WWE NXT: The 5 count for March 27, 2019

A five-count rundown from this week’s episode of WWE NXT, keeping you up to date on the latest happenings in the black and yellow brand.

Last night’s edition of NXT was certainly an eventful one. We are full steam ahead to NXT Takeover: New York and any remaining questions about the card for the show have been answered. There’s a lot to talk about so let’s get right into it; here is the latest edition of the NXT Five Count.

1. Cole and Gargano will steal WrestleMania Weekend

We know the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will take place in the main event but that’s not how the show starts. Instead, it began with the NXT Championship sitting on a stand in the middle of the ring as the leader of the Undisputed Era, Adam Cole, made his way to the ring. We know Cole will be facing Johnny Gargano for the vacant NXT Championship at Takeover and he’s out to speak to the fans at Full Sail.

He says last week he outlasted four of NXT’s very best and earned the right to go to Takeover: New York to challenge Gargano for the vacant championship. He says he could go on for hours listing all the reasons why he will leave Brooklyn with the NXT Championship but before he does he wants Gargano to come out and face him like a man to let him know what he’s in for in a week and a half in New York.

This brings out Gargano to much fan support, easily the most we have heard for him in Full Sail in quite some time. Before he can speak, though, we are treated to a very enthusiastic crowd doing a dueling chant of “Johnny Wrestling!” “Adam Cole!” for what felt like minutes. It was a cool sight to see and obviously, both Cole and Gargano could feel the excitement from the crowd as they stood in the ring.

Eventually, Cole tells the crowd to shut up and that he doesn’t need any of their support. He knows he can win the championship on his own, while Gargano quickly responds that, for the record, he enjoys the “Johnny Wrestling” chants. This sparks the crowd’s dueling chants yet again.

Gargano is the one to interrupt this time, reminding the crowd that Cole said he had a million reasons why he would defeat him in Brooklyn and to basically get on with it. Cole doesn’t reply and Gargano says history is being made as the leader of the Undisputed Era is at a loss for words. He wonders if it’s because now that they are face-to-face, Cole realizes he’s in for the fight of his life at Takeover: New York.

Gargano reminds us that for months now he has said that his path ends with him becoming NXT Champion and with Tommaso Ciampa out, the path goes through Cole. He says he’s going to show Cole why they call him “Johnny Takeover.”

Cole wonders if that is supposed to scare him or intimidate him. He also wonders if Gargano’s memory is shot since he hasn’t consistently been in the winner’s circle at Takeover and that his name should really just be “Johnny Participation.” Cole says Gargano can’t beat him two-out-of-three falls, let alone just one.

Cole goes on to run down all of his accomplishments that he has achieved at Takeover including winning the North American Championship, winning War Games and making his Takeover debut at the Barclays Centers in Brooklyn, the site of Takeover: New York.

Cole ponders how fitting it is that this all comes back to the Barclays Center for the pinnacle of his NXT career, becoming the champion and beating Gargano in the process. He says it’s because he’s earned all of his success, citing the example of the four men he beat last week. He asks Gargano what he has done to earn it.

Gargano says they didn’t roll out the red carpet for him like they did Cole. His story started back in June of 2015 when WWE told him no. His start was being told that he wasn’t good enough to be there. He says he’s heard all the knocks on him over the years. But he didn’t take no for an answer and fought for a chance until he finally got one with the first Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where he was thrown in a makeshift tag team with Ciampa, as two unsigned indy guys who were asked to prove themselves.

He remembers the two of them coming to Full Sail and fighting for their lives. This brings up a loud “DIY” chant from the crowd. Gargano said when it was done, however, they left with no contract and no promises about their futures. But a month later he was invited back again and again, because every time he showed up he poured his heart out in the ring.

Gargano said he fought so hard that the crowd responded by chanting “Johnny Wrestling” and the crowd chanted it again. He said the louder they got, the harder he fought to get his spot in NXT because he wasn’t fighting by himself, the crowd fought for him so he fought for them in return. He says he fights for everyone who has ever been told no and that their dreams will not come true. He has fought and earned his contract in NXT and every spot he had in Takeover, mentioning winning not only the tag titles and North American Championship, but winning his career back as well. Gargano says he fights because NXT is his life.

Johnny Wrestling reminds Cole that he wasn’t handed a top spot and a group of cronies to fight his battles for him since day one, but he wouldn’t change a thing about who he is or where he’s been. Because it has made him appreciate where he’s going, and that’s the main event of Takeover: New York where he will fight to make his dream come true, and he will finally become NXT Champion.

Gargano drops the mic at this point and his music hits, and Cole leaves the ring, pondering what was just said to him. He decides to respond to Gargano once he’s gotten on the ramp. He says Gargano had such an inspirational story, and he can fight and scratch and claw all that he wants but when they leave the Barclays Center he will be the champion. Why? Cole looks back at the ramp as the other three members of the Undisputed Era show up to have his back.

Cole says Triple H told him that the result of their match would be definitive, but he was wrong: The result of their match would be Undisputed. This opening segment was absolutely phenomenal. No amount of words can do justice about how great this was. The crowd has bought into this match 100 percent and it is certainly worthy of being the main event of Takeover. These two are going to steal the show in Brooklyn.