WWE NXT Review // 7th February 2018

On 7th February 2018, WWE aired its 286th episode of NXT, filmed at Stage Center, Atlanta, GA on 1st February. Our main event saw the two big teams of NXT, SaNitY and The Undisputed Era go head to head in Tornado Tag action. The show also featured action from Bianca BelAir, Heavy Machinery, Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss aswell as Johnny Gargano speaking publicly for the first time since NXT took over Philidelphia. But was it any good?

The first match of this show was set to be SaNitY finally getting their rematch for the NXT Tag-Team Titles but as The Undisputed Era made their way to the ring with Adam Cole, SaNitY would attack from behind and brawl around the ring until the entire security and ring crew had to hold back SaNitY while the Era retreated. William Regal would come out and say 'enough is enough' and book all six men in a tornado trios match in the main event.

Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic def. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss // Pinfall

This was a pretty standard, little tag match and an effective rematch after Moss stole a win over them previously. Otis and Tino started with Dozovic running roughshod over the former American Football players, a tag in to Knight allowed him to work the peril section and give Dozovic the hot tag with a close near fall broken up by Moss who was then sent back out and allowed Heavy Machinery to hit their Trash Compactor assisted powerslam for the pin. The story of Moss having to cover for Tino's shit, aided by a crowd constantly chanting 'Tino sucks' while also building some fun near falls off things like Tino going for a rope-hung pin in echoes of the previous match were effective and added a different flavour to the match but it still suffered from a lack of invention to the heel heat segments. Still, with the rumours of a third Dusty Classic on the horizon, don't be surprised if we end up with a first or second round blow-off match to this mini-feud.

Post-match Riddick Moss goes to help his partner up as the crowd chants 'Tino Sucks', he then decides not to and leaves him to help himself to the back. Are they done? What will happen to the jointly owned Maserati now?

Johnny Gargano Has Something To Say

There's a lot to unpack here as Johnny came out and talked about how he had failed but the response of the crowds and their respect bring him back to life every time and remind him that he's Johnny, Freaking, WRESTLING. He also called out Tomasso Ciampa stating he'll never forget what he's done and he's tried to bite his tongue and move on but he's done ignoring him and wants Ciampa one-on-one, instead of the bald crutchfighter, out come Almas and Vega, Vega taunts Johnny saying all he's done is prove how much of a loser he is and that respect means nothing because he's not Johnny Wrestling, he's Johnny Loser, Johnny then says that beyond getting the audience's respect, his favourite bit of Philly was when Candice LeRae beat up Vega, as if by magic, up turn LeRae to push Vega out of the ring as Johnny does the same to Almas before an enraged Vega asks Johnny what it will take to get rid of him? Johnny responds by saying that all he wants is one more title match and if he loses, he'll leave NXT for good. This was great, everyone played their parts perfectly with LeRae's involvement in this storyline doing more to sell her to the NXT crowd than any number of squash matches could, Gargano continuing to be the best babyface of the '10s (yes, better than Daniel Bryan, don't @ me) and the Vega-Almas partnership showing a smug, callous ruthlessness that is perfectly in character but doesn't sell either of them short. Also, we're getting another Gargano-Almas match, presumably in three weeks time if my knowledge of how tapings work is correct, and that can't be a bad thing.

Shayna Baszler is interviewed backstage, she talks about how since she's turned up in NXT, no one's been able to stand up to her, listing her victims so far and stating that anyone who steps in the ring has three choices: Tap, Nap or Snap. When reminded Ember Moon beat her, Baszler establishes how barely she did so and says that she doesn't think there'll be another match against Moon for he because Moon is too scared before presumably doing her own Arrested Development style chicken dance.

Next Week: Roderick Strong gets his UK title shot as he takes on Pete Dunne.

Tyler Bate is interviewed backstage, he says that he's disappointed to have lost but well done to Strong and he'll be watching next week very closely, he feels great having had the officially voted NXT Match of the Year but is looking forward to this year trying to have more MOTY candidates and expresses a desire to face Aleister Black, Andrade Almas, Johnny Gargano and Velveteen Dream. Insert 'Two Intrigued Eyeballs Looking Down to the Left' Emoji here.

Bianca BelAir def. Jessie Hill // Pinfall

I have no additional knowledge to provide about Jessie Hill, she doesn't have a Cagematch profile so Jessie, if you're reading this, please @ us, we'll fill in the gap here. Anyway, Quick. Squash. M8. The quickest and squashiest as Hill would offer a handshake which BelAir would accept, only to pull her into a backbreaker rack, slam her over and hit the AlleyOop Powerbomb for the pin. This was never going to be a competitive match so I appreciated BelAir looking as ruthless as she did, destroying her quickly and with ease.

We get a video package for Kairi Sane including footage from her appearance at the Royal Rumble. 

Ember Moon tweets to say next week Baszler can have another title shot.

Tornado Match // Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain def. Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish // Pinfall

In what is a nice piece of full-circle storytelling for my ATPW career, on the two-year anniversary of my first contribution to this website, this was as close as we get to a PG TV Monster's Ball. This was a big, dumb match, the kind that I can't write much about beyond just saying, basically every spot in this match was really cool but for a pair of groups with a storied history at this point, there wasn't much storytelling in this, it was just lots of spots, but as previously mentioned, they were all really cool. The advantage of making this a tornado match was with this kind of free-flow madness, there was no time to be stuck in resthold boredom, it was just big thing after big thing, the closest thing to storytelling being that act one-Eric Young gets out a table, act two-Killian Dain puts himself through the table, act three- Killian Dain comes back and murders everything before hitting the Ulster Plantation electric chair driver on Bobby Fish for the pin. I don't know what else you want me to say: Kyle O'Reilly came out earlier playing along to his theme music like his title belt was a guitar, Eric Young kicked out of a Chasing the Dragon/Last Shot combo, Alex Wolfe continues to throw every move like a madman and it's great, just go and watch this match, form your own opinions, I have nothing more to add here.

On The YouTubes

Tino Sabbatelli doesn't care about the crowd chanting that he sucks, he just needs to find his tag partner, or should that be, former tag partner?

Finally...

