NXT Takeover: War Games

Legacy Review

NXT Takeover: War Games

November 18, 2017 from the Toyota Center in Houston, TX

Commentary: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson

It's Survivor Series '17 weekend in Houston, and for the first time since 2000 and the fall of WCW War Games is returning, and for the first time ever under the WWE umbrella. With new times comes a new format and rules, which I'll get into detail on later. Personal note: I was at this show live. Not just at the show, but with the best seats I've ever had at a PPV level show to date, row 5 on the floor opposite hard camera with the cool kids. If you've ever wondered just who that bastard Johnny Legacy is, just look for the guy in the very easy to spot Dallas Cowboys hat during the ring 1 matches.

Lars Sullivan def Kassius Ohno in 5:11- Oh, Lars Sullivan. One of the few developmental whiffs from this era of NXT. He was a fully trained from scratch NXT original that had been in the NXT system the better part of three years, but had just made his official TV debut in April and was now getting his Takeover debut as the new monster on the block. As soon as the bell rings Sullivan charges, lifts Ohno and carries him into the corner. Ohno tries to respond with forearms. Sullivan runs him over with a huge shoulderblock. Ohno goes to the floor. Sullivan hits a diving tackle off the apron. Back in Ohno tries to come back with a big boot and enzuguri. He kips up, then Sullivan murders him with a clothesline. Off a whip Ohno flips over the top rope, lands on the apron and hits another boot through the ropes. Sullivan catches him coming off the ropes into a pop up powerslam! Early "MAMMA MIA!" from Mauro for that. Cover for 2. Sullivan goes up top but Ohno dodges the splash. Headbutt. Whatever, I don't remember, it's Lars Sullivan. Comeback strikes from Ohno. Sullivan does the big man wobblelegged but won't go down bit. Ohno nails him with an elbow to the back of the head and he still won't drop. Cyclone kick! That puts Sullivan down. Ohno covers for 2. Sullivan tries to hulk back up. Ohno grabs his arm and lays in the rapid fire stomps to the face. Senton. Sullivan kicks out at 1! And he's pissed. Slugfest. Ohno hits the discus elbow. He charges, but runs right into the Freak Accident (which Sullivan has trouble lifting him up for) and Sullivan gets the pin. As history will show, you were only ever going to get so much out of Sullivan. **1/4   Mamma Mia Meter: 1

Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Mark Andrews and Wolfgang are all ringside as the slow build to getting NXT UK running continues. UK Champ Pete Dunne taped a title defense for weekly TV against Johnny Gargano during the preshow TV taping, giving me a chance to see two of my favorites live that weren't on the Takeover card.

 

