WARGAMES. TWO OF THEM.
Mia Yim got the ol’ laid out in the back angle on the Kickoff Show, so Dakota Kai got the nod to join Team Rhipley which is telling one heck of a story – Dakota initially rejected from the team, Dakota being best pals with team member Tegan Nox, and Dakota having a quietly layered history with Shayna Baszler. I thought to myself: would be interesting if they did something with that.
Also loved Pat McAfee hyping up the crowd right before the show. Let’s do that every show please.
0. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Angel Garza
Swerve is still a little CAW-like for me in that I’m not sure what he’s going for other than that he’s a guy with sunglasses who does the occasional overly complicated wrestling maneuver. Garza is my guy right now though, and it was fun seeing him in a bigger environment like this. He’s a natural pro wrestler, always doing something interesting whether he’s trying to or not. The ass-shake to re-enforce a pin and the Christ-like pose before the Lionsault were two of my personal favorites here. Garza kicking out of Swerve’s finish was a fine near fall too, for those who know that’s his finish I suppose. ***
1. WarGames: Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox) vs. Team Baszler (Shayna Baszler, Kay Lee Ray, Bianca Belair & Io Shirai)
So much fun, and give me a day to think about it but probably the best WWE WarGames match there’s been. This thing was fun from start to finish, had a big story shift in the middle, and by the end got a bunch of new acts and feuds over. They probably could’ve been kinder to the live audience with an actual announcement when The Match Beyond had begun, but I guess they were kind providing this awesome bit of pro wrestling. Also, hell yeah at ring announcer Alicia Taylor: an all-timer delivery of, “LET THE WAR GAMES BE-GINNNNN!!!”
I’d like to talk about all the wrestlers in this, because the most important thing for me here is that all eight of these ladies came out bigger deals than they were when they came in.
Io Shirai is so low key great – she came in with big hype and showed off her flying moves as a babyface before she turned heel and kind of settled into a midcard role, but during all this she has been adjusting to being this WWE Superstar and it’s working. She was selling all big and expressive, making some excellent “WTF” facial expressions, and doing double jump springboards and moonsaults off the top of the cage and all kinds of other crazy stuff. A tremendous follow-up to the insanity of the Ladder Match – now get some rest.
Candice LeRae brought the fire and big underdog spirit from the start opposite Io to the 4-on-2 outnumbered finish. Everybody Loves Candice.
Belair Big Spots showed up again with a big 450 splash after a Tower of Doom and a triple powerbomb where, as someone pointed out, she wasn’t locking her hands.
Rhea Ripley was The One here, and not the Billy Gunn version. This might be it folks, and she’s so on the nose as this perfect prospect – strong, badass, charismatic, good mic skills, 23-years-old, seems like Triple H’s daughter – that I’m starting to be afraid to get excited about it. She kicked people’s ass here and obviously got the big shine with the reaction to Dakota Kai, the fighting 2-on-4, and the finishing off of Baszler. She took that ball and ran with it.
Kay Lee Ray was the quiet charmer here, unknown to all but the 29 of us who watch NXT UK but I appreciated how there was nothing flashy from here she was just this lass who no one’s supposed to like who just happened to bump her head off any chance she got. She gave her body to God on that suplex into the cage and just chucked herself into a trash can flying through the air.
Dakota Kai… TURNED HEEL. Oh my GOD. Tremendous. Brilliant. Exciting. I haven’t seen all the WarGames but this is the first I’ve seen them do a turn in the middle of the match where they don’t wait for everyone to get in the cage, and it RULED. Dakota got out of the holding cell, looked at the ring, then turned around and kicked her buddy Tegan Nox right in the face before she dished out a nasty beatdown in the confinements of a very small cage. Then she slammed the cage door repeatedly on Tegan Nox’s infamously broken knees, all as Shayna laughed her ass off in the holding cell beside them. Regal came out and Dakota PUSHED him, as I slowly realized that it was Dakota who took out Yim and that if there is any justice in the world we’ve got about a year of quality women’s wrestling programming ahead of us between Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, Tegan Nox and Rhea Ripley alone.
Oh and Shayna Baszler did her thing too, swaggering to the ring and being the worst. It was great.
