NXT TakeOver: New York 4/5/19

Didn't actually get to see or watch this show live, but I also don't actually know anything that happened on the show, so I'm back home and figured why not watch some TakeOver?

War Raiders vs. Aleister Black/Ricochet

ER: So this is one way to open up a TakeOver! This starts as very much a sexy dance fight learned behavior match, that I was ready to dislike for being too dance-y but then they just kept going and pulling out bigger and wilder things, and by the end I thought this was a fantastically paced out tag. We had some early tape studying spots, fun stuff like Black anticipating a Rowe knee, or Rowe anticipating a Black kick by catching it with his head and neck. And as the train really starts leaving the station the match's charms become a bit impossible to ignore. There were still some silly dance fighting spots - namely Ricochet running 4 steps across the ring to leap into getting handspring elbowed by Hanson - but this was some well done go go go. The dives we built to were great, with Rowe hitting a tope, Ricochet naturally flipping in several ways, and peaking with Hanson flying off the top like a falling piano. This whole tag had a ton of moving parts and the pace they kept was really impressive. We got smart use of saves, with Rowe certainly getting beat before Hanson crashes everybody into them to break up the pin, and Black getting an awesome surprise pinfall save by landing a double stomp off the top. Ricochet was a fun ham throughout, getting knocked around plenty of times by the Raiders, but also hitting all of his stuff tighter than he's looked ever since getting called up to Raw. And the chained spots can be a real impressive thing when they're done as fluidly as they did here. Everything was mapped out and executed at high speeds, so that you feel like you're seeing a lot, while also feeling like a big Hanson tope is still treated as a big deal. Not many events will be able to start off this hot.

Matt Riddle vs. Velveteen Dream

ER: I really liked this, with Riddle going on dominant runs, catching Dream in submissions and nasty throws, with Dream scrambling just to keep up. Riddle broke out some increasingly brutal stuff: rolling gutwrenches, exploder, building up to Riddle catching Dream on an axe handle to the floor and dropping him with a slow German, and then going beyond that to Riddle dragging Dream up over the ropes and hitting a suplex into the ring from he middle rope. All of these were awesome visuals. Dream looked like he was scrambling the whole time, even when he was in control. He was still cucumber cool, but Riddle was going for constant strikes and submissions, and even when Dream would counter one it would end with Riddle elbowing him as punishment. I like the Riddle match structure where he is dominating but kind of cockily distracts himself thinking things should be over. I love moments like Riddle catching Dream's big elbow or Riddle breaking out a new twisting moonsault, the latter really helped give this a bigger match feel. The finishing stretch is real quality, with cool trading, Dream stunning Riddle out of the triangle but getting hit with another knee and German. I'm not sure how I feel about the finish, I liked that Dream flipped his desperation switch into panic mode and went for the last pinfall he could get, but also think Dream should have controlled for a bit more earlier in the match. When this was all over it practically felt like Riddle bullied him around at every turn of the match. I loved the personality in this and the work looked spectacular, would love to see this run back again. I'll have to watch it again to see how much Riddle dominating affects that for me. Still, these two matched up great together and I dug it.

[sorry, started writing up NXT and then got incredibly sleepy and zonked out AT the computer. Writing up the rest of this before Mania]

WALTER vs. Pete Dunne

ER: Rachel, wholly unfamiliar with WALTER, looks up as he's walking to the ring and asks, "Did they give someone an SS officer gimmick??" She's not wrong. Also, it appears referee Drake Younger is working a full blackface ref gimmick. This match was kind of weird for me, as Dunne has had this belt 700 odd days, and I don't think he ever looked like he really belonged with WALTER in there. This match got a ton of time 25 minutes, and at no point did it look like Dunne should be hanging with WALTER. And really, he didn't. Any time he did start to pull away from WALTER, he would do a light enziguiri or something that looked like it shouldn't be sold that much by WALTER. I liked stuff with Dunne avoiding the big chops, and his only chance looked to be targetting WALTER's fingers (and smashing his hand on the ringpost was a good moment), but I don't think any of the finger work went anywhere exciting. I don't think it ever even slowed WALTER down outside of the precise second it was happening. This felt like a similarly structured match to Dream/Riddle, only those two looked like they belong in the ring against each other. By the time they got to the inevitable strike exchanges it kind of felt ridiculous. WALTER just crushed Dunne the whole match, big kicks, nasty sleeper suplex off the top that felt like something you end a match on (but instead leads directly to Dunne doing a German and crucifix bomb that felt entirely like WALTER doing the moves to himself), big lariats, and of course that superbomb/splash combo to finish it. WALTER came in and definitely, the whole match, looked like a guy who should be the champ. So I'm glad they gave him the belt. If/when they do the rematch, I'm interested in seeing how they actually make Dunne look on WALTER's level.

Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair vs. Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler

ER: I thought this ruled. It felt tidy and like they could have gone longer but I'm happy they did it, just kept it at 15 minutes of fast action and no overkill. A lot of this was worked as the Sky Pirates working against the other two, while Belair and Baszler were against the other three. The 4 way brawling could have been an absolute mess but I loved how the Pirates crossed up the rope running and used that misdirection to sneak in their shots. Belair's hair is such an integral part of her matches and it's great when she uses it, and great when it's used against her, like when she gets whipped into the corner by her braid. And I LOVED the early ringpost spot, Baszler tossing Belair around the post and holding her braid to pull her into it, only Belair got her boot up to block and used the power of her thick ass amazing braid to yank baszler into the post instead. Mauro says, "Bring back any memories, Nigel?" To which Nigel should have humorously replied "No...actually. None at all." Belair is great at showing her power, hard shoulderblocks and catching a crossbody for a fallaway slam, big spear right at the chest, huge press slam to the floor, she totally looks like a boss. I also thought Shirai looked more explosive and violent than I've seen from her. She usually looks flimsy and nothing connects, here she hits a missile dropkick and the corner knees land hard, and I dug the way they worked themselves into the match (their acting got a little melodramatic at points, acting like saving a pinfall was the most physically exerting thing they'd ever done, but joshi gonna joshi). The corner suplex/powerbomb spot actually looked good and they kept the set-up brisk, the flying to the floor looked cool, Shirai's moonsaults actually hit hard for once, the pinfall saves were all expertly timed, Belair's KOD on Baszler looked great, and THEN she got to plant the Sky Pirates with one, Sane's elbow slammed hard into Baszler, Baszler had a cool counter of Belair's double chickenwing into the clutch, really the whole thing was a blast.

Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole

ER: Totally serious here, but are these the two smallest guys to ever be fighting for a WWE World Title? Did Rey ever defend against someone similar sized? And you know, I really liked this. I was expecting to not like this very much. I figured it would go long, and figured there would be tons of wide eyed heavy breathing shocked kickout faces. Both of those things happened. The latter happened a lot. And there were little things I didn't like, such as the way Cole threw the most half-assed missed clothesline right before he hit the knee to end the first fall. It's when guys halfass their way through things like that, where you can really see they were just not focusing on step a and only thinking about step b. It's an ugly trend but it's been where we're at for awhile. I also don't think I'll ever get used to the "I'm dead, I'm dead, I can't move, also I'm up and sprinting" brand of selling, and we got plenty of that. I also will forever laugh at how outright stupid Adam Cole's finisher looks. That little bunny hop off the middle buckle never ceases to crack me up. It's so isolated and never part of a smooth turn into the flipping piledriver, possibly the dumbest and silliest any big league wrestler has ever looked setting up a move.

