Tag: wargames

Daily Update: WarGames preview, Elijah Burke, AJPW notes

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

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WON NEWSLETTER: November 29, 2021 Observer Newsletter: Survivor Series review, NJPW vs. NOAH show announced

In this week’s issue: 

The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 that became a major news story this week led to Japan closing its borders.

The announcement was made that as of 11/30, travelers could not come to the country, but it is not what it sounds like.

This will have some effect on the pro wrestling business. Basically wrestlers who have already obtained working visas will be able to return, and it’s been confirmed that Will Ospreay would be working the Tokyo Dome in the main event on 1/5 against the winner of the Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada IWGP title match the night before. There was a one day period where New Japan officials were trying to get clearance for this and there was no answer regarding those leaving the country or those not in the country.

Those who have been in Japan over the past year, people like Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, KENTA and announcer Kevin Kelly (who will be staying in Japan from January through March and doing live English broadcasts of all the major shows until the end of the New Japan Cup) will all be allowed to come to Japan or in some cases stay in Japan.

Current subscribers click here to read.

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

We’ve got two shows up from yesterday. I did the annual Hall of Fame show with Garrett Gonzalez and Pat Laprade on Saturday, as well as a show covering AAA TripleMania, UFC, Smackdown, Rampage and WWE schedule news last night with Bryan Alvarez. Bryan and Lance Storm will be talking about the NXT show tonight.

NXT WarGames tonight. This feels like the least anticipated NXT special to date. Denise Salcedo of this site will be doing the pre-game show.

  • Roderick Strong vs. Joe Gacy for the cruiserweight title: Gacy isn’t a cruiserweight but it’s still up. If Gacy wins, this turns into the All Inclusive title meaning no weight limit or gender limit. Match should be good given Strong is in it. Gacy can go as well although the nature of the character should be that his wins are flukes. Strong is listed as a -185 favorite to retain at BetOnline.
  • Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner for the tag titles. Actually this should be great since O’Reilly is likely selling most of the way and Imperium is super underrated. Imperium is at -200 to retain.
  • Cameron Grimes vs. Duke Hudson hair vs. hair. Grimes is always entertaining. The odds are -120 each so it’s even odds.
  • Women’s War Games with Dakota Kai & Mandy Rose & Jayce Jayne & Gigi Dolin vs. Io Shirai & Raquel Gonzalez & Kay Lee Ray & Cora Jade has some inexperienced people in a tornado match that can get messy.  No doubt there will be some high risk stuff.  The faces have the advantage and are slight favorites at -125.
  • Men’s War Games with Grayson Waller & Carmelo Hayes & Bron Breakker & Tony D’Angelo vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano & Pete Dunne & LA Knight. Breakker has had 11 matches although he’s one of the best wrestlers at that level of experience you’ll ever see.  D’Angelo has had three short matches, so this is asking a lot of him. Still, Ciampa, Gargano and Dunne are three of the best  Likely because people expect Gargano to lose,which has made the Breakker team a -200 favorite.

As far as Google searches for the week, Clay Guida was No. 13 coming off his big win last night for today with 20,000 searches. Last night UFC was No. 7 out of all topics, while boxers Gervonta Davis was No. 9 and Devin Haney was No. 11, all at the 200,000 range. There was nothing pro wrestling related that cracked the list.

For today, we’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s AAA TripleMania and today’s NXT War Games shows, you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]  We’re also looking for reports on all the major weekend shows, notably tonight’s WWE house show in Corpus Christi, TX.

Regarding Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar as the main event for Day One, this is scheduled to be  a multi-match series and this being one of the matches in the series.

For tomorrow night’s Raw, so far announced is Big E vs. Kevin Owens non-title cage match, Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan for the women’s title and Miz TV with Edge.

Elijah Burke, who was injured on last night’s NWA PPV show, was released from the hospital this morning. The belief is that he suffered a concussion.