Some good-to-very good in-ring action accompanied by a strong focus on character and storybuilding mean that this was an effective and at times, thrilling installment of NXT. It lacked one standout moment to really bring it to the next level but with next week set for two big title matches, it should be a real corker.

Article By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Review // 27th January 2018 // Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano

On 27th January 2018, NXT took over Philadelphia and more specifically, the Wells Fargo Center (it still feels wrong to not type 'centre', darn Yanks). It was a packed show with all three NXT titles defended aswell as grudge matches between Kassius Ohno & Velveteen Dream and Adam Cole & Aleister Black. The evening itself began with some high-class pre-show action as former NXT champion Samoa Joe, former NXT Tag-Team Champion Corey Graves, along with Renee Young, Charly Caruso and Sam Roberts, really got into the meat of the issues. As Graves & Young presented the NXT 2017 awards, we also got some fun interview action as Velveteen Dream promised to knock out Ohno in less than thirty seconds and Pete Dunne called out Brock Lesnar, RIP Beast Incarnate. Anyway, onto the main show and as always, we ask, was it any good?

NXT Tag Team Championship // Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish (c) def. Rezar & Akam // Pinfall

This was a good, hot opening match as AoP, sadly not in their turtles gear, came straight in and cleaned house, it's odd seeing the men who were once not so much boo'ed but meh'ed out of the building be given the hero's welcome but I guess that's a lot down to Fish and O'Reilly having got their heel act to be so impressively irritating. The early sections of the match were interestingly thought out as the champs were consistently overpowered by the former champs and so kept bailing to the outside to recuperate. It was nice getting to see another side the Authors' arsenal as Akam & Rezar as with their amateur wrestling/MMA background, they were able to work in some almost shoot-style sequences with ease, combined with a sense of spectacle with moments like the Authors steamrolling the Era around the ring after they bailed from the ring one too many times.

Now if you hadn't seen in coming, this match was brought to you by the letter 'L' for 'Legwork' as after Akam and O'Reilly were brawling on the apron, Fish hit a sneak attack, kicking Akam's leg out of his leg before Fish would rush Rezar on the apron and tackle him out. From here on, the two worked a clinic in classic heel tag tactics as they cut off the ring and worked over Akam, keeping the focus on inflicting as much pain as possible on the leg, full props to the big man as well who gave his best individual performance, selling it superbly. Of course, this being a tag match, eventually, Rezar would get tagged in after Akam was powering closer to his corner, Fish would turn around to knock Rezar off the apron but forgot, the Authors are big lads and he shrugged it off before Akam backdropped him away to get the tag. 

Rezar worked your standard big lad hot tag throwing strikes, power moves and the fallaway slam-Samoan drop double on the champs, the last few minutes of the match were impressively content heavy with highlights including Fish hitting an assisted exploder suplex, the Authors escaping a kneebar/sleeper hold by dropping Fish onto O'Reilly and a hot finish as the Supercollider double bomb connects on Fish but O'Reilly manages to rana Akam into Rezar before rolling up the injured Akam for a pin. This was easily the best tag-team action on NXT since AoP fought DIY in Chicago and as much as it was another reminder of how far they've come since, this acted as a superb coronation of the Undisputed Era's tag division as we saw them get their victory without any involvement from Adam Cole which helped establish their own odd chemistry. I think if they could have thrown in a few more near falls, something to present a stronger sense of jeopardy for the champions, this could have gone truly into the stratosphere but as it was, a very enjoyable match and a great way to start.

War Machine (Hanson - the one with hair everywhere & Raymond Rowe - the one with hair just on his chin) are in the audience.

Zelina Vega and Andrade Almas discuss game plan backstage. My bet, it involves winning.

Velveteen Dream def. Kassius Ohno // Pinfall

This match is a, sigh, dream for fashion watch fans as Dream came out in Philidelphia, setting of Rocky, in boxing shorts, like Rocky and he's got an entourage, like Rocky except Rocky never hung out with anyone this cool. The frilled short don't make quite as much of an effect as the Black-Dream tights but they're still great. Ohno, no slouch in the outfit department has black and gold wizard's fight robes. After Dream declared he could knock out the Knockout Artist in thirty seconds, the crowd were very invested in chanting along to see if he could, playing the part of the boxer, Dream ducked and weaved hitting a strike at around 28 seconds seemingly having done it but Ohno was soon back up and elbowed the mouthguard straight out of Dream. From here, it became a neat, little encounter as the two worked back-and-forth neatly, keeping a classic youth vs experience dynamic. It never quite escaped the constraints of this but it made as much of it as it could with Ohno making Dream look even better than normal. The finish came as Ohno went for a rolling elbow but Dream caught him in a rolling death valley driver to set up for the Purple Rainmaker diving elbow drop for the pin. After consecutive losses to Black and Gargano, Dream needed a win here to legitimise himself where Ohno is clearly here to help raise the next generation of stars and frankly, having someone as good as him in the player-coach role is a great plan. This fell short of the Dream-Black match purely because there wasn't the same level of context for the encounter but certainly for what they were given, another superb notch on Dream's ringpost.

Maria Menounos is in the audience. This means nothing to me, maybe it will to you.

Johnny Gargano is backstage with his entire family, including Candice LeRae, hmmm.

NXT Women's Championship // Ember Moon (c) def. Shayna Baszler // Pinfall

Baszler gets the walk from the locker room treatment, somehow since debutting, she's already been made to feel like Goldberg. Much like her MYC matches, Baszler played the bullying heel, targetting a weakness in Moon, in this case, her arm, and exploiting it. Moon, managed to work well from underneath coming back with some beautiful strikes with an early highlight being a triple dropkick sending Baszler out of the ring before following her out with a suicide dive. The match suffered down its home stretch when Moon managed to hit the Eclipse twisting top-rope stunner but off her bad arm. Unable to cover, the medical team checked on her to a chorus of 'boo's and 'bullshit's as Baszler says 'fuck off' to the medical team, applying and re-applying an armbar further into the centre of the ring until Moon, unable to escape, instead manages to force herself on top and leverage a pinfall to retain her title. This was a different approach to the traditional David vs. Goliath approach and one that has its faults as somehow, it felt too slight and too underplayed to be where the title changed hands. Somehow despite Baszler working almost entirely on top and being treated as a threat, it never felt like Moon wasn't going to be able to come back from this. While the finish did a lot to protect both women, I'd expect down the line we'll be seeing another title shot for Baszler, possibly one with some kind of submissions-based stipulation but for now, this was still rather good.