Aleister Black def Velveteen Dream in 14:37- I get it. I know Dream is persona non grata now, I get it and I agree with it, but like other guys in similar positions (Chris Benoit for obvious reasons, Buck Zumhofe from AWA who's a convicted serial child molester), I'm going to handle his matches straight up. Dream, real name Patrick Clark, was a contestant on the most recent revival of Tough Enough in 2015. He was eliminated fairly early, but impressed someone enough to get a developmental contract. Over the past couple of years he'd had as many false starts as Bret Hart's singles career, showing up on TV for a few weeks then vanishing again for long periods. He re-redebuted in the spring of '17 and finally started getting some traction, leading to picking a fight with one of the biggest dogs in the NXT yard for his Takeover debut. The best way I can sum up this feud is, Dream really wants a date with Black but Black won't call him back or text him back or whatever it is the kids do nowadays. Dream's been bugging Black for weeks to say his name, while Black barely acknowledges his presence. After his entrance Dream slowly takes the chaps he's wearing off, revealing awesome Rick Rude-style tights with pictures of himself and Black airbrushed on. Dream's been doing the hip swivel too so clearly Rude was a huge inspiration, which as he's one of my all time favorites I wholeheartedly applaud. Big "Velveteen" chant after the bell and tights reveal. Dream jaws from his corner while Black just stares from his. They both charge in to lock up, which ends in a stalemate. Dream's hair got mussed in there. Dream slaps! Dunno how smart that was. Black grabs a deep armdrag into an arm wringer. Dream works out and hits a snap mare. He tries for a chinlock but Black counters into a hammerlock. Again they do the same exchange with the same result. Black does a snap mare. Dream tries to counter but Black works him over into a front facelock. Superb mat wrestling in the open here, not at all what anyone was expecting from this match. Dream backs Black up for a rope break. He tries a cheap shot but Black ducks into a waistlock. Standing switch and Black works Dream into an ARMBAR. Dream comes off the ropes. Black leaps on his back and wraps up a modified octopus hold! Dream tries to duck a punch so Black rolls over his back and goes back on the arm. A Dream forearm shot starts a strike exchange that surprisingly Dream gets the upper hand on. Black's starting to realize maybe this guy's not a joke after all. Dream gets tossed over the top to the floor. Black does his usual springboard into lotus dive tease, but as he lands Dream slides in the ring and gets in his face with his laying down pose! Dream gets up and does a hip swivel. Black refuses to look at him. "Say his name" chant from the crowd. Dream drops down into a lotus position! That Black notices. Black stretches out and gets in Dream's face with Dream's own lay down pose! Damn this is freaking brilliant character work. The crowd is loving every bit of it. They get back up and Dream charges. Black trips him and cradles for 2. After another armdrag Dream goes to the apron and snaps Black's arm across the middle rope. Clothesline from Dream. He shouts "Say my name!" and goes into beatdown mode. After some corner shots Black rolls out. Dream thinks.....gears up....charges....flips over the top rope, lands on the apron and poses! Another cheer from the crowd as Dream is gaining a lot of fans tonight. Back in Dream gets Black up for the DVD. Black fights out. Dream superkick! Cover for 2. Dream does some ground and pound. Rude Awakening style neckbreaker for 2, then he goes to another classic Rude hold with a double chinlock. Another "Say his name" chant. Black gets up and Dream forearms him in the back. That leads to another forearm exchange. Dream hits a knee against the ropes and ties Black up in the ropes! This is something he did during the build too. Dream shouts "What's my name?" to Black. Black kicks and gets free. Dream slaps him again. Black goes into comeback mode with clotheslines and a running knee. Knee in the corner. Dream does a Bret bump and Black hits him on the rebound with a springboard moonsault for 2! He calls for the end. Black lifts Dream up with his foot. Dream backs him into the corner and does another lift for the DVD. Black fights out again and hits a kick. Dream with a forearm. Black HUGE roundhouse kick to the head. Dream bounces off the ropes, lifts and hits the DVD! Black kicks out! A shocked Dream lifts Black back up and climbs the ropes for a super DVD. Black gets free and kicks Dream back to the mat. Running knee for 2. Dream plants Black with a DDT! He gets an arm over slowly and Black kicks out again! Dream goes up top, does the hip swivel, and goes for a top rope elbow. He falls into Black's boot and gets tied up in the ropes! One nitpick, that was a little contrived. Black kicks him and Dream gets free. Dream superkick! Black spinning knee! Dream leans close to the ropes and jaws. Black Mass! That gets the pin! After the usual cavalcade of replays Black is sitting in the ring with Dream still laying there pawing at him, almost begging. Black gets a mic out. "Enjoy infamy......Velveteen Dream!". Dream lost, but still won. That was a brilliant, beautiful piece of business and an absolute breakout, star making performance from Dream. Man, how great could, SHOULD, have Dream been if his personal demons hadn't taken over his life? ****1/4   Mamma Mia Meter: match-0, show- 1

