WWE NXT live results: TakeOver WarGames go-home show

The final build to TakeOver: WarGames takes place on tonight’s go-home edition of NXT.

The advantage for the women’s WarGames match will be on the line as Shotzi Blackheart faces Raquel Gonzalez in a ladder match tonight. It will be Team Shotzi vs. Team Candice in WarGames on Sunday.

Blackheart, Ember Moon, and Rhea Ripley have been confirmed for Team Shotzi. There’s still one member of the team left to be announced. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Gonzalez & Toni Storm will be on Team Candice.

Sunday’s men’s WarGames match will be Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish) vs. Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch). Dunne won the advantage for Team McAfee last week by defeating O’Reilly in a ladder match.

Leon Ruff defending his NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and Damian Priest in a triple threat match is also set for TakeOver, along with Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes in a strap match. WWE will continue building to those matches tonight.

Plus, tonight’s show will feature Timothy Thatcher presenting a Thatch-as-Thatch-can session. Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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The show began with somber moment. The roster and others like Triple H and Shawn Michaels were gathered onstage to honor Pat Patterson. Then a tremendous music video with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” highlighted the career of Pat Patterson. Great tribute, and the clips included Pat singing “My Way”, as he loved to do. 

Angles before the show on social media set up the opening match. Johnny Gargano was also at ringside on guest commentary.

El Legado del Fantasma attacked Curt Stallion before the show. He was apparently supposed to team with Leon Ruff. So Priest laid out Joaquin Wilde in another skit before the show. That led to Priest replacing Stallion in teaming with Ruff, and they face El Legado del Fantasma. 

The story is Priest wants to protect Ruff ahead of their title match this Sunday. Priest and Gargano challenge Rufff in a triple threat match at TakeOver.

NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff & Damian Priest defeated Santos Escobar & Raul Mendoza

Ruff pinned Mendoza, after a Reckoning by Priest during the finish.

Priest was running roughshod when he spotted someone in the crowd dressed in a Scream costume. Gargano remarked on commentary it was cool a fan dressed up the character. Priest was distracted by the Scream mask, and Escobar blindsided him with a tope. That sandwiched Priest into the chainlink barricade.

Though Priest was there to protect Ruff, Priest was ironically the one that got worked over by the heels. The rudos with heat on Priest through a commercial break. Priest fought back, but he was outnumbered. Ruff was down in the corner selling a knee strike from earlier in the match.

Ruff slowly crawled back on the apron, though he was stelling the strike from early on. Meanwhile, the rudo team targeted Priest’s leg. Priest came back with a big flatliner on Mendoza, and he tagged Ruff.

Ruff was running wild after a hot tag, yet he was unaware of a blind tag. Ruff was able to tag out. Priest back in like a house of fire mere moments after selling for minutes on end. Priest was going for his finisher when Ruff made a blind tag. Priest delivered The Reckoning, and Ruff followed with a frog splash. Ruff then covered Mendoza for a pinfall. 

A mini-doc hyped War Games. Excellent stuff.

Team Candice was backstage for a promo. Candice LeRae vowed her team will win War Games, and Raquel Gonzalez said after night their team will have the advantage. Gonzalez says Blackheart will feel like she got run over by a tank.

Cameron Grimes defeated August Grey

Grimes pinned Grey after a Cave In in a showcase match. Grey got in some offense, but Grimes dominated the bout. 

Grimes after the match cut a promo on Dexter Lumis ahead of their strap match this Sunday. Grimes then took a leather strap and used it in a demonstration. He hooked the strap to the arm of Grey, and Grimes whipped him with the strap. 

All the while, Grimes is talking trash about Lumis having no place to run in their strap match. The joke being that Grimes has done all the running away in their ongoing feud. As Grimes was yapping in the direction of the hard camera, Lumis had replaced Grey. Lumis was now attached to the strap, and he stalked Grimes. 

Grimes freaked out when he saw Lumis was behind him. Lumis pummeled him, and he whipped him with the strap. Grimes ran away fleeing the scene.

Jake Atlas defeated Tony Nese

Atlas pinned Nese after a cartwheel DDT. This was a good match, and Atlas dedicated the match to Pat Patterson. Yet it still seemed like filler. Atlas after the match at least got to cut a promo in a post-match interview.

Neither got an entrance, and the match was joined in progess like a house show bout on an old episode of Prime Time Wrestling. The show came back from a commercial break, and the bell sounded to start the match with no introductions.

During the match, there was a split screen like when the NWO would arrive to Nitro during an undercard match. Tonight it was Pat McAfee and company arriving to the building in a  yellow Hummer limousine.  

Atlas in cutting a promo after the match said this was just the beginning. He will keep moving forward towards his goal of getting another shot at the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.

Pat McAfee is a heckuva talker 

McAfee and his crew came to the ring for an in-ring promo. Continuing to prove he is a helluva talker, McAfee in a great speech build up his team in War Games. Before running down Undisputed Era, McAfee at the beginning of his promo paid tribute to Pat Patterson.

