Jordan Huie of the Overtimer here and we are closing in on a pretty damn crazy weekend of wrestling. The long talked about NXT main roster invasion has finally happened over the past few weeks, and we’ve been led to a surreal couple of shows. First we have NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019. It’s a big show, in spite of only having four matches due to the length expected from the double WarGames encounters. I’ll be doing a match-by-match preview for the whole card, so let’s get to it!
Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle
This is the only one-on-one, regular singles match on the show, given that it accompanies two WarGames matches and a triple threat. Yet in spite of that, it has a very real chance of stealing the whole show.
Finn Balor made his return to NXT on the first head-to-head with AEW Dynamite. He caused quite a stir from the outset, but only became a bigger deal in the coming weeks, after shockingly betraying Johnny Gargano and Tommasso Ciampa and seemingly aligning with the Undisputed Era. Nothing has been made official on that front but he’s continually ended up aiding them and even posing with them afterwards, so it’s certainly what we’re meant to think.
It’s not really a secret that he was originally meant to be facing Gargano at this event, after violently attacking him weeks ago. However, Johnny legitimately couldn’t make it due to injury – or atleast, his status is very much in question, to the point that they saw fit to sub Matt Riddle into this angle instead.
Riddle is a major babyface in NXT, one of their most unique, talented and over athletes. He’s particularly huge with teenage boys, as far as ratings go. Riddle seems like an obvious future NXT Champion and may even be the next one, though he’s already recently had a title shot so that’d probably not be happening again for a while.
To say that this is a massive match would be an understatement, it’s a dream encounter in many ways.
However, there’s really only one way this can go and that’s a Finn Balor victory.
It’s Finn’s first televised match back with NXT since departing in 2016. It’s also his first televised match period since losing to the Fiend at SummerSlam. These alone would be fine reasons for him to go over. But then you add on top of that, the fact that he’s just recently turned and swiftly become NXT’s most talked about figure, and there’s simply no reason in the world to want to beat him right now. In theory he won’t be challenging for the NXT title anytime soon, but that’s okay. Riddle doesn’t need to win this to setup challengers; I believe that’s what the main event is for.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019 will be airing this Saturday on the WWE Network at 7 PM Eastern Time, 6 Central. There will also be a half hour pre-show leading into the event. The show emanates from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. I’m Jordan Huie of the Overtimer, and I will be giving a live play-by-play of the show as it happens.
