Has Bobby Fish re-injured himself in his first match back?
Velveteen Dream steals the show!
And Matt Riddle squashes Kassius Ohno.
I am Luke Owen, vote in the poll above my head to let me know your thoughts where you
can choose from NXTrodinary, NXcellent, EC3 Out Of 5, NXTerrible, and TakeOvers Will Never
Get This Option.
Let’s be honest I’ll be amazed if any TakeOver show gets 4 out of 5.
Good luck topping this Survivor Series, this is NXT TakeOver: War Games 2018… in about
4 minutes.
Headline: Matt Riddle def.
Kassius Ohno
The show was supposed to kick off with Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane for the NXT Women’s
Championship, but Matt Riddle came out with all the swagger befitting of the nickname
The King of Bros, who challenged Kassius Ohno to a match which Onho accepted - but was hit
with a Running Knee as soon as the bell sounded for a Matt Riddle win.
Riddle looked awesome, and you can argue this wasn’t really a squash match, as Ohno can
claim that he was caught off guard by the surprise challenge.
A very hot opening to the show, this was.
Headline: Shayna Baszler def.
Kairi Sane
We then got that NXT Women’s Championship match, where Shayna Baszler defended her title
against former champ Kairi Sane.
This was a 2 out of 3 falls match, playing off the story that these two are 2-2 in four
singles matches.
Huh.
Wins and losses meaning something.
What a novel concept.
It looked like Sane was going to get the first fall, but Marina Shafir and Jessmyn Duke stopped
that - allowing Baszler to lock in the KitKat Clutch to go one up.
The second fall was based around Baszler wearing Sane down now that she had the advantage - locking
in the Kira-football Clutch on several occasions - with Sane eventually hitting the Insane
Elbow to tie the score and 1 all.
Duke and Shafir got involved again during the third fall, but Sane got help from Dakota
Kai and Io Shari running down to even the score - with Shari hitting a beautiful moonsault
to the outside.
Sane hit the Insane Elbow, but Baszler caught her in a roll up to get the decisive third
fall.
This was a tremendous match, and one that I feel has been overshadowed by the following
matches on the card.
For me this was just as good as the NXT Championship match that came later on.
It’s customary for NXT to use TakeOvers to debut their latest independent wrestling
stars.
I thought it might be WALTER, El Fakidor predicted Hangman Page, Oli randomly picked former WrestleTalk
TV host Marty Scurll, and the Swaftnation all thought it would be Punishment Martinez
- but we were all wrong.
It was X-Pac’s dog!
I predict good things for that literal young pup.
Headline: Aleister Black def.
Johnny Gargano
The great action continued with Aleister Black defeating Johnny Gargano in a superb match.
Gargano continued his transition from Captain America earlier this year to more of an anti-hero
- by this time cosplaying as The Punisher - a character who believes he’s doing the
right thing even though others question his actions.
This was an inspired choice of outfit for Gargano.
The two had lots of back and forth action, counters and counter-counters, and Black kneeing
Gargano in the face over and over again.
The finish saw Black hit two Black Masses on Johnny Wrestling to get the victory - with
the commentators putting over that Black’s next task will be to recapture the NXT Championship
that was stolen from him.
Headline Tomasso Ciampa def.
Velveteen Dream
Which will be against Tomasso Ciampa as he retained his title against Velveteen Dream
in what can only be described as an experience.
Dream continued his TakeOver homages to Hulk Hogan, this time coming out as Hollywood Hogan
and even hit big boots and leg drops during the match.
It’s a testament to how good both of these men are.
This match didn’t have the same hype going in as Black vs. Gargano or War Games because
those had more TV time, but Dream and Ciampa more than made up for that by pulling out
what many feel was Match of the Night.
Even though no one thought Dream was walking away with the belt going into the match, the
live crowd bought into each and every one of the many nearfalls towards the end of the
match.
Ciampa eventually got the win by hitting the draping DDT onto the metal partition between
the two rings - an excellent ending to what was an outstanding match.
Dream continues to be Mr. TakeOver, brother.
Headline: NXT Wins League Of Legends
We then got a video package of Team NXT beating Team WWE at League of Legends, a game which
Xavier Woods called “The Best Game Of-All Time”.
I mean, it doesn’t look like Final Fantasy VII but I guess I’ll take your word for
it.
Headline: Pete Dunne, Ricochet & War Raiders def.
Undisputed Era
And the main event saw Pete Dunne, Ricochet and War Raiders take on Undisputed Era inside
of War Games.
As you would expect, Undisputed Era having the man advantage played a major role in the
first half of the match - the highlight of which being Rowe hitting a powerslam on Strong
and a powerbomb on Kyle O’Reilly.
While that may not sound impressive, that would be because I forgot to mention he HIT
THEM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME.
After all eight men were in the ring the match turned into utter carnage.
With table spots, weapon shots, a ridiculous Tower of Doom and an even more ridiculous
Ricochet reverse 630 from the top of the cage onto everyone down below.
Both teams squared off in the two rings, and during the brawl Pete Dunne hit the Bitter
End on Adam Cole, followed by a 450 splash by Ricochet with both men pinning him.
They celebrated on top of the cage, with Dunne eyeing up Richochet’s North American Championship.
There was almost too much insanity to go through here as we’re only supposed to have 4 minutes,
but you must go out of your way to see it.
There was a scary moment during the match when it looked like Bobby Fish had re-injured
his surgically repaired knee, but Triple H announced during his post show media call
saying he was fine - which is excellent news.
And this was an excellent match.
There is a debate to be had as to whether this was as good as last year’s War Games
- but it cannot be denied that it was absolutely awesome.
TakeOver: War Games was, unsurprisingly given the card, a superb night of professional wrestling.
Every match delivered - with one match in particular over-delivering - and it sets up
some exciting matches down the line.
Yeah, good luck following that Survivor Series.
TakeOver: War Games is NXTrordinary!
Before Survivor Series tonight why not check out the WrestleRamble predictions.
And what next for Becky Lynch?
Click the videos on screen right now to check those videos out.
I’ve been Luke Owen and that was War Games.