Moon is helped to the back but Baszler decides to go and fuck her up some more, locking in the Kirufuda Clutch (sorry for misspelling it repeatedly, Shayna) on the ramp, she breaks it but then decides to lock it in again because lol.

Trevor "Ricochet" Mann is in the crowd. Expect flips, probably.

Extreme Rules Match // Aleister Black def. Adam Cole // Pinfall

First off, it has to be said that bear in mind when you disagree with me in a second, such is the nature of reviews that I never pretend that this is anything more than my opinion and such is the nature of wrestling in its many styles, that there will always be some that don't appeal to everyone. Where I can appreciate the work that has gone into this match, I. as an individual, am just not that keen on Extreme Rules-type encounters. That said, for one such encounter, there was a lot to enjoy here. It started off strong as Cole tried to resort to weaponising the items under the ring but Black kept it comfortably in his wheelhouse, throwing kicks and strikes of the kind Wikipedia would probably describe as multiple variations. Cole got some impressive variation out of a kendo stick as he first hits Black out of the air mid-lionsault before applying a crossface with the kendo stick in the mouth and then when that didn't work, turning it into a backstabber. The weaker section of the match came when the crowd began chanting 'we want tables', so get tables he does because that's what the heel does. 

Once they get through the standard middle section of back-and-forth with tables being set-up, ladders, chairs, bins and more coming into play (including a painful looking death valley driver by Black onto the backrest of two chairs), it really managed to come down into its home stretch as before Black can get a cover, the O'Reilly and Fish arrive and pull him out of the ring before hitting the high-and-low Total Elimination, clearing the announce table, they set up Black for a suplex through it but in come SaNitY to even the score as Young and Wolfe wrangle away Fish and O'Reilly before Dain, who was keeping an eye on Cole in the ring, hit a big boy suicide dive onto the four of them. Black, rolling back in, does so straight into a superkick but, in an echo of the finish to WarGames, Cole goes for a chair, giving Black the opening to hit Black Mass for the pin. I did like the story of Black being out of his element with the stipulation so continuing to use his most lethal weapon, his kicks where Cole really does throw himself head, back and neck first into some incredible bumps but as much as I can recognise the effect of the stipulation, it didn't add that much to the encounter that a straightforward singles encounter might. Still, you have to give it to Black and Cole for giving this one their all. Having won this one decisively, I'm still thinking Black is on his way to an NXT Championship match come New Orleans.

EC3 is in the crowd, Derrick Bateman returns to NXT!

NXT Championship // Andrade Almas (c) def. Johnny Gargano // Pinfall

There is so much to cover here and all of it's incredible. Instead of trying to tell you about the in-ring action, let's all just take a moment to consider how important it is that these two have been given this kind of opportunity. While both Almas, back in his La Sombra days that he paid tribute to by pulling out the mask once again for a mariachi-ed entrance that felt straight out of Guacamelee, and Gargano, of course, had strong reputations on the indies, they didn't exactly come in with the same fanfare as a Shinsuke Nakamura or Finn Balor and for the longest time, it seemed like midcard was going to be the peak for the two of them, even when Almas had his title shot, one that no-one really saw him winning, he worked second-fiddle to the War Games match. In fact, for a while there, it probably seemed like Almas was one loss away from taking his toys and going home to CMLL. Then they paired him with Zelina Vega, then they gave him motivation, then he came out and became the second-most consistent performer in NXT, possibly in WWE, behind the other man in this match the man who's so good at professional wrestling, they made it his nicksurname, Johnny 'Wrestling' Gargano. Two people who for the longest time were given a ceiling, had that ceiling taken away, they were given the best part of the last hour just for build-up, entrances, their match and the aftermath and well, quite simply, they delivered big time.

One interesting early touch here was that after the initial grappling phase, Gargano maintained his upperhand against Almas using a sequence of lucha-inspired offense with ranas, arm-drags and just a hint of flips. Like any good third chapter in a trilogy, it worked some of its strongest moments when playing off earlier encounters with moments like Johnny going to the corner to leapfrog backwards over Almas but Almas instead not following him and chopping him square in the back. The match in fact, actually kept its storytelling quite simple and focussed for such a long encounter with the two men trying to throw whatever they could at the other man in order to put them away but such is the history between them that neither man was willing to give the other even an inch yet even with this, they made every near fall count, playing off the build-up with Gargano having taken out Almas with a slingshot DDT on the previous Wednesday so when he hit one roughly halfway through, you could believe it was the finish. Yet there was so much more to go. Johnny went for an apron cannonball but missed and landed like there was no water in the pool, Almas going for a moonsault, Johnny dodging so Almas turning it into a standing moonsault, Drake Wuertz responding to this by doing his best Red Shoes impression and leaping both into shot and into the count, hitting signature offense on the hardest part of the ringmat like Johnny's slingshot DDT to the apron and  am unashamed to admit that my heart skipped a beat when Johnnny got a near fall off a SUPERKICK with the theatrics before of the Meet In The Middle finish that DIY use to do. It seems like I've been prioritising Johnny in the highlights section but in terms of apron offense, did I remind you about the bit where Almas mashes Johnny's head into the LED boar or where he hit a corner knees off the apron and it sounded like something cracked, or just the sheer heft that man throws behind a strike, there are not many people in wrestling who actually make a punch work, Almas is one of them.

Of course with Zelina Vega, in an Essa Rios- Era Lita-inspired red outfit, in his corner,  Almas was never going to do this one without any shenanigans and what glorious shenanigans they were with Johnny having locked in the GargaNo Escape but with his feet facing the ropes, Vega placed Almas' foot on the ropes but Gargano powers Almas outside and follows with a beaut of a suicide dive but a referee distraction would lead to Vega throwing Gargano rana-first into the steps with echoes of the finish to McIntyre vs. Almas and a Hammerlock DDT for the closest possible near-fall you might see. But Johnny had some in his corners too as Candice LeRae leapt the barricade and battered Vega all the way to the back. It's gratifying that even though Johnny didn't win that the Vega-LeRae interference didn't actually play directly into the finish as there was still another GargaNo Escape attempt but Almas actually got the win off ramming Gargano into a previously exposed ringpost before hitting one last Hammerlock DDT. It shows so much character progression that even now we has Vega, Almas doesn't rest on his laurels, he still cheats to win but it's his cheating and as much as the layout is perfectly developed such that you want Gargano to win, you can't help but argue that Almas earnt it. I've said enough about this match but really, this is as close to perfect as you're going to see, I could continue to talk about it or you could just go and watch it. Even if you've seen it already, it's not a bad plan.

