8 Things NXT Got Right At TakeOver: WarGames

4. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas - Champion

Andrade Cien
WWE

I was among the majority who thought that Drew McIntyre was practically guaranteed to win this match, so consider me pleasantly surprised that the former IWGP Intercontinental Champion was able to pull out the win. Almas now joins Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Bálor as one of only three men in history to win singles gold in NXT and NJPW.

A lot of the credit must go to Zelina Vega however. The former TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion has been an absolute revelation since joining Almas on NXT. She has established herself as a great talker and an excellent foil for the often-distracted Andrade. Not only has she managed to get him to focus on what matters, she has also seemingly had a hand in improving his matches along the way.

It wasn’t expected, but NXT may well have done the right thing in putting its top championship on the ungovernable one. McIntyre vs. Cole was becoming a little predictable, whereas there are a host of possible challengers waiting for Almas. Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black, Roderick Strong, Adam Cole and more will be queuing up for a shot at La Sombra.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.