Leave us your feedback to NXT TakeOver War Games.
We will have our POST Show later tonight with Braden Herrington, Davie Portman and myself.
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Jake from The Windy City
To be honest, I thought I would never see a better Takeover event than New Orleans, they really proved me wrong tonight. The bar is so unbelievably high now on NXT. The match between Johnny Gargano and Aleister Black was like a fast-paced video game, but adds an incredible amount of emotion & storytelling into it as well. What a SLOBBERKNOCKER of a match. I really pray that both of them do not go up to the main roster for a long while. The WarGames match was entertaining, but I prefer to see a roof on it like the old WCW days. Even though there is no roof on the cage, if a team member leaves the cage they will be forfeited. Yea, makes sense. Other than that, this is truly the greatest Takeover of all time. Then again, this could change again within the next Takeovers.
Perfect 20 Velveteen Hairdos out of 20.
Double Shot: After Takeover, WWE Network had a special, documenting Dean Ambrose’s return, called WWE Chronicle which was really spectacular. I recommend John and Wai cover it on the Double Shot.
Jamie from Leamington
Takeover delivers as always! Black and Gargano was excellent, I loved the fast paced, brutal striking approach that felt extremely personal and fitting the feud. There were so many twists and turns, with a logical ending that further both men - Aleister in particular felt like he had an additional edge to his character not seen before.
Then to build on that, Ciampa and Dream was brilliant in a completely different way, still feeling personal but with a more methodical style. The ending was fantastic and I am impressed they managed to get the crowd to bite on a Dream nearfall. That elbow to the outside though, damn. I enjoy the running thread through Dream’s run that he is always so close but goes a step too far trying to do something impressive.
War Games was good fun, but suffered from following the other two matches I feel. Lots of great spots but lacked the compelling story to elevate it. Still a great match though. Feels like Pete Dunne is being super protected like Drew is on the main roster.
My only complaint is that Kairi and Shayna got 10 minutes - not enough for a regular match, let alone 2/3 falls. I don’t know if Shayna got a stinger off the DDT on the apron and they had to go home sooner than planned, but it felt like they got short-changed, especially with the time given to Ohno/Riddle which was disappointing in itself.
That aside, a great takeover. NXT manages to just always do great stories with great in-ring while keeping things fresh. Can’t wait for the next one.
2nd Takeover I’ve attended in person (New Orleans) and have yet to see a bad match yet…crowd was hot all night and outside of the upper deck on hard camera side which was taped off, arena was pretty damn full which is saying something because Staples Center is bigger than most arenas.
Missed Riddle-Ohno since I thought I had a few minutes to grab beers…another outstanding, unexpected finish for Shayna-Kairi…Black-Gargano was everything I expected and Dream-Ciampa far surpassed what I thought was possible (EVERYONE bit on that purple rainmaker near fall)…War Games was amazing and everything I hoped it would be
A couple quick questions
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Is Gargano the leader for wrestler of the year after this match, the Ciampa trilogy, and the Almas match??
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Does Kyle O’Reilly need to split from UE to realize his potential as a singles star??
Thank you guys for all of the amazing work you do
-Corey H. from Long Beach
1 Like
Jalen from Pickering,
Phenomenal year for Takeovers. Great to hear Mauro again, brings so much passion and enthusiasm.
The NXT title match over delivered, Dream is destined to be a star.
No doubt Gargano has been the MVP of NXT this year, but poison ranas and double knees to the chest being used as transition moves took me out of his match a bit.
Tough Question: What’s been the WORST takeover this year?
Great show. Takeover always delivers.
While I grew tired of a lot of the melodramatic elements of the Gargano vs. Ciampa feud, Ciampa is still an incredible talent and a dark horse candidate for wrestler of the year at least from an in ring standpoint.
While I thought Ciampa carried the match, Dream was great and continues to improve. If he keeps this up he will be one of the best in all of WWE and even the world very soon.
While many have speculated that it is going to be Gargano vs. Chiampa on the Wrestlemania weekend Takeover, I think building to a rematch with Dream is the direction they should go.
Gargano vs. Black was a good match but I think some of the momentum has really worn off of Gargano.
Send Gargano up to the main roster soon and Ciampa up after Mania and have Gargano get his big win on a PPV like Summerslam. I think the feud has played itself out within NXT.
I get they don’t do NXT storylines that carry over to the main roster but I think it’s worth a try and whatever my fatigue with this feud, it would still be better than most of than main roster stuff that doesn’t involve Becky Lynch.
Mj
Made a list of Holy Shit - or Momma Mia - moments I’ve had during this show, as well as initial reactions to each finish for first three matches. What a show even before War Games which I’m just starting now! As this match starts I can’t help think what a Dream PWG match this is taking place in the WWE in the Staples Center in War Games. All of these guys were Indy Stalwerts for years and to see them in this setting is tremendous for wrestling.