Post-Match LeRae checks on Gargano as Almas leaves, LeRae helps Gargano up the ramp but look who's here like a dark cloud on an already dark day, Tomasso Ciampa, strikes down his former tag partner with a crutch. 

Finally...

On a pure, in-ring basis, this is as good as Chicago, my favourite TakeOver so far with probably the best NXT Championship match, not since, just the best. It obviously invites comparisons to Neville vs. Zayn and where this didn't have the feelgood ending of the match, the layout was so well told and thought out, you could almost believe that McIntyre's injury was planned to lead into this. As for the rest of the show, it wasn't perfect but nothing was less than very good. As strong a start to the year as you could hope for. Everything else, follow that.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

WWE NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Preview

On 27th January 2018, NXT are taking over Philadelphia as they take their show live to the Wells Fargo Center (it still feels wrong to not type 'centre', darn Yanks). As NXT looks to cement its position as not just the developmental brand but more the show that the Royal Rumble has to try, and possibly struggle, to follow. If you're planning to watch live, why not jump onto the Network or YouTube at 7pm (Midnight on the 28th here in Blighty), for the pre-show and find out what the all-star panel of Renee Young, Corey Graves, Charly Caruso, Samoa Joe &, sigh, Sam Roberts think of the evening ahead. Till then, let's enjoy the sounds of our official TakeOver house band, Asking Alexandria.

Kassius Ohno vs Velveteen Dream

At once point, this match was set to be a first round match in the NXT Championship Number One Contender's tournament but Velveteen Dream was so shook by Aleister Black actually saying his name, he couldn't make it to the match. In reality, he had a minor injury but was back in time for the set of January taping. There's not much in the way of story here as it was a match made after this week's NXT went off the air but there's always something at stake as both men have recently had intense battles with current number one contender Johnny Gargano so regardless of the outcome of the main event, you can't help but feel this might have implications in their contendership status. Both of these men have a strong grounding in amateur wrestling but much like Dream's match with Aleister Black, expect this one to quickly go to blows. As to who's going to win, it's hard to call as both men could do with a win but considering Ohno's player-coach role, don't be surprised if Dream walks out with the win. Slightly more contentious prediction, considering Ohno's been losing a lot, he's also been getting more salty about it and people seem to love Dream, a double turn might not be a ridiculous outcome.

NXT Tag Team Championship: Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c) vs Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

Back at TakeOver: Brooklyn III, SaNItY became the first team to pin the, at the time undefeated, NXT Tag-Team champions Authors of Pain. After that match, they were attacked by Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish, better known on the indies as the team ReDragon but later when they teamed with Adam Cole, now known as The Undisputed Era. Since then, all three teams have battled in various combinations, including all three being in War Games, but as a dramatic capper to 2017, The Era became the NXT Tag Team champions. Now with the SaNItY members 'injured' (maybe really injured, I don't know), Authors of Pain defeated Street Profits to earn the right to try and claim back the titles that made them. From matches the champs have had previously vs Chosen Bros & Death by Elbow for PWG and War Machine for AAW, expect this to be a classic Davids and Goliaths affair with O'Reilly and Fish trying to use their superior grappling acumen (see - Sleeper Holds and Octopus Stretches) to try and knock the bigger men down to size, also, they'll probably kick at the legs and Mauro will say something about 'chopping down tree trunks' and he'll make a clever, timely reference. Who wins: well you have to think that The Undisputed Era is clearly the hot-ticket item at the moment so I can't see them losing the titles after one defence. With SaNItY not on the card currently, don't be too surprised if they get involved in this one.

NXT Women's Championship: Ember Moon (c) vs Shayna Baszler

On 27th December, Ember Moon had her first successful title defence against Sonya Deville, after the match, Kairi Sane would come to the stage indicating her intention to challenge for the title but the woman who she defeated in the last round of the Mae Young Classic, Shayna Baszler, would come out onto the stage and choke her out, then doing the same to Aliyah and Dakota Kai to make her point clear, she wants Ember and more importantly, her title. The interesting element going into this match is that if we just consider what we've seen of Baszler in the WWE, she can brutalise smaller opponents and she is certainly taller than Moon but when it came to her biggest match, she couldn't get the job done. This could be Moon's key to victory as she has worked longer matches and is used to them so might have the stamina advantage, yet Baszler is presented as a force of nature. Expect this to come down to two factors: Ember's Eclipse top-rope twisting stunner and Shayna's Kirufuda Clutch rear naked choke. The smart money here tells me that Moon might be about to lose her title because it's easier to turn a top rope move into a rear submission and Moon, having plied her trade for a while in NXT, could be a strong contender in the Women's Rumble the following evening but at the same time, it took so long for Moon to get to the title, don't expect her to be giving it up easily.

Extreme Rules Match: Aleister Black vs Adam Cole

Another match that has its beginnings in the Number One Contender's tournament as in the first round, Black defeated Cole but in the final, Cole and his cronies attacked Black, causing him to not only lose but also ending his undefeated streak. On the first NXT of this year, Black and Roderick Strong were also involved in a losing effort at obtaining the NXT Tag-Team titles after Black became too involved in trying to hunt down and murder Cole, leading him to be given the three-on-one treatment post-match with weapons and whatnot. This forced William Regal to come out and declare this rematch to happen and because it's Philidelphia so there had to be a faintly hardcore match on the card, it was made Extreme Rules. Trying to call the outcome here entirely depends on its position on the card (the order of matches in this preview is based on the order of the NXT website), if it's a pure one-on-one encounter, you have to think if Black did it once, he can do it again but if this match occurs before the tag titles, with a fresh trio of assailants and no lousy rules forcing them to not all be constantly in the ring, this might just become a handicap encounter for the former Tommy End. That said, I see Black winning this one, setting him up for a title match at TakeOver: New Orleans either against Gargano, the man that finished his streak or Almas, the man he faced in his first NXT match back at TakeOver: Orlando. Also, not hard to predict, expect a lot of kicks and probably a fair few ref bumps.

