Quoting Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons “Oh what night” once again NXT has struck gold with last night’s Takeover in Houston, I’m Callum Owen “The Wrestling Brain” and I will be reviewing NXT Takeover: WarGames
Lars Sullivan vs Kassius Ohno
This match played out, exactly how it should’ve done, Ohno got a few shots in, but couldn’t take down the monster Sullivan. The match itself was okay but not great, for me, in particular, it didn’t feel like a solid opener, for previous Takeover’s we’ve been accustomed to a 15 minute wrestling clinic, for example, Andrade “Cien” Almas vs Johnny Gargano or American Alpha vs The Revival, this match didn’t live up to those classics, but the reason why NXT did this match was to make Sullivan look dominant and strong against a veteran of the wrestling world and that was accomplished.
Winner – Lars Sullivan
Aleister Black vs The Velveteen Dream
Everything about this match for me was perfect, whether it be Dream’s Rick Rude inspired tights with Black’s face on them, or both doing each other’s poses. Throughout the match Dream demanded Black to ‘say his name’, Black always refused, showing great continuity with the storyline. The wrestling quality itself was also solid, the fact Patrick Clarke is 22 and not only is his character strong, but his wrestling skills are also strong, I see a bright future for him within NXT and hopefully the main roster. Unsurprisingly Black won with a Black Mass after a really good match. Post-match Black would eventually utter the words “Velveteen Dream” much to the delight of the crowd
Winner – Aleister Black
Ember Moon vs Peyton Royce vs Nikki Cross vs Kairi Sane (NXT Women’s Championship Match)
This match was good but not great, they got off to a fast start, Ember hit a suicide dive which took out Royce and Sane, then she hit a Powerbomb onto Cross on the outside of the ring. Then really it seemed they rushed to the finish, once Cross got back up everyone hit their finishers, there was a moment where Royce hit her finisher onto Cross and Sane was a tad slow to break up the pin and the referee had to stall his count as there would’ve been a botched finish. In the end, Moon struck with a double Eclipse onto Cross and Royce and pinned the SAnity member to become the new NXT Women’s Champion
Winner and new champion – Ember Moon
Drew McIntyre vs Andrade “Cien” Almas w/Zelina Vega (NXT Championship match)
The result of this match shocked me a lot, just 3 months ago, I was saying that Andrade “Cien” Almas was a jobber to the new stars of NXT and now all of a sudden, he’s NXT Champion, as I mentioned in my predictions article, the addition of Vega has really helped Almas, and I think she’s going to be star whether it be in-ring or as a manager. Now waking up this morning I read that McIntyre may have torn his bicep during the match, so I wonder if Almas winning wasn’t the original plan but due to Drew’s injury that had to change the result in the ring. However, whatever the result was, this was another great match.
Winner and New Champion – Andrade “Cien” Almas
The Undisputed Era vs SAnity vs Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong (WarGames Match)
So as I predicted in my previous article, Cole, Young and Strong opened the match, the whole of this was basically carnage, but really good and entertaining carnage. Once everyone was in the ring, high-risk spots and bumps were taken, whether it be Authors of Pain chucking Young and Cole from one ring to the other, or Alexander Wolfe hitting a German Suplex onto Akam from the turnbuckle threw two tables, the whole WarGames lived up to my expectations. As I previously stated Strong and Cole would repeat their Superplex spot from a few weeks ago, this time from the top of the steel cage onto all the competitors. The finish came when Cole would hit the Shining Wizard onto Young who holding a Steel Chair for the win and The Undisputed Era would survive WarGames.
Winners – The Undisputed Era
This was yet another fantastic Takeover special, maybe not as good as previous shows, but pretty darn good, once again I will say good luck to the main roster as NXT have set the bar, can you raise it?
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