Triple H speaks highly of tonight's TakeOver main event.
When Tommaso Ciampa needed to undergo neck surgery, it put a wrinkle in plans that had been laid out for over a year. Ciampa was scheduled to defend his NXT Title against Johnny Gargano in the main event of TakeOver: New York, one year after they clashed in New Orleans. But due to the injury, he was unable to compete and forced to relinquish the title.
Gargano remained in the main event but needed a new challenger. It was Adam Cole who won a fatal five-way bout against Aleister Black, Ricochet, Matt Riddle, and Velveteen Dream to earn the right to face Gargano for the vacant NXT Title.
Speaking to CBS Sports, Triple H believes Cole vs. Gargano is just as strong as Ciampa vs. Gargano.
"The fact that as unbelievable of a year as Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa have had to tell this story, the fact that as awesome as they are that Ciampa could get injured -- and this is no slight to him -- and you could pick five guys, put them in a fatal five-way and say any of these five could win this and have people go, 'Yeah, that would be epic," said Triple H. "Adam Cole wins it, and by the end of that show, Michael Hayes, Shawn Michaels and I sat in a room in the back and said, 'Man, this feels as big as it did when we shot the ending of the Gargano-Ciampa story right before he got injured' Already it feels as big as that, and that's a testament to the talent and how good they are."
Adam Cole is on record as saying he believes tonight's match will be the best of his career.
Cole vs. Gargano is scheduled to be a 2-out-of-3 falls match. You can view the entire lineup for tonight's TakeOver at Fightful's events page. Fightful will provide live coverage of TakeOver tonight beginning at 7 p.m. ET.