Finn Balor vs. Johnny Gargano Booked for NXT TakeOver: Portland

Finn Balor shocked the wrestling world back on Nov. 13 when he turned heel, brutally attacked [...]

By Connor Casey

Finn Balor shocked the wrestling world back on Nov. 13 when he turned heel, brutally attacked Johnny Gargano and proclaimed that "The Prince is Back." Balor's attack, which included spiking Gargano with a 1916 on the entrance ramp, kept "Johnny Wrestling" out of action for months, causing him to end his record streak of consecutive TakeOver matches. Gargano finally got a little bit of revenge when he returned on Dec. 8 and cost Balor his match for the NXT Championship with Adam Cole. On Jan. 8 the two traded verbal jabs at each other in a promo, culminating in Balor challenging the former NXT champ to a match at NXT TakeOver: Portland on Feb. 16.

WWE made that match official with an announcement on Wednesday.

Gargano was the first to react to the announcement.

The show will also feature an NXT Women's Championship match between Rhea Ripley and the winner of the battle royal scheduled to take place on tonight's episode of NXT.

However before NXT can turn its full attention to TakeOver: Portland, the Black and Gold brand will have to go head-to-head with the NXT UK brand at the Worlds Collide event on Jan. 25 in Houston, Texas. Check out the card for that show thus far below.

  • The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish) vs. Imperium (Walter, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner)
  • NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm
  • Finn Balor vs. Ilja Dragunov
  • NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match (Angel Garza vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD)

Tonight's episode of NXT will feature two more matches in the opening round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (The Time Splitters vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans and Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Gordon Webster) and a triple threat match between between Lio Rush, Tyler Breeze and Isaiah Scott where the winner gets added to the Worlds Collide cruiserweight title match.

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