engaged from the entrances to finish. There was a gig pop for Gargano winning.
-Wrestlemania 34 has a tough act to follow.
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I enjoy NXT with the volume off. The terrible commentary really takes away from a great one-time product.