That was a really classy deal UFC did last night with the video package on the late Suzy Friton, who passed away back in September from cancer. They had already aired a package when she passed away, but did so again partially to push the Stuart Scott Foundation. They also showed footage of Scott training in MMA later in his life and noted that if he was alive, and if ESPN got the UFC deal that he’d have likely been regularly covering it.

GCW from yesterday in Dallas, TX: Joey Janela b ASF, Tony Deppen b Demonic Flamita, Atticus Cogar NC Jordan Oliver, Blake Christian b Jack Cartwheel, AJ Gray & Matthew Justice b Alex Colon & Sadika, Fuego del Sol won scramble match over Drago Kid, Gringo Loco, Nick Wayne and Sam Stackhouse, Mark & Jay Briscoe kept the tag titles over Ninja Mack & Dante Leon, Thunder Rosa b Allie Katch (said to be tremendous with 50/50 crowd and was told it was a ****1/2 match, John Wayne Murdoch b Jimmy Lloyd in a death match. (thanks to Dave Doyle)

WWE

  • First day for Smackdown at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on 1/28 was 2,721 tickets out.
  • Tickets for these shows will have a presale on Wednesday:
    1/21 Smackdown in Nashville
    1/23 house show in Huntington, WV
    1/24 Raw in Toledo
    2/21 Raw in Columbia, SC
    2/25 Smackdown in Hershey, PA
    3/4 Smackdown in Miami at the FTX Arena
    3/11 Smackdown in Birmingham, AL at the Legacy Arena
    3/12 house show in Columbus, GA
    3/13 house show in Savannah, GA
    3/14 Raw in Jacksonville, FL
    3/19 house show in Springfield, IL
    3/20 Raw in Moline, IL

AEW

  • Winter is Coming for 12/15 is now less than 500 tickets from sold out, so it should be a sellout of roughly 6,000 in Garland, TX, which would be the best showing the company has done at the Curtis Culwell Center to date. The show is on that date because the NFL owners meetings are in Dallas. This week’s show at the UBS Arena is at about 8,800. It won’t sell out but obviously will do well ahead of what Raw did in the same building on Monday and easily double the paid attendance.
  • For the AEW shows on 1/19 and 1/21 in Washington, DC, the first day for Dynamite is at more than 3,000 with 888 left, although with such a small building we thought it could go immediately.  Rampage’s first day was 2,400, so it may not sellout.(thanks to William Zdon and Wrestletix)

