NXT Takeover: War Games 2019
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, the NXT Champion is Adam Cole (BAYBAY!), the NXT North American Champion is Roderick Strong, and the NXT Tag Team Champions are the rest of the Undisputed Era, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly. The NXT Cruiserweight Champion is Lio Rush, though he did not appear on the show.
The show began with the 1st ever Women's War Games match - Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae and Tegan Nox vs. Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Kaylee Ray, and Io Shirai. Its a weird mix of heels and faces (I think?) on both teams, further confused by the crowd reactions to each competitor. Shirai and LeRae started things off, these two having feuded extensively over the past few months. Next in was Belair, who had some excellent spotlight moments before Rhea Ripley came in, tossing in a whole bunch of trash cans, chairs, and kendo sticks as she came in. Ripley slammed the cage door on Belair when Bianca tried to prevent her from coming in the ring and then atomic dropped her on a garbage can. After initially chanting for tables, the crowd switched over to a "Rhea's Gonna Kill You" chant. Things evened up quickly, though, as the 3-minute round came to an end and Kylie Rae made her entrance to a less than rapturous response. Rae brought in two more chairs and then teased grabbing a table which got great heat. Rae and Bianca then positioned Rhipley across 4 chairs, but Candice LeRae made the save and the chairs were disassembled by Rae into just a bed of them in the center of the ring. A predictable albeit still-nasty tower of doom spot onto the chairs followed, with Belair putting a cherry on top by hitting a 450 splash on the wreckage. Dakota Kai was next, but instead of coming into the ring, she turned on her teammates, attacking her best Tegan Nox! The crowd erupted into a "Bullshit" chant as Kai went after Nox's bad knee, ramming it repeatedly with the cage door. Kai even shoved off William Regal and threw in some curse words as she stormed off to the back - only to come back and attack Nox again! The best part of this might've been Shayna Baszler in the background, smiling away. Back in the ring, Rhipley got beaten down as Baszler entered the fray, Team Baszler now holding a 4-on-2 advantage. With Tegan Nox taken out of the match, the Match Beyond began, LeRae and Rhipley forced to wrestle what had become a handicap match. Baszler attempted to handcuff Rhipley to the middle rope, but LeRae made the save. Rhipley showed off some very impressive strength by countering a tornado DDT and suplexing Kylie Rae into the cell wall. She then locked Shirai up in the corner, while Baszler trapped LeRae in the clutch in the opposite corner! That was cool. The babyfaces continued to put up a valiant effort, but the numbers game prevented them from ever fully gaining control. We got a bunch of awesome signature spots followed by LeRae unloading on Belair with a kendo stick, the match really delivering an abundance of excellent offense. Shirai then climbed the cage, followed up by her rival LeRae. Kylie Rae followed them up, but ate a reverse hurricanrana from the top rope! LeRae went for a cover, but Belair broke it up. Belair then tried a Torture Rack, but LeRae escaped, only for Io Shirai to hit a moonsault on both women from the top of the cage. Back in ring one, Ripley beat Baszler down with some chairs and then set up two chairs and a garbage can. Rae tried to make the save, but Rhipley clocked her with a can. Baszler locked in her patened rear naked choke, but Rhipley escaped by handcuffing herself to Baszler! Rhipley then countered a front kick by Baszler into a Riptide through two chairs and got the pinfall victory! This one is going to be very hard for the men to top as it had everything one could want in a PG War Games match - spotlight moments for nearly every competitor, a good story with unexpected twists, and it definitely built up a new challenger for Baszler. A really, really strong match and maybe even a candidate for one of the top 10 WWE Matches of the Year. (4/5)
A triple threat match followed to decide who would challenge Adam Cole for his NXT Championship at Survivor Series - Killian Dane vs. Damian Priest vs. Pete Dunne. These three had a bit of a challenge on their hands after the match that came before it, but the Chicago crowd wasn't totally dead. Some of the early moments seemed a little wonky, the execution of certain maneuvers seeming to happen in slo-motion. Dunne was not only the most over performer in the match, but also the most thrilling to watch and, to some degree, the only guy that seemed like he could reasonably challenge and even beat Cole at Survivor Series. As impressive as Dane and Priest are/were, neither strike me as future NXT Champions despite their respective size. There was a nice sequence where all three men dished out some cleverly-stacked offense ending with each man attempting to dropkick another. Damian Priest took over and hit a huge Razor's Edge on Dunne onto one of the announce tables. Dain caught him with a big dive, though, and then hit him with a rolling senton on the floor through the timekeeper's wall. Dain attempted to make a cover in the ring, but only got 2. Dain attempted a Vader Bomb, but Priest