wrestling / TV Reports

Kevin’s NXT TakeOver: War Games Review

November 17, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
Shayna Baszler NXT Takeover: War Games II

Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts, and the great Pat McAfee are on pre-show duty. We get a clip of Velveteen Dream looking at a photo of Kobe Bryant in the Staples Center. The NXT Title match is surprisingly the first to get a video package and get discussed. Nita Strauss joins the panel to talk for a bit. They discuss the Women’s Title match a bit. Focus shifts to the Johnny Gargano/Aleister Black feud. Matt Riddle joins the panel and bros it out with Pat. Kassius Ohno interrupts, saying that the word bro makes him sick. He says he’ll take him out in a minute. Riddle calls him bitter, saying he should try being better instead. War Games was the final match focused on.

The opening video package gave shine to each of the four matches booked for tonight. Mauro Ranallo is back in the booth alongside Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson.

Surprisingly, Matt Riddle’s music hits to start the show. He’s in some black and yellow, seemingly Kill Bill inspired gear. He says that though he’s not booked for TakeOver, but got annoyed when Kassius Ohno interrupted him on the kickoff show. With them being in LA and having two rings tonight, he wants to knock him out in both. Ohno comes out, saying Riddle’s too dumb to know he’s not ready for TakeOver. He agrees to the match and says Matt won’t remember it because he’s going to get knocked out..

Kassius Ohno vs. Matt Riddle

Ohno tries to jump Riddle but eats a huge knee. That’s it.

Winner: Matt Riddle in 0:06. [NR]

NXT Women’s Championship Two Out of Three Falls Match: Shayna Baszler [c] vs. Kairi Sane

Sane bursts out with a dropkick and is aggressive from the start. She fires off shots and hits a running blockbuster. A second one connects. Chops by Sane. Her hand is bandaged. Sliding D connects. Shayna takes a breather outside, so Kairi comes off the apron with a forearm. Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir come out as Shayna distracts the referee. They beat on Kairi and slides her in. Shayna puts on the Kirifuda Clutch. She struggles to get a true grasp. Kairi fights but taps in 2:00. Shayna hits a knee to nearly sweep this in quick fashion. Kairi avoids another Kirifuda Clutch but ends up in it. She gets free but is put in a half crab of sorts. Shayna stomps on her head. Kicks to the body from the champ. She ties up Kairi’s legs and works a neck wrench. Kairi slips free of a suplex and gets two on a rollup. She counters the Kirifuda Clutch into a pin for two. Huge chop by Sane. She wails on Shayna with shots but gets one kick. More trading of blows until Shayna wins out with a clothesline. They fight to the apron where Sane counters a suplex into a spike DDT onto the apron. Shayna is down as the Horsewomen check on her. Kairi gets in shots on Duke and Shafir, throwing the latter into the steps. She comes off the top with the Insane Elbow onto all three. Kairi slides Shayna back in and hits the Insane Elbow to tie it up at 7:34. Three Interceptor Spears connect. Spinning backfists by Sane and Shayna falls after the second. Shayna cuts off Kairi up top and joins her. Shayna wins the fight and wants a gutwrench. Kairi gets free and hits a sunset flip bomb for two. Alabama Slam by the hcallneger. Duke is on the apron and Shafir shoves Kairi off the top. Dakota Kai runs out and levels Shafir. She beats on Duke but Shafir comes back and Dakota is down two on one. Io Shirai hits the ring and comes off the top with a moonsault to take them out. In he ring, Shayna catches the Insane Elbow and turns it into a crucifix pin to retain.

Winner: Shayna Baszler in 10:53 [***3/4]

X-Pac is in the crowd with his adorable dog.

Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

Both men have new gear. Johnny’s feels like a play on the Punisher. He slaps Black to start and gets lit up. Black avoids a plancha and kicks the shit out of him. Rights and lefts by Black. Inside, Johnny with a chop. Gargano jabs and moves, toring with Black. He rolls away from a kick and sits cross legged like Black, laughing. He avoids a kick and hits the rolling kick. Johnny remains a step ahead of him. Black gets a big kick, then cuts him down to size with more. Gargano goes outside and Black does his quebrada into his seat. Gargano doesn’t wait, sliding in and kicking him. Johnny uses a sweet sequence to trap Black in a surfboard submission. Johnny fires off chops and strikes in the corner. Black avoids a second rolling kick, but Johnny still dodges his kick. Black with a kitchen sink that sends Gargano outside. Johnny avoids a dive so Black boots him off the apron and nails a tope con hilo. Inside, Black with the successful quebrada for a near fall. Gargano interrupts Black up top but has the Lawn Dart blocked. he hits an elbow but eats a superkick. Black misses a moonsault and Gargano catches him with a tope into a DDT. Slingshot DDT to the inside gets a near fall. Johnny talks trash as he chops a downed Black. “YOU’RE NOT THE CHOSEN ONE, I AM!” Black catches a kick and hits a back elbow. Johnny with an enziguri, Black with a big boot, Johnny with a superkick. They trade clotheslines until Black catchone and tries more kicks. Johnny ducks them and hits a spike rana. He hits the ropes and Black with a pump knee. Both men are down.Gargano is on the apron in between the rings. Black lights him up with kicks. He hits a springboard double knee drop and a bridging German for two. I may have missed a move in there. Black misses his next knee and Johnny hits a discus clothesline. Tilt-a-whirl into Gargano Escape. Black counters with a pin for two. Johnny hops over a sweep and kicks Black. Lawn Dart connects. Johnny lifts Black’s head with his foot, just like Aleister usually does. He calls for the DIY finish but Black puts his hand up to stop him. Black chooses to sit cross legged and tells Johnny to give him his best shot. Johnny with the knee but Black avoids it. He tries a school boy. Johnny rolls through with a superkick. Running knee connects for another near fall. Johnny pummels Black with forearms. Commentary implies this is a number one contender’s match. They trade shots. Black wins out with a barrage. He catches a Johnny kick and wrecks him with a knee. Johnny stops his quebrada by shoving him outside. Gargano wants a tope suicida but dives right into a sick pump knee. Now, Gargano begs off inside. He tries to grab Black’s foot and looks pathetic. He says sorry and lays his face on Black’s boot to be put out of his misery. He says “thank you” but dodges Black Mask and uses a rollup for two. He goes directly into the Gargano Escape. Black gets close to the ropes but Johnny rolls over back to the middle of the ring. Black counters into a pin for one. As they get up, Black with a spinning knee. Johnny is woozy. Black removes the knee pad and hits another pump knee. He holds Gargano’s face with his foot and delivers the Black Mass. Johnny falls into Black’s chest, only standing up because he’s leaning on Aleister. Black says he absolves Johnny of his sins and hits a second Black Mass.

Winner: Aleister Black in 18:09 [****3/4]

Undisputed Era talk strategy in the back. They have matching gear.

NXT Championship: Tommaso Ciampa [c] vs. The Velveteen Dream

Dream is dressed like Hollywood Hogan. Ciampa clutches the title on his way to the ring. Loud “Velveteen” chants. Dream wins the first lockup, taking Ciampa to the ropes. As they break, he shoves Ciampa and poses. Their next exchange sees Dream straddle Ciampa’s back and slap him in his bald head. Ciampa slaps him back and wants the Fairytale Ending but Dream escapes. His Hollywood headband comes off and Ciampa gets it. He mocks the Hogan ear taunt and Dream gets a breather outside. He laughs, seemingly happy with the mind games. He takes Ciampa’s title, causing the champ to angrily run out. Ciampa gets inside and Dream gets a front face lock. Ciampa slips off and Dream tells him to say bye to his title. Dream counters a whip, hits a slap, and a body slam. He grinds in Ciampa’s face and delivers a dropkick. Hanging neck whip and double axe handle. He picks up his headband again and puts it on. Hogan taunt, big boot, and he calls for the leg drop. Ciampa rolls outside to avoid it. Dream climbs up and comes off with aa double axe handle to the outside. Ciampa turns the tide by knocking Dream off the top to the outside. Inside, Ciampa uses the knee brace for a running knee in the corner. Dream is out cold but Ciampa wastes time taunting and mocking his challenger. Hangman’s neckbreaker from Ciampa. Another huge knee outside. He slides Dream in and stomps away. Modified sleeper from Ciampa. Dream is fading and drools, so Ciampa rubs it in his face. Ciampa lets go and takes a backslide for two. They trade shots but Dream is still kind of out of it. He hits a neckbreaker of his own for an opening. Flying forearm and kipup from Dream. Right hand and clothesline. Ciampa blocks the twisting DDT. Right hands from Dream and a big boot. The Leg Drop hits. Dream adds a second and a third. Dream Valley Driver is blocked. Dream still catches him with a spinebuster for two. Ciampa is knocked outside and Dream follows with a pescado. Inside, Ciampa then throws Dream out. Dream slams Ciampa’s bad knee on the apron. Dream does one of my favorite moves ever, the ring post figure four! Ciampa taps out but it’s illegal. Inside, Ciampa rolls him up for two. Forearm connects. Dream counters him into another figure four. Ciampa turns it over but Dream turns it back. He nearly wins with the pin but Ciampa makes the ropes. Dream avoids the draping DDT with a suplex that sends them both over the top and to the outside. Dream nearly wins by countout, but goes outside and sends Ciampa back in. They trade blows. Dream avoids Fairytale Ending. He nearly hits the ref with a kick but misses. Ciampa rolls him up with a handful of tights. The referee sees this and stops it. Ciampa argues with him so Dream hits a superkick and the Dream Valley Driver for a great near fall. Ciampa fights off another DVD. Elbow by Dream but he leaps into a pump knee by the champion for two. Ciampa is right up and delivers Project Ciampa. That’s still not enough. Ciampa’s boot is mostly untied. He goes outside and takes his title. In he goes and the ref stops him from using it. Dream rolls him up for two. Dream hits the swinging DDT on the title. That only gets two. Dream goes up and Ciampa puts the boot up so he catches it. Dream gets kicked outside. One his way back in, Ciampa hits the draping DDT. Dream kicks out! Ciampa exits and removes the ringside mat. He hits a fallen Dream who got too close to the title. Ciampa wnats the draping DDT on the concrete but Dream runs forward and they both spill over the announce table. Ciampa gets into an altercation with a fan. Dream hits teh Dream Valley Driver on the concrete. Purple rainmaker hits inside. That only gets two. Ciampa ends up draped on the apron. Dream wants the Purple Rainmaker there but Ciampa moves and he hits the floor. Ciampa sets up for the draping DDT onto the steel connecting the rings. It works. That’s the end.