Women’s Title:
- Kari DDT’inf Baszler off the ring apron
- Io Sharai’s moonsault
The finish: They basically redid all three of their previous finishes in this match. The Elbow, The tap out and The surprise roll up but this time Bazler gets the advantage. Tremendous feud. Best women’s program since Becky and Sasha. This match was super memorable for a 2/3 falls stop
Black v Johnny
- The early transition was the Alestir flip into sitting down taunt and Gargano quickly sneaking in then the Johnny suicide dive into the DDT and back in the ring for another one before a kick out by Black
- Johnny does the reverse hurricanrana and then Alestir nails a black trigger! Huge moment in the match and great sequence leading up to it.
- Black holding up Johnny to destroy him again and again was doninant
Sequences keep long matches interesting
The end of this match was the most powerful booking we’ve seen in WWE in a long time. A definitive dominant end to a real good grudge feud. No 50/50 bullshit finish. Johnny out on his feet and Black toys with and then destroys him. This almost kills the Johnny character for me.
Title match:
- Dreams entrance. This guy is crazy!
- What a Suplex out of ring. And every one of the near falls following that including the one Dream made with his pants pulled down and the one where Ciampa lost his shoe
- All the big moves moves had names attatched to them and it made the last 10 minutes with so many near falls electric. When you name every big move, the pin falls are more believable as a viewer. Kudos to announce team
- The first elbow where I truly thought that was it. The second where all the air was let out
These guys had to follow two incredible matches and have War Games after. This could have been the forgettable match and instead these guys worked tremendously hard and killed themselves going to the outside. I’ll remember this for the night I believed Dream could go in ring and back up hisincredible promo skills
Mondocurry
Damn, I loved this Takeover. It totally outshined the last Takeover in Brooklyn. While I never would’ve expected to say this before the show, Velveteen Dream VS Ciampa was my match of the night. A match of the year contender?? Maybe I’m still in the heat of the moment. The false finishes, the pay-off of the unlaced boot, Ciampa lashing out at Mauro for serious heat, and The Dream’s incredible charisma. Thought it was all amazingly laid out.
Meanwhile Bayzler VS Sane had me very much emotionally invested. While I wanted a different result, this definitely was a well thought outcome, and it will be interesting seeing the feud branch off into group versus group.
I am wondering what the main event picture will be for Wrestlemania weekend, and cannot shake the visual of Aliester Black VS Riddle. Any ideas?
Chris from Florida
Really terrific show. This is one where I think if you said any of the 4 matches was your favorite it would be tough to argue with you.
The womens match was great, that one spot was terrifying but on going back wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was. I also liked that the actual finish was clean.
The Aleister Black vs Gargano match was my favorite of the night. Insane pace, some of the timing on the spots was ultra tight. And great storytelling to back up the terrific in ring work.
Dream vs Ciampa was also excellent but I have to say that the Hogan bit from Dream is wearing a bit thin. And though Dream is extremely charismatic I feel in ring he is a bit behind some of the other top NXT guys. Loved using Mauro to get easy heat. Finishing stretch was gold.
The package leading up to the wargames match was stellar and backed by that awesome track from Nita Strauss I think they really hit a home run with it. The match itself was fantastic, with a terrific finish but it wasn’t as great as the previous years. Still a terrific match.
Also is just me or is Matt Riddle in absolutely ridiculous shape. Jesus.
18 Kassius Ohno squash jobs out of 20.
Mark from Vaughan
This was a stellar card and all of the matches varied from good to excellent. My favourite 2 of the night were the NXT Title match and Black/Gargano just because of the characters and stories involved. It did feel like an x-factor, surprise or debut was missing to really take the show over the top but I loved it regardless.
Questions: What do you think the title picture will look like heading into Phoenix? Lars was on the fringes of contention before this show, Black has a claim to the title and as long as Ciampa holds it, Gargano is always lurking. Do you see anyone being called up to the main roster after this show?
Jason from Toronto
I’m not a fan of how the back end of this women’s feud has been handled. Kairi and Shayna put in the work to build this story to a crescendo and had earned the chance to bring it home with a bang. Instead we got ten minutes, give or take, of rushed work that served little purpose other than to set-up a six-man tag angle. The finish was pretty, and could have served as a fitting note on which to close out the single’s portion of this storyline but with so little time to set the stage and everyone expecting more, that note felt muted.
And it was a conclusion that seemed better suited to their previous bout. The angle going into Evolution was that Sane’s win was a fluke, coming off a last-ditch reversal of Shayna’s finisher into a pin. Tonight’s finish mirrored the spot, and if employed at Evolution would have granted the pair of matches a sense of symmetry, Baszler a sense of justice, and Kairi the ability to save face on a loss. But with the fluke angle being dropped after Evolution and the memory of the first match having both faded over time and been relegated by what came after it, the table tonight was no longer effectively set for fans to make the connection.