NXT’s momentum is hot leading intoNXT TakeOver: WarGamesas it’s coming off its first-ever ratings victory overAll Elite Wrestling Dynamite. While NXT and AEW are in the midst of a real-life wrestling war, the yellow brand also finds itself in the middle of a storyline battle for brand supremacy against Raw and SmackDown, so many of the NXT wrestlers seen on tonight’s WWE Network event will also be appearing at the Survivor Series pay-per-view tomorrow night.
But before the battle for brand supremacy, theNXTstars have to battle it out at TakeOver: WarGames, which will see the first-ever women’s WarGames match. It will also have major implications for Survivor Series, as three top stars battle it out for the chance to face Adam Cole for the NXT World Championship at Survivor Series. The card is stacked, to say the least, with a number of NXT storylines finally coming to a head on tonight’s show.
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NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019 begins at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific. Join us as we update this page with live results for the winners of each match, along with grades reviewing the quality of every bout.
1. WarGames Match: Team Baszler vs. Team Ripley
Winners:Team Ripley. The first-ever women’s WarGames match delivered in a big way, and is quit easily a Match of the Year candidate. The first 10 minutes of WarGames matches are often boring because they tend to just be reserved for getting heat on the face (in this case, Candice LeRae), but this one instead focused on hard hits and high spots. This approach may not appeal to old-school wrestling fans, but it ensured that the match was hot from the start and the brutality in some of the spots made sense considering the feuds going into this one. In the early parts of the match, Bianca Belair gave one of the best performances of her career and got over as a real powerhouse…with a 450 splash thrown in just to show the scope of her in-ring abilities.
When Rhea Ripley finally got into the match, she introduced a ton of weaponry so that the women could get more creative with their spots. No punches were pulled. And the women didn’t forget about the WarGames cage when the weapons were introduced. It continued to play an active role in the match, with Belair powerbombing LeRae into the steel, and Kay Lee Ray eating a vicious suplex into the cage courtesy of Ripley. Io Shirai also had a standout performance and delivered an impressive moonsault off the top of the cage.
On the stage, a different story was being told. Dakota Kai, replacing the injured Mia Yim, shocked the world by turning heel and attacking Tegan Nox. She slammed Tegan’s leg in the cage door repeatedly, and then even popped William Regal in the face when he tried to intervene. This sudden turn was unexpected and generated real heat for Kai, which was exactly what it was supposed to do. It also gave some extra storyline weight to the match, and will ensure that the match itself is even more memorable than it would have been otherwise.
The two team captains finished the bout, with Ripley nailing the Riptide on Baszler onto some chairs to get the win. This was preceded by Ripley handcuffing herself to Baszler to escape a submission. Overall, all the women involved in this match put on an absolute barn burner and this is arguably one of the best WarGames matches of all time. This is a definite Match of the Year contender, and with these women on the roster, it’s clear that in theAEW vs. NXT rivalry, NXT definitely has an advantage over its competition with its Women’s Division. Instant classic.
Grade:A+
2. Triple Threat Match: Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain vs. Pete Dunne
Winner:Pete Dunne. This match had the unfortunate task of following the women’s WarGames Match. Luckily, the crowd didn’t deflate at all, and they were hot throughout, especially for some of the more impressive high spots like Damian Priest’s Razor Edge (borrowed fromScott Hall, apparently Priest has an Outsiders gimmick) to Dunne onto the Spanish announce table. This match was generally hard-hitting with some pretty clever three-way spots, though it also had some really contrived spots that felt awkward because it was clear the competitors were just setting each other up for them. There was also a three-way punch fest that looked terrible due to some half-hearted “punches” from Priest. Despite this, Priest still had the most impressive showing in the match from an athletic standpoint, vaulting himself over the top rope onto Dain and even managing a huge Razor’s Edge to Dain as well. The main problem with this match, though, was that it seemed to go on forever, well beyond the point where it was exciting or entertaining. Since it was obvious Dunne was going to win, the match also lacked intensity or stakes. Still it wasn’t a bad match by any means, and was superior to a lot of the stuff seen on the main roster for sure.
Grade:B
3. Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle
Winner:Finn Balor. Ever since NXT’s move to the USA Network, Matt Riddle and Finn Balor have both been featured prominently on the program. Unfortunately, this match didn’t really live up to the “big match” expectations, and possibly because the two knew that no matter what, they really couldn’t compete with WarGames. The first half of the match was very slow, with rest holds and chain wrestling, though things picked up a bit when some stiff strikes were thrown into the mix a little later. Riddle even nailed Balor with a Spear/Jackhammer combination, a clear nod to his ongoing rivalry withBill Goldberg. There was one weird part where Balor stopped selling an injured foot to sprint across the ring and do a dropkick, just to start selling again. This even caught commentator Mauro Ranallo off-guard, and he almost called the spot as though Balor was playing possum (which would have made more sense). Despite this blemish, the match was otherwise solid from a technical standpoint, though not terribly exciting. It ended with Balor hitting Riddle with the 1960 DDT and getting the pinfall, which was a pretty underwhelming ending.
Grade:B-
4. WarGames Match: Team Ciampa vs. The Undisputed Era
Winners:Team Ciampa. This match had the most brutal spots of the night by far, including a Panama Sunrise from Adam Cole toKevin Owenson the steel, and an Air Raid Crash from the top of the cage through some tables by Ciampa to Cole. Watching The Undisputed Era get slammed through one table after the other when they were the ones to introduce them into the match added a nice layer of irony to the proceedings. However, this match just dragged on forever, with long stretches of nothing happening. This made it a slog at times. However, it’s worth watching for the spots alone.
