NXT TakeOver: Back to Brooklyn: The Revival v Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa

Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa have been NXT’s hottest tag team over the past four months. At TakeOver: Brooklyn II, they finally get their opportunity to challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championship when they take on The Revival.

Since arriving in NXT as surprise entrants into the first-ever Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic last fall, Gargano & Ciampa have put themselves right in the thick of the NXT tag team scene. They picked up steam in the weeks following TakeOver: Dallas, picking up huge wins over the likes of The Vaudevillains, The Hype Bros, TM-61 and a shocking victory over The Revival just one week before TakeOver: The End… Of The Beginning in June.

Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, though frustrated by the loss to Gargano & Ciampa, did not let it divert them from their goal. The self-proclaimed “top guys” reclaimed the NXT Tag Team Championship from American Alpha at TakeOver: The End…, then retained it in a grueling 2-out-of-3 Falls Rematch. Since then, however, The Revival have avoided the challenge of Gargano & Ciampa. Fed up with waiting, the two CWC participants called the champions out in the ring on Aug. 3. And when The Revival tried to sneak-attack them, Johnny Wrestling and “The Sicilian Psychopath” got the upper hand, clobbering Wilder with their double-team superkick/running knee combination, and showing the champions that their fortunes could change in just three seconds.

One week later, NXT General Manager William Regal gave Gargano & Ciampa the title opportunity they had been clamoring for, setting the stage for one of the most anticipated championship matches in recent memory. Can The Revival live up to their claim of being the best tag team on the planet, or will Gargano & Ciampa’s hot streak take them to the top of NXT’s Tag Team division?