NXT TakeOver New York: Johnny Gargano Wins NXT Championship

After more than a year of trying and failing, Johnny Gargano finally won the NXT Championship on Friday night at NXT TakeOver: New York by beating Adam Cole in a Two out of Three falls match.

Cole picked up the first fall early with his Last Shot finisher, but Gargano was able to tie things up when he applied the Gargano Escape finisher. Cole tapped quickly for fear of getting hurt by staying in the hold for too long. He appeared to have the match locked up with all three other members of Undisputed Era ran down to distract the referee, allowing Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish to hit Chasing the Dragon on Gargano and let Cole make the cover. But Gargano miraculously kicked out, then did so again when Cole hit a Last Shot without his knee pad. Cole would attempt using a number Tommaso Ciampa’s moves, including the Fairytale Ending on a table and a Meet in the Middle, but Gargano never went down. The Cleveland native finally forced Cole to tap when he locked in the Gargano Escape again in the middle of the ring.

Gagano celebrated in the ring with his wife Candie LeRae, then in a surprising twist was met by Ciampa at the top of the ramp. The bitter years-long rivalry between the two appeared to finally be over, as Ciampa celebrated with Gargano and LeRae as the show faded to black.

For those who don’t know, the original main event of the show between Ciampa and Gargano had to be scrapped weeks prior when the reigning champ had to undergo anterior cervical fusion in his neck. He quickly dropped any sense of kayfabe in his WWE interviews once the story broke, but kept things ominous when he took to Twitter after the show.

With the win, Gargano becomes the first man in NXT history to become a Triple Crown Champion, winning the NXT, NXT North American and NXT Tag Team Championships throughout his time in developmental.

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