NXT Championship: Andrade Almas (c) vs Johnny Gargano

For the last time tonight, cast your mind back to TakeOver:Brooklyn III. Almas and Gargano had a match that was made practically at the last minute, one that seemed like it was saying 'we have nothing for these two, let's just give them each other, fill out the card', so they went out and had the match of the damn night. A match so good, soon after they had to have the rematch on NXT and it was still great but Almas won both of those. In fact, cast your mind back further to TakeOver: Chicago where Gargano watched Authors of Pain walk away with the tag titles they took from him and Tommaso Ciampa, since then, bar a Tino Sabbatelli here and a Riddick Moss there, Gargano didn't really win anything till a first-round match in the Number One Contender's Tournament where he beat Kassius Ohno before going on to win the final and defend his Number One Contender's status against Velveteen Dream, so the question is, has Johnny's luck turned around enough for him to beat the man who's beaten him twice? In any other encounter, I'd say this all comes down to how well Gargano can deal with not only Almas but also his manager Zelina Vega but then, Gargano's wife and MYC competitor, Candice LeRae, just signed with the company, predicting a surprise even-ing of the odds by the Toughest Cupcake. Yet there is another consideration with Gargano and that is the potential involvement of his former tag partner, Ciampa. Part of me thinks that Almas should win this because so much of the story here is about Gargano, he's a babyface performer who has the audience right where he wants them and frankly if Ciampa returns, setting up a match between those two has stakes such that it doesn't require a title to sell it and Almas has been working really hard to make it to where he is, putting on one of the best matches of every card he's on, surely he deserves a more impressive run for all the work he's done? Whatever happens, this is unlikely to be a clean finish with so many additional moving pieces but if the two men in the ring can re-capture the magic of their first two encounters, this could be one of the best NXT Title matches. Yes, even better than Bo Dallas vs Leo Kruger.

Any Other Predictions...

First off, the hottest free agent/s in the crowd segment, it could be Trevor 'Ricochet' Mann, it could be Christopher Dijak, it could be War Machine, for once, it's actually hard to call but it's almost certainly one or two of those four at least. Another potential surprise, there were two other men in the Number One Contender's match: Lars Sullivan and Killian Dain, neither of them are on the card currently. While TakeOvers tend to be five-match affairs these days, they could throw in an extra match with little difficulty. As always, I ask if we can have another UK title match on the card, I know that there's a number one contender's match planned for the post-TakeOver NXT but I need my Bruiserweight fix goddamnit. Finally, a prediction that might come true, probably going to be another superb show. See you on the other side, Yellow rope fans.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

NXT TakeOver: WarGames Review // SaNItY vs. The Undisputed Era vs. Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain

On 19th November, WWE aired NXT TakeOver: WarGames, live from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The evening's main event was a writer who does play-by-play's worst nightmare, a War Games match between current NXT Tag Team Champions SaNItY, current upstarts The Undisputed Era and the intriguing team of Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong. In a card also featuring Drew McIntyre defending his NXT championship against Andrade Almas, singles encounters from Lars Sullivan & Kassius Ohno and Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream and a Women's Title Fatal-Four Way. Even without the promised Ab-Off between Johnny Gargano & Shawn Michaels, this is still one of the strongest cards on paper that NXT has produced but, as always, was it any good?

We open on a video package, cutting between clips of the competitors, War Games matches of old and also footage of Franklin Delano Roosevelt declaring war on the axis after Pearl Harbour. I bet FDR would love to know that his words upon the death of thousands are effectively being equated with a few lads being paid to throw each other at metal.

Lars Sullivan def. Kassius Ohno via pinfall // 5:45

What better opening than a couple of big lads hitting each other? This match takes place in the left ring, immediately, they run at each other with Sullivan powering Ohno to the corner, Ohno hits an elbow and a boot and another elbow, out in the ring and they run the ropes with Ohno going for a shoulder tackle but Sullivan shakes it off before hitting a tackle of his own, on the ground, he hits knees to the back, knocking Ohno out of the ring, Sullivan follows hitting a diving shoulder tackle off the apron and dropping Ohno back onto it with a Gorilla Press, back in the ring and Sullivan hits an Irish whip but Ohno retorts with a boot and an enziguri, he kips up into a clothesline from Sullivan, whipped to the ropes, Ohno flips over, hits a boot, runs back in straight into a pop-up powerslam from Sullivan for a 2, Sullivan goes up top for a diving headbutt but Ohno dodges, Ohno lays into Sullivan with boots and elbow including two rolling elbows to the back of the neck and a cyclone kick for a 2, on the floor, Ohno hits somps and boots before a standing senton but Sullivan is up at 1, on their feet and the two lads trade elbows with Ohno getting the better and hitting a Death by Elbow, he goes for a second but Sullivan catches him with a Freak Accident for the pin. This was exactly what it needed to be, it was a short sprint with two big lads doing big lad things to each other. Ohno made Sullivan look like the monster they want him to be but managed to push Sullivan further than anyone else so far which kept him looking resilient. No one expected in his first TakeOver match for Sullivan to deliver a mat classic but what we got was a fun, energetic opener. More of this, please.

Some of our beloved UK Lads, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Mark Andrews & Wolfgang are front row. But where's Peter, James, Joseph, Jordan & Tucker? Did they not get an invite?

The Undisputed Era are backstage discussing plans when William Regal comes up to them, apparently to tell them the rules of a War Games match. Did no one think to brief them more than an hour ahead of time?