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the Vacant NXT Women's Championship: Ember Moon def Kairi Sane, Peyton Royce and Nikki Cross in 9:52- As I noted in the last Takeover review, immediately after Brooklyn III Asuka vacated the women's title due to a collarbone injury and WWE decided to go ahead and call her up to the main roster at the same time, leaving her undefeated in NXT forever. The new face here is Stardom legend Kairi Sane (formerly Kairi Hojo, or recently just plain Kairi), who was the winner of the first ever Mae Young Classic during the summer and is the first of many women that participated in that tournament to hit NXT full time. Anyone that knows me knows my love of Japanese women (and not just as wrestlers), so I was rooting hard for Kairi in the arena for this one, but pretty much figured this would be Moon's night after being so close against Asuka. The majority of the crowd, somewhat surprisingly, seemed to be going for Royce over everyone else. Royce is surprised on her entrance by her Iconics partner Billie Kay telling her she won't be staying ringside. Everyone stares down after the bell before Royce and Cross jump to get things going. Lots of back and forth fighting and swapping partners to start. Cross jumps on Moon's back in her crazy unhinged way. While she's there Royce nails her with a spin kick and covers. Kairi runs in with a sort of blockbuster to break it up. Things go to the floor with Moon hitting Cross with a plancha. Royce backs off wanting nothing to do with any of it, right into a Kairi flying forearm off the apron. Moon tope suicida on both of them! Cross grabs Moon and sets her up for something on the entrance ramp. Moon gets free, lifts Cross and powerbombs her on the floor! Kairi and Moon get back in. Kairi chops Moon down in the corner, walks the plank, and runs in with the Interceptor spear. Royce pops up, distracts and ties Kairi up in the ropes, taking advantage of no rope break. Moon uses the opening to land a kick on Royce. Kairi rolls Moon up for 2. Kairi spear on Royce! Backfist on Moon! She goes up top. Moon kicks her, joins and they fight up top. Moon hooks up for a superplex. Royce comes up and German suplexes Moon while Moon superplexes Kairi! Royce covers both women for 2 counts. Cross is back with a crossbody off the top onto all three women! She pounds down Moon, puts Kairi in a tree of woe and kicks her, then 360 clotheslines Royce to the floor. She hits Kairi with her swinging neckbreaker finisher! Moon breaks the pin up. Huge big boot from Moon on Cross. Cross forearms Moon on the apron, lifts her up and hits a rope assisted magic killer. Moon falls out of the ring before she can be covered. Royce perfectplex on Cross! Kairi breaks the pin up! That gets a fair amount of boos as, again, the crowd seemed to be behind Royce more than anyone else. Kairi Alabama slams Royce onto Cross! She goes up top. Insane Elbow onto the stack! (seeing that up close in person just about made my night by itself) Royce got most of it but she has enough wherewithal to roll away. Kairi covers Cross instead. Moon breaks the pin up. Now Moon goes up top to try to finish it. Royce tries to stop her but takes a shot and she and Cross stand up wobblelegged. Eclipse onto both of them! Moon covers Cross, and gets the pin to finally win the title! In a nice gesture Asuka comes in to present her with the belt and they hug it out after their killer matches earlier in the year. Good little four way match with everyone getting their stuff in, but nothing blowaway awesome and the pecking order was pretty clear at the end. Kairi definitely looked like she was still adjusting as well. ***1/4   Mamma Mia Meter: match- 0, show-1

 

