Three matches have been added to next month’s TakeOver event.
During tonight’s episode of NXT, General Manager William Regal made the announcement that the Velveteen Dream will challenge Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT title. After he made that announcement, Aleister Black walked up to Regal and demanded that he get a piece of Johnny Gargano, who revealed himself to be Black’s attacker last week. Regal said Gargano was at home tonight, but would make the match for TakeOver.
A third match was made at the end of the night when a huge brawl outside of the Full Sail arena erupted between all four members of the Undisputed Era and the team of Pete Dunne, Ricochet and the War Raiders, which eventually made its way to ringside. Once the Undisputed Era were sent packing, William Regal came out and made the match between the four for TakeOver inside the WarGames cage.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angles, California on November 17, one day prior to Survivor Series.
Note: This article contains spoilers from tonight’s NXT tapings.
The participants for this year’s WarGames were announced at tonight’s NXT tapings at Full Sail University.
This year’s match will be a 4 vs 4 bout. It will pit the team of Ricochet, Pete Dunne and the War Raiders against the Undisputed Era: Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong. The Undisputed Era have attacked their opponents for weeks now, including interfering during a match between Pete Dunne and Ricochet that was for both the North American and United Kingdom titles.
The match announcement came during the tapings when the Undisputed Era were cutting a promo backstage. The War Raiders interrupted and attacked, destroying the set. It ended up spilling into the back lot of Full Sail where both Ricochet and Pete Dunne eventually joined in. Regal then made the announcement.
Later during the tapings, a match was made to determine who will have the advantage inside WarGames. After a ton of interference between both teams, Kyle O’Reilly defeated Hanson after a belt shot to score the advantage for the Undisputed Era.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on November 17, the day before Survivor Series.
Drew McIntyre may have suffered a torn bicep near the finish of his match with Andrade “Cien” Almas tonight at NXT TakeOver: War Games.
At the end of the match, McIntyre held onto the top rope with his left arm while being given a DDT off the top. McIntyre grabbed his bicep after and was receiving medical attention following the match.
That DDT was the finish to the match, which saw Almas win the NXT Championship from McIntyre.
In his post-show interview on Facebook Live, Triple H said that McIntyre might have torn his bicep, would be undergoing an MRI on Sunday to determine the extent of the injury, and could have surgery this week depending on the results of the MRI.
McIntyre also spoke about the injury in a promo after the show, saying it probably wasn’t good but he wouldn’t know anything official until talking to the doctor.
While speaking with the pro wrestling media ahead of Saturday’s NXT TakeOver special, Triple H discussed bringing War Games to a new generation of fans and confirmed another change from the original concept.
“We’re not gonna have a roof,” Triple H said on a conference call today. “I think it’s a little bit limiting. I think the style has changed. Not saying that anybody is gonna do it in this match, but I think going forward as War Games becomes — I try to think about the future. Look, Arn Anderson wasn’t doing moonsaults off the top of the cage. So, I think there’s a difference in how the business is done. This allows for there to a be a little bit of a different opportunity to do some things. I don’t feel, personally, that we have changed the concept of what it is.”
Though the rules have been tweaked, Triple H said he thinks they work better for today’s generation. And while there are some changes, he said the match is still about teams “going to war” and it worked with the storyline that The Undisputed Era, SAnitY, and The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong are involved in.
Triple H noted that WWE using War Games and Starrcade this month was a coincidence and the decisions were made independently. He said he’s always been interested in bringing back War Games and has been looking for the right time since NXT started up. He called TakeOver: War Games a chance to take something from the past into the future and slightly reinvent it while still staying consistent with Dusty Rhodes’ vision.
WWE revealed the official rules for War Games earlier this month. There will be a cage that surrounds two rings, with someone from each team starting the match. The remaining members of the teams will be kept in shark cages near the entranceway. After five minutes, the two other wrestlers from one team will enter the ring. There will then be two three-minute periods until the members of the other teams are allowed in. Once that happens, the match can be won by pinfall or submission.
Subscribers can listen to the full audio of today’s conference call below:
Johnny Gargano will be challenging for Pete Dunne’s WWE United Kingdom Championship in Houston, Texas on November 18th, but it won’t be part of NXT’s TakeOver: War Games broadcast.
WWE announced the match yesterday while noting that being at the event is the only way to see it live. Given that wording, it seems likely that Dunne vs. Gargano will be part of the usual television tapings prior to TakeOver and will end up airing on NXT TV.
Gargano will become the first wrestler who isn’t from the UK to challenge for the title since it came into existence earlier this year.
Before TakeOver, Dunne will also be appearing at NXT’s house show in San Antonio (which goes against an ROH show in the city on the same night) on November 17th. He’ll be teaming with Mark Andrews against Tyler Bate & Trent Seven, with Shawn Michaels refereeing the night’s Drew McIntyre vs. Adam Cole NXT Championship main event.
Dunne made his Raw debut in a cameo this week, defeating Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore in a non-title match. Amore then got a win against Bate as wrestlers from the UK division were featured on 205 Live last night.
There will be a steel cage that surrounds two rings.
A member from each team will start the match, with there being three separate shark cages near the entranceway that the other wrestlers are put in before they enter.
After five minutes, the remaining two members from one team will be let out of their shark cage and into the ring. Following that, there will be a three-minute period until the next team’s wrestlers are let in. There will then be a final three-minute period until the last team’s members are allowed to join the match.
The match can be won by pinfall or submission once all of the teams have fully entered.
The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly), SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain), and Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain will be the three teams involved in War Games, which is the first time WWE has used the concept since acquiring WCW in 2001.
The Toyota Center in Houston, Texas will host NXT TakeOver: War Games on November 18th. Other matches that have been confirmed for the show are Drew McIntyre defending his NXT Championship against Andrade “Cien” Almas, Kairi Sane vs. Peyton Royce vs. Ember Moon vs. Nikki Cross for the vacant Women’s title, and Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream.
