8 Ups And 1 Down From NXT TakeOver WarGames

3. Balor Wins In NXT Return

Finn Balor Matt Riddle
WWE.com

If there was one wrestler who needed to win Saturday night, it was Finn Balor.

Having just returned to NXT after being on the main roster for three-plus years, Balor also turned heel for the first time since joining the company, thus relaunching himself. He needed a big, signature win right out of the gate to establish himself, and the well-protected, lethal striker Matt Riddle was a perfect opponent.

Riddle and Balor had a slower, more grounded match than the others, which probably was by design with two WarGames bouts and a triple threat on the card. But they still managed to have a really solid match overall, with Balor surviving everything Riddle threw at him and winning clean with the 1916 DDT.

It will be interesting to see what’s next for Finn, whether he continues solo or forms a stable. He’s hinted at returning to his Bullet Club ways, referring to himself as the Prince and pointing finger guns during his intro. We shall see.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.