Quick Live Thoughts From Takeover

The view from the upper deck.

I was sitting in the upper deck looking straight at the entrance. This is a bit annoying as I could barely see the far ring and the equipment was blocking the screen. That’s likely going to make the TV version a heck of a lot easier to watch.

The arena was mostly full with only a few tarped off rows rather than sections on the hard camera side. It was a very hot crowd, as you would expect.

I liked most of the women’s match (the heel turn was great and you could hear the THUD when Kai sent her into the cage around the arena) but it’s going to take a lot for me to buy Ripley and LeRae beating four women, including two champions, on their own.

The triple threat match was great and some of the false finishes were very good. This wasn’t supposed to be reinventing the wheel as you had two big guys who could move and a fighter in Dunne going at it for a prize. They did their thing and it was awesome.

I wasn’t feeling Balor vs. Riddle as much, but Riddle was CRAZY over, as was Balor. They have their work cut out for them getting Balor booed and Gargano is going to be in trouble when he gets back as far as keeping the crowd on his side.

The men’s WarGames was better and MY GOODNESS I haven’t felt so nervous on a spot since I saw Shane dive off the Cell live. That spot at the end was insane and one of the scariest things I can remember in wrestling. Owens being the big surprise was great as you knew he was going to get the superstar pop in NXT. Very good and violent match, which again is going to look better with the televised version.

Overall it was another great WarGames, but not on the top level. This one was really hurt by everything else going on and now we have about three months before….Portland? On a Sunday? I mean…..sure why not.

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