The latest NXT TakeOver: War Games is in the history books, and once again the show featured some great matches with plenty of chaos within the steel structure itself. But on top of that, the entire card saw some fantastic in-ring action taking place, which brought a great event to the WWE Network.
However, even though there were a lot of positives to take from the WarGames match, the show wasn't all great. There were certain moments that just didn't work or elements that could have been tweaked, which is the case with most shows. But, was TakeOver a great event, or was it a poor one?
10 A Good Show: Excellent Strap Match
The strap match stipulation is one that can very easily go wrong and be quite boring, as the stipulation isn't the easiest to make entertaining. However, Cameron Grimes and Dexter Lumis put together one of the best there's ever been.
They really made the most of the stipulation, using the strap as a weapon at times to cause a lot of damage to each other. They went all around the outside of the ring, utilizing the space to make this match as enjoyable as possible.
9 Wasn't Good: Main Event Ran Long
Undisputed Era and Team McAfee did put together a really fun match. But had the made been a little shorter, it would actually have been a better bout. This match just ran on a little bit too long, and it did lose the impact of the finish slightly.
It would have been great if it had been shorter, keeping the entire show a little briefer in the process. Whenever main events drag, it can hurt the show overall, and while it didn't have too much of an impact, it could've helped the show to be done faster.
8 A Good Show: Pat McAfee Impresses
Pat McAfee stunned everyone in his first in-ring performance against Adam Cole at NXT TakeOver: XXX, but there was no guarantee he'd maintain that. Thankfully, he did just that with another brilliant effort, matching the great work he's been doing in the build-up.
Unlike some celebrity appearances, Pat threw himself into this match headfirst, taking huge bumps and showing real athleticism. McAfee was involved in one of the biggest spots of the night as he dove off the top of the cage, and overall he was just very impressive.
7 Wasn't Good: No NXT Championship Match
The NXT Championship is the top title for the black-and-gold brand, yet it was nowhere to be seen on this show. While Finn Balor filmed a vignette for the event, not having him wrestle or work a match did hurt the show overall.
There should always be an NXT Championship match at a TakeOver event, and not having one does slightly make the show weaker overall. While Balor's injury has obviously played a part in that situation, it did impact the quality of the event.
6 A Good Show: Rebuilding Tommaso Ciampa
2020 has been a bit of a hit-and-miss year for Tommaso Ciampa, moving from feud to feud without really hitting the level of consistency that fans expect. However, his victory over Timothy Thatcher at WarGames should really be the start of his rebuilding process.
Ciampa and Thatcher had a really hard-hitting encounter which was really physical, and Ciampa came out of it looking tremendous. If he can kick on from this, there's no reason he cannot get back to the top of the card once again.
5 Wasn't Good: Too Many Ghostfaces
The North American Championship match was very entertaining, and it ultimately led to Johnny Gargano regaining the title. However, that came after a lot of help from seven different Ghostface characters.
While one played a big role, which turned out to be Austin Theory, the rest were just easily beaten back by Damian Priest. However, having that many did end up being overkill, which did hurt the match slightly.
4 A Good Show: Leon Ruff Shines
Speaking of the triple threat match, this was a great moment for Leon Ruff. Throughout his push, Ruff hasn't been taken seriously, with the story being that he's not good enough to actually be at the same level as Johnny Gargano or Damien Priest.
However, TakeOver was the night he proved that he absolutely belongs in his position. It was an incredible performance from him, more than matching Gargano and Priest, using his speed and agility to add a lot of excitement to the match overall.
3 Wasn't Good: Too Many Weapons
A big issue that WWE seems to have nowadays with matches like a steel cage, Hell in a Cell, and War Games is that the structure is no longer used as the main weapon. Too often the wrestlers rely upon weapons to tell the story, and that was the case again in this show.
Both the women's and men's matches relied heavily upon weapons, and that was especially a problem in the main event. Because weapons had been used in the first War Games, they didn't feel as impactful, which shows that they were used too often.
2 A Good Show: The Women Delivered
While the men's War Games was a great match, it really was the women who stole the show this time around. NXT's women's division is stacked, and their War Games encounter highlighted that massively, with eight of the best just having an all-out brawl.
It was great to see them all step up and prove that they're the elite stars for the brand, which helped the show really deliver. They put it all out in the ring and that led to an amazing match where nobody came out looking worse than when they went in.
1 Wasn't Good: The Crowd/Fake Audio
Right now, WWE is obviously in a tricky spot due to COVID-19 restrictions in regards to fans and live audiences. However, there was something about this show that felt off from an audio perspective, which was a real shame.
The combination of the live crowd constantly banging on the perspex glass and the fake fan noise just didn't click here. It was off-putting at times and took away from the intensity of the in-ring work at points, which was disappointing.