NXT WarGames

Overall rating: ★★★●★☆☆

The big question here was: can this new version of NXT still deliver when it comes to TakeOvers? And the answer is... not really. The show was fine. But by TakeOver standards? It sucked.

1. WarGames (Shirai Io, Cora Jade, Raquel Gonzales & Kay Lee Ray vs. Toxic Attraction & Dakota Kai)
   ★★★●★★☆
   Cora Jade jumped off the cage and Raquel Gonzales put Dakota Kai in a rubbish bin and then hit Gigi Dolin with it. That was worth watching, even if WarGames is a stupid concept.
2. Men's Tag Championship (Von Wagner & Kyle O'Reilly vs. Imperium)
   ★★★●★★☆
   Fabian Aichner was amazing in this match. Everyone else was also good.
3. Hair vs. Hair (Duke Hudson vs. Cameron Grimes)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   Duke Hudson is just the knockoff, home brand LA Knight. Right? This feud with Cameron Grimes, who just finished a very similar storyline with Knight, certainly isn't doing anything to establish his uniqueness.
4. Cruiserweight Championship (Joe Gacy vs. Roderick Strong)
   ★★★●☆☆☆
   I think Gacy is supposed to be a creep who's pretending to be a good guy. But I'm not certain. It seems possible that they actually think they're writing him as genuine. I know I'm supposed to hate him, but I wish I knew why.
   And poor Roderick. He was always filling in or making up the numbers as a member of Undisputed Era. Now he's got his own faction, but he's still not the leader - that's clearly Malcolm Bivens - and he only manages to stand out from the others because we recognise him from when he was Adam Cole's friend.
   That aside, this match really illustrates how far the Cruiserweight division has fallen. 205 Live is an extension of NXT now rather than a distinct show with its own cast (most of whom have been fired anyway) and now even the Cruiserweight championship is opened up to people who exceed the weight limit. It might as well not exist.
5. WarGames (Team Black and Gold vs. Team 2.0)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   Not that I dislike him, but it was kind of weird to have LA Knight representing the old NXT; he did come in before the switch to 2.0, but not a long time before. O'Reilly, Strong, Burch, or even Lumis or Joe would have made more sense.
   The real problem with this match though, is that NXT 2.0 is shit. No one wants the new guys to win, but if they don't then it makes 2.0 look like a mistake. Which it is; but they're not going to say that.