Review and Recap of NXT War Games 2021
Tonight, was the first NXT special since the rebranding of NXT into NXT 2.0. There has been a lot of uncertainty about the future of NXT considering there are a lot of veterans being released and more whose contracts are coming to an end. Going into tonight, many felt like it was end of an era. Here is what went down at War Games
-Women’s War Games Match: Cora Jade, Kay Lee Ray, Raquel Gonzales and Io Sharai defeated Toxic Attraction and Dakota Kai.
-Imperium defeated Kyle O’Reilly and Von Wagner to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships
-Hair vs. Hair Match: Cameron Grimes defeated Duke Hudson
-Roderick Strong defeated Joe Gacy to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
-Men’s War Games Match: NXT 2.0 defeated NXT Black and Gold.
The opening match of NXT War Games was the Women’s War Games Match between Toxic Attraction and Dakota Kai taking on Kay Lee Ray, Cora Jade Raquel Gonzales, and Io Sharai. Even though Mandy Rose is considered a veteran, she has really reinvented herself with hew new look and new faction. She really needed to reinvent herself after she and Sonya Deville were split up. This match was absolutely wild with all the innovation of weapons and the story of Cora Jade. I am not still sure if she got injured during the match, but if she didn’t, she did a great job of making me believe that she was injured most of the match.
You will never find another great tag team partner for Kyle O’Reilly like Bobby Fish. Von Wagner has a great future, but it shouldn’t be with O’Reilly. Imperium taking on this makeshift tag team was not believable to me. WWE is getting back into its old habit of not caring about tag team, which is bothersome because they have a rich history of tag team wrestling in their company. Imperium got the victory as I expected, but after the match Wagner attempted to blindside O’Reilly but the veteran outsmarted him. What shocked me was O’Reilly flashing the hand gesture of the Undisputed Era, which to me signals the end of him in NXT.
It’s been a while since there has been Hair vs. Hair Match in WWE. I have not enjoyed Duke Hudson vs. Cameron Grimes because it just doesn’t feel like a good story. Hudson’s gimmick is somewhat of a rip off of Johnny Swinger’s Palace in Impact Wrestling, and Cameron Grimes has all the money in the world to not be in a predicament like this. Nothing about this match excited me, which is why I don’t have much to say about it. Another match that I had no excitement for was Roderick Strong versus Joe Gacy. They lifted the weight class restrictions so Gacy could challenge for the championship, which is an insult to all the cruiserweights who busted their butts to try and make the division as good it could be.
The Main Event was the NXT Originals versus NXT 2.0. This match had a lot of emotion and there was a lot of real-life stories going on before, during, and after match. The blood, sweat, and tears that went into this match was absolutely incredible. You could tell that both sides had a point to prove. It was really great to see DIY reunite one last time and have a moment between them and the fans. DIY was my first favorite tag team in NXT and both Ciampa and Gargano are two guys who I always have and always will support. Bron Breakker’s stock rose again tonight with his performance. He is definitely going to be the future face of NXT and possibly WWE. He has the look, the attitude, the skills, and the lineage to be as successful as anyone else in the company.
NXT War Games was a very solid show, but I felt like it was a forced way to have the veterans get their last moment to shine. It is very common knowledge that many NXT veterans were released or are leaving due to this new vision of NXT. It’s also common knowledge that the track record of NXT stars going to Raw or Smackdown the last several years has been terrible. The show was solid in terms of wrestling match quality, but I don’t think NXT 2.0 will ever be accepted because of how it happened and how forced the transition was. NXT War Games 2021 gets a 7 out of 10. Outside of the War Games matches, I just wasn’t into the show. Hopefully someday, I’ll be more receptive to the change.
