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COMPLETE NXT TAKEOVER: WARGAMES II THOUGHTS

By Mike Johnson on 2018-11-17 21:46:00

Quick ongoing thoughts on tonight’s Takeover event:

*No real noticeable usage of the Wargames bracelets so far.  Perhaps they will come into play for the Match Beyond?

*Nice reaction Matt Riddle got coming out and that was a fun way to open the show by having him offer to face Kassius Ohno right then and there.  Great way to get him over as a legit fighter ready to go anytime.  His promo delivery reminds me of Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

*Ohno had a nice promo before getting KO’d with the knee strike.  That was nice karma for Ohno saying he would expose Riddle in a minute during the Kickoff broadcast.  I don’t think the crowd expected the flash win, but man, did they pop for it.

*Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler was the best match these two have had together.  WWE smartly had the falls start immediately after the previous one ended, wiping out the usual problem of momentum being stalled during “rest periods.”  Baszler came off like an intelligent monster here, meshing some great brawling and striking with her mat wrestling.  She looked so fierce in forcing Sane to tap in the first fall.  Sane got to show some real fire in the second fall.  That big DDT on the apron was great.  I had suspected the return of Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir tonight and had even asked Triple H about it earlier this week.  I am glad they did it because it was a natural evolution and adds to Baszler’s act.  I also really loved how they integrated all the Dakota Kai storyline bullying into the mix here with Kai trying to assist Sane.  It made sense for Io Shirai to hit the ring area and help as well and holy hell, that was one of the most beautiful moonsaults I’ve seen since The Great Muta started whipping them out in 1989 in WCW.  The finish for the final fall, with Baszler literally snatching the victory out of Sane’s hands after the Insane Elbow was just brilliant.  This was an incredibly well paced and put together match.  Really, really strong stuff here.

*Interesting to see Johnny Gargano playing up as if he’s still a babyface when he’s obviously not anymore.  

*Gargano vs. Aleister Black was very good especially as a backdrop to truly get across Gargano’s new direction.  Gargano is sort of playing a takeoff of his old EVOLVE character, where he believes he is the hero of the story even though he is not.  Black had some nice fire working over Gargano early on.  He hit a great looking tope con hilo to the outside.  Gargano is probably one of the most adept in-ring workers of this generation and he had a great mix of kicks and smooth transitions into big moves while also taking great bumps to make Black look like a one-man juggernaut.   into big moves while also taking great bumps to make Black look like a one-man juggernaut.  Gargano’s series of DDTs on the floor and into the ring looked great.  There was a great back and forth sequence of strikes leading into Gargano nailing the reverse rana (a move I wish would be retired to be honest) and finally an insane knee that brought down the house at the Staples Center.  The physicality of the match continued to rise as they got deeper into the bout.  Gargano being kicked out of mid-air as he attempted to hit a spear from between the two wrestling rings was great.  A nice face-off as Black sat in the second of the ring, daring Gargano to try and take him out with the knee strike.   Some good mind games there.  Black smashing Gargano in the face as he executed a dive to the outside was just brutal.  Gargano went deep into the mind games, begging Black to put him out of his misery and even kissing his boot, all to try and steal a victory but Black survived that and had enough, hitting him with a spinning knee that looked so good I thought he broke Gargano’s face in the moment.  Black ends up victorious, which sets him up to continue his pursuit of the NXT title and sets Gargano up as an even more embittered personality.

*No matter how you feel about Hulk Hogan, you have to love the Velveteen Dream paying tribute to Hollywood Hogan's NWO era in his ring entrance.

*Velveteen Dream vs. Tomasso Ciampa was another excellent match that basically a modern day take on the classic NWA title defenses with the physicality getting crazier as they went longer and longer. Some really good mind games being played early on by Tomasso Ciampa and The Dream early on.  Dream does a great job of taking little things that stars from the past did and making them his own.  He snapped Ciampa’s throat on the ropes the way Randy Savage used to and then later followed up with a great double axehandle.  Ciampa looked strong in beating Dream down and methodically laying waste to him.   Of course, this all led to Dream hulking up, which the crowd loved.  In terms of pure crowd engagement, Dream was the most over performer up until this point.  Just a great physical bout.  Ciampa’s knee became the focal point of Dream’s attack as the match went out, whipping out the Bret Hart ring post figure four and then another Ric Flair style figure four once they returned to the ring.   They continued going back and forth until Ciampa prepared to drill him with a DDT off the apron, but Dream shoved them both into and over the announcer’s table.  Dream missed a flying elbow off the top to the floor.  Ciampa drilled him with a DDT on the partition between the rings and finally scored the pin.  There were so many near falls and strong sequences here, it would be impossible for anyone to see this as anything but Dream being elevated even in the loss.  He’s going to headline Wrestlemania one day.  

Wargames the Match Beyond Thoughts on Page 2!


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