NXT WarGames (2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

WarGames Match

Cora Jade, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, and Raquel González defeated Dakota Kai and Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne, and Mandy Rose) by pinfall

If looks could kill, Toxic Attraction came out for this match ready to slay the competition. Dakota Kai was dressed with her ring gear and hairstyle being a homage to the late Hana Kimura.

I thought it was pretty strange to have the shark tanks for the two teams in WarGames in this new venue (or rather remodeled venue) up in the stands behind the fans. That just made for a rather odd choice in terms of presentation. Then again, I guess they must be feeling this idea out, like a lot of things on this NXT 2.0 rebranding/reboot.

The bulk of this match was pretty bare bones, with Gigi, Jacy, KLR, and Io being the MVPs of this match. I can't fault Cora Jade either as she had me (along with a lot of people) convinced that she was legitimately injured with a dislocated shoulder after that Diving Senton from the top of the cage. Io put her black market doctor skills to use by popping Cora's shoulder back into place - forcefully - if I may add. Cora continued to sell the injury, even on the 12/8/21 episode of NXT after this show, where she was wearing a sling. I tip my hat to her for going all in on the sell job there instead of half-assing it like most people in modern wrestling nowadays.

The match got fun once everyone entered the cage, but I can't say it was without a few miscues and misfires. Mandy Rose hit absolutely NOTHING on an assisted running knee that her and the other members of Toxic Attraction were trying to setup similarly to the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega's BTE Trigger. We did get a hilarious spot where Raquel Gonzales stuffed Kai into a trash can and swung her around the ring, Cesaro-style.

Cora Jade ended up picking up the win for her team, despite the fact that she was working one-armed at that point. While I applaud WWE for trying to make a new star in Cora with the "babyface underdog fighting through the injury" finish, I can't say that I was too keen on the idea that fans were supposed to buy into the fact that the babyfaces were the underdogs in this match when they came into this match with the team advantage. It just made the whole match dynamic and psychology ass backwards. I can't believe that they keep doing this too when people have complained and criticized them time and time again for it.

I'm fine with them pushing Cora too as she already has a victory over Mandy Rose and if they want to give her a new challenger for New Year's Evil in a few more weeks, then that's an easy logical choice to go with.

I can't say that this was the best women's WarGames match that I've seen but it's definitely not the worst either.

Tag Team Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship

Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) (c) defeated Kyle O'Reilly and Von Wagner by pinfall

For me this was the match of the evening, with absolutely no thanks to Von WHACKner. Sure, he held his own in this match, but that dude is a black hole with the sheer lack of charisma in his body. Not to mention that he looks like someone was feeding steroids to the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I don't care who's second generation kid he is that they see something into, but he doesn't have it in my eyes. He can go fuck off and get a job swinging around in bell towers as far as I care. Just get him off my television every week.

KOR and Imperium killed it from bell to bell here. Aichner shined in this match the most with his performance, but collectively this was Imperium's best TakeOver (if you can even call these shows that anymore) performance. I thought these guys were going to get lost in the shuffle with WALTER still in the UK on the NXT UK brand and wind up on the next roll out of releases any time now, but if they can keep turning heads with performances like this, then they have absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of job security. If this was KOR's final TakeOver outing, then this was definitely a strong note to end on. I couldn't help but bust out laughing when he saw Wagner's betrayal in the post-match coming a mile away. KOR made him look like a complete fool there.

As of this posting (12/10/21), Kyle O'Reilly did the honors on his way out, losing at the hands of Von Wagner in a steel cage match in the post-WarGames episode of NXT on December 8th. At this point, I hope he doesn't sign a new deal with this company. Let's I'm ready to see reDRagon reunited in AEW. C'mon, Bobby Fish is already using the music over there. It's just waiting out on how long (if any) non-compete time is on his contract if he doesn't renew with WWE. Besides, I think a 3-man Undisputed Era reunion over there is going to be the only thing to make me care about Adam Cole in that company at this point. It's either that or bring in his buddies from The Kingdom in Ring of Honor (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett).

Hair vs. Hair Match

Cameron Grimes defeated Duke Hudson by pinfall

Nothing against Cameron Grimes as I've come to enjoy his character in this company as much as I did back when he was in IMPACT Wrestling prior. It's just that I couldn't give a damn about this storyline with Duke Hudson. The match made for a nothing match on this PPV tonight being something that they could've aired on free television on the week prior.

It annoyed me when they said someone was going to be shaved bald here when Grimes barely shaved anything off the top of Duke Hudson's head. As of this posting (12/10/21), it's been announced that they will have a rematch... Oh joy. #Sarcasm

Maybe they'll get it right this time...

Singles Match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship

Roderick Strong (c) (with The Diamond Mine) defeated Joe Gacy (with Harland) by pinfall

There were a lot of moments throughout this match where I was scared that Gacy was going to beat Strong and rebrand the Cruiserweight Championship as a no limit, non-inclusive title. I get that the Cruiserweight division has been dead for a long time, especially over there on 205 Live, before AND after WWE released a ton of the guys who were the foundation of that brand after the Cruiserweight Classic, but I think WWE should stay in there own lane in terms of trying to remake that title under the same vein as IMPACT Wrestling's X-Division title. Just kill it off like they did in the Ruthless Aggression Era and forget about it until that style of wrestling isn't so widespread anymore. If you make the title "no limits" then it essentially defeats the purpose of what made the cruiserweight division and the Cruiserweight Classic that spawned it special in the first place. That's exactly where and when WCW lost the narrative on that title when they had the men and women competing for that title too. IMPACT's X-Division title originated with no limits from the very beginning, hence why I never had an issue with that in regard to that championship.

As for this match as a whole, I thought it was just like the previous one - something that should have been on free television the week prior. That makes me sad too as I love the Diamond Mine faction as a whole. As of this posting (12/10/21), it was announced on the post-WarGames episode of NXT that Strong will be defending the Cruiserweight Championship against Bron Breakker of all people after Bevins threw down the gauntlet. That match comes off weird to me, despite it's potential to be great with those two guys going at it. I just feel like it's a downgrade for Breakker, who should be gunning for Ciampa's NXT title after he was the one who pinned him during the WarGames match in the main event that I'm going to discuss shortly.

WarGames Match

Team 2.0 (Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, and Tony D'Angelo) (with Trick Williams) defeated Team Black & Gold (Johnny Gargano, LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Tommaso Ciampa) by pinfall

In comparison to the women's WarGames match that started this show, I have to admit this match was very boring in the first half just like the opener. When everyone got in there, this match was definitely the better of the two tonight - no contest.

I thought Team Black & Gold went above and beyond to put Team 2.0 over with Breakker and Carmelo Hayes being the MVPs on their side.

(Laughs) Despite this being Gargano's first and probably last WarGames match (at least for this company), he definitely made sure that Johnny Failure came out to play. I kid. Johnny TakeOver was in full effect as him and Ciampa took great joy in getting in some of their old DIY spots in throughout this match.

Seeing Knight and Dunne in here makes me a little sad as I could see those two guys doing so much more on the main roster (or back on NXT UK in Dunne's case). It feels like those guys have been left behind and really don't feel like veterans in a sense, especially when you look at LA Knight. I'm not completely sold on D'Angelo, but I don't see what this company sees in Waller at all when I'm looking at the competition on the other end of the spectrum.

Breakker laying out Ciampa and getting the win for Team 2.0 was the best move for business as it keeps him in the conversation for another NXT title shot.

While I thought this match was the better of the two WarGames matches on this card, I can't say that I'm overly enthusiastic about this matches devolving into glorified hardcore matches, no matter what company hosts them.