The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and took place on April 7, 2018, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana as part of the WrestleMania 34 weekend festivities.

In the main event, Johnny Gargano defeated Tommaso Ciampa in an Unsanctioned match and was reinstated to NXT.

[4] Former Indianapolis Colts punter and Barstool Sports personality Pat McAfee was announced to join the Pre-Show panel.

[6][7] On the February 28 episode of NXT, Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega boasted about their victory over Johnny Gargano.

[8] The following week, Black defeated Dain to become the number one contender to the NXT Championship and would face Almas at TakeOver: New Orleans.

Over the next couple of weeks, Authors of Pain, Sanity, Street Profits and Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, who replaced the previously announced Tyler Bate and Trent Seven after Bate suffered a knee injury, advanced to the next round by defeating TM-61, Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli, Heavy Machinery and Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, respectively.

[9][14] The semifinal saw The Authors of Pain and Dunne and Strong advance to the finals by defeating Street Profits and Sanity, respectively.

[17] The finals featured The Authors of Pain face the team of Strong and Dunne, which ended in a no contest when The Undisputed ERA interfered.

EC3 was subsequently announced by Regal as one of six wrestlers who would compete in a ladder match at TakeOver: New Orleans to crown the inaugural champion.

Later that night, Regal also announced the other five participants as Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Lars Sullivan, Killian Dain and the debuting Ricochet.

[19] Ciampa explained his attack by revealing that he had sustained an ACL injury and would be out for several months, during which time he suspected that Gargano would try to replace him in their team.

Over the next few weeks, Gargano developed an obsession for getting back at Ciampa, going as far as ambushing him outside the WWE Performance Center and attempting to break into his house.

[3] After that, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament finals took place with The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly) defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) and Roderick Strong and WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne.

[3] After the match, Strong put on Cole's Undisputed Era armband, turning heel and joining and celebrating with the group.

In the penultimate match, Andrade Cien Almas, accompanied by Zelina Vega, defended the NXT Championship against Aleister Black.

Whilst the referee was distracted, Vega performed a hurricanrana off the ring apron into the steel steps on Black; Almas subsequently scored a near-fall.

[3] Matty Paddock of The Independent wrote that the event "delivered in breathtaking style", calling it "a classic night of wrestling that will be hard to match".