NXT Championship: Andrade Cien Almas (w/Zelena Vega) def Drew McIntyre (c) in 14:52- Almas' newfound focus under Vega's tutelage reaches it zenith. Vega is all in McIntyre's face after intros. Almas pie faces McIntyre then hides in the ropes before the bell. The bell rings and we get a lockup. McIntyre is all fired up. Almas shoves and hides again. He slaps McIntyre and puts on a headlock. McIntyre tries escapes but Almas keeps getting him back in the headlock. Finally McIntyre hits a shoulderblock. Almas gives him a hammy kick and puts the headlock on again. Off a corner whip Almas tries a floatover but McIntyre kicks him in midair! Toss and Almas does his tranquilo rope pose. McIntyre kicks him in the face! On the floor Vega tries to headscissors McIntyre into the steps, something she's done to other Almas opponents, but McIntyre was ready for it, lifting Vega back on the apron. Almas tries to use the distraction for a tope suicida, but McIntyre stops him dead with a forearm! Back in both guys work counters ending with McIntyre posting his shoulder. Almas sees the target and goes to work on it. He wraps McIntyre up in a rope armbar and quickly covers for 2. Some more arm work follows. McIntyre counters and hits his toss suplex. Forearm exchange. McIntyre hits a clothesline, chop and corner elbow. Snap belly to belly. Standing elbow off the top rope. Kip up and McIntyre hits the celtic cross for 2. He's still selling the hurt arm as he starts to tune the band up. Almas comes in with a dropkick. McIntyre dodges the meteora. Almas hops on the second rope and plants McIntyre with a tornado DDT for 2. He goes for the hammerlock DDT. McIntyre backs him into the corner. Almas hops up and gets on his shoulders, looking for a poisonrana. McIntyre blocks it and hits a reverse Alabama slam for 2. Almas springboard dropkicks McIntyre off the top rope. He tries a plancha but McIntyre catches him and aims for the post. Almas gets free and headscissors McIntyre into the post. Almas goes up top. Moonsault over the ring post onto McIntyre! "MAMMA MIA!" That's an angle you don't normally see. He rolls McIntyre back in for 2. After a blocked superplex McIntyre ends up in the tree of woe. Almas double stomps him back down to the mat! Meteora! Another 2 count. He goes for the hammerlock DDT again. McIntyre blocks it, ducks an enzuguri, and hits a powerbomb for 2. He goes for the Future Shock DDT. Almas gets free and hits a chop. Glasgow kiss! Almas rolls McIntyre up for 2. Future Shock DDT! Almas kicks out! McIntyre lifts him up and climbs for a super celtic cross. Almas gets free and pulls him back down. Meteora to the back of McIntyre's head! Another 2 count. A frustrated Almas lays in some ground and pound. He goes over and takes the belt from the timekeeper. But it's a RUSE! While the ref is stopping him Vega gets in and spikes McIntyre's head on the mat with a headscissors! Almas gets back in. Hammerlock DDT! McIntyre kicks out! EVERYONE bit on that one. Both guys retreat to corners. Charge. CLAYMORE! Vega puts Almas' foot on the rope! Almas ducks another Claymore. McIntyre goes over the ropes in the corner. Avalanche DDT from Almas! That gets the pin and the title! DOUBLE MAMMA MIA from Mauro. It's no exaggeration to say this was a MASSIVE shock. No one expected McIntyre to drop the title so quickly, but they wanted to fast track him to the main roster. McIntyre also got hurt during the match. I thought it was a groin tear, but online says it was a bicep. Regardless, the finish had to be rushed and McIntyre would be off to heal until debuting on Raw during the post-Wrestlemania roster switch. A very excited Almas gets an extra long celebration, another sign the match was supposed to go longer but given the fact it was such a surprise win and Almas looks legit pumped up, it works fine. The match was another in a run of "good but not quite great" NXT Title matches this year. ***3/4   Mamma Mia Meter: match- 3, show- 4

 