escaped and countered it into yet another Razor's Edge on the 300-pounder! Wow. Before he could get a 3 count, though, Dunne came in and broke it up. Dunne then locked Priest up and hit him with some nasty stomps to the head. Priest rallied, though, eventually hitting a suicide dive through the ropes on Dane on the outside. Dunne then hit both guys with a moonsault from the top rope. Back in the middle of the ring, Priest and Dunne traded blows, the crowd fully behind the Bruiserweight. Priest tried to hit his finish, but Dunne countered it, only to get his pumphandle countered as well, all leading to Dunne locking up Priest with an arm bar. Killian Dane broke it all up though and struke Priest with a big electric chair-into-a-piledriver type move (I'm not even sure what to call things anymore with how much innovative offense you get in NXT). Priest would not stay down, though, forcing Dane to continue his attack on both men. Dane hit his Vader Bomb, but Dunne broke up yet another pin attempt, only for his own attempt to get broken up by Priest. The match continued on, arguably too far past its own peak, the three competitors going through at least two or three more sequences that ended with yet another broken-up nearfall. By the time Dunne got his victory, the crowd seemed a little tired of it all, or at least I was. A very, very good match that might've been even better with a couple minutes shaved off. (3/5)
Finn Balor took on Matt Riddle in the next contest. This was supposed to be Balor/Gargano (with Riddle wrestling as part of the main event), but when Gargano got injured, Riddle filled in for him. This was billed as something akin to a "dream match" but I still think Balor returning to NXT was a step down for him and Riddle, while definitely protected since his debut, also seems like a guy whose been on a bit of a hamster wheel. Of course, with NXT now being built up as a third brand and not a "developmental league," Riddle floating around the upper midcard makes sense - but its hard for me to shake the thought that for a guy like Matt Riddle, if you're not in the title hunt, I'm not sure what your motivation is as a character. ANYWAY...with the opener featuring all sorts of weapons and the previous match being a wild three-way dance, Balor and Riddle had the odd privilege of getting to put on a straightforward competitive 1-on-1 match. Balor, now a heel, changed things up a slight bit - gone is the grin, his pace is more deliberate, and the high-risk offense was toned down a bit, especially in the early going (though him still using his full entrance is weird to me). I've seen some griping online about Riddle, a legit MMA badass, selling so much for Balor, but Riddle's legitimacy (like Chad Gable's) is something that the WWE has not really capitalized on - or at least not in a long time. Instead, they've developed him as the "Wrestling Bro," almost Jeff Spicolli-esque, an unfortunate decision considering his background. The highlight of this match was probably Riddle delivering a Jackhammer and Mauro Ranallo mentioning how much that might've irritated Goldberg sitting at home - though, I find it hard to believe that Goldberg actually watches WWE PPVs (even the ones he's on). The crowd eventually came alive for this as it wasn't a bad match, just a not very memorable or engaging one. The finish saw Balor go over clean - which seems a missed opportunity to protect Riddle and also cement Balor's new heel status. I'm not sure if it was an agent decision or not, but this company's phobia about letting heels be heels really hurts them in the character development department as I'm no more interested in Balor now than I was before (and Riddle now just seems more directionless and unconvincing as a future top guy). A good match that was hurt a little by questionable booking and a lack of anything fresh. (2.5/5)
Main event time - The Undisputed Era vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee, and (maybe) a Mystery Man. The crowd was HUGELY into this match from the beginning, welcoming Ciampa with a "Daddy's Home" chant. Adam Cole seemed to want to go in first - which makes absolutely no sense considering he is (a) supposed to be a somewhat cowardly heel and (b) has to defend the NXT Championship at Survivor Series the next night against Pete Dunne. Of course, logic and Cole don't always go hand-in-hand...Roderick Strong went in first, though, which made things all better and definitely helped hold together the early rounds. Strong may be the definition of a "vanilla midget," but he's about a good a bumper/seller/worker as there is. Just incredibly smooth. Kyle O'Reilly came out next for the Undisputed Era. He's a divisive worker, with some people loving his MMA "cosplay" and others hating it. Personally, I like the guy. Great sequence with O'Reilly tying up Ciampa and Roderick Strong running back and forth to deliver elbows straight to Tommaso's face. I liked how easily the former tag team champions were able to double-team Ciampa as it really spoke to how well these two work together. Dijakovic came in next for the faces and helped out his teammate, the big man using his size and strength to even things up for awhile. At this point, there were still no weapons in the ring but the UE didn't need them once Fish came in. As the clock winded down, the crowd got