8 WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020 Impulse Reactions
5. Timothy Thatcher Vs. Tommaso Ciampa
You'll find plenty of mentions from your writer of NXT turning a corner from the worst of 2020 over the last few months. But there are fewer performers still carrying the burden of those dark days more than Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa.
It was thus all the more dispiriting that they were booked against each other on this show. Until Thatcher's ear appeared to explode halfway through.
The grizzly injury added some crucial heft to what was otherwise a very specific type of fist fight that won't have been for everybody. Ciampa transitioning from a V-Trigger into a Bulldog Choke felt like a nod to both Champion and Challenger from Wednesday's celebrated AEW Dynamite main event, but the blood was more gruesome here than there.
Thatcher lost, again (just who would attend his classes at this point?) but few could question his guts while looking at that cut. Whilst far from a show-stealer, it also didn't tank a TakeOver electrified by such an amazing opener. Far from just faint praise, that felt like a genuine achievement. As did the continuing sense that these two will eventually be miserable b*stard best mates when their wars are finally over.