OTHER NOTES

  • Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi won the 45th annual All Japan year-end tag team tournament today at Korakuen Hall beating Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi in the finals.
  • Naoya Nomura, who has been out of action with a spinal injury said he is leaving All Japan at the end of this year but wanted one last match.
  • Jake Lee vs. Abdullah Kobayashi will be the annual first week of the year Triple Crown title match on 1/2 at Korakuen Hall.
  • All Japan also announced a Junior Battle of Glory tag team tournament on 12/26.
  • Konosuke Takeshita beat Yuki Ueno to win the D-Oh tournament final in DDT earlier today at Korakuen Hall.  Minoru Suzuki will be on the 12/26 DDT show at the Yoyogi Gym.
  • Combate Global next Sunday on Paramount+ and Univision has a $100,000 one-night eight-man tournament from Miami starting at 10 p.m. Eastern.  The idea is eight fighters representing eight countries in the bantamweight division.  The first round matches are Carlos Briseno (13-2) of Mexico vs. Cristian Barrazza (7-3) from Chile, Frans Miambo (10-5) of Ireland vs. Jose Zarauz (22-8-1) of Peru, Leo Muniz (6-1) of the U.S. vs Pierre Daguzan (6-5) of France and Kevin Cordero (12-2) of Spain vs. Luciano Ramos (8-6) of Argentina.
  • Ruby Soho vs. Josh Alexander was announced for AAW’s 12/30 show at the Logan Square Arena in Chicago.
  • Yesterday on CBS announcer Brad Nessler during the Alabama vs. Georgia game said that Ric Flair was his old friend and quoted his “To be the man” quote. (thanks to Barry Werner)
  • PWA Black Label from Friday night in Sydney, Australia before a sellout 400 fans:  Ricky South b Carter Deams, Billy Preston won over Big Fudge, Jimmy Townsend and Rhys Angel, Kingsley & Jack Bonza b Belinda Pierce & Aaron Jake, Shazza McKenzie b Cherry Stephens, Slex & Mitch Waterman & Caveman Ugg b Paris De Silver & Jude London & Matt Diamond (told this was great), Jessica Troy & Unsocial Jordan b Lyrebird Luchi & Matt Rogers, Juan Direction won over Kai Drake and Michael Spencer, Mick Moretti b Sam Osborne to win the PWA title.  Next show is 12/19 with a PWA vs. MCW Worlds Collide show from Melbourne (thanks to Paul Robinson)
  • Great Lakes Wrestling drew a sellout 2,100 fans last night in Waukesha, WI, one  of the biggest indie crowds of the year, for the first independent appearance by Adam Scherr, the former Braun Strowman.  Xavier Mustafa won Battle Royal, Russ Jones b Koda Jacobs, Joey Avalon b Shannon Moore, Swoggle & Dustin Jackson & Luscious Lawrence & TW 3 b Drew Hernandez & Dark Klouds & Tony Gun, Joe Doering b Cash Flo, Mike Curkov & Austin & Colten Gunn b Kevin Fertig & Jeff Luxon & Ryan Kross, Linda Kay & ODB & Sierra b Serena Deeb & Haley J & Rayvin Reddix, Jessie Godderz b Kal Herro to keep the OVW title, Backwoods Brown b Val Venis to keep the Great Lakes title, Adam Scherr & EC 3 b Jake Something & Rohit Raju
  • Masato Tanaka has a singles match with Naomichi Marufuji on Tuesday at Korakuen Hall.
  • Beyond Wrestling’s show this afternoon in IWTV has Alex Shelley defending their world title against Ruby Soho in the main event.  Blake Christian, Wheeler Yuta, Kimber Lee, Tracy Williams, Dutch and others are on the show.
  • Blitzkrieg Pro from last night in Enfield, CT: Jeremy Leary & Perry Von Vicious b Eel O’Neal & Jordan Blade, Scotty Wild b J George, Rachael Ellering d Skylar, 50  Cal won over Jeff Cannonball, CPA, Danger Kid, Kaia McKenna and Armani Kayos,Max Caster b Matt Rehwoldt (Aiden English), Kirby Wackerman b Juba, Bryce Donovan b Mark Sterling (Jade’s manager), Steve Somerset & Stephan Azure b Logan Black & Chris Benne, Travis Huckabee b Carlos Romo, VSK won over Bobby Orlando, Devantes, King Crab and Aaron Rouke in a ladder match (thanks to Nick Mahmood)
  • NWA USA results from Friday night in Atlanta before 65 fans: Luke Hawx b PJ Hawx, Ariya Daivari b Jay Spade, Marshe Rockett b Anthony Mayweather, Darius Lockhart b Sal Rinauro, Natalia Markova b Kenzie Page-DQ, Kerry Morton b Jamie Stanley, Doug Williams & Nick Aldis, b Thom Latimer & Chris Adonis (Masters), Marshe Rockett b Miguel Robles, Darius Lockhart b Ariya Daivari, Austin Aries b Luke Hawx, Colby Corino b Kerry Morton, Natalia Markova b Kenzie Page, Jay Spade won four-way over Sal Rinauro, CW Anderson and Jamie Stanley, Chris Adonis b Fable Jay, Chris Adonis b Marshe Rockett, Homicide b Alex Taylor, Doug Williams b Jay Bradley, May Valentine NC Natalia Markova, Austin Aries b Ricky Morton.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Randy Savage’s final match

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Teams set for men’s and women’s WWE NXT WarGames matches

Posted on by Ethan Renner

All of the participants for the men’s and women’s WarGames matches are set following tonight’s WWE NXT episode. 

