By Michael Klink (@michael_klink)

August 16, 2018

We’re finally two days away from the matchup between Johnny Wrestling and The Greatest Superstar of All Time.  Though the audience was clamoring for a triple threat main event this Saturday for the latest NXT: Takeover event, an injured Aleister Black still leaves us with a Last Man Standing Match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

The last chapter of their rivalry, Ciampa was able to pin Gargano even though Ciampa’s hands were cuffed behind his back.  Ciampa (pronounced Champ-uh, get it?) exploited Gargano’s violent (but blind) rage and drove Gargano’s head onto the hardwood underbelly of the wrestling ring.

Since that momentous match, Ciampa has been on a role: winning the NXT championship, purposefully butchering Twitter protocol (by tagging opponents with “at” instead of “@”), and taunting old ladies about the fall of their beloved hero, Mr. Wrestling.  Will Ciampa wave ‘bye-bye’ to his rival forever, and send him into a career tailspin with a victory?

Gargano has had a lot to grapple with (pun intended), what with his succumbing to rage (and defeat) in his last Takeover match as well as being the main reason his rival owns the title (thanks to his inadvertently hitting Aleister in the face with his own title to trigger Ciampa’s championship pinfall opportunity).  The last interaction with Aleister was so impactful that it led the crowd at Full Sail Arena to jeer the life-long babyface.

We could spend the rest of this story talking about what could have been with Aleister but he’ll be back at the forefront for championships (and main roster call ups) once he heals up.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him interfere in the title match and cost Gargano, the way Gargano cost him. It would make sense for the storyline since NXT isn’t keen on playing hot potato with its titles and Black would still be included in the storyline.  Plus, we’d able to hit the reset button on the planned triple threat for a few months from now.

This is a match you can almost assuredly sit back and enjoy though.  The in-ring match skills combined with the storytelling ability of the two wrestlers guarantee a piece of theater that would make playwright Anton Chekhov blush.  The only thing that might hold this match back is the expectation of greatness, since Gargano and Ciampa have set the bar so high. Come Saturday, there will definitely be violence, likely be bloodshed, and Sunday’s Summerslam will have a lofty high to meet.

Speaking of SummerSlam:

We are fully booked booked for SummerSlam! I am loving this card. If you haven't made plans yet, don't forget to be on your couch on August 19th for the biggest show of the summer! Catch up with the Brothers of Discussion Analysis of every match here on BODPodcast.com

Carmella vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship
Ronda Rousey vs Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship
AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship
Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title
Dolph Ziggler vs Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship
Braun Strowman vs Kevin Owens for the MITB Briefcase
The Bludgeon Brothers vs the New Day for the SmackDown Tag Titles
The B-Team vs The Revival for the Raw Tag Titles
Baron Corbin vs Finn Balor
Daniel Bryan vs The Miz
Rusev and Lana vs Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega
Sunday, August 19th, 7PM EST

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