Winner: Tommaso Ciampa in 22:25 [****1/2]

Apparently, Ciampa’s altercation was with Mauro Ranallo and not a fan.

Nita Strauss is shown in the crowd.

War Games: WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne, NXT North American Champion Ricochet and The War Raiders vs. The Undisputed Era

Adam Cole starts for Undisputed. Ricochet is up first for the face painted babyfaces. Yes, Dunne and Ricochet match War Raiders. Ricochet and Cole are in different rings, calling the other to join theirs. Ricochet agrees but Cole keeps stepping forward for a cheap shot. I expected Ricochet to springboard onto him. Instead, he just takes the cheap shot and they trade blows. Ricochet takes him down with a dropkick. Cole rolls to the other ring. Ricochet tries a springboard cutter but is caught with a Backstabber. Cole with a neckbreaker and USHIGIROSHI! Cole grinds Ricochet’s face into the steel and talks trash. Ricochet comes back with a huge dropkick and we’re 30 seconds from someone new. Cole is in the opposite ring now. Ricochet springboards from one ring into the other with a European uppercut. There are issues with getting Undisputed out of the cage. The referee struggles with the lock. Kyle O’Reilly enters for the next three minute interval. he beats on Ricochet and hits a sliding knee. Ricochet hits both of them in separate rings, but is stopped by a dragon screw from Kyle. Cole and Kyle work great together, wearing down Ricochet. An assisted USHIGIROSHI onto Kyle’s knee is the highlight. Pete Dunne runs out next but is stopped by the Raiders. Hanson goes instead. Undisputed pound on him but he fights them off. Hanson does his hot tag stuff and beats on Undisputed. My feed freezes and I miss some of what he does. It comes back to see Ricochet leap off Hanson for a shooting star press. Things are relatively even as Roderick Strong hits the ring. He runs over Ricochet and chops up both men. Uranage backbreaker barrage on Ricochet, capped with a huge gutbuster style backbreaker. Undisputed use some trios offense to take out the large Hanson. They get “Undisputed” chants as they stomp on their opponents. Stomach breaker by Strong and KOR comes off the top with a knee. Cole grinds his boot in Hanson’s face. Rowe prevents Dunne from entering again and hits the ring. It’s clear they’re not on the same page. Rowe with a suplex on Strong. Gutbuster on KOR and Busaiku Knee on Cole. KOR hops on Rowe’s back with a sleeper. Rowe catches a charging Cole with an STO of sorts. He drops KOR into the corner. As he holds KOR for a powerslam, Hanson puts Strong on top of Kyle for a powerbomb/powerslam combo. Cole is left alone. He backs away from the Raiders but into Ricochet. War Raiders throw him like a dart into the cage. Bobby Fish enters to close things out. However, He takes the lock and tries to lock Dunne in his cage even more. Dunne grabs his hand but is pulled into the cage door. Fish locks the door using the padlock from his own shark cage and throws the key into the crowd. Fish hits the ring with some chairs that are oddly branded with the Undisputed Era logo. They use the chairs on all three opponents to take a clear advantage. They just beat on Team Facepaint. Time is up for Dunne. The referee unlocks the original padlock but can’t do the second one. Ricochet is in between the ropes and cage as Undisputed take turns hitting him with running strikes. Strong and Fish suplex the War Raiders. Cole mocks Dunne from in the ring. Referees get cutters and break open the lock. Dunne gets a kendo stick and beats on Kyle and Bobby’s knuckles to make them let go of the cage door. He uses it on Cole and then slams the door on Strong. Dunne throws a bunch of weapons in, including trash cans and a table. He finally enters for good and now a finish is possible. Dunne wails on everyone