In a show-closing angle, NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne and LA Knight brawled with Bron Breakker, NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, Tony D’Angelo and Grayson Waller to set up the men’s WarGames match at the Sunday, December 5 pay-per-view. 

Hayes defeated Gargano and Dunne in a triple threat match to retain the NXT North American title with the help of D’Angelo. Waller lost to Ciampa in the show’s opening match, then brawled with Knight throughout the show backstage. 

The women’s WarGames field is also set. NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose and her Toxic Attraction teammates Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne will team with Dakota Kai against Io Shirai, Raquel Gonzalez, Cora Jade and Kay Lee Ray in the WarGames match at the pay-per-view. 

Jade defeated Rose on tonight’s show following a distraction from Ray. Ray then joined Shirai, Gonzalez and Jade in a backstage segment and declared that she is joining their team for WarGames. 

Kay Lee Ray will face Dakota Kai in a ladder match on next week’s WWE NXT to determine which side will earn the two-on-one advantage to start the pay-per-view match. 

Here is the WarGames lineup: 

WWE NXT WarGames, Sunday, December 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock and pay-per-view —

  • Men’s WarGames match: Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne & LA Knight vs. Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller & Tony D’Angelo
  • Women’s WarGames match: Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne & Dakota Kai vs. Io Shirai, Raquel Gonzalez, Cora Jade & Kay Lee Ray
  • Hair vs. Hair match: Cameron Grimes vs. Duke Hudson
  • NXT Cruiserweight Championship match: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Joe Gacy
  • NXT Tag Team Championship match: Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Von Wagner or Legado Del Fantasma

WarGames challenge issued on WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tonight’s NXT 2.0 closed with a WarGames challenge from Io Shirai.

A match between Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai ended in a DQ when Toxic Attraction came down and jumped Gonzalez. Cora Jade came in to make the save with her skateboard, but the numbers game was too much. Zoey Stark, in crutches, then brought out Io Shirai who cleared the ring with one of Stark’s crutches. Shirai then made the WarGames challenge to Toxic Attraction and Kai, who retreated to the back.

Since NXT’s relauch, Toxic Attraction have quickly dominated the NXT women’s division, with Mandy Rose defeating Raquel Gonzalez to win the NXT Women’s title at Halloween Havoc after Kai took out Gonzalez. Jacey Jayne and Gigi Dolan, meanwhile, won a ladder match featuring then-champions Zoey Stark and Io Shirai to win the titles. The following Tuesday, Toxic Attraction took out Stark by attacking her leg backstage.

NXT WarGames will take place on December 5.

AEW announces ‘Blood & Guts’ edition of Dynamite for March 25

Posted on by Bryan Rose

AEW has announced a special edition of Dynamite that will take place next month.

Tonight it was announced that Dynamite: Blood & Guts will take place on March 25th in Newark, New Jersey. The highlight of the program will be a closed cage match comprising of two rings. The term “WarGames” was never used, though the commercial indicated that “this is war”.

The term WarGames is trademarked by WWE. It was reported last year that Cody Rhodes had trademarked the term “The Match Beyond”, which was the tagline previously used to describe the WarGames match. WWE has held a number of WarGames matches under the NXT banner since 2017.

The show’s subtitle, Blood & Guts, likely comes from a term Vince McMahon used during the WWE’s Q2 earnings conference call back in July. McMahon said that while competition is good for everyone, “we’re hoping that they don’t go on with blood and guts and gory things that they have been doing. which would be bad.”

NXT TakeOver WarGames preview: Brand supremacy achieved

Posted on by Mike DellaCamera

This year’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames is when I learned to stop worrying and just love the spectacle of the whole thing.

It’s an adjustment to go from a product that is entirely storyline driven to something that is much less so, but that’s what WarGames presents every year. It’s the one time a year where NXT puts slightly less emphasis on the story, and really focuses on the spectacle…because that’s what it is.

