WWE
NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2 Final Results and Grades
Wow, just wow. I don’t think you can kick off four days of wrestling better than this. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2 is, for lack of a better term, awesome. Best TakeOver of the year? Maybe, but we’ll let the grading decide.
Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno
Final Grade: B
“The opening bell was still ringing while Ohno was falling!” -Percy Watson
The main reason this match has such a high grade is that of how quick and sudden the finish came. Riddle came to the ring, called out Ohno, and the match started. Then Riddle kneed Ohno in the face and that was that.
2-Out-of-3 Falls NXT Women’s Championship: Shayna Baszler def. Kairi Sane 2-1
Final Grade: B+
There is a more vicious side of Kairi Sane in this match. She attacked her opponent early and never let up. Baszler, surprisingly, was on defense for most of this match. Her only offense came in her signature rear naked choke,or outside interference by Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke.
Shayna had a submission point. Kairi tied it up with a pinfall. The final point was rewarded after Shafir and Duke were attacked by Dakota Kai and Io Sharai to even the odds for Kairi. Unfortunately, Shayna reversed the Insane Elbow into a roll-up and won the final point.
Aleister Black def. Johnny Gargano
Final Grade: A+
They don’t call him “Johnny Wrestling” for no reason.
The storytelling alone rewards this match an “A”. But the athleticism, physicality, and in-ring expertise give this match that “+”. Black finally got his hands on the man that took him out of TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. Gargano turned to the dark side like some kind of NXT version of Anakin Skywalker. A pair of stiff Black Mass spin kicks gave Black his win.
Rumors say Aleister may be heading up to the main roster after WrestleMania 35. If that is the case, he should fit right in with whichever brand they send him to. His popularity and unique character should have no issue finding a spot on the main WWE roster.
NXT Championship: Tomasso Ciampa def. Velveteen Dream
Final Grade: A+
I don’t know who does Velveteen Dream’s ring gear. Whoever it is deserves a raise. This time, Dream was dressed as “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan. Maybe it’s because they were in the Staples Center and Hollywood made sense.
Awe inspiring, gritty, and brutal at times, this match comes in at a close second for Match of the Night. Tom Champion, as always, was the hated bad guy going into this match. Dream at times looked like he was about to pull off the the upset of the century. The moment Purple Rainmaker was hit, everyone in the arena thought Dream was about to walk off with the NXT Championship. But, tonight was not Velveteen Dream’s night. A rope hung DDT onto the metal connector between both rings ended the match in favor of “Tommy Sports Entertainment”.
WARGAMES: Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and The War Raiders def. The Undisputed Era
TSJ101Sports Match of the Night Winner
Final Grade: A++++++++
A plus for every man in the match. Ten stars out of five; Meltzer’s got nothing on me.
This match manages to outshine its older sibling by a grand margin. Ricochet and Adam Cole (BAY BAY) continued their heated feud. Kyle O’Reily almost knocked himself silly with a rebound chair shot again but managed to avoid it. Hanson and Rowe showed that even massive men can be insanely athletic. Pete Dunne, the last man to enter, introduced an ensemble of weapons just to give the match an extra sense of brutality.
Who was the MVP of this match? Some would say the referee that found bolt cutters after Dunne was locked in the shark cage by Bobby Fish.
But the rest of us agree it was Ricochet.
Because it can’t be a Ricochet match without him doing some kind of gravity-defying move that makes you wonder if anything is real.
Overall NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2 Final Grade: A
With TakeOver going home with the first “A” graded pay-per-view of the year, all that can be really said is this: Survivor Series, good luck topping this.
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Photo credit to “Donald Trump” via Flickr
