It's the most wonderful time of the year: the time when William Regal screams "WARGAMES" at the top of his lungs. As usual, I talk about each match on the Takeover card below. Candice LeRae, Toni Storm, Raquel Gonzalez, & Dakota Kai vs. Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, & NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai (WarGames Match) This match is built around Candice LeRae's recent heel turn, and the groundwork was laid when she destroyed Shotzi Blackheart's tank. LeRae is flanked by Dakota Kai, who shockingly turned heel at the women's WarGames match last year, Raquel Gonzalez, Kai's muscle, and Toni Storm, who recently returned to NXT a few weeks ago and just as quickly turned heel. On the other side, you have Shotzi Blackheart, the returning Ember Moon (who took a beating from Toni Storm), former NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, and the current champ herself Io Shirai. They all have had beef with the members of the other team, so the match is looking to be intense. It's no argument that NXT's Women's Division is the best in the world right now, and this match has its most impressive wrestlers as participants. The eight competitors put together an exciting opening contest, with a start that saw the heels slowly build their advantage, with their antics culminating in locking out Io Shirai from the cage. Indi Hartwell (Candice LeRae's new friend/sidekick) also gets involved at one point. The momentum swings back in the favor of Team Blackheart in what's perhaps the match's defining (and hilarious) moment: Io Shirai wearing a trash can as armor and launching herself from the top of the cage. From here, the action was more back-and-forth, with some neat weapon spots (including a chair-assisted Eclipse by Ember Moon to Dakota Kai). In the end, it is LeRae's team who wins, as Gonzalez powerbombs Shirai through a ladder for the monumental victory. Last year, Baszler (who was champion at the time) was pinned by Ripley (who was then set up as the next contender for the title); are we looking at Io Shirai's next challenger here? Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher Ciampa has been a bit directionless in NXT as of late, but now he has a new opponent in his sights: the brutally technical Timothy Thatcher. They have been at odds for a while now, and the tension culminates in this Takeover contest. This was every bit the gritty, hard-hitting affair that I expected it to be. The action was almost exclusively on the mat, with both wrestlers sticking mostly to nasty strikes and brutal submissions. Though the match was pretty back-and-forth, Ciampa spends a good amount of time fighting from underneath, struggling against Thatcher's onslaught of strikes and painful submission holds. After a series of vicious exchanges, Ciampa pulls out a win from underneath with a draping DDT. The match overall wasn't pretty or flashy, but it was still very much enjoyable. Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes (Strap Match) Cameron Grimes has slowly become one of the most entertaining new faces of NXT, with a bombastic personality and constant hollering. Lately, he has been the subject of a few comedic angles, including an incredibly goofy match at the Halloween Havoc episode that saw him get chased by *checks notes* a zombie referee. Dexter Lumis, the terrifying-looking dude who kinda looks like a serial killer (no offense) has taken a strange "interest" in Grimes, tormenting the man with a supercut of his cowardice and drawings depicting him as a scaredy cat (by the way, Lumis himself drew those pictures; the man has a gift). After a few frightening encounters with Lumis (including a hilarious Blindfold Match), Grimes now has no escape in this Strap Match. While not as comedic as their previous encounters, this was still a solid match. It starts off with Grimes blindsiding Lumis to give himself an early advantage, but Lumis being the horror movie villain he is, he bounces back and takes the fight to Grimes. Most of the match is an all-out brawl, with majority of the offense being strikes, pulling on the strap to ragdoll the opponent, or tying up/choking out the opponent with the strap. There were a few interesting spots, such as the introduction of a steel chair, and a callback to the Blindfold Match, but otherwise, it's pretty straightforward. Lumis takes the win by putting Grimes to sleep, so I think it's safe to say that this feud is over and that both guys can now move on to other opponents or become contenders for the titles. Karrion Kross vignette Karrion Kross was unfortunately injured and forced to vacate his newly-won NXT Championship many months ago, and we get an appropriately cryptic vignette that heralds his return. Perhaps he will be Balor's next challenger. Leon Ruff (c) vs. Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano (NXT North American Championship match) Johnny Gargano became the first two-time NXT NA Champion all the way back at Halloween Havoc by beating Damian Priest, developing a strange love-hate relationship with wheels on the way (as it was a wheel that decided the stipulation of that match). The wheel would turn out to be his undoing, as in a later episode of NXT, he sets up an open challenge where the challenger to his title is decided randomly via a spin of the wheel. The wheel lands on the name of one Leon Ruff, a newcomer to NXT and a rookie by all accounts. Their match ends in what is perhaps one of the most shocking moments of NXT this year: after being manhandled by Gargano in the match, Ruff pulls a fast one on the champion with a quick pin, becoming the new North American Champion in a monumental upset. This happened thanks in no small part to Damian Priest, who showed up to distract Gargano as a measure of revenge for his heel antics at Halloween Havoc. The next few weeks plays with the notion that Ruff's Cinderella story was a fluke, with Gargano immediately challenging Ruff for the title in the next episode. That match ends with a DQ with Priest getting physically involved. Annoyed by people looking down on him, Ruff demands a Triple Threat title defense pitting him against both Priest and Gargano. Thus, here we are. This was a pretty fun Triple Threat, with each competitor playing a distinct role: Gargano was the sneaky heel, using his smarts and shenanigans to gain the upper hand, Priest was the big man, using his power and freakish agility to his advantage, and Ruff was the feisty underdog, fighting from underneath and not backing down from the odds. There's also an interesting dynamic involving Ruff, as Gargano immediately targets him (seeing him as the weak link) while Priest disregards him (seeing him mostly as a harmless pest). Ruff is visibly frustrated by this and fights even harder because of it (even returning to the match after seemingly being removed for injury). The match ends in absolute shenanigans, as Gargano's army of Ghostfaces pays dividends once again. Their interference effectively takes out Priest, allowing him to pin Ruff and become the first three-time North American Champion. Now, I would assume the feud between him and Priest continues, though I am left to wonder where Leon Ruff goes from here. Also, one of the Ghostfaces was revealed to be Austin Theory. That reveal doesn't really do anything for me; the guy has always just been kinda there since he showed up in WWE, and the fact that he's on TV in spite of the serious allegations against him doesn't sit well with me. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly, & Roderick Strong) vs. Pat McAfee, NXT Tag Team Champions Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan, & Pete Dunne (WarGames Match) Here's the main event! It was kickstarted by the return of the brash Pat McAfee targeting the UE again; this time, he's hired Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan, and Pete Dunne to his cause. The four of them proceed to run through NXT, beating the shit out of various wrestlers, and even taking the NXT Tag titles in the process. After being taken out of commission for a few weeks by the so-called Kings of NXT, the UE returned in a recent episode, starting an all-out brawl that led to the announcement of this match. This was structured much like the women's match, but the novelty comes in the fact that we've never really seen Undisputed Era be the underdogs in these matches. They're pretty much at a disadvantage until their last member shows up, and that's when the fun really beings. We get all-out brawls, weapon spots (including the use of cricket bats, of all things), and spectacular moves. Pat McAfee once again steals the show, doing a beautiful moonsault off the top rope, and a Swanton Bomb from the top of the cage. After a dramatic ending sequence, Kyle O'Reilly delivers the finishing blow and wins the match for his faction, getting a measure of revenge against McAfee. I enjoyed this match, and I'm glad that it has something different to offer compared to the women's match (though it did feel like it ran a tad too long). It's hard to see what more the UE can do in NXT at this point, and I'm curious to see where McAfee's faction moves forward from this loss. I am pretty excited to see NXT really back O'Reilly as a main event-caliber talent. Once again, I can always count on Takeovers to deliver an enjoyable show. There's variety in terms of styles, plenty of exciting action, and a bunch of interesting finishes. I expect that they'll be setting up the next contenders for the titles moving forward, and I look forward to see how that shapes up.
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Derryck
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