NXT TakeOver: WarGames - Every Match Ranked Worst To Best

Looking back at another stellar TakeOver special.

by Andrew Pollard
Raquel Gonzalez Io Shirai NXT TakeOver WarGames
WWE.com

By this point in time, NXT has long, long established a reputation for delivering the goods when TakeOver comes around. Since

With a small number of matches that are so often good-to-great-to-exceptional in their quality, TakeOver is a go-to destination of any and all wrestling fans. While WWE's main roster output can be extremely questionable for the most part, the NXT brand tends to deliver when it comes to its biggest shows.

In terms of sheer action, it doesn't get any bigger for the NXT brand than its now-annual WarGames offering. And with TakeOver: WarGames 2020 - the 32nd time that we've seen a TakeOver special - now officially in the record books, it was yet another stellar show for the gold and black corner of the WWE Universe.

The fleeting presence of both NXT Champion Finn Balor and former NXT Champ Karrion Kross may have gotten fans talking at WarGames, but there was so much in-ring action to likewise tick a whole lot of the right boxes for those with a penchant for NXT.

Looking back at the TakeOver: WarGames card, then, here's how the matches stacked up from worst to best.

5. Dexter Lumis Vs. Cameron Grimes

Raquel Gonzalez Io Shirai NXT TakeOver WarGames
WWE.com

There was plenty to turn wrestling fans off going into the Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes match.

Some awful, cringe-inducing hokey build? Check. A stipulation that's often hard to deliver a great match through? Check. The prospect of another Cameron Grimes TakeOver defeat? Double check.

Still, to the credit of Lumis and Grimes, they put on a pretty engaging 12-minute battle. The Strap Match stipulation is one littered with far more misses than hits when reflecting back through wrestling history, yet this TakeOver bout managed to balance a sense of fun with a sense of physicality.

It's been said for months now that, while Sam Shaw is phenomenal in the role, the character of Dexter Lumis needed to show more. And in this latest encounter with Cameron Grimes, Lumis was afforded the opportunity to do more than just his usual methodical and cold shtick.

For Grimes, it wasn't so much straight to the moon here, but he did take some hugely impressive bumps and has enough smarmy heel BS to him that he should be able to bounce back from this loss. Hopefully that "bounce back" doesn't mean another match against Dexter Lumis - with this feeling like the right time to leave this rivalry in the rear view mirrors of both men.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.