4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020

1. Spots For Spots' Sake

Last year's women's WarGames match was a fantastic story-driven and psychology-rich battle sparked by Dakota Kai's betrayal of Tegan Nox, forcing Candice LeRae and Rhea Ripley into a two-on-four battle with some of the baddest women on the planet. It was comfortably the best thing on the card and offered a glimmer of hope that perhaps WWE's take on WarGames wouldn't always mean a mindless, weapon-heavy spotfest, but those hopes were dashed last night.

Both of these matches were empty calories. Were they fun? Sure, and they certainly fired up the endorphins, but so will a massive bag of Skittles, and like a massive bag of Skittles, there was no nutritional value to any of this..

There was zero connective tissue lacing any of Team Shotzi vs. Team Candice's big, explosive spots together. It was spots and kickouts on top of spots and kickouts, all for the sake of capturing a sick gif or "creating a moment," and suffered from a near-complete lack of storytelling beyond the expected Gonzalez vs. Ripley monster showdown. The men's match had similar issues, though at least the character dynamics were on point.

WarGames should be beyond this. More satisfying spotfests than this go down on indie shows every single weekend. A stipulation that used to be about intense anguish, drama, and emotion felt cheap, nasty, and disposable last night... and the worst part? WWE can pull WarGames off. The women proved it last year.

They just chose not to.

But perhaps we should have expected this from a match that exists because one grown woman took a tantrum when another broke her toy tank.