The WarGames matches are balls to the wall fun and insanity; a testament to NXT’s ability to tell cohesive stories even when they aren’t trying to that really shows the difference between the black and gold brand and Raw/SmackDown. Where the “main roster” Survivor Series matches lack, well, anything resembling a story or heat, NXT’s storylines are full of them. Characters stay true to who they are, and while they might be putting aside personal differences for one night, or even just 40 minutes, the personal issues still very much exist.

Who has ever cared about brand supremacy? Has anyone actually cared more about Raw than SmackDown? Is there one person, alive or dead, that will insist that they are only a SmackDown fan? It’s so strange that for this four week stretch, fans are supposed to buy into the idea that not only do the wrestlers care, but that they care this damn much. Even for WWE standards, it’s nonsense.

Anyway, WarGames is here again and should be a ton of fun. These are always the cards that stack the most talent simply because of the sheer numbers involved in a WarGames match. And brother, I am here for it. Now like we always do at this time, let’s run down this four match TakeOver card.

NXT Championship No. 1 contender match: Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dane vs. Damian Priest

For a match with such high stakes, this really doesn’t feel like a big deal. The reasonable explanation is because they made this match on Tuesday when not many people were paying attention. If the company simply wants the NXT title defended on Sunday, this match makes much more sense. Everyone in the men’s WarGames match has a better claim to the title than these three, but if this exists as a one-off showcase, by all means have this match and give these guys the platform.

My lack of caring about this match is through no fault of the perfect Pete Dunne, who continues to be excellent whenever he’s in the ring, but more on the shoulders of his two dance partners. Killian Dane needs more. He needs more character and more substance before he can really matter. Right now, he’s best defined by his hair and the chaos he causes. That’s certainly something, but it’s not much and nowhere near championship match level.

NXT really, really wants us to like Damian Priest. I get that, but isn’t he just another generic big man who can move? His matches have been wholly unremarkable with the exception of the ones with Dunne and he really hasn’t done anything to pop other than just be tall. His cyclone kick is kind of cool, but his finisher is the dirt worst. A dude who is a legit 6’5” using Roll The Dice as a finisher is some create-a-wrestler bullsh*t.

Like I said before, this is just a match to get the NXT title defended on Survivor Series with no future implications. The pieces are here for something fun and exciting, and that’s exactly what this should be. Since this is most likely is just a one time thing, let Peter win this one so he and Cole can tear the house down on Sunday.

Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle

The Prince who was promised has finally, finally, finally, arrived. This is the good stuff and what wrestling dreams are made of. The level to which this dude’s natural charisma was stifled is both shocking and laughable. Getting the chance to press reset on pretty much his entire career post-NXT is wildly exciting.

What is even better is how easy it is to book Finn’s return to NXT because, well, all the guys he could wrestle range from good to drool-on-your-keyboard great. I want to see him wrestle literally every person involved in the men’s WarGames match. Dunne, Lio Rush, Angel Garza, little Moe with the gimpy leg, I could go on forever, baby. This is great. This is new and exciting, two things Prince Goddamn Devitt hasn’t been in or experienced in a long time.

With all the well deserved attention Balor has been getting, it’s important not to lose sight of one thing: Matt Riddle is the best male wrestler in NXT. The Undisputed Era have the belts, Johnny Gargano’s matches get the love, Tomasso is great, but Matt is the best. He has the best combination of look and in-ring skills of them all. He also wrestles such a unique style that fits his personality perfectly. It is all undeniably him. It is natural, organic, and it works.

There really isn’t anyone like the King of Bros. The only real, and admittedly fair, complaint with him is the mic work. He’s not suited for the meandering show opening promos that plague Raw and Smackdown, but lucky for us, NXT is neither of those things. This is just another example of letting a performer play to his tremendous strengths while masking the relative weakness.

This was supposed to be Balor vs. Gargano which is the only match that would have had a lower combined body fat percentage than this one. That match can still happen and will be great when it does, but this should be fantastic. I really hope this gets 20 minutes, so we can see Balor open up the engine. Finn has to win his first match back so this one is easy. Welcome back, Prince.