The WarGames match proper (once everyone that could enter the ring entered) was real good, with big drama off the seemingly impossible 4-on-2 odds. There were maybe a few too many things that came off more cute than violent (the dueling chokeholds on the turnbuckles, Rhea handcuffing herself to Shayna while in a sleeper) but it was still a great time. The IOSAULT off the cage, Rhea’s tornado DDT counter into a deadlift suplex into the cage, Ray just cracking Rhea in face to break those dueling chokeholds, and the Kay Lee Ray Gory Bomb to an Iosault near fall on LeRae were all great bits. Then Rhea fought out of a sleeper and slammed Shayna on some chairs and pinned her ass even though it was 2 against 4. Shayna’s boo boo face after was classic. A BLAST. ****1/4
2. Triple Threat Match – Winner Faces Adam for NXT Title at Survivor Series: Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain
In a match that seemed to pride itself on hitting people hard, Priest’s shots to Dunne were really the only thing that felt like they hurt. Oh and Dain giving a Michinoku Driver to Dunne on Priest’s face, I guess. I don’t know – this was the first of many matches this weekend cursed by being a Triple Threat, where they do some fun stuff but there aren’t any stakes and nobody really stands out because everyone has to get their thing in. Dunne is fun and it was a good big performance by the other two, but overall it just felt too long, wasn’t crazy enough to be a breakout for anyone, and Dunne tries too much cute shit. **3/4
3. Matt Riddle vs. Finn Balor
Balor had to be trolling with those chinlocks at the start of the match, a horrible way to have a good TakeOver match but also a brilliant way to have a TakeOver match. Then he smashed Riddle in the face with a baseball slide, where Riddle showed off his skills doing an awesome stumble to the outside before he got right in place. As the match went on it felt like two ships passing in the sea, Balor coming off as an uncomfortable heel that NXT has passed by while Riddle still reads like a star of the future that couldn’t quite carry his end of the deal in a 50/50 Dream Match kinda match, which is what they seemed to be going for. Quality wrestling, just not the most complete wrestling match. ***1/4
4. WarGames: Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic & TBD (Kevin Owens) vs. The Undisputed Era
A wild time at the matches, with all kinds of talent that did a lot more brawling and less stunts than I expected of them. I appreciated that, but there were also moments where I questioned The Undisputed Era’s ability to hold their end of a classic WarGames shit-kicking, just as I question it every year. I mean there was a full-on close-up of O’Reilly just whiffing a boot scrape to Dijakovic’s head. It’s like they couldn’t lean in on them being cowards but also couldn’t rely on them kicking ass, so we got this medium that mostly worked but left me wanting more. Is that OK?
Ciampa and Roddy went hard early, hitting the ropes and hitting each other like they binge watched a bunch of WarGames matches and wanted this to get off to a great start. O’Reilly and Strong double teaming again just like old times, before Dijakovic came in and alternatively looked very powerful slamming Strong into the cage and suplexing O’Reilly across the ring but also very goofy jogging to the ring and doing strike exchanges with O’Reilly. Bobby Fish quietly fit in, bumping appropriately and shit-talking just enough. Keith Lee’s presence was very much felt, a tremendous run highlighted by his double crossbody where Fish and O’Reilly absolutely ate it. O’Reilly’s selling was once again a highlight, like an MMA-influenced Terry Funk.
The big angle was NXT’s Mystery Partner and it definitely delivered with Kevin Owens, which wasn’t some major surprise but also put the on-and-off Owens in an environment where he came off like a GOD and that was very cool to see. He and Adam Cole had some magic going and I appreciated his stubbornness to deliver that Panama Sunrise, even if it meant a broken freakin’ neck. The final move saw Ciampa give Cole a Celtic Cross off the top of the cage through a couple tables that seemed to explode on impact, causing Cole’s hip to drive itself deep into the wooden oak underneath the ring mat, which got the 3-count. Yes, that Ciampa, the one who just came back from neck surgery. And yes, indeed, that Cole – guy who has been in like 20 long matches the last few weeks with a broken wrist. No biggie.
WARGAMES. ****
The middle wasn’t on fire but the WarGames matches were both excellent and booked in a way that gives NXT a lot of good stuff to play with moving forward. Great work, everyone – especially you, Rhea Ripley. 8/10
