NXT TakeOver: Johnny Gargano Betrays Tommaso Ciampa, Costs Him the NXT Championship

Johnny Gargano shocked the wrestling world on Sunday night when he betrayed Tommaso Ciampa during the NXT TakeOver: Portland main event and helped Adam Cole retain the NXT Championship. Late in the match Cole shoved Ciampa into the referee, which gave Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish an even bigger excuse to interfere in the match. But after Cole and Ciampa exchanged low blows, the latter tried to grab the NXT Championship and use it as a weapon. Suddenly Gargano appeared, grabbed the title and smacked Ciampa in the face with it. Cole made the cover just as the referee rolled back into the ring to count the pin.

Back in early 2019 Ciampa was in the mid of a white-hot reign as the heelish champion, but he had to drop the title in March after doctors determined he needed neck surgery. Ciampa would be out of action in the months, and in the meantime Cole managed to capture the title by beating Gargano at NXT TakeOver: XXV. The former champ finally returned in early October, and immediately set his sights on beating Cole to “bring Goldie home.”

Ciampa led a team at NXT TakeOver: WarGames in November and beat The Undisputed Era by hitting Cole with an Air Raid Crash from the top of the cage. However he was unable to earn an NXT Championship match, so he goaded Cole into accepting his challenge by attacking the rest of Cole’s faction.

Ciampa’s feud with Gargano goes back years, long before he became NXT Champion. Just before his injury Ciampa ran an angle where Gargano turned back into a babyface and attacked his best friend, indicating that the two would meet at NXT TakeOver: New York in April 2019. But with those plans scrapped, Ciampa let go of his heel persona and celebrated with Gargano after he won the NXT title from Cole.

Gargano lost a singles match earlier in the night against Finn Balor, falling to the former world champion’s 1916 finisher.

Check out the full results from tonight’s event below:

• NXT North American Championship: Keith Lee def. Dominik Dijakovic
• Dakota Kai def. Tegan Nox (Street Fight)
• Finn Balor def. Johnny Gargano
• NXT Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Bianca Belair
• NXT Tag Team Championships: BroserWeights def. The Undisputed Era (New Champions)
• NXT Championship: Tommaso Ciampa def. Adam Cole (New Champion)