Women’s WarGames: Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray vs. Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox and Mia Yim 

If you are finally going to run an all women’s WarGames, this is a great time to do it. What better way to showcase eight of NXT’s most talented? That said, there is talent and then, there is talent. The heel team in this match is the latter. How can anyone truly expect the babyface team to win? Who would even want that team to win? Just look at it:

  • The person with more days as champion than anyone in NXT
  • A future champion who should already be at the top of the card 
  • A Scottish lady who could kill me
  • The goddamn genius of the sky 

These four would stomp out the entire Undisputed Era in the time it takes them to make their convoluted hand taunt. Did you know they were making a U and an E with their hands? I had no idea. I love this team so much and i would let every single one of them open multiple lines of credit in my name and ruin my life.

The other team in this match is also very good, but they just can’t possibly compare. In the interest of creating a parallel structure in this preview, here are some bullets about the other team:

  • Frightening Hot Topic lady who is way too young to be this good
  • The best pure babyface in NXT if they let her show it
  • An excellent wrestler with two knee braces and a great crowd connection
  • Mia Yim

They are all talented, but the team just isn’t at the same level as the others. That might sound like an insult, but it really isn’t. More than anything, this shows the incredible depth and talent of the NXT women’s division. That’s a common refrain in these columns for the past year or so, but that doesn’t make it any less true. The talent is staggering. I think it is almost an inarguable fact that this is the most female talent that has ever been in NXT. If you want to make the argument that the Four Horsewomen-era of NXT had more top-end talent, I’ll certainly listen. But top to bottom, there is just an obscene amount of talent and they are only getting better.

One would think that Dakota Kai comes into play during this match, either as a replacement for Mia Yim if she can’t go or somehow foiling outside interference from the heel side. The popular Internet idea that I would love to see happen is Yim turn on her team and join Baszler/Shafir/Duke. It would be great if someone else in that crew besides Shayna could, you know, wrestle. Heels take it. Io forever.

Men’s WarGames: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish) vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic and ?

I’m trusting NXT to not push the overwhelmingly easy narrative of “Four of these guys are a unit and the others don’t get along.” That is beyond played out and boring. It is super apparent that the Undisputed Era are a complete unit, even to the uninitiated. The matching t-shirts and entrances kind of give it away. What I really hope is that this match to sets up future title matches for all involved. Ciampa has an easy and obvious claim to the NXT title. While Lee and Dijakovic have already wrestled for the North American championship and even though it’s played out, I wouldn’t mind seeing them team up to go after the tag team belts. Any combination of wrestlers in this match can’t go wrong.

The real intrigue is in who the fourth member of Team Ciampa will be. Papa Hunter said it’s going to be a surprise and probably a good one. The only lame selection I can think of is Johnny Gargano. The other answer would have been a returning Finn Balor, but obviously, he has already returned. Since it has been established that NXT character alignments don’t matter all that much on Raw and Smackdown, is the opposite true? If so, the best person is Sami Zayn. Imagine that pop for a minute.

His music hits and the roof blows off the Allstate Arena. He was the perfect NXT champion, and in my opinion, the best NXT wrestler full stop. You can argue that Balor brought NXT to where it is now, but Zayn poured the foundation for what became the NXT castle. If not him, who else? Who else really makes an impact? Would they really let Kevin Owens or Seth Rollins pull double duty? A returning Samoa Joe would be almost as beautiful as Sami if only so he could turn on his team. The more I write about it, the more I want it. I need it. I need Sami Zayn back in NXT even if it’s only for one night.

I don’t really care who wins this match. Rather, I just care about how it sets up the next few weeks of NXT. Since the Undisputed Era won the ladder match to gain an advantage in the match, let’s say that Ciampa and the “good guys” take this one. Just please give me Sami Zayn if only for one night, una noche.

Mike DellaCamera’s favorite day of the week is now Wednesday and he loves leftovers. Find him on Twitter.

Baszler vs. Kai set for NXT, more WarGames participants confirmed

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The lineup for the first-ever women’s WarGames match is almost officially set.

