NXT TakeOver: WarGames (November 2017)

Original Airdate: November 18, 2017

From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson

Opening Match: Kassius Ohno v Lars Sullivan: Two rings, baby! See what can happen when you believe, and your heart is pure? Sullivan knocks him around to start, dominating Ohno until Kassius ends up on the outside. Lars follows with a flying shoulderblock off of the apron, and he adds a press-drop across the apron before bringing things back in. And speaking of that apron, it's a regular one tonight, not that electronic crap. The posts, too. Inside, Kassius tries fighting him off with a leg-feed kick, but he gets blasted with a clothesline. Lars tries to dump him to the outside, but Ohno hangs on, so Sullivan press-powerslams him for two. Flying splash, but Kassius rolls out of the way, and he starts popping Sullivan with right after right. Spinning roundhouse kick gets two, and Lars is freaking the fuck out, so Kassius starts stomping on his head a bunch of times, and delivers a senton splash for one. Lars is freaking out again, so Ohno tries more of his ballet oriented strikes, but gets caught in the Freak Accident at 5:17. This was effective at making Sullivan look like a monster, even if it wasn't much as a match. **

Aleister Black v Velveteen Dream: Velveteen Dream is a weird wrestler name. Hell, it's a weird everyday name. Dream slaps him across the face in the early going, which Black responds to with a vicious... wristlock. They go back and forth on the mat for a bit, with Black dominating, but Velveteen holds on through an octopus hold, and kicks out of a sunset cradle at two. Reversal sequence ends in Dream pounding him with forearms, but he gets dumped over the top on a charge, and Black teases a dive before backing off. With the two ring set up, this ring has no aisle side, which must be confusing as hell for the workers, given the percentage of dives that usually take place on that side. They play some mind games with each other, until Velveteen manages to snap Black's throat across the middle rope, and he drives him into the corner with a turnbuckle smash. Superkick gets him two, and a neckbreaker is worth two. Reverse chinlock follows, as Dream continues to echo the late Rick Rude - down to the tights and taunts. Black escapes (Rude points off for not taking an electric chair), so Velveteen ties him up in the ropes, but Black fights free before Dream can go to town. Black starts mounting a comeback, and a springboard moonsault press gets two. Big boot hits, but Dream manages a death valley driver for two. Dream tries a Samoan drop off the top, but Black escapes, and drives home a running kneesmash for two. Dream fires back with a roll of the dice for two, as the announcers work in the phrase 'NXT Universe.' Wouldn't NXT be more like a galaxy within the WWE Universe? Dream goes up for the Purple Rainmaker, but Black lifts his boot to block, and Velveteen ends up tied in the ropes. Black capitalizes with a boot, but Velveteen shoots back with a superkick, so Black throws a spinning kneesmash, and adds the Black Mass to finish at 15:11. Good stuff here, with hard work all around. ***

NXT Women's Title Fatal Four-Way Match: Ember Moon v Nikki Cross v Peyton Royce v Kairi Sane: This is for the vacant title. Everyone slugs it out to start, with Royce and Cross getting dumped out first. Moon dives onto Cross with a plancha as Sane dives onto Royce, but as they slug it out on the floor, Moon hits them both with a tope. Nikki attacks, but gets powerbombed on the floor, and Ember heads in with Kairi. Sane takes over with chops, but runs into trouble when Royce catches her in a hold on the ropes, but Moon saves with a kick. Sane thanks Ember with a schoolgirl for two, and she spears Royce while criss crossing with Moon. Sane goes up, but Ember hustles over with a superplex - only to get German suplexed by Royce as she's executing it! That gives Royce a two count on both Moon and Sane, and here comes Nikki with a flying bodypress onto all three. Cross hits Sane with a roll of the dice, but Moon breaks the cover at two, and nails Nikki with a big boot. She tries a slingshot next, but Cross blocks her with a rope-hung neckbreaker - only for Royce to sneak in with a bridging fisherman's suplex for two. Kairi whiplashes Royce onto Cross to set up a gorgeous flying elbowdrop onto both, but Ember breaks her cover at two. Sane's hang time is sick! Moon goes up, but Royce crotches her up there, and hustles over to finish a battered Cross. Unfortunately for her, Moon recovers, and dives off the top with the Eclipse on both Cross and Royce - scoring the pinfall on Nikki at 9:52. Nice finish! Afterwards, Asuka (the last champion before the vacancy) pops out of the crowd so she can present Moon with the title herself, in a nice moment. This was fun, but all over the map, and it felt like they should have capitalized on the two ring set up a little bit more. Or, like, at all. ** ¼

