Match Ratings For NXT Takeover Wargames 2019 From Sean Ross Sapp

Pre Show

• NXT Takeover Pre Show says Mia Yim was attacked backstage. Mia is carried out in an ambulance and team Ripley picks Dakota Kai to replace her.
• I keep thinking of how cool it’d be to have the double ring in a WWE video game, then I remember that 2K makes WWE video games, but then I realize that the glitch videos would be amazing

Angel Garza defeated Swerve Scott

6/10

• Swerve gets caught and the two fumble a little, but Garza recovers with a throw into the buckle.
• Garza’s pants gimmick is amazing, and he throws them to Swerve and kicks him.
• Amazing slingshot reverse suplex and deep pin for Garza.
• Angel Garza just gets it.
• They’re doing everything. Death Valley Driver on the apron. This crowd is warming up.
• Swerve hits the god damndest kick I’ve seen.
• Wing Clipper wins it for Garza. This was just perfect for these two.

WarGames
Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley & Candice LeRae) defeated Team Baszler (Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, Kay Lee Ray)
8.75/10

• Everyone gets great, star reactions.
• Io and Candice start out and Io gets big chants, and Candice gets cracked trying to jump between the rings.
• Bianca is out next and does a standing star press and makes the crowd come unglued with three powerbombs.
• Ripley is out next to a HUGE ovation and brings weapons in the ring and slams the door in Bianca’s face.
• Kay Lee Ray is next. Please ban the Tower of Doom already.
• That 450 shewwwwwwww boy. Bianca got it.
• Dakota Kai is next, and does one of the all-time best NXT heel turns ever, attacking Tegan Nox. The reaction here was GUANO CRAZY. She came back for more.
• Dakota Kai with one of the best heel turns in recent memory. Predictable isn’t a negative when it rules ass.
• Tegan Nox is done for. It’s going to be 4-on-2!
• Ripley suplexes KLR into the cage.
• In-stereo hanging Kirafuda on Candice and Inverted Cloverleaf on KLR. Great spot.
• Good moonsaults from both Candice and Io. This match rules. The story rules.
• Poisonrana from the top, and then a Shirai Moonsault off the cage!
• Ripley is put in a Kirafuda after cracking KLR with a trash can.
• Ripley handcuffs herself to Baszler and Riptides her through chairs.
• RIPLEY WINS!!

Top Contender Match
Pete Dunne defeated Damian Priest and Killian Dain
8/10

• Dain Michinoku Drivers Dunne on Priest’s FACE.
• There’s a lot of great interactive work here, and Priest looks next level, Raw or Smackdown ready. He’s never out of place, never too slow, always on time.
• A double powerbomb on Dunne hits.
• Dunne kicks out of the South of Heaven.
• Priest Razor’s Edges Dunne on the announcer’s table. Dain puts Damian through the guard rail, though.
• Mauro bringing up that the winner of this doesn’t have an advantage tomorrow now is great.
• Priest Razor’s Edges Dain in an incredible physical feat, but Dunne breaks it up.
• Priest and Dain had to wait forever on that moonsault for Dunne, but production did good to not focus on it.
• Dunne and Damian reverse finishers until Dunne counters South of Heaven with an armbar. Again, there’s no rope breaks there for Priest, BUT he wouldn’t have been able to be submitted there because he would have been out of the ring, technically.
• Priest breaks up a pin after Bitter End and super huracanranas Dunne into Dain. Tornado Kicks don’t get it done, as Dain falls into the pin.
• Another Bitter End pin stopped by Dain. Dain backpack sentons.

Finn Balor defeated Matt Riddle
7/10

• Some really good chain wrestling starts things off.
• They got stiff with the strikes before a great capture suplex.
• Riddle is fighting for the German Suplex.
• Balor plays possum and captalizes.
• The pace picks up, and so does the crowd. Balor gets a Slingblade.
• Riddle doing the spear. ha! Jackhammer. Two count.
• Bloody Sunday hits for Balor!
• Bro 2 Sleep lands, but so do Balor’s knees in Riddle’s back on a twisting Swanton!
• Coup De Grace misses, it’s BroMission time.
• 1916, Balor wins. This was exceptional.

WarGames
Team Ciampa (Tommaso Ciampa, Kevin Owens, Keith Lee, & DIJAK) defeated Undisputed Era
7.5/10

• I get the surprise factor, but kind of undermines the rules to not have all the people in the match locked up.
• Kyle O’Reilly is next. Dijak follows and cleans house. He’s so much bigger than everyone else.
• Bobby Fish is next up and Ciampa is hit with Chasing the Dragon.
• They dissect the two babyfaces….until Keith Lee arrives.
• Lee gets the hottest of hot tags without an actual tag and the place comes unglued. He turns a body press into a top-of-the-line move.
• Adam Cole is out and he starts grabbing tables. He gets pushed through one.
• There’s a three-on-four face off in the ring, and apparently whoever this fourth person is doesn’t have to follow the rules and is taking his time.
• Kevin Owens is on Tommaso Ciampa’s team, and the place came UNGLUED.
• I hope they explain this and pull Owens from Team Raw tomorrow, or adjust accordingly. If he’s back on NXT full-time, that’s a giant boost. Otherwise the whole Brand Supremacy gimmick is more of a sham.
• Stunner on Cole, but the pin is broken up.
• Keith Lee flying body presses onto a pile, but O’Reilly King Kong Knee Drops Lee’s leg.
• Moonsaults, Swantons, a little bit of everything breaks up the pins.
• Strong hits a Super Olympic Slam on Lee!!
• Owens teases a Package Piledriver, but instead it’s a Panama Sunrise on the steel from Cole. Insane. Cole wails and cries.
• Ciampa hits a great powerbomb backbreaker, and racks Cole’s head with a series of running knees against the cage.
• Owens frog splashes O’Reilly, Lee superbombs Fish — both through tables.
• Ciampa does White Noise on Cole off the top of the cage, through a table. WOW. Ciampa wins.
• Britt Baker is shown on screen and referenced by name.
• Don’t let the lower rating confuse you. This was great. It was a big long, but this show was awesome.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones that may change upon a second viewing, or sitting on the match for a period of time. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!