Hello once again it’s me TWB and I’m here to give my thoughts and opinions as I’ll dissect last Saturday’s NXT Takeover: War Games 2.
Dunne and Ricochet Stand Tall, as Undisputed Fall
The biggest headline for me coming out of WarGames was the result of the main event, as the babyface team of NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne, North American Champion Ricochet and The War Raiders were victorious against Undisputed Era in fun-filled and frantic WarGames match. The closing shots of the show were of Ricochet and Dunne holding their respective titles aloft on top of the structure.
For the past few months both men have argued on who the better champion is out of the two, and on a previous episode of NXT, they battled in a title for title match, however that match was interrupted by Undisputed Era and was called a double DQ. I could easily see NXT keeping this story going until the next Takeover in January, where they’ll settle the score once and for all, and find out who the better champion truly is. As for Undisputed Era, they still hold the NXT Tag Team Championships, but their leader Adam Cole is on a bit of a losing streak, he lost his North American Championship in August, and took the fall last Saturday, so maybe Cole is undisputed no more.
Sane Loses but the Cavalry Arrives
In the 2 out of 3 falls match, between NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane, the numbers game proved crucial to the result of the match. In Baszler’s corner, she had Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir running interference and costing Sane the first fall and led to the Pirate Princess downfall in the 3rd fall as well. During the 3rd fall where the score was 1-1 Dakota Kai and Io Shirai, evened the odds but it didn’t swing the match in Kairi’s favour as she would have her finisher countered into a roll-up and lose the match.
Now we have two factions seemingly set to feud. as Baszler leads her fellow MMA Horsewomen Duke and Shafir against the baby-face trio Sane, Kai and Shirai. It’ll be interesting to see how quick Duke and Shafir develop over the next few months, and if they can perform at the same level as the other half of the Four Horsewomen Baszler and Ronda Rousey.
Johnny is Forgiven for his Sins
In what was personally my favourite match of Takeover, Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano in a hard-hitting and brutal bout. The action was fast-paced and non-stopped. Black ended up winning after connecting with two consecutive Black Masses, and it seems their feud is finished after Black forgave Gargano of his sins. So my question is simply what’s next for both men?
Black has his rematch clause so I expect the possibility of seeing Black vs Ciampa some point, but what is left for Gargano, maybe a feud with Velveteen Dream, or one of NXT’s newest recruits Matt Riddle.
Ciampa Breaks Velveteen’s Dream
As mentioned previously Tommasso Ciampa is still your NXT Champion following a great match with The Velveteen Dream, which was built with solid wrestling, but also superb storytelling. Some may argue that this was Dream’s moment, the crowd were going wild towards the closing stretches as it looked like the popular Dream was going to end the reign of Ciampa, but as I’ve said in previous articles Dream whether he wins or loses he is always over, so really having a title around his waist wouldn’t change fans support for him. Also, I could see Dream’s biggest moment happening at NXT: New York over Wrestlemania weekend, as I think we’ll see Velveteen win the NXT Championship in front of a raucous NYC crowd.
I assume Ciampa will now move onto facing former champion Aleister Black whether that be on an episode of NXT or at NXT Takeover: Phoenix only time will tell.
The Knockout Artist gets KO’d
In what I believe is the quickest match in NXT history and possibly one of the quickest in the WWE, Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno in his Takeover debut, with one single knee strike. I’d guess Ohno will be embarrassed by this defeat and will look for revenge against the relaxed and chilled out Riddle. Personally, I like the way Riddle is being booked so far, as he acts cool and composed before the bell rings, but as soon as the match starts he can legitimately tear an opponent apart. I think they’ll have a rematch again on an upcoming match on NXT which Riddle should win in a bit more of a competitive match, then he can move onto feuding with potentially Johnny Gargano or Adam Cole as NXT heads into 2019
Anyway that’ll be all from me today, join me next month as I will break down the latest headlines in NXT, but also I will give you my favourite moments and matches from the yellow brand in 2018, and I will predict what we could see in NXT as it heads in 2019
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