WWE NXT War Games; Match Card and Predictions

NXT Takeover shows are always primed to steal the weekend from WWE main roster pay per views, and this Survivor Series weekend.  That’s no knock on Survivor series which, though it tends to be the forgotten child of the big four, I think last year’s show proved that when the brands are separate Survivor Series feels like a much bigger deal.  Speaking of big deals war games is making its return seventeen years after the last war games match, and twenty years after the last true war games match by the original rules.  The return of WCW’s most infamous match headlines a sneaky good undercard.

First Match: Kassius Ohno vs Lars Sullivan

If you’re not a regular watcher of NXT you might have missed the rise of Lars Sullivan.  The guy is fairly typical monster type wrestler, the guy is built like a brick shithouse and ugly as sin.  He’s a bit of a throwback to the NWA style of monster heel, as opposed to the more over the top monsters (i.e. Braun Strowman) that the WWE try to push.  Kassius is a well traveled, talented worker, and natural babyface, which is probably why he got tapped to go with Sullivan.  Ohno can make Sullivan look good and sell a beating that will get a reaction from the crowd.  Ohno also is a striker so one big elbow could pull the fans in for a false finish then Lars breaks their hearts with his finisher.

Prediction: Lars goes over in a dominant way that cements him as a real threat.

Second Match: Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream

For those of you who haven’t been watching I’d say the best way to describe Velveteen Dream is an egomaniacal millennial version of Golddust.  Psychological warfare via sexual confusion is a tried and true gimmick in wrestling going all the way back to Gorgeous George, Velveteen is the newest update and has been handled pretty well.  The focus of this feud is that Black refuses to acknowledge Velveteen, this lack of attention and respect makes Velveteen desperate.  In terms of Psychology this will probably be the match of the night.

Prediction:  Black wins but Velveteen puts up enough of a fight for him to gain a little more credibility.

Third Match:  Women’s NXT Championship Peyton Royce vs Ember Moon vs Nicki Cross vs Kari Sane

This is probably the hardest to pick, Moon has been pretty dominant in NXT since debuting a year ago, Kari Sane has all the momentum in the world after winning the Mae Young classic, Cross is crazy and entertaining.  The only person I don’t think will win is Royce but as the Heel she has a chance to play spoiler.

Prediction: Moon, she’s in her home state and has been at the top for the longest of the four.

Fourth match: NXT Championship Drew McIntyre (C) vs Andrade “Cien” Almas

The champ has taken a bit of a backseat in the build up to this card which is why I don’t think his title is really in any danger of being passed over.  Almas will give it a show and will be a competitive match but having the Champ lose when he’s not in the main event really compromises the belt.

Prediction: McIntyre Almas’ takeover woes continue

Main Event: War Games- Sanity vs Undisputed Era vs Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong

With an open roof and some tweaking to the rules this isn’t a classic NWA style of War Games.  The open roof should open things up to some real acrobatics and modern offence that the war games hasn’t seen.  This is going to be a difficult one to pull off but rumor is Triple H has been pushing for this for a while so it’s not likely he doesn’t have a plan for it and the changes they’ve made to the rules won’t factor into the psychology of the match.

Prediction: Roderick Strong turns heel and helps the Undisputed Era beatdown Sanity.  Strong seems to out of place with AoP for it not to indicate some sort of trick either that or it’s just a product of rushed booking, but I’m going in on this one and saying they go for a big dramatic heel turn.

Written By: Jason MacKinnon (@oohkillemjason)