NXT Takeover: War Games

Undisputed Victory

Well, Drew McIntyre tore his bicep in his match with Almas, which sucks for him, but it does put off the inevitable rematch. The two of them had the best match the two of them could probably ever have. The rest of the show was solid, even exceeded expectations.


Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sulivan: Sullivan wins.

Yep. This was exactly the “hard-fought squash” match I expected it to be, with Sullivan prevailing in the end to retain his dominant status. I expect Sullivan to move through a few more Ohno-level talents very gradually over the next six months. (1/1)

Velveteen Dream vs. Aleister Black: Black wins.

He did, in a surprisingly energetic match where Dream really shone, even in losing, from his insane tights to earning Black’s begrudging respect at the end of the match. (2/2)

Kairi Save vs. Peyton Royce vs. Ember Moon vs. Nikki Cross (Fatal 4-Way, Women’s Title): Moon wins the title.

Solid work from everyone here, with a few great spots. Only thing I got wrong was who got pinned - I assumed it’d be Royce, but it was Cross after she and Royce fell victim to a double Eclipse. I’m not sure what’s next for Moon, though - most of the talents at her level (Cross, Sane, Riot) are faces. She could resume her feud with Martinez, but she already beat Martinez pretty definitively. (3/3)

Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Drew McIntyre (NXT Championship): There’s no way they’d put the belt on Almas at this point,

I gotta stop saying “There’s no way” in these predictions. They put the title on Almas after about as good a match as these two can have together, but with this change, I have no idea what’s next for the NXT title scene. (3/4)

The Undisputed Era vs. The Authors Of Pain Featuring Guest Author Roderick Strong vs. Sanity (WarGames): I’ll pick Undisputed Era, no matter how dumb their name is.

This was certainly better than the War Games matches I watched on the Network, with no roof, modern wrestlers, lots of weapons, etc. Sure, there were some weird moments and overly convoluted rules and Alexander Wolfe nearly tore his scalp off on a broken table, but great work from everyone involved. I would have probably shaved five minutes off it too. Anyway, Undisputed Era won, proving that they can do more than just run in and hit people on the shoulders. (4/5)