WWE has confirmed that Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae will be on Rhea Ripley’s team for TakeOver: WarGames, while Bianca Belair and Io Shirai will be on Shayna Baszler’s team. It will be a four-on-four match, with the last member of each team yet to be revealed.

Ripley and Baszler appeared on WWE’s The Bump this morning and announced their first two team members. Ripley was asked about Dakota Kai potentially being the final member of her team. Ripley said she’s thought about Kai, but she needs the best fighters she can find. Baszler wanted Ripley to choose Kai and said she would be a wasted pick.

Kai tweeted that she’ll prove to Ripley that she should be on her team, which set up WWE announcing NXT Women’s Champion Baszler vs. Kai in a non-title match for tonight’s episode of NXT.

To explain why Baszler hasn’t picked Marina Shafir or Jessamyn Duke for her team yet, Baszler said she knows you need friends on the outside in a WarGames match.

The Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois is hosting this year’s TakeOver: WarGames on Saturday, November 23. That’s the night before Survivor Series.

At Survivor Series, Baszler will face Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley in a non-title triple threat match.

First-ever women’s WarGames match set for NXT TakeOver

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The NXT women’s division will collide in the first-ever women’s WarGames match next month.

During tonight’s episode of NXT, it was announced that a women’s WarGames match will take place at TakeOver: WarGames in Rosemont, Illinois on Saturday, November 23. The special is taking place at the Allstate Arena.

The announcement came after a brawl that took place on tonight’s NXT. The full list of participants for the WarGames match hasn’t been confirmed, but Rhea Ripley and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler were announced as the team captains.

Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox were on the babyface side of tonight’s brawl, while Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir were on the heel side. The brawl happened when Baszler, Duke & Shafir came to the ring after Kai & Nox lost to Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Kairi Sane.

WWE announced Ripley and Baszler as the captains via CBS Sports, who wrote that “a promo was aired earlier in the show for Mia Yim, who could even out the sides.”

There will also be a men’s WarGames match at next month’s TakeOver.

NXT post-TakeOver conference call audio with Paul ‘HHH’ Levesque

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE.com

After Saturday’s well-received NXT TakeOver show, WWE COO Paul “HHH” Levesque held a conference call to discuss the show, one he was extremely happy with.

The full audio of the call can be heard below.

He said the only thing he was upset about was having to deal with his arm brace as he was getting excited all night for the show. 

Levesque said that Tommaso Ciampa Is “operating at a whole new level” right now while he has to “remind myself Dream is 23 years old. It’s scary to think where he is now and where he will be.”.

When asked about why he said there were going to be four matches instead of the five that ended up happening, he joked, “I lied to you.” They wanted to create a shocking moment with the match itself and the flash KO.

He was asked about the experimentation NXT is using by having the Content Experimentation Lab and how/why they are trying new things like the wristbands used by fans during the show and the Virtual Reality footage they shot tonight.

He gave updates on how Bobby Fish and Pete Dunne are doing after a physically taxing WarGames match.

Hear that and more by clicking below:

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WWE bringing back War Games for NXT TakeOver: Houston

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Image: JJ Williams

WWE is bringing back War Games for NXT TakeOver: Houston.

It was announced during tonight’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University that The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly), SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain), and Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain would be facing off in a War Games match next month. It’s the first time that WWE has used the match type since acquiring WCW in 2001.

JJ Williams, our NXT reporter, notes that he believes the match was announced as having two rings like traditional War Games matches had.

There was an angle on the tapings where Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly continued to try and get Strong to join their group. The three caused a disqualification in a tag title match between SAnitY and AOP, then Strong teased putting on Undisputed Era’s armband before attacking Cole. AOP then made the save for Strong after The Undisputed Era regained control, with William Regal announcing the match for TakeOver.

Tonight’s tapings featured the final build to TakeOver, which will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 18th. The venue will also host Survivor Series the next night.

UPDATE: It appears that the name of the TakeOver show in Houston will be NXT TakeOver: War Games.