Last night was awesome! Here's a report on some of the stuff that probably wasn't seen, and additional feedback.
Taped Matches for Wednesday
- Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville - The strikes seemed insane in this match. Good all around match.
- Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne - We thought we were watching the match of the night, and it was only the second match in. It probably finished 3rd, maybe 4th on the night...as the card was just so good. Definitely worth watching Wednesday.
Takeover Card
- Lars Sullivan vs. Ohno was the low spot for the night, but it served its purpose to get Sullivan over.
- Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream - incredible storytelling. The crowd (surprisingly) was behind Velveteen Dream for a lot of it. We sat right next to the setup and entrance for Black, so it was awesome getting to see him get ready and be elevated.
- Women's Match - we felt was too short, but was great overall. Crowd popped for the Ember Moon win, and were hot to see both Regal and Asuka.
- Drew McIntyre vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas - much better than expected! I don't know how it looked on TV, but Drew looked like he got hurt at one point. After the match (probably during the replays), ref through the X up, and we saw a doctor run from backstage (near where we were sitting) all the way to the ring to check on him. Cameras were following Almas up the ramp and celebrating while the doctor was checking Drew's shoulder or arm. Drew was then selling the injury going up the ramp at the end, and as soon as the cameras cut and darkness came, Drew looked pretty pissed off/disappointed (more than losing the match).
- War Games was incredible! There were so many great spots here, and it was easily the match of the night (and possibly the year).
* The crowd was standing for the entire match.
* After the Undisputed Era had been let into the cage, we saw a ref come from the back and give Killian Dane a chain (presumably, they forgot to bring it to the ring to lock the cage - which is why we saw the spot of Dane doing that when he entered). While this happened, someone in our section yelled "Sanity is cheating" and Alexander Wolf saw us, tried to "shh" us, then waved to us.
* Also, Killian Dane kept moving their shark cage but shaking it and rattling it so much. They had to keep pushing it back because of how much he was moving it.
* Speaking of Dane, his entrance was awesome - especially getting all of the weapons. He was about to go back into the cage, and that is where the crowd started chanting "we want tables", and it seemed like he responded to the request happily and grabbed the tables.
* Wolf's cut looked really bad, and he was being tended to for quite a bit while action was then isolated to the other ring. It looked like the doctor gave him staples through the cage during the big suplex off the cage spot. What was impressive was that he rolled into the ring for one more spot, then immediately rolled to the side of the cage for the rest of the match (with Ellering telling him to stay down kid).
* We've become accustomed to not leaving when the logo came up on the screen, but the crowd stayed for awhile after to show each of the team's respect and support as they were leaving the ring.
Notes
- Crowd was hot the whole night
- It's incredible to see how Sanity is always in character. Example, Nikki Cross came out first for the women's match, and then knelt in the corner facing her opponents during their entrances like a sadistic wolf ready to pounce. Also, Alexander Wolf was laughing and cracking up hysterically as they were about to return to the back - all while he was still bleeding pretty badly. The crowd kept chanting Wolf! and he turned to wave to us before disappearing to the back.
- The VIP chairs up front kept sucking the spotlighted people into some vortex (as they weren't there long after being shown on tv) and then finding new people to feature/disappear.
TL; DR - NXT: War Games (in person) was absolutely incredible