But again, I liked this match. This was the match where Johnny Gargano fulfills his destiny and finally pulls out the big win, overcoming the numbers, defying the odds, all things that could have been insufferable. But they built a nice match with some memorably wild moments, and I was impressed at Gargano's timing throughout. This kind of match hinges on timing, hinges on guys being in the right place at the right time, and I don't think this came off as dance-y as it could have. Gargano's big spots looked big, the spear through the ropes, the slingshot DDT, big flatliner, big Air Raid Crash, and even more importantly he helped uberwuss Cole actually look dangerous. Gargano bumped around spectacularly for Cole, especially impressing me with two consecutive ringpost bumps. He really flew into ringposts in the classic Lawler post bump style, my personal favorite post bump, running in fast with the face and throwing the legs up high on the back bump. His ringpost shots looked great and I liked that we got some Gargano color, and later on Gargano tops his ringpost bumps by flying over a table and then getting pulverized into the top of said table by the Devil's Wings (my god is anything about Adam Cole cool?). That table was the true heel of the match, as good lord that unbreaking table must have hurt like hell. The finishing run of the third fall felt like smart use of non-falls and bullshit. Gargano hitting the reverse rana and superkick only for Cole to fall out of the ring is a great way to not burn kickout, and I actually liked the involvement of UE as a way to make fans flip even harder for Gargano. Once O'Reilly was ripping at Gargano's face to break the Escape, I found myself actually annoyed in that "No! Not like this!" kind of way. Gargano fighting off UE and getting the Escape tap was very satisfying, really feels like they need to get far away from emo wrestling as there's nowhere else they can go with it.

ER: Even with Dunne's performance not resonating with me (apparently that match was called match of the weekend at one point, which never approached that for me), this was still a really great show. I loved the tag, thought Riddle/Dream was fantastic, and thought the women's match was one of the hottest women's sprints we've seen in WWE. The main event delivered the best version of what I was expecting, and there was nothing approaching "bad wrestling". TakeOver's are a thing I always look extremely forward to, and that's because they've just rarely let me down.

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NXT TakeOver: Phoenix 1/26/19

War Raiders vs. Undisputed

ER: Soooooo....I think the War Raiders entrance was the baddest ass version of all of the HHH rape and pillage if-Mad-Max-were-a-Meat-Loaf-video entrances. Them rising up out of the fog in loincloths and helmets could have easily looked silly, but I think it genuinely looked cool. And this match feels like NXT doing late 90s FMW workrate tags, and it's some pretty tasty popcorn. This was a nice big spotfest that earned the This is Awesome chants and was worth cringing through the Fight Forever chants. I used to always be underwhelmed by Hanson on the indies and in New Japan, but thought he looked great when I saw him at an NXT house show in November, the tightest I had seen him look. And he continued making that impression here, having one of the most joyous hot tags of recent memory, crashing through Undisputed in several ways, hitting a high leaping crossbody, upending O'Reilly with a lariat, banzai drop, running Porky senton in the corner, a hell of a run. He's also just a real bump freak, and he takes one here that would rank respectably on the Hamrick Scale, going for a tope and finding everyone had gotten out of the pool, just a big thudding back splash. Roderick Strong was a really great Tully in this one, nasty when he needed to be, but also great at being sneaky and working to cut off the ring. We got big moments like Hanson being bodyslammed off the apron into Undisputed, big splashes off the top, Strong sticking some mean backbreakers, O'Reilly planting a great kneedrop off the top rope, and War Raiders hitting many big running lariats. This was a real fun spotfest that felt like it nicely spaced out the big moments, and I think this delivered in a way that made the titles feel like a big deal worth fighting for. Real fun start to the show.

PAS: That entrance, man alive, this match this had the feel of a internecine Unite the Right battle between Convington Catholic MAGA teens and Vargsmel Zorn 88 cosplayers. I kind of want to hate the Undisputed Era, that cornball fantasy booking name, combined with the Davey Richards residue still sticking to O'Reily, it is hard for me to admit that these guys are pretty great at this kind of car crash tag match. I thought this was a star making performance for Hanson. He timed all of his cartwheels really well, so they were an organic part of the match rather then just a taunt, his crash and burn to the floor was nuts, and he made both a good hot tag and face in peril. I really liked how Rowe kept hurling him at the opponents like a gigantic Spike Dudley.  O'Reiley and Strong are great at finding ways to pick away at bigger men, always running in to clip a knee or land a cheap shot. I thought the War Raiders both did nice bits of no-selling when they got hit head on, only to sell big when they didn't see it coming. I thought they had a kick out or two too many in the end run by Hanson, but they definitely kept the crowd on a string and the finisher combo was really impressive.

Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno

PAS: These guys had a really great series in EVOLVE and they brought that chemistry to this match. Ohno brought a bunch of fun new offense, including blocking a sunset bomb to the floor by putting Riddle's head in the ring skirt and stomping on it (shout out to Fit Finlay), they also steal the Yair Rodriguiez vs. Korean Zombie finish with the odd angle back elbow. Ohno is a maestro at leg slapping, maybe the only guy in wrestling who can pull that dumb stunt off, and he really looks like he is pummeling Riddle with big elbows and kicks, something that was helped with the visual of Riddles swollen and bloody lip which came after Ohno stomped right in his open mouth. Riddle threw some great stuff too, his slow motion Everest German looked great and the sleeper suplex dropped Ohno really nastily on his neck. I dug the finish with Riddle getting a tap out on strikes, although it really buries Ohno, they kept mentioning his 0-4 record at Takeover and he was basically crying after the match. They might be redoing the old Hero losing streak gimmick from early 2000s IWA-MS, or they may just be taking him off TV, but man was that finish convincing.

ER: Loved all of this, just a real great sprawling fight between two guys who I like a ton. It's wild how long Hero has remained one of my favorites, and I love the moveset he's settled into that still allows for surprises.  I was into this one, but I really got into it once they moved into a Finlay adjacent spot, with Ohno slipping Riddle's head into the ring skirt with his foot, like a jersey pulled over his head in a hockey fight, and then stomps on Riddle's head. Later we get slo mo footage of Ohno throwing a running boot right into Riddle's mouth, his face contorting in freakish ways. It reminded you of the first 90s All Japan Comm. tape you ordered, and you didn't quite get All Japan on first view but then you got to a slo mo shredding guitar music video of Misawa and Kawada hitting each other and sweat flying off Kawada's hair as he eats a huge elbow, and it all started to make more sense. I love all of Ohno's kicks, and love the knees he yanks Riddle into, and love the way a guy can go into a match 0-3 and still be shit talking. Riddle had some impressive as hell throws, hitting a cool Karelin gutwrench, and the always great slo mo German, and my god that sleeper suplex was just brutal; Ohno's head looked like it bounced diagonally off the mat. Just like the match before, these guys felt like they were pulling out all the stops, and this one managed to build all the action to a fever pitch before crushing Ohno down to 0-4. Genuinely curious where they go with this, would love to know Ohno will still get to be in matches like this. Because this stuff is among the best in wrestling.

Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet

ER: I really loved the long, Low-Ki/Red Jackie Chan throwback at the beginning, with modern turns to it, with this being the extended cut. There were long portions of this match where everything, all the sequences came off very rehearsed. BUT, they were executed so well and laid out cleverly enough that even the overly prepared presentation was still almost always fun to watch. Yes, long sections felt like bonus extended features on the Only the Strong dvd, but it brought us a ton of fun dodges and escapes, and it felt like that oddball stage fight from last year's Red/Low-Ki House of Glory main event. I appreciated that Gargano always stuck to the heel persona, didn't sucker people into an dumb faced Gargano sells, always looking for ways to cut corners but not always overly. There were plenty of moments I thought were eyerolly, some big kickouts and some mirror kind of stuff that didn't work as well as their best sequences, and of course we get a poison rana on the floor that doesn't actually lead to the finish.....but then something would happen like Gargano taking a nasty tumble to the floor and hitting the apron on the way, and I'd be snapped back into enjoying everything. The ways the match ramped up were cool, and the finish was mean as hell: Gargano drops Ricochet with a brainbuster on the floor, mats removed, Ricochet's body making a sick smack on the concrete. Back in the ring and Ricochet gets spiked with a DDT and Gargano's victory actually did feel like a big deal. Everyone is busting their asses to an absurd degree on this show, really feels like a cool environment where everybody wants to be noticed. Definitely a 3 for 3 show right now.