hype for Keith Lee, singing "Oh, Bask in His Glory" to the tune of "Seven Nation Army." Lee immediately showed why he is one of the company's most important blue chippers, taking out Fish and O'Reilly with his remarkable athleticism. Lee attempted a series of powerbombs, but each member of the UE escaped and then pounced on him with rights and lefts. Ciampa tried to save his partner but couldn't get the job done. Dijakovic was more successful, but their advantage didn't last long as Cole entered the match and shoved a whole bunch of tables into the ring. The Chicago crowd had been asking for them all night, so this drew a huge response from the audience. Cole set up one table on the outside of the ring but got shoved through it by Ciampa when he tried to enter the ring. On commentary, Ranallo noted that they had not yet heard if the match had officially begun yet as, technically, the babyfaces still had their Mystery Man. A staredown ensued followed by a wild brawl that saw Lee take on both Fish and O'Reilly. The Undisputed Era gloated as the clock ticked down and nobody came out...until Kevin Owens showed up to a massive ovation! Owens took out the entire Undisputed Era by himself, pop-up powerbombing Fish, dishing out a pair of nasty suplexes to Fish and Strong, and then powerbombing Fish onto O'Reilly for good measure. A "Welcome Back" chant started up and Owens hit his stunner on Cole - but Strong broke up the count. With all eight men in the ring, the match officially "started" and Dijakovic and Keith Lee double hip-tossed Strong from one ring to the other. Ciampa hit a draping DDT on O'Reilly as Dijakovic and the rest of the babyfaces started setting up tables. Keith Lee hit a giant crossbody splash on 5-6 guys, but O'Reilly followed him up and dropped a knee on Lee's leg, grapevining it immediately after. Dijakovic broke it up with a moonsault from the top rope, which was then followed by one from Fish! Ciampa looked like he may get the win after a frog splash from Owens, but that pin got broken up too. Cole went to the top, but Lee followed him up. Strong then delivered an Olympic Slam and Lee got hit by Fish and O'Reilly's finish - but the pin got broken up by Dijakovic. A "This Is Awesome" chant started up as the UE took control, but Owens made the save. Cole attempted to suplex KO, but Owens countered it into a cradle piledriver - only for Cole to escape and then, after some struggle, hit Owens with a devastating, "Holy Shit" chant-inducing Panama Sunrise on the steel grate between the rings! With the babyfaces down, the Undisputed Era set up multiple tables, looking to end the match with a grand finale of violence. Strong and O'Reilly went after Ciampa, but he rallied and ended up taking out both men with some sharp knees and a powerbomb-onto-double knees. Cole broke it up but got beaten down too, Ciampa hitting him with more running knees against the cage. Up to the top rope they went where Ciampa slammed Cole's head against the corner of the cage as a "Use The Tables" chant started. Cole climbed all the way to the top of the cage while Keith lee sat, getting beaten down, on the top rope of the opposite ring. A "Please Don't Die" chant started up as Dijakovic send Strong through a table. O'Reilly grabbed hold of him, though, trying to submit him with a front choke. Dijakovic used his strength to put him onto a table and Owens followed it up with a big frog splash through the table! This was soon followed by Keith Lee powerbombing Fish through the last remaining table. Meanwhile, Ciampa and Cole continued to trade blows on the very top of the cage. Ciampa set up Cole and delivered a ridiculous White Noise (belly-to-back over-the-shoulder piledriver) off the top of the cage through a table! Well, they don't get much crazier than that. I liked the story of the Women's War Games match more, but this was still undeniably fun. (4/5)
With only 4 matches, War Games 2019 doesn't offer the type of variety I enjoy in my "supershows," but there was also no sub-average match with at least one deserving consideration for being the WWE's Match of the Year (or at least in the top 5). On this blog and elsewhere, I've been hyper critical of the glut of nearfalls, superkicks, and rapid-fire high spot offense that has become "the norm" for NXT matches, especially in their epic-in-a-not-always-good-way main events, I was pleasantly surprised by the main event of this show. Sure, it still featured a ton of crazy moves and many of them were delivered in rapid succession with on/off selling...but at least in the War Games context, you had 8 guys doing it and not just 2 sprinting through the bloodless violence. The opener was the best match on the show because it featured the most intriguing story and revived my interest in Shayna Baszler's title run (which I still believe has grown a bit long in the tooth). Balor/Riddle wasn't great, but was no worse than average and would've been better with a more clever finish. The triangle match went too long and while I'm a Pete Dunne fan, this match didn't really have me craving a showdown with Cole after seeing him bust out so much of his signature moves in this match. With a Kwang Score of 3.38-out-of-5, War Games 2019 was mostly great, but not a masterpiece.
FINAL RATING - Watch It
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