4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020
3. Joyless Characters Yield Joyless Match
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher moved like a snail encased in treacle, stuck inside a glacier.
Opening with admittedly snug grappling that lacked purpose and precision, it was a long, arduous chore throughout its first and second acts. They deserve credit for at least making it look ugly, and worked in nice touches like Ciampa disrespectfully slapping Thatcher's face while controlling the leg, but no TakeOver: WarGames match suffered more from the night's bloat than this one. Rather than delivering sick, targeted, and brutal joint manipulation, the two gurned and growling through the chess match to con you into buying into the "intensity" the commentators put over, but no. The opening 10 minutes or so were a total bore.
The match opened up nicely when one of Thatcher's cauliflower ears exploded, splashing the bout with colour. This made for a grisly visual as Ciampa locked his opponent in a particularly tight Bulldog Choke. Alas, though, it was too little too late, and the wind was already out of the sails by the time Ciampa hit his rope-hanging DDT for the win.
Tedious, sleepy grapplef*ck killed Timothy Thatcher's popularity in EVOLVE. He has been good in WWE so far, with the Fight Pit one of the promotion's best matches all year, but he is in danger of reverting to old habits again.