NXT Minus 6: Ranking WWE NXT Takeover War Games (Before)

You know the drill. I rank the matches based on my excitement for them. After the show, I’ll rerank them and see what changes.

6. Dexter Lumis versus Cameron Grimes: Nothing about this match makes sense. It feels lazy. The feud should have ended at Halloween Havoc. The strap match is one of the most rare gimmick matches, and now there are two in three months?!?! The only saving grace is that Grimes is the one guy who can turn this chicken shit into chicken salad.

5. Tommaso Ciampa versus Timothy Thatcher: It breaks my heart to have this so low. Since losing to Karrion Kross, Ciampa has been lost. Where is the story? They couldn’t go with the brawler trying to out-wrestler the master? Thatcher fighting to replace Ciampa as locker room leader? Ciampa defending the honor of Thatcher’s students? Any story would be better than “I’m just looking for a fight.”   

4. Team Lerae versus Team Blackheart: There is nothing to hold this match together. The top names were thrown together simply because NXT wants to have two War Games matches. It’s random. I felt the exact same way about last year’s women’s War Games match, and it blew me away. It’ll probably happen again this year. The women’s division is just too good & nothing can slow them down. 

3. Leon Ruff versus Damian Priest versus Johnny Gargano: NXT wants this match to be all about Priest versus Gargano. For me, it’s all about Ruff. If a year ever needed a wrestler, 2020 needs Ruff. His rise has been unexpected, meteoric and entirely enjoyable. And when Ruff again defies the odds and wins this match, I’m making him my 2020 Wrestler of the Year. That’s right. I said it.

2. The match that should be #2: Instead of Ciampa versus Thatcher, I’d rather have a proper match between Grizzled Young Veterans and Imperium. Their match Wednesday night was one of the best tag matches all year, even with the DQ ending, which made perfect sense. The whole thing was done just to turn Ever-Rise face, but if we don’t get more GYV versus Imperium, then that is a major missed opportunity. 

1. Undisputed Era versus Team McAfee: So much history. So many stories. So many reasons for this match to happen. If there was ever a faction feud that deserves War Games, this is it. The brawl two weeks ago lit the wick. The UE promo this week absolutely set me on fire. I’ll watch it about 20 more times to get ready for Sunday night. It feels like they are positioning this as a potential end of an Era, and I’m all in. I expect nothing less than the best War Games match in NXT history.