WWE NXT TakeOver: Phoenix Results: Ciampa vs Black and Highlights, Low Points

NXT has an impressive record of delivering quality shows, so going into TakeOver: Phoenix on Saturday, all the hype was there once more.

The card had a lot of potential, with every title on the line and some of the brand's hottest performers set to do battle, as well as the announcement of the 2018 NXT Year-End Awards winners.

Whether they were most excited to see Shayna Baszler put the NXT Women's Championship on the line as collateral against Bianca Belair's undefeated streak, Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black to do battle once more or something else, it seemed fans were in for a treat.

Now that the event has passed and the dust has settled, it's time to break down what stood out as the pros and cons of the night.

Presented in order of appearance, here are the highlights and low points of NXT TakeOver: Phoenix.

NXT TakeOver: Phoenix results

• War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era win the NXT Tag Team Championships.
• Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno by submission.
• Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet by pinfall to win the North American Championship.
• Shayna Baszler defeated Bianca Belair by submission to retain the NXT Championship.
• Tommaso Ciampa defeated Aleister Black by pinfall to retain the NXT Championship.

NXT Year-End Awards 2018 Results

• Breakout Star of the Year: Ricochet
• Match of the Year: Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas from TakeOver: Philadelphia
• Male Competitor of the Year: Tommaso Ciampa
• Female Competitor of the Year: Kairi Sane
• Tag Team of the Year: The Undisputed ERA
• Overall Competitor of the Year: Kairi Sane
• TakeOver of the Year: New Orleans
• Rivalry of the Year: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
• Future Star of NXT: Io Shirai

For some reason, WWE has neglected to host the Slammy Awards over the past few years, so it's nice to see NXT at least has the next best thing with its equivalent Year-End Awards.

Not only is it a means to utilize the pre-show and make it worth watching, rather than simply having video packages about the upcoming card, but it's also a good way to reflect on how much NXT has changed over the past year.

It's worth giving recognition to the men and women who put on amazing matches in 2018 and helped make NXT such an awesome destination for wrestling. The Superstars deserve credit, and reliving those moments only helps the perception of the brand.

When was the last time a tag team match at a TakeOver event wasn't super entertaining? The track record NXT has for great tag team matches is beyond impressive.

Much in the same vein as its predecessors, this NXT Tag Team Championships bout lived up to the hype and got the crowd to chant "fight forever" and give the two teams a standing ovation mid-match.

If there is one person who stood out the most in this fight, it was Hanson, who produced a series of highlights by showing off his absurd athleticism for a guy his size. A tope suicida is one thing, but pulling off a cartwheel and a handspring double back elbow were something else.

From War Raiders' viking-themed entrance—something that will probably go down as one of the best entrances of the year—until the final bell rang, this was pure fun.

Even though it's sad to see The Undisputed Era's reign come to an end, there's no better team in NXT to take the ball and run with it. It was time for a new set of champions to be crowned.

Since Matt Riddle had already defeated Kassius Ohno twice before, this match didn't have much intrigue going for it during the build. Riddle is clearly the better man, and we've seen them fight, so what was the hook?

Apparently, it didn't need one, as it ended up being a solid match.

Even with Riddle coming out on top yet again and no post-match angle happening or anything to spice things up, these two still had a somewhat passionate brawl.

Ohno bit Riddle's toes, which was a gross but effective means of storytelling to prove how desperate he was to get a win over the upstart.

Riddle's German suplex alone showed off his strength, and winning the match by submission from a series of elbows gave his strikes another boost of legitimacy for future matches.

After three definitive wins, it's time for Riddle to move on to better things, but this was a good feud to kick off his WWE career with.

Ricochet's command over gravity is always astonishing and can make any match worth watching. He was able to hit an asai moonsault with such ease that he might as well have wings, and that was just one of his maneuvers.

All throughout the match, his flips were breathtaking and better than any gymnastics or circus act could put on.

Pairing his skills with arguably the best wrestler in not just NXT but the entire WWE, Johnny Gargano, was a recipe for success.

There was a fantastic near-fall after Gargano nailed Ricochet with a reverse spike hurricanrana, followed by a DDT off the ropes, that made the entire crowd jump out of their seats, as they did with the actual finale.

Ricochet's had a good run with the North American title, and it's time for Gargano's descent into villainy to take the next step now that he's had confirmation that more dastardly tactics are effective and allow him to win gold.

There may be no better heel in the women's division than Shayna Baszler, who is always paying attention to the little details when showing how vicious she can be.

One example of this was when Baszler used Bianca Belair's hair to pull her face-first into the ring post. Small touches like that go a long way in getting across the idea that Baszler is calculating and dominant.

If you're looking for low points from this event, perhaps the only one could be that Belair's undefeated streak had to come to an end. But knowing that it did in the service of furthering Baszler's title reign makes it worthwhile.

The sting of that loss was also lessened by having Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke interfere and the referee unable to count the pin that would have awarded Belair the victory. This keeps Belair looking strong, even in defeat.

Given this match's spot as the main event, it should have been the best segment, but as talented as Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black are, they didn't pull that off.

They have had great matches in 2018, and it seemed like a guarantee they would do the same here, yet something didn't click. This ended up being an underwhelming affair.

Nothing stood out as impressive. No moves stole the show, the audience never seemed as excited as it had been in all the previous matches and instead of ending TakeOver with a bang, this just slowly faded to black.

Perhaps these two have just exhausted what they have to offer against each other or some wires got crossed in the execution of what could have been a great match on another night. Whatever the case, this didn't meet expectations based on the previous year's performances.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.