with the kendo stick. He throws kendo sticks to his partners and wraps a chain around his first. Undisputed get up in a circle and just take turns getting beat with these weapons. Dunne wrenches on Kyle’s fingers in one ring. Cole is down there too. He then Explexes Strong onto Kyle before eating a knee from Cole. Cole throws Ricochet into the cage. Kyle misses a chair shot and nearly has it rebound into his face but avoids it. He’s happy, but then has it booted into his face. Hanson puts a trash can on Cole’s head and is thrown by Rowe into him. With Roddy on the steel in the middle, Rowe body slams Hanson onto him. They then team up to hit Roddy with a springboard clothesline/German suplex combo. The pin is broken by Bobby. War Raiders try the same move but have a trash can thrown into Hanson’s face. Rowe fights off the former reDRagon. They wreck him with kicks. Gutbuster and Backstabber by Roddy and Cole on Ricochet. Dunne is left alone with Undisputed and just fights them off. He manages to hit a German on Strong after throwing him into the cage. Fish catches a kick and Dunne uses his other foot for an enziguri on Kyle. He pulls Bobby into a kneebar but Kyle breaks it up with a knee. Kyle wraps the chain around Dunne’s ankle and wants a submission. Dunne ends up wrapping it aorund Kyle’s arm and hand, using a Kimura. Fish breaks it up with a chair shot to Dunne’s side. Kyle wraps the chain more and uses an ankle lock. Undisputed play defense so nobody can make the save from the other ring. Ricochet gets thrown by Hanson into Undisputed and breaks it up. Roddy takes a back body drop from one ring to the other. The table is setup on the corner in between the rings. Dunne and Ricochet hit stereo moves off the top for near falls. Dunne’s was a butterfly suplex and Ricochet used a super rana. War Raiders use a popup powerslam on Cole across rings for two as Strong breaks it up with a chair. Towe wants to put Kyle through the table but Fish hits him with a kendo stick. He then spears him through the table. Another table is setup and Cole looks for a superplex on Ricochet. Ricochet gets free and Cole is in the tree of woe. He fights Kyle and lays him on the table. Strong stops him with a jumping knee. He falls into Kyle who uses a triangle. Hanson climbs up and jumps from one ring into the other, splashing Kyle through the table. The pin is broken up by a trash can. Cole climbs to the top of the cage and Ricochet follows. There was really no point except to get them up there. Roddy helps as they try to shove Ricochet outside, which would cause them to lose. Pete Dunne, Kyle and everyone gets involved. Cole is put in position for a tower of doom style superplex. Bobby puts a sleeper on Hanson, who walks over with him for the powerbomb spot at the bottom of the tower of doom. Ricochet is still on top of the cage, alone. With everyone getting up, Ricochet does a DOUBLE MOONSAULT OFF THE TOP OF THE CAGE! The teams end up in opposite rings. They meet in between the rings and get into hockey style fights. It just ends with neither team having the upper hand. Rowe kills Bobby with a knee. War Raiders hit him with Fallout. Kyle stops a pin and hits Total Elimination with Roddy’s Sick Kick on Rowe. Hanson runs through a double clothesline and hits a handspring back elbow. Ricochet double jumps in both rings but does so into a Cole superkick. Dunne catches his kick and twists it. he snaps the fingers, but Cole hits a DDT. Last Shot and Shining Wizard get two. Dunne avoids another knee and hits the Bitter End. Ricochet comes of the top with a 630 onto Cole. They both cover Cole to win.

Winners: Team Face Paint in 47:05 [****1/4]

Ricochet and Dunne have a staredown but show each other respect. They pose together on top of the cage. War Raiders seemed to have left or something.