NXT Title Match: Drew McIntyre v Andrade Almas: Almas sticks and moves in the early going, but ultimately gets thumped by big McIntyre. They spill to the outside, where McIntyre continues to control, so Zelina Vega dives off the apron with a flying headscissors - only for McIntyre to catch her, and put her right back! I've never seen that counter before, and it was cool as hell! Unfortunately for him, he ends up missing a charge on the way back in, and Almas takes control, working the shoulder. McIntyre comes back with a pair of overhead belly-to-belly suplexes, and a flying axehandle follows. Over-the-shoulder piledriver gets two, so Almas throws a dropkick, and delivers an inverted tornado DDT for two. He tries an inverted rana next, but McIntyre counters with a wild inverted whiplash for two. Drew heads up, but gets dropkicked to the floor, and Almas dives with a slingshot headscissors into the post! Almas then dives again with a flying moonsault press, and he hustles McIntyre back in to get two! He goes up a third time, but McIntyre follows for a superplex only to get countered into a tree of woe - Almas punctuating it with a flying double stomp for two! Leg-feed enzuigiri, but McIntyre ducks, and dead lifts him into a sitout powerbomb for two! Almas with a victory cradle for two to counter a double-arm DDT, but McIntyre nails it on the second go around for two. Samoan drop off the top, but Almas blocks, and hits a running double-kneesmash for two. Mounted punches leave Drew loopy, so Almas heads out to grab the title belt, but it proves to just be a distraction - allowing Vega to run in with a headscissors. Almas capitalizes with the hammerlock-DDT, but it only gets two! He charges, but McIntyre counters with a big boot - Almas back flipping through the air on the sell! Cover, count, but Vega puts the challenger's foot on the ropes at two! Nice to see a manager actually do something. McIntyre is frustrated, but still charges with a big boot in the corner, only to have the challenger duck. McIntyre is hurt, but forces himself to the top rope to try and finish this - only to get brought down in a rope-hung DDT at 14:54! Hell of a match here, especially towards the end. *** ¾

Main Event: WarGames Match: Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, and Killian Dain v Roderick Strong and The Authors of Pain v Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly: No roof on the cage, and slightly different rules, but they didn't mess with the two ring deal, and I consider that a win. I was nervous that they were going to do some single ring version, especially since I know how much they hate messing with the arena layout of their shows. You have no idea how pleased I was to see two rings sitting on the floor when I pressed play on this show. Young, Strong, and Cole start - which sounds like a law firm. Young and Strong gang up on him at the bell, but that falls apart within the first minute, and Strong hits Young with a backbreaker. He tries to catapult Cole into the cage, but Adam lands on it Spiderman style, and he ends up crotching both guys on the top rope as they climb after him. Cole chucks Strong into the next ring so he can fireman's neckbreaker Young in peace, and he hits Strong with a snap suplex. Cole continues to dominate both men, as the period ends and the rest of Adam's team is allowed in. They destroy both outnumbered guys, including a neat bit where they prop Young up against the side of the cage, and all take turns blasting him with forearms. O'Reilly hits Strong with a wheelbarrow suplex, and they give him the same multi-forearm treatment as Young got. The period ends, allowing the Authors of Pain in next, but Fish attempts to hold the door shut so they can't get in! They manage to power through, and it's beating time for everyone! O'Reilly tries to grab Rezar in a sleeper, but it turns into a ride of pain for him, with Rezar running back and forth to bash him into the cage. The Authors throw all four opponents into the opposite ring, then grab teammate Strong - using him as a shot-put into everyone! Wild! Next up, they hang two guys in trees of woe, then grab the other two guys for fireman's carrys into the two tied up in the tree! I love those kind of creative spots. They keep destroying everyone, until the period ends, and the final two men enter - signaling the start of the Match Beyond! Wolfe comes in with a nightstick, and takes out anything that moves, as Dain loads the ring with various weapons. Alright, now it's a party! Funny bit, as Dain locks the door himself, and then makes a show of swallowing the key. I like where his head is at, but he does realize there's no top to the cage, right? Everyone gets armed and trades off, leading to a big man showdown between Dain and Rezar. That ends in the Authors double teaming, but O'Reilly hits Akam with a tornado DDT, and the ring looks like the scene of a car crash. One major difference between this and the classic WarGames is that, in the older versions, there was usually a lot of chaos going on, with the camera guys doing their best to capture as much of it as possible. Now, it's more like a Fatal Four-Way, with everyone taking turns with the spotlight, while the other guys stay down and sell for extended periods. We get a neat spot with everyone fighting on the ropes over where the rings meet, that ends in the Authors powerbombing three guys each off and into opposing rings. The only one left is Cole, so they crotch him on the top turnbuckle to set up a tandem superplex through a table, but Wolfe saves. Why? He ends up putting Akam through the table with a German superplex, as Cole tries to get away from Rezar by crawling across the top edge of the cage! Looks like poor Wolfe got busted open hardway from the top of his head on the landing there, ouch. Meanwhile, Dain decides to hit O'Reilly with a coast to coast flying dropkick, as Strong climbs up the cage to go after Cole (still hiding out on the top). Strong brings him down with a vertical superplex that ends up dog piling onto everyone else in the match - which is neat, except that they've already done a bunch of dog pile set ups in this one, and they're not getting any less contrived. The Authors hit Dain with a flying clothesline in the gap between the rings, but Kyle grabs Rezar in a sleeper to set him up for a knee from Fish. That leads to everyone taking turns hitting spots, ending in Cole hitting Wolfe with a chair-assisted boot for the pin at 36:40. This wasn't your granddaddy's balls-to-the-walls rock 'n' roll WarGames, but absolutely a great variation, and I hope we don't have to wait another twenty years to see the next one. I thought it overstayed its welcome a bit, but considering how long people have been waiting for them to bring this gimmick back, I can't fault them for not rushing through it. *** ¼

BUExperience: As usual, the NXT crew delivers another satisfying special. While I didn’t think there were any standout great matches this time around, there was also not a single bad grape in the bunch, and the main event was a welcome chapter in the old WarGames story. The big thing that NXT excels at is how focused these shows are. Every single match was booked with a distinct goal and purpose, and nothing felt like filler. That is something that is so, so welcome in wrestling these days.


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