Bianca Belair vs. Shayna Baszler

PAS: This was a match which clearly owed a lot to Baszler's greatness and whoever lays out the women's matches at the performance center. Belair is clearly still a rookie and has a long way to go, but they put together a pretty good match with Baszler being a vicious asshole tearing at the bad shoulder, and Belair having a couple of huge moments. That hair whip is an all time great bit of shtick, I loved how Baszler used her hair against her, and how Belair opened up that cut when she used it as a whip. The power out of the rear naked choke was pretty awesome, and I loved how she almost did it a second time before collapsing. I didn't think they needed all the bells and whistles with the run ins, and Belair still isn't there in between her big moments. This was about as good as it could have been though, and Baszler is a star.

ER: I was really into big parts of this. The stuff that worked REALLY worked. Shayna yanking the braid to tug Belair into the ringpost was a great start to all the arm work, and Shayna's armwork is always guaranteed to be high end. I thought Belair did a fantastic job selling it, several cool spots revolved around her not being able to fully pull something off due to her bum wing, and she made it come off naturally. Her body movement on the missed flung right hands was really cool, and the build all the way up to that horrific whip crack braid shot across Baszler's stomach was insane. I can't believe Belair opened up a CUT on Shayna's body with her HAIR. Her hair is a marvel of course, so at this point it probably wouldn't take a lot to convince me that she could swing from it. I thought the run-ins were a bit too predictable and silly. Duke and Shafir looked like such boobs that it would have just been better to have them not out at all. They got dispatched immediately and then moments later Duke got easily kicked off he apron and pratfalled into Shafir, looked like Keystone Cops. The finish was dope as hell with Belair powering through a rear naked and slowly shifting Shayna's whole body to be able to do an awesome, hard suplex. The immediate missed 450 was a cool own petard finish, and I appreciate that they gave us a nice looooooooong tease that the clutch would actually finish or Belair would be able to power through again. The layout of this was awesome, Phil is right that whomever is helping agent the women's NXT matches is someone with a brain worth picking. The layout really felt like it turned Belair into a full babyface, totally nailed it, and both came off bigger. This is a great show so far.

Aleister Black vs. Tommaso Ciampa

ER: This was a big batch of sexy dance fighting, but it was really well done sexy dance fighting. To me sexy dance fighting feels like something that always feels within itself, like you're watching a pre-taped performance that wants live performance reactions; there's a disconnect that's always present, every step feels workshopped or overly organized, or like a great match as conceived by a computer simulation. When you're locked into the formula, performance and execution are key, and the execution was great here. It's exhausting and always impressive, but doesn't always engage because you get the sense early that they're locked into exactly what they're locked into, regardless of reaction. The pace is persistent and impressive, and they threw out a lot of sequencing I really liked. I liked how Black played the knee injury, shaking it a little after landing a tope con giro (though even that felt overly planned as Nigel jumped in and point it out a little too quickly) and leading to a few fun moments where his knee failed him. The best was during the very finishing stretch where Ciampa was rolling him through on multiple Fairy Tale Endings, and Black came up to his feet with a Black Mass that fell way short because of the knee, allowing Ciampa to hit another FTE for the win. But there was a LOT of that swing dance vibe happening through out, and it's hard for me to stay into a match that has a lot of that. You catch my leg, swing me one way, I come through with a kick from my other leg that bounces you off the ropes, your momentum off the ropes with a lariat sends me bouncing in another direction, etc. It all looks impressive when it's as well executed as these guys can do it, but it never really feels like pro wrestling to me. They're doing something seamless...while also showing too many other seams. And a lot of impact is lost when guys have to be in position for the next dance move, so you get awesome moments like Ciampa perfectly timing a missed Black Mass to catch Black with a nasty elbow in the back of the head, looked like a perfect nearfall shot...but because the dance must go on, twas merely a flesh wound to Black. I am both very impressed by this match, and left somewhat cold.

ER: Awesome show, even with the main event that wasn't always my thing, but had impressive action with an unmatched pace. We're landing three matches from this on our newly growing 2019 MOTY List, and this was a very fine way to spend 2.5 wrestling hours.

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NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2 11/17/18

We went to the NXT Tapings/House Show in San Jose on Thursday, had a great time, and have dug every single TakeOver I've watched so far. Plenty of potential on this card.

Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno

ER: Well this was not quite how I was expecting to start off TakeOver, but Ohno *did* sound pretty whiny on the pre-show, so he kinda had it coming. Mauro says the match lasted "about as long as a Hollywood marriage" which was probably a pretty hot reference when Drew Barrymore married some bartender 25 years ago.

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler

ER: Bummed I didn't get to see Shayna live on Thursday, but she was there with her Horse Girls. I'd never seen Duke or Shafir wrestle (and have no clue how much they have wrestled), but they were fun. I knew they would get involved here but wasn't expecting it so soon, and I do like the trope of a heel getting an immediate pinfall advantage in this kind of match. 2nd fall was fun with Baszler attacking immediately with a knee to the chin, and the knee looked good enough that I thought they would be running two incredibly short matches in a row. Baszler always looks good in control, although Sane isn't an interesting seller, just kinda flops and rolls around no matter what happens. But things ramp up when Baszler eats a crazy DDT on the ring apron, really planting that head in a great visual. I also liked the Horse Girls interference backfiring, especially Duke missing a kick and hitting the ringpost, and Sane doing her wild elbow off the top onto all of them. Things get pretty silly from there with the match basically serving as the background for Dakota Kai and Io Shirai running out and taking out the Horse Girls. Kai looked good, really booting Duke in the face, but Shirai does that super dumb thing where you run out to save your friend, and instead of attacking them when they're 4 feet away, takes all the time in the world to slowly climb to the top and hit a moonsault onto all of them. The visual looked good, but it's really dumb when you think about it for one second. The finish I don't think worked at all, with Sane hitting her elbow but Baszler immediately rolling her over for the crucifix pin. I don't get how the elbow can finish all her matches, but also be instantly ignored and reversed into a pin. Maybe it wasn't supposed to hit and it was supposed to look more like Baszler catching her? Whatever it was, it didn't work, and this whole thing underdelivered. I guess they're focusing on this as a trios match instead down the line, which is a match up that can be fun.

Johnny Gargano vs. Aleister Black

ER: They start with a bunch of cat and mouse that feels directly inspired by Low-Ki/Red or like they were jacking Anderson Silva highlights, but I thought it was cool, Gargano using head movement to dodge jabs, eventually getting caught when Black faked a jab to get Johnny to duck and then nailing him with a kick. Also liked Black doing his little yogi pose and Gargano running right in to kick him. The whole first several minutes are a bunch of fun bullshit, but a modern indy twist on stoogey bullshit, using a lot of constant movement without really gaining ground. But it's tougher to make that kind of swing dancing bullshit work when you're getting into the meat of the match, as you start taking big bumps that then get kind of immediately ignored for more ladies night square dance spots. Black eats a crazy DDT off a Gargano tope, and then back in the ring eats another DDT that leaves him suspended vertically on the mat for awhile, but seconds later they're back do-si-do'ing and springboarding into superkick trade-offs. A lot of it looks cool, but a lot of it also feels like total nonsense. Sometimes I find really fast spotfests exhilarating, but this feels like they need to be letting some of this breathe a bit. A lot of the stuff would still look great if it was slowed down a bit, and things do get better when Gargano stops Black with a couple of big flying knees. But there's just not a lot of space here. We go into a formula strike exchange that ends with Black teeing off on Gargano, but Gargano immediately shoves him to the floor, and Black immediately no sells a bump to the floor by kneeing Gargano out of the air on a tope. Again, a lot of the stuff they're doing looks cool, and almost all of it feels completely hollow. Even the finish seemed to come almost out of nowhere, as Gargano had been running around the whole damn match barely fazed by anything, but then goes out like a light. They went for go go go, and a lot of it just went went went in one ear and out the other. Also, I'm trying to write more 1980s Gene Shalit punchlines in my reviews now.

