NXT Takeover: War Games 2020 Predictions

 

So normally I would do audio to preview a pay-per-view, however, WWE put as much effort into building this show as I am in previewing it so here we are, this show gets the article treatment because I can't bring myself to do audio about this show when there's really only three matches with a story to talk about.  The fact there's no World title match, and no Women's title match, is really annoying.  So lets get right into the matches for this show.

Strap Match

Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes

This feud should have ended after their match at Halloween Havoc, I don't understand why it's still going on at all.  They tried a blindfold match, which doesn't work without a full crowd, now they are having a strap match.  Dexter Lumis is one of those characters that is very hard to see him get his career to new heights because his character work is so strong that he's almost in Fiend territory, a character so strong that he never needs to win a championship.  Cameron Grimes has great reactions, he is so good at playing a heel who is cocky, but when he doesn't want to do something he comes off as a chicken shit.  His facials, his reactions, are perfect.  This match is probably going to be very one sided, and Lumis is surely going to win, again.  What does that mean for these two after the fact, Lumis could still win championships in NXT, he was supposed to be in the North American Championship Ladder match but missed it due to injury.  Cameron Grimes keeps losing but that doesn't seem to matter in NXT anymore.  Either way, Lumis is winning here.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher

I'm very intrigued by this match, but, the result is very obvious.  There's no way Thatcher is winning here.  I've said in the past, If Ciampa isn't going to Raw or Smackdown, what else is there for him to do except to put people over, however it's very clear to me and many there's no way Thatcher is winning here, should he absolutely, he needs it more, it's just not gonna happen.  Before this "feud" if you could call it that, Thatcher was losing all the time and still getting title shots (sound familiar).  So based on Vince McMahon logic this match doesn't matter because Thatcher could lose and get a world title shot tomorrow.  This should be a very good match regardless of the stupidity that is WWE booking.

North American Championship

Leon Ruff (c) vs. Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano

Leon Ruff is really good, they originally made his title win out to be a joke to embarrass Gargano, which I get, but there's no reason to continue to make Ruff out to be a joke after that.  In the rematch they had Priest punch Ruff just so he'd win by DQ which was dumb.  The right thing to do would have been for Ruff to win on his own without Priest's help.  So here we are a triple threat, where Ruff needs to win clean and prove once and for all that he's not a joke.  He needs to win on his own, and not by Gargano and Priest killing each other and Ruff stealing the pin.  Instead of doing what they always do, let this guy win clean, because neither of the other two need this win at all.  I'm looking forward to this match because everyone is really good.  Just like Ciampa I don't know what Johnny Gargano has left to do except put people over, and not win unlike Ciampa.  Damian Priest needs to move to the next level, and I wouldn't mind world title feud with him in NXT before he inevitably goes to the main roster and hopefully doesn't get ruined.

War Games Match

Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley, and Ember Moon) vs. Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Toni Storm, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez)

The story that got us here was that Candice destroyed Shotzi's tank for costing her the title at Halloween Havoc.  We later found out the tank means more to Shotzi because of her family tie's to the military and that's fine, but why does the women's champion need to be involved?  Rhea and Io had an amazing match a few weeks ago on NXT television, a match that could have easily been on this show.  The champion doesn't need to be in this match at all and that's my only thing I hate about this.  Other then that I'm super excited for this match and I also don't understand why Toni Storm turned and joined the heel team, when Indi Hartwell was there.  It should be a great match, and this is the first time ever I think in War Games history that the face team has the advantage, which means something is surely going to happen where someone on team Shotzi gets taken out and shows up later in the middle of the match, my guess is it will be Ember or Rhea.  Team Shotzi has to win this, I don't see any reason for Team Candice to win.  I don't know what WWE is doing with Candice at all, she should go to Raw or Smackdown but if she's staying in NXT because Johnny doesn't want to leave that's a problem.  NXT's women's division is stacked beyond belief there's loads of talent here and I'm super excited for this match.  Shotzi needs to win this.

War Games Match

Undisputed Era vs. Team McAfee

It seems to me, the recent promos by Undisputed Era leading to this, were them preparing to break up.  Is it time for that, I don't know, because they are really good as a group.  However, I don't think it makes much sense for Team McAfee to lose here.  Undisputed Era is already over, if it's time for them to go their separate ways, then them losing is the the right way to go.  This will be an amazing match for sure.  Pat McAfee is really good, at everything he does, his promos setting this up have been amazing, Lorcan and Burch are finally get their shot, and it's about time, and Pete Dunne is one of the best workers in the world and this win would catapult him to the next level.  I'm so excited for this match it's gonna be really really good, and If the Undisputed Era wins that's fine but that would hurt more then help.  I don't what would be next for Undisputed Era win or lose, is one of the members gonna turn?  Is the loss going to being the story of them slowly breaking up, I don't know it's very intriguing to me and I hope it doesn't get screwed up.

So that's gonna do it for me, I hope everyone enjoys this show, despite the stories not all being great, but the matches are expected to all be good and hopefully the stories improve over time because there hasn't be a lot of great stories in NXT since the move to USA, probably because Vince McMahon's influence, I hope that changes but it probably won't.  Enjoy the show and the matches, thanks for supporting me, and look out for articles and audio recordings down the line.  Thanks.