War Raiders Beat Aleister Black, Ricochet; Retain Tag Titles at NXT TakeOver

The War Raiders defeated Aleister Black and Ricochet at NXT TakeOver: New York on Friday to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.

Black and Ricochet had one hand on the title after Black delivered Black Mass to Rowe. Ricochet followed up with a Shooting Star Press. Hanson broke up the pinfall before the referee completed his three-count.

Hanson and Rowe regained their sense and took back control. Hanson hit Ricochet with a powerslam and then leapt through the ropes to remove Black from the equation. That allowed Rowe to set up their Fallout finisher for the win.

The tag title match at NXT TakeOver: New York came as a result of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which was won by Black and Ricochet.

After beating Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel in the first round of the tournament, Black and Ricochet knocked off Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in the semis. Then, in the finals, they took down The Forgotten Sons, who beat Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, as well as Moustache Mountain, to reach the finals.

It came as somewhat of a surprise that Black and Ricochet won the tournament since they have been working as a team on the main roster for the past several weeks.

With Black and Ricochet on the main roster, it was widely assumed that their time in NXT was over. Instead, NXT fans were treated to a dream match involving four of the best all-around talents the yellow brand has ever produced.

While Black and Ricochet have been dominant since coming together as a team, they were mostly viewed as underdogs entering Friday's event. That is primarily due to the fact that it was assumed they would be going up to the main roster on a full-time basis after WrestleMania, which would have precluded them from being NXT Tag Team champions.

WWE has handled their call-up much differently than most past call-ups, though, which left open the possibility of continuing to use them on all three brands moving forward.

Meanwhile, The War Raiders hadn't done much as NXT Tag Team champions before Friday since beating Undisputed Era for the straps at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix. Because of that, they were in desperate need of a big win to establish themselves as the dominant force in NXT's tag team division.

The uncertainty of Black and Ricochet's status added some intrigue to Friday's match in addition to the fact that fans have long been clamoring to see the four of them together in a ring.

The end result was a tag match that likely won't soon be forgotten by NXT fans, and with The War Raiders retaining, it seems likely that Black and Ricochet are indeed main-roster bound and have potentially wrestled their final match in NXT.

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