Velveteen Dream vs. Tommaso Ciampa

ER: Dream's 1998 Hollywood Hogan gear is fly as hell. He was Macho Man when we saw him Thursday, and did a ton of great Macho axe handles including a great one to the floor. I mean he's clearly a Savage acolyte anyway so it's a pretty lateral transition. And as I'm typing that I'm realizing that means we might see him doing a bunch of Hogan cosplay here and....and  man that sounds lame. But Dream is one of my absolute favorites this year. I think he's improved incredibly in the past two years and if he can make some Chikara horsehit work then he might be top 25 in the world. It's a big if though. And there is some Hogan cosplay, but mainly with a legdrop and boot, which is something you can work into your offense. He's not out there working a death days Charlie Haas gimmick or anything. And I like a lot of this but really loved the moment where Dream locks in a ringpost figure 4 on Ciampa's chronically bad knee. Not only because ringpost figure 4s fucking own, but we get a surprising tap from Ciampa while the ref isn't looking, and it's cool because maybe he did it to break the hold, maybe he did it because Dream beat him. Once Dream starts working the knee it gets really good, and I liked the figure 4 drama, liked the big dramatic spill on the floor...but fully expected and was fully annoyed by Ciampa limping around on one leg, but still doing every single bit of his offense that involves dropping Dream onto his own hurt knee. "Oooooooo my kneeeeeee!!! Whelp, time to powerbomb a guy onto my knee!" The finishing stretch was both hot, and kind of long winded. There were some awesome moments and awesome nearfalls. I loved how all of the DDTs were set up: Dream jumped off the top but stopped short and caught Ciampa's boot, got kicked to the floor and got planted with the DDT coming back in. Great set up for that DDT. On the floor both flew over the announce desk but Dream caught him with the rolling death valley driver and rolled him in to plant the elbow for a great nearfall. The Dream DDT on the belt looked great, we got Dream crashing and burning to the floor on a crazy missed elbow, tremendous bump, and the match finishing hanging DDT on the metal joining the two rings was an awesome use of a ring. That metal grating is never there otherwise, and it feels like a great Finlay idea to utilize that into a unique finish. But I think there was some unnecessary excess and wasted time, and I think we had some unrealistic kickouts instead of creating actual drama. I don't think this was far from being a really good match, and I thought Dream looked fantastic (getting a little bored with Ciampa's whole thing at this point), but I don't think this quite got there.

WarGames Match: Undisputed Era vs. War Raiders/Pete Dunne/Ricochet

ER: Man those shark cages are dorky as all hell. And Adam Cole was not at all the guy I wanted to see wrestling this entire match. But at least they're smart and put the heels up 2 to 1. It's insane how often that gets screwed up. Everybody screw over Roderick Strong on his entrance, doing all of their selling at the same time in the ring farthest from the cage door. So Strong runs in like a house on fire and has to run through a fucking Double Dare obstacle course to get to everybody standing around watching him like an idiot. And this whole match is just a reallllllll...slog. First off, you know a WarGames with no blood is just always going to be lame as hell. One of the first VHS wrestling tapes I rented from the video store was the big beautiful Great American Bash '87 clamshell, with two different WarGames: THE MATCH BEYOND matches. I was WWF only at this point in my life, and the wrestling I was so used to was so much more...grimy and violent than I was used to. I knew most of the wrestlers in those '87 matches, most had been in the era of WWF that was my first wrestling, but it felt so different than the wrestling I had been watching. This didn't feel grimy or violent. It felt like a series of uninterestingly laid out spots. It had some of the sloppiness of a big CZW cage match, but without any of the grime or violence. There are always going to be good moments from something like this, but my god I was so young when this match began. Mauro says "It must be a nightmare for all involved" and it's the only time he's made sense tonight. This match is a neverending nightmare of a match. If I was King of the References Mauro Ranallo I would say "This match is such an unending nightmare that I'm begging for Freddy Krueger to appear and rip me apart asshole to throat!" Ricochet had some big flying spots (including 7 guys managing to miss catching him on his huge backflip senton), and there was an awesome moment where Rowe alley-ooped Fish into a killer Hanson powerslam, but man did this whole thing draaaaag. I can't decide if the stupid 8 man dude Christmas tree powerbomb off the ropes was really really stupid or just really stupid, but I was laughing hard enough that it didn't really matter.

ER: This was easily the worst TakeOver that I've watched, with few positives. Velveteen Dream delivered huge, but a lot of the match structures felt like they failed huge. And really, Mauro turned in a show long atrocious performance. He stinks.

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