War Games: The Undisputed Era def NXT Tag Team Champions Sanity and The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong (w/Paul Ellering) in 36:37- All three of these teams have been at each other's throats since the last Takeover, where Adam Cole made his NXT debut alongside Fish and KOR, and the UE officially formed shortly after. On top of that, Cole offered Strong a spot in the UE with Strong refusing. As I said at the open, this is a new modern take on War Games for the modern era. Obviously instead of the usual 4v4 or 5v5 this is a triple threat between teams of 3. One man from each team will start for the initial 5 minute period. After that, instead of one entrant at a time the entire next team will come in for a 3 minute period, then the second for another 3 minutes, then the final team to officially begin the match. Mauro does say "The Match Beyond" a few times but NXT wouldn't stick with that. The guys that don't start the match, in another change, are being held in cages up at the top of the entrance ramp instead of hanging around ringside. You can also win by either pin or submission, unlike classic War Games which was "submission or surrender" only. Another obvious visual change is the cage doesn't have a roof. In response to that there's a new rule that says if at any point a wrestler escapes the cage, his whole team is automatically disqualified (ironically the opposite of classic WWF cage match rules). In keeping with tradition the cage is lowered with an air raid siren going off, and ring announcer TomMike Rome does say the line "LET THE WAR GAMES BEGIN!". That alone got a big pop from me in the arena.

P1. Eric Young, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong- Strong is in full AOP gear for this match. Everyone stares down for a minute after the bell to let the atmosphere soak in. Cole swaps rings and the other two follow. Strong fires the first shot on Cole, leading to some back and forth fighting and a standoff. Some more three way back and forth follows. Strong hits Young with the first backbreaker of the night. Cole and Strong slug it out again. Cole blocks a slingshot into the cage and climbs. The other two join him. Cole gets knocked off, then runs into the ropes to crotch the other too. After that Cole stays in control for a while. Strong comes back with chops, gets the other two in corners and runs back and forth with shots for both as the clock counts down the last 10 seconds of the period.

P2. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly- They're doing this Elimination Chamber style. Instead of a coin flip the next entrants get a spotlight and light under their cage. Nice to see tradition holding with the heels still winning the "coin toss". Fish and KOR are all over Strong as soon as they get in. This period is all UE with their 3 on 1 on 1 advantage. Both Young and Strong are pummeled against the cage.

P3. Akam & Rezar- There's a small botch as the light under the cage goes on for AOP, but the spotlight is on Sanity. They fix the spotlight and AOP come out. UE try to hold the door closed but AOP force it open. Cole's run into the cage. Fish is backed into the cage. Young takes a cage shot. KOR gets tossed onto the mid-ring metal partition. Cole gets tossed across rings. Young is backdropped across rings. Finally AOP pick up their own partner Strong and toss him across rings onto everyone else! I assume with Strong's consent. AOP continue to dismantle everyone else as the clock winds down to the last entry.