Aleister Black def. Velveteen Dream via pinfall // 14:45

Can we all just take a moment to live in Black and Dream's Dirty Dancing tribute? Now we've done that, let's get into the match as it's a corker. Black makes his entrance through a series of candle-lit alters in what now seems to be the pyro budget, Dream makes his dressed as seven people, each of them from a cooler version of the future, his special tights with his and Black's face on are the greatest thing, this match takes place in the right hand ring, Dream taunts Black telling him to say his name as the crowd chant it, lock-up to begin with as Black controls the action, he goes for a strike but Dream dodges directly into a wristlock, Dream tries to power into a headlock but Black gets in a hammerlock into a grounded rear armlock, attempts for a rear chinlock but settles into a front face lock, Dream powers to his feet and whips Black away only to end up back in an octopus stretch, Black transitions to a pin for a 2 before going straight to a standing armbar, on their feet and the two men trade strikes with Dream using his power advantage to get the better of the encounter, with Black on the ropes, Dream goes for a clothesline but Black uses the ropes to throw Dream out, Black runs to the ropes and does his fake-out moonsault full-lotus but Dream is immediately back in the ring and Swayze crawling towards Black, in an attempt to mess with Black, Dream goes into a full lotus but Black knows what's up and starts Swayze crawling at Dream, seriously, if this isn't resolving with a Live Sex Celebration on NXT, there is no justice in the world, I can't say enough, how much I want these two just to fuck and make up, Dream goes for an Oklahoma roll but Black gets a massive arm drag with Dream back up with a short-arm lariat, he keeps Black down with ground and corner strikes, he knocks Black out of the ring and hits his own fake-out tope, rolling backwards through the ropes which is brilliant, Black stuns Dream off the ropes, slides in, Dream sets him up for a Death Valley Driver but Black elbows out into a SUPERKICK for a 2, grounnd and pound keeps Black down, Dream picks up Black into a neckbreaker for a 2, transitioning into a camel clutch chinlock, Dream picks up Black into a Cross Rhodes set-up but Black once again elbows out, Dream manages to tie Black up in the ropes and asks him again, what's his name, Black responds with a kick to the face so Dream full palm slaps him, Black hits a lariat, some swift kicks, sweeps the leg, knee strikes, throwing in a corner forearm and a springboard moonsault for a 2, Black picks up Dream by his chin with his foot but Dream grabs the leg, powering him to the corner but Black powers out with a big double foot stomp, immediately back up and Dream tries again for a Death Valley Driver but Black again escapes lighting him up with kicks, running for him, Dream grabs Black and hits the Deagth Valley Driver for a close 2, Dream picks up Black, setting up for a Super Death Valley Driver, Black flips out of it, going for a powerbomb but settling for just kicking his leg out of his leg, hitting a knee strike for another good 2 but Dream is back up, back in the Cross Rhodes set up, Dream hits a twisting reverse DDT for a 2.9, Dream goes to hit a Purple Rainmaker but Black gets a foot up, knocking Dream back into the ropes, caught up, Black takes advantage hitting a knee strike, Dream responds with a SUPERKICK, Black decides enough is enough and gets one last knee strike and a Black Mass for the pin. Well, I really don't know what to say here beyond throwing unanimous praise at this. Yes, the spot with Dream falling into the ropes out of a reversed Purple Rainmaker was contrived but I really can't find anything else to criticise. What's great is that they didn't try to make this over-complicated. The build-up to this match has been perfectly paced, showing the contrasts between the two men and the match itself was a minimalist delight. There was no over-booking here, just two men out to prove who is better and in the end, Black still had to acknowledge Dream like he wanted because when he needed to, Dream stepped up. If you'd told me a year ago that the guy who didn't win his series of Tough Enough doing a Prince gimmick would have my favourite non-title singles match of the year, I would probably call you insane but here we are. Don't expect this to be the last time we see these two compete because there's magic here*.

Post-match, Black sits next to Dream. On the mic, Black tells him 'Enjoy your infamy, Velveteen Dream' before dropping the mic. He said his name, HE SAID HIS NAME!

SaNItY are backstage and Regal gives them the War Games rules talk as well. This really feels like something they should have sorted earlier.

Asuka, Funaki & Finn Balor are front-row for this match. Wonder how they got such good seats...

NXT Women's Championship // Ember Moon def. Kairi Sane and Nikki Cross and Peyton Royce via pinfall // 9:59

Kairi Sane enters to new music that is even more piratey, if this doesn't result in Paul Burchill becoming her manager then what the fuck are we doing here? Peyton enters with Billie who tells her on the ramp she has to do this alone, Peyton looks piss scared without Billie, she's a damn angel, we're back in the left ring for this one, Percy has a mild meltdown trying to remember which TakeOvers Moon lost at and which she just couldn't compete at because of injury, he needs a lie down the poor lad, so the match starts as everyone begins hitting everyone else, Royce seems to be in control early, Moon tries to fight back hitting a single-leg dropkick but she can't fend off all three, the actions spills out onto the floor, everyone is flying around with Sane hitting a big flying forearm, Moon levelling Sane and Royce with a tope suicido and powerbombing Cross on the floor, Sane and Moon are back in the ring, Moon goes for a low thrust kick but Sane catches the leg and hits a double hand baseball swing, chopping Moon to the corner, she hits a corner spear but Royce grabs her into a reverse tarantula before she can pin, Moon hits a superkick to the back of Royce, Royce rolls out of the ring as Sane rolls up Moon for a 2, Royce is back in and Moon leapfrogs Sane as she spears Royce, Sane hits a spinning backfist, heads up top, Moon tussles with her on the top rope, going for a superplex but Royce hits Moon with a German making this a Tower of Doom, Royce covers Moon for a 2, she then covers Sane for a 2, they all brawl in the centre as Cross returns to the fray and hits a Nikki Crossbody on all three, she then positions Sane in the tree of woe and throws Royce out, beating down Moon, she goes for the Swinging Neckbreaker on Sane but Moon breaks up a pinfall attempt, Moon goes up top but Cross takes her out and hits a draping neckbreaker sending Moon out of the ring, Royce back in and she hits a Ooouuuoohhh Fisherman's Suplex on Cross but Sane breaks it up and hits an Insane Elbow on both of them but Moon throws her out, in the centre of the ring, Cross and Royce brawl as Moon climbs to the top and hits a double Eclipse, Royce rolls out as Moon covers Cross for the pinfall. NEW CHAMPION! I predicted this match would either be great or a fucking mess, it basically ended up being a bit of both. Structurally speaking, this was standard multi-person fare with a combination of one-on-one encounters and various linking together of each person's best moves but the major problem was that they got just shy of 10 minutes in which to do it all, lending proceedings a very rushed feeling. Yet everything that everyone got in was good with Sane working hard to make an impression and show she belongs there to an audience who you can't guarantee are familiar with her, even if when she was required to break up a pin, she was a little late on trying to break up a pin at one point but everyone seemed to be ready to cover for each other. This was good, it wasn't great and really, it had the potential to be great but it needed more time. But clearly there wasn't any, it's not like we have a 36 minute main event coming up...

