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WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III results and observations

NXT's now annual summer foray into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn is looked at as the brand's WrestleMania.

It is the end of one season and the beginning of a brand new one.

NXT delivered on those expectations with a thrilling show Saturday night.

Since there were only five matches on the card, I will give my thoughts on each of them in the order that they happened.

We have a lot to unpack, so let's get started:

Andrade "Cien" Almas def. Johnny Gargano

I thought this match was going to be good given the talent level of both Almas and Gargano, but I am happy to say that it far exceeded my expectations and set the tone for what was to come.

Gargano showed up looking to be in the best shape of his life for his first singles match at a Takeover, but came up short against Almas, who once again proved just how talented he is in the ring.

Almas won with a little bit of help from his manager/advisor Zelina Vega, who tossed a #DIY shirt at Gargano.

Gargano, whose wounds still haven't apparently healed from his split from former partner Tomasso Ciampa, saw the shirt and became momentarily distracted, which allowed Almas to capitalize and pick up the victory.

I would normally not be on board with a shirt causing someone to lose a match, but I guess it is OK if Gargano is supposed to be traumatized by the mere sight of a #DIY shirt.

Nonetheless, the match was fantastic.

NXT Tag Team championship – Sanity def. Authors of Pain

This was another match that far exceeded my expectations.

Heading into Saturday, the dilemma in this match would be who play the role of heel and who would play the role of babyface.

In my eyes, NXT solved that issue by having the combination of Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe take on the Authors of Pain, as opposed to the duo of Wolfe and the much larger Killian Dain.

Since Wolfe and Young would be at a significant size disadvantage, it would make them the de-facto good guys.

Because the fans had someone to get behind, it instantly made the match that much better. Regardless of who was involved, chaos was the main dish on the menu for this match and both teams delivered it in spades.

There was even a point when Nikki Cross got involved, as she climbed to the top rope and attempted to dive out of the ring onto one of the Authors of Pain, but he caught her.

Dain rectified that situation by throwing his body into Cross and the Author of Pain, which sent all three through a table that was set up earlier in the match.

Moments later, Young and Wolfe picked up the shocking victory to become the new NXT Tag Team champions.

But business picked up after the match when former Ring of Honor Tag Team champions, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish, stormed the ring and beat up everyone in sight.

It would not be the last time we saw these two in the ring.

Aleister Black def. Hideo Itami

As expected, there were a lot of kicks during this match and things got brutal very quickly.

It didn't take long for Black to bleed from nose and mouth, as kicks were flying left and right.

When the smoke cleared, however, Black delivered the most devastating kick — black mass — to pick up the victory.

NXT Women's championship – Asuka def. Ember Moon

In arguably the best match of the night, Asuka's title reign of more than 500 days continued after she fended off a whale of a challenge from Moon.

The height of the match came when Moon hit Asuka with the eclipse, but Asuka refused to stay down and kicked out before the count of three.

Eventually, Asuka locked in her submission — the Asuka lock — and forced Moon to submit.

Moon looked distraught after the match, as she realized that even her best effort was not enough to dethrone the champion.

With Asuka's title reign now past the 500-day mark, the question remains: Who will defeat Asuka for NXT Women's championship?

Right now, it looks like no one will. Moon looked to be the chosen one to defeat Asuka, but after what we saw at Takeover, I don't think that will happen.

I would not be surprised if the one to finally defeat Asuka comes from the Mae Young Classic.

In the meantime, will Asuka remain in NXT or will she venture to the main roster? There is literally no one left in NXT for her to defeat. She has literally beaten everyone the current roster has to offer.

That means she will need something to do in the meantime. Asuka appearing on the main roster as a current NXT champion would not be unprecedented, as Kevin Owens made his debut on the main roster as the NXT champion back in 2015

The same goes for Sasha Banks, who did not lose the NXT Women's championship to Bayley until after she made her Raw debut.

It's been a while, but if anyone is in position to pull it off, it is Asuka.

With that said, Triple H said in an interview recently that if there's anyone in NXT that is one person he does not want to leave NXT for the main roster, it's Asuka, meaning that Vince McMahon may not be able to call her up any time soon.

NXT championship – Drew McIntyre def. Bobby Roode

McIntyre and Roode had the unenviable task of following four stellar matches, but did their best to close the show with a memorable contest.

While I would not categorize this as the night's best match, Roode and McIntyre definitely worked hard to put their effort in the conversation.

In what I thought was a shocking outcome, McIntyre defeated Roode to become the new NXT champion.

For whatever reason, I did not think McIntyre had been built up enough to be the one to end Roode's glorious reign as champion.

However, McIntyre hit a second claymore kick to pick up the win.

McIntyre's achievement was quickly overshadowed, however, by the presence of O'Reilly and Fish, who gave way for the debuting Adam Cole to jump into the ring and attack the champion.

All three former Ring of Honor wrestlers jumped McIntyre before Cole picked up the NXT title belt to signify that he was gunning for it.

It had been reported for months that Cole was joining NXT, so it was not a total shock to see Cole there, but it was a signal that NXT is starting a new chapter, and it used third installment of Takeover: Brooklyn as the launching pad.

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III was a fantastic show that reenergized the buzz surrounding NXT and was arguably the best Takeover to date.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.