P4. Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain- When Wolfe gets in he pulls out a nightstick and goes to town on everyone with it. Meanwhile, Dain doesn't even get in the ring. He goes under the ring and pulls out all the plunder. Chairs, trash cans, a giant chain, kendo sticks. It all goes in the ring. We've gone from War Games to the Bunkhouse Stampede. Dain goes to another side, pulls out a couple of tables, and gets them in the ring. Finally he gets himself in to start the Match Beyond, the official match, whatever you want to call it. Dain does the ref's job for him and locks the door himself, then swallows the key! KOR misses a chairshot, the chair bounces off the ropes and hits him in the face, and then he gets German suplexed by Wolfe. Fish gets slammed on a trash can. Dain goes over and immediately starts a big boi brawl with AOP. He avalanches both AOP in the corner! Senton shotgun dropkick on both! KOR does one of those brilliant little things he always did that made him the quiet MVP of UE, tripping over the ropes as he switches rings because he's so wobbled from the punishment so far. Dain hits a crossbody off the top on almost everyone. Cole breaks a pin up and Dain is pissed. Cole tries a kendo shot but Dain blocks it. Fish comes in and tries to kick Dain down. Dain Michinoku Drivers Cole onto Fish! He covers both for 2. Dain and Rezar both pick up bodies and do combo fallaway slams/Samoan drops. Then they get in a slugfest between the rings. Akam hits a powerslam on Dain for 2. KOR uses the cage for a tornado DDT. 3 way Chasing the Dragon on Strong from UE! They don't try to cover. Instead Fish and KOR chop Dain down. KOR hits ax & smash on Wolfe. He wraps a chain around Wolfe (no choking!) and uses it to stretch out an armbreaker. Young saves Wolfe with an elbow off the top rope! Fish hits a moonsault and everyone takes a couple of minutes to recover. AOP lift Fish and KOR up in opposite rings, and hit the super collider with Dain in the middle! Young gets Akam up and DVDs him onto Rezar for 2. Cole and Strong find each other again and slug it out. Backstabber on Cole. Strong goes on a run and takes out everyone with knees or backbreakers. Olympic slam on Dain for 2. Cole climbs the ropes and ends up between rings on the middle rope. Akam and Rezar come up to fight him. Everyone comes over to join. Double tower of doom drops in both rings. MAMMA MIA! And Cole is still standing right where he was after! He gloats to the crowd a bit. AOP get back up, stare Cole down, pull him down, then go and get the tables. They set Cole up to go through the tables. Wolfe comes in and attacks before they do. Cole climbs up to the top of the cage and starts crawling along it. That's a visual I distinctly remember from being there live. Wolfe German suplexes Rezar off the ropes through the tables! MAMMA MIA! It's not shown much on TV or mentioned by commentary but Wolfe got busted open bad on that with a piece of table slicing the back of his head open. I remember very well he was a bloody mess right after. Akam goes for Cole but Young hits him with a neckbreaker. Cole continues to slowly crawl along the top of the cage. We get a very quick glimpse of bloodied Wolfe and he gets worked on by the refs and medical off camera. Dain gets a trash can and sets it on KOR in the corner. He climbs the ropes right under where Cole is, but he's not going for Cole. Coast to coast on KOR! Cole stands up on the cage top. ADAM COLE BAY BAY! Strong sees, stares him down, and jumps up to join him. As they get set the crowd chants "Please don't die". Strong superplexes Cole off the top of the cage, and down onto everyone else in the match! Mauro shouts "MY GODDDDDDDDD!" because he's out of mamma mias at this point. I'll count that as a half on the MMM. Strong lands on Cole and almost pins him! Cole just kicks out. There's a big "Wolfe" chant as he gets back up and into the match, still with a lot of blood all over him. Dain and Rezar slug it out between rings. AOP hit Dain with Last Chapter on the midrings partition! KOR hops on Rezar's back with a sleeper. Wolfe is up and in it as he and Young hit a double team neckbreaker. Again Cole and Strong find each other. Cole gets run into the cage. Young wheelbarrows Strong into the cage. Cole nails Young with a kendo stick. Young grabs a chair and tries to use it as a shield. Instead Cole uses it to nail Young with a chair-assisted Last Shot! Cole pins Young and it's over! After the match is over we get a quick closer shot of Wolfe all bloodied up. Not much celebration after the match as everyone is too worn out and that's how the show ends. The only thing I really remember happening after the show went off the air is Wolfe being helped out by refs and all of us giving him the ovation of his life in respect of him finishing the match in the state he was in.

This is definitely War Games reimagined as a high spot match rather than the strategy and brutality based classic version. It also has the modern WWE style of only one thing happening at a time while everyone else lays around, unlike the classic matches that had everyone doing stuff all around both rings nonstop. On the whole I prefer the classic version, but this was still an excellent match to both introduce the modern War Games and reintroduce the concept for a modern audience. It also might have gone on a tick too long, which will be a criticism of many modern War Games matches. They probably should have reworked the superplex spot to be the finish to tighten the match up a little. ****   Mamma Mia Meter: match- 2.5, show- 6.5

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another superb Takeover to end the year, though not *quite* on the same level as Chicago or Brooklyn III. Being there live for this, and with such incredible seats, is still one of my personal wrestling highlights. As we move into the next year two things will dominate NXT more than anything else: the Undisputed Era, and the refiring in full of the Gargano/Ciampa feud after Ciampa's injury return.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-