11 Ups & 7 Downs For NXT In 2018

2. The War Games Match

Your writer has never been left so disappointed by a wrestling match in his 26 years of fandom.

NXT's second War Games match should've been a classic. With Ricochet, Pete Dunne, War Raiders, and the full Undisputed Era in there, the lineup was stellar, and switch to the 4-on-4 format should've helped clear the mess. It didn't. The wrestlers worked hard, and the bout had some fun moments, but it finished a convoluted, overlong slog that threw psychology out the window the moment all 8 competitors hit the ring and the old 'Match Beyond' commenced.

Locking Pete Dunne in the shark cage would've worked had 'The Bruiserweight' not been able to break free less than a minute later.

Ricochet's double moonsault looked great, but was undermined by its nonsensical placement and setup, with his gang of catchers hanging around for what felt like forever beforehand. Everyone saw it coming.

The bout felt at least double its grotesque 47-minute runtime.

There was nothing stringing the set pieces together. Absolutely nothing. Instead of making it feel like a brutal, heated fight, the layout delivered a trashy gymnastics display with added tables, and they couldn't even get the 'Adam Cole, bay-bay!' spot right. The list goes on.

If you loved this match (and many did), fair play to you. All art is subjective. Unfortunately, without going too Cornette, it was everything this columnist dislikes about wrestling.