McAfee deserves some sort of award for being so great on interviews. He for sure should be inducted into the Matt Cleary Memorial House of Awesome on the B&V Show. McAfee is so dang good on the mic. 

Xia Li and Boa in a skit were the subject of a ritualistic training session.

Grizzled Young Veterans were supposed to wrestle Ever-Rise (Chase Parker and Matt Martel). Imperium attacked Ever-Rise before their match could start. Imperium laid out Ever-Rise, and they stole their match. Imperium challenged Grizzled Young Veterans to a fight.

Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) vs. Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) went to a no-contest

Ever-Rise ran in and jumped both teams, and the match was thrown out.

The match itself was good, but it lacked defined protagonists. With two antagonist tag teams against each other, not sure who the viewers should want to win. Might be shades of grey, but at least Grizzled Young Veterans could have gotten some wins on television beforehand. We might have more reason to care more about them in this match. Then came a lame finish.

They went back-and-forth, leading to an Aichner dive to the outside. Ever-Rise ran down to ringside to attack both teams. The referee called for the bell, and he threw out the match.

Ever-Rise during a commercial break left the building like Earl Hebner after the Montreal Screwjob. Parker & Martel hurried out of the building, and they got into a waiting car.

“Ever-Rise rules,” they yelled while speeding away in their getaway car. 

Tommaso Ciampa crashes Timothy Thatcher’s seminar.

Back in the ring for another session of Thatch-As-Thatch-Can hosted by instructor Timothy Thatcher. He says today’s lesson is on distractions. Some people could have used this advice in earlier matches on the show.

Thatcher turned out to address one his students, and he was shocked to see Tommaso Ciampa standing in the ring next to him. Thatcher told Ciampa to already had a student, who was also in the ring with them.

Ciampa said he was there to learn, he was there to teach. Thatcher reiterated he had no issue or problem with Ciampa. As Thatcher went to leave the ring, Ciampa called him a disappointment. Thatcher turned around to confront Ciampa.

Thatcher said he knew Ciampa was trying to goad him. He again said he wanted no trouble, and then Thatcher shot on Ciampa with a leg dive. Ciampa knocked him down with a forearm. Thatcher’s student in a sneak attack jumped Ciampa. That allowed Thatcher to attack Ciampa, and Thatcher choked out Ciampa. He put him to sleep and left him laid out. Thus concluded the lesson on distractions. 

Thatcher in a backstage interview threatened Ciampa ahead of their match at TakeOver. That match is now official for TakeOver.

Announced for the TakeOver pre-show is Ariel Helwani. He joins Wade Barrett and Sam Roberts as co-hosts on the kickoff show panel. 

Shotzi Blackheart defeated Raquel Gonzalez in a ladder match to win the War Games advantage

Blackheart won the match after a bunch of run-ins. Team Shotzi now has the advantage headed into War Games this Sunday.

The ladder quickly became involved. Gonzalez was getting the better of Blackheart, until Blacheart with a wrecking ball dropkick sent the ladder smashing into Gonzalez. Blackheart leapt off the apron into a flying crossbody. Gonzalez caught her, and then slammed her down on a ladder. 

Blackheart rode with a sleeper hold, but she was posted. She moments later sidestepped a charge, and then Blackheart targeted a leg. Coffin drop off the barricade, and Blackheart crashed into Gonzalez. 

They fought through a commercial break, and when the show returned they were having a tug-o-war with a ladder. Blackheart went for another crazy apron spot. It didn’t really work, and Gonzalez soon threw Balckheart into the ring steps, and Gonzalez picked up the ring steps. She then hit Blackheart with the steps.

Gonzalez climbed up one side of the ladder, and Blackheart climbed the other. They both took a bump off the ladder. After taking turns pulling each other off the ladder, it was soon tipped over. 

A tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Blackheart led into a running senton. Blackheart jumped off the top rope with a meteora to the outside. She and Gonzalez crashed to the floor, and both were down selling when the heel War Games team ran down to ringside. They had been watching the match from a scaffold overlooking ringside. The babyface also ran down in tow shortly behind the heels.

Indi Hartwell, still wearing a neck brace, set up a ladder in middle of the ring. Blackheart rushed into the ring to hit Hartwell with a kick. Blackheart turned around into a lariat from Gonzalez. When Gonzalez went to climb the ladder, Io Shirai suddenly ran into the ring. Shirai jumped on the back of Gonzalez as she was climbing the ladder, and Shirai applied a sleeper. 

Shirai did a moonsault off the top out of the ring onto everyone. Blackheart was left alone in the ring. She climbed a ladder to grab the briefase, thus winning the match. The babyface team with the advantage going into the women’s War Games match. That is not usually how War Games psychology works. 

Maybe there will be an injury angle, or possibly even a turn of some sort. Otherwise, the babyface team was the advantage headed into War Games. TNA did something like that in the past. Hopefully NXT does it better.

Seems to go against the logic of almost every War Games match in history, but let’s see what happens on Sunday. What would Dusty do? Likewise, what would Pat do?