After the match, Regal comes to the ring to hand the title to the new champion but before he can, Asuka hits the ring. She insists on being the one to award the title to Moon. This isn't how Asuka was meant to hand her title over to someone but if she had to do it this way, this was how it should be done.

Giving Regal enough time to run backstage, Mauro Ranallo tries to sell us on the WWE Mattel Shark Cage playset that we all want for Christmas.

Having been bought some time by Ranallo, Regal makes it backstage to explain the rules to the Authors of Pain, Paul Ellering & Roderick Strong. Can you imagine if he hadn't done so to Paul Ellering? Entrant in the first War Games match Paul Ellering.

Kevin Owens is front row, repping some Undisputed Era swag, Samoa Joe is also front row in a different area just looking generally swag.

NXT Championship // Andrade 'Cien' Almasdef. Drew McIntyre (C) // 14:56

Let's give it up for the costume team tonight, first, we had Ohno wearing another delightful variation on the Orlando magic gear, then Dream's tights, now in this match alone we have a great white and navy motif with co-ordinated short gii-style robe for Almas and McIntyre with a tearaway black kilt like the emo kid who's joined The Bar. There was also a match they competed in. Almas slapped Drew before the bell because he ain't shit, off the bell they lock-up but Drew immediately powers Almas to the corner, clean break and Drew does it again, Almas slaps him because once again, he ain't shit, this angers Drew but Almas slides between the ropes to stop him, he hits a clubbing overarm to get Drew low enough to headlock, Drew lifts up Almas trying to throw him off but Almas just flips out and locks back in, running the ropes, Drew takes down Almas with a well-timed shoulder, thrown to the ropes, Almas goes tranquilo but Drew doesn't care for this tranquilo nonsense so kicks him out of the ring, Drew lays into Almas before throwing him into the ring, Almas distracts the referee as Vega goes to hit a hurricanrana into the steps but Drew catches her and puts her on the apron, Almas goes for a distraction tope but Drew catches him with a forearm, back in the ring and they trade strikes and standing switches, Drew goes for a tackle but Almas dodges and Drew posts himself as Almas hits a GTR for a 1, he immediately goes into a rope hung armbar holding it for 4, back in and he covers for a 2, back on the arm with a fujiwara bar, pushing Drew to the corner, the big man escapes with a suplex throw, a short-arm lariat and a belly-to-belly, Drew goes up top hitting a diving axe handle and goes for a kip-up, Almas back up goes for a rana but Drew catches him into a Celtic Cross, Almas hits a dropkick to the corner, goes for double knees but Drew blocks but not enough to stop a spinning reverse DDT that would make Naito proud for a 2, Almas picks up Drew for an El Idolo hammerlock but Drew isn't having that, he picks up Almas, Almas goes for a reverse rana but Drew hits back with an Alabama Slam for a 2 but Almas is back in with a springboard dropkick sending Drew out of the ring, Drew catches Almas in a powerbomb predicament but Almas manages to hit a rana with the injured shoulder into the ring-post before heading back up top and hitting a godly moonsault to the outside, rolled in and the champ is pinned for a 2, Almas heads back up and Drew follows but gets crotched, falling into the tree of woe, Almas hits a double stomp and another double knees for a 2, going for El Idolo again, Drew turns into a sit-out powerbomb for another good 2, a slap by Almas, headbutt by Drew, a sunser flip earns Almas another 2 but Drew picks him up for a Futureshock DDT for a 2.9, carried up top for a super Celtic Cross, Almas worms out, dropping Drew to the corner, hitting yet more double knees to the back of the head for another very good 2, some brutal grounded strikes as Almas rolls out and poses with the title allowing Vega to roll in and hit a spiked low rana on Drew, Almas hits the El Idolo for a 2.9, Almas is shocked that wasn't enough and Drew manages to hit a Claymore but Vega gets Almas' foot on the ropes,Drew goes for another Claymore but misses and Almas crotches him on the ropes, hitting a Tower of London set up El Idolo, he bloody crucifies Drew for the pinfall. NEW CHAMPION! Well, I haven't been so pleased to say 'I was wrong'. It seems possible considering the selling of the arm injury that this was a last-minute decision to write off Drew for a while to let his arm heal up but either way, it's nice to have a truly surprising result. A lot of people, myself included, assumed this was just a filler match till Drew could face Adam Cole and that even though it was the right time to capitalise on Almas having stolen the show every time since last Dusty Classic, I never thought they would. It's also worth noting, this was not just the right decision but also the best NXT Title match since Joe and Balor stepped into a Steel Cage at TakeOver: The End. The ending was peculiar as the near fall off Vega's spike rana was perhaps stronger but in terms of saving face, giving Drew a kick out there maintains his momentum for when he returns. I've been waiting for the Drew McIntyre we all loved from the indies to come to NXT and with this match, he announced he's here. Almas and Vega as a unit have some of the best chemistry of a manager and client in recent years and their in-ring acumen is just as good. On top of that, at just shy of fifteen minutes, it felt right. Not everything has to be an epic and this used its limited time far better than any of the twenty minute plus title matches the past year has seen. More of this as well please.

WarGames Match // Undisputed Era def. SaNItY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) and Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong via pinfall // 36:37

Ladies and Gentlemen, I sacrifice my saNItY for you as I attempt to provide play-by-play on this, so after Kurt Angle became Roman Reigns, I'm glad to see that Roderick Strong has become an Author of Pain, tactical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfit and all, it will be Roddy, Young and Cole to begin, Cole tries to avoid violence early on but Young and Strong rush at him before fighting each other to get a shot at him, Strong hits a backbreaker on Young as Cole tries to hide atop the cage, Strong and Young follow him up and they team up to try and take him out, Cole drops down and crotches the two of them on the ropes, he sends Strong to the other ring and hits Last Shot on Young, Cole keeps his attention divided between the two men, Cole maintains control hitting a suplex and a neckbreaker on Strong, Strong fires back with slaps and a clothesline before Young comes back into further slaps and knees from Strong, as Strong is in control, in come the first team and it's the ReDragon lads, straight in and straight on top of Strong and Young, the Era easily beat down the two faces, further strikes and submissions follow till the second team come in, there's a bit of a problem where the lighting team can't decide if the Authors of Pain or SaNItY are in, turns out they meant AoP and the two head in with their faces like murder babies to rescue Strong from an O'Reilly knee bar, they then begin attacking the other three men, throwing the entire era into the other ring and then Young into the era before Strong joins in, hitting an assisted swanton onto the other four, O'Reilly and Young are positioned in the corners before AoP pick up Fish and Cole and hit corner valley drivers onto all of them, after the lighting snafu, now SaNItY are actually into the match with Wolfe rushing to the ring with a retractable truncheon as Dain pulls out all sorts of weaponry that happens to be under the ring, as the match is officially underway at this point, we also get two referees, there are two rings so it makes sense, Wolfe throws Germans on everyone and drops Fish into a bin, Dain spends forever making sure the door is locked, couldn't just get someone on the outside to do it? He swallows the key because he's hardcore like that, Dain goes after both Authors hitting a front dropkick senton combo followed by a top rope crossbody, Cole grabs a Kendo stick and goes for the big fuzzy one but Dain isn't fucking about and tosses it away, Fish tries to help but Dain just knocks him down and hits a Michinoku driver on Cole onto Fish for a 2, Dain throws O'Reilly at the walls before hitting the fallaway slam/Samoan drop combo on Cole and Strong, Dain and Rezar do big lad things in between the ropes, Dain hits a running crossbody but Rezar gets him in a powerslam for a 2, if you'd been wondering 'when is everything going to go to shit', now, everyone seems to punch everyone, ReDragon hit Chasing the Dragon on Strong, they go after Dain, Wolfe comes into even it out but is taken out with a chain-assisted armbar from O'Reilly, Young saves his German friend with a top rope elbow drop to break up the pin, AoP hit a Super Collider, catching Dain in the middle, Young unleahes punches on everything he can and hits a big death valley driver on Rezar onto Akem but Strong and ReDragon break the pin, Strong goes backbreaker crazy with Lumbar Checks, knees strikes and every possible form on a backbreaker before an olympic slam on Dain, he goes for the pin but a superkick from Cole breaks that up, Cole heads to the middle of the two rings, Strong and Young follow him and duel over who gets to hurt Cole again, a double tower of doom spot follows as Cole sits above the wreckage, till both AoP members go for him, they pull him down to one corner as they set up two tables, for some reason Wolfe stops them from going for Cole allowing him to escape up top but Wolfe avalanche Germans Rezar, I think, through the tables, at this point I think all of SaNItY are bleeding, even Sawyer Fulton (Goodbye Sawyer), Young gets a top rope neckbreaker on Akem, Cole does his best impression of Mario in Water World along the top of the cage, Dain hits a clothesline on O'Reilly before positioning him a few feet in front of the corner with a bin, he just about hits the coast to coast but O'Reilly quite uncomfortably well sells going limp, Cole seeing a pile of people below goes to do something but takes too long posing and Strong is up top to hit a superplex off him onto everyone, Strong covers Cole for a 2.9, Dain and Akem brawl, AoP hit the Last Chapter on Dain, O'Reilly and Fish wear down the AoP with strikes and sleepers before hitting Total Elimination on Rezar, Wolfe takes down O'Reilly before they hit the elevated neckbreaker on Fish, Cole takes out Wolfe and it comes back down to the three men that started it, Cole and Strong trade Strikes, Strong is thrown into the cage wall by Young as Cole goes for Young with the kendo stick, Young holds up a steel chair but Cole hits a Shining Wizard, sending the chair into Young's head for the pin. This was a lot better than I expected with everyone delivering strong performances. War Games is such a crazy match that no one goes into it expecting a story, just a large amount of sweaty men trying to twat each other in the heads and that's what we got here. It started quite slowly with it lacking much in the way of excitement until the Authors came in but we knew it couldn't go from 0-60mph immediately. More urgently, the action got so big and so impressive that Cole hitting a Shining Wizard onto a chair for the pin felt like a bit of an anti-climactic ending. But it gave us a lot, even if at 36 minutes, it was perhaps a tad self-indulgent, it delivered strong action with Strong (appropriately) and Wolfe coming off as the real stars of the show. While Young and Dain seem to be often the focus of the men's side of SaNItY, Wolfe has really been the breakout star for me. One other thing to highlight, it was really nice to have a match with a cage where there were no random run-ins, swerves or betrayals. Some times, the simplest booking method is the best.

On The YouTubes

Lars Sullivan talks about how tonight was only the beginning and how he dominated unequivocally, emphatically and categorically. Big words from a big lad.

Velveteen Dream is happy that Black said his name.

Ember Moon considers her win to be a dream come true and the reward for all her hard work, she also gaurantees now she has the title, it'll be hard to get it off her. Let's see who steps up...

Zelina Vega and Andrade Almas did not hate to say I told you so when it comes to him winning the title. Now, to celebrate.

In some less cheery news, Drew McIntyre appears to have injured his arm during the match. He vows to come back for  his title once he's healed.

SaNItY help each other to the back and appear to have been hit so hard that their reality is now monochrome.

According to Adam Cole, he told everyone this is their era and now, they runs this place.

                                  

And to end this bumper edition of On the YouTubes, here's an interview with Triple H. Listen out for around 8:03 for HHH calling Drew McIntyre - Drew Galloway, ha, hilarious, BotchaMania am I right, Lads?

TakeOver specials rarely, if ever these days, don't deliver and this one on many fronts almost overachieved. With one near-classic, two superb matches and two good-to-very good ones, it was a top-to-bottom card of sheer entertainment and at only five matches, it didn't outstay its welcome. It's a cliché by now to look at whatever bloated cross-promotional card the main roster is putting on the day after a TakeOver but in this instance, I really wouldn't want to be forced to follow this. If you are lacking for time, skip the bits between matches but don't miss this, it's good. 

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

*If you thought I was kidding, I'm not. I am genuinely invested in Black and Dream.