Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.

This week, Dallas Allsopp, Connor Whelan and Robert DeFelice will be giving their opinions on the upcoming NXT TakeOver: WarGames event.

This will be the third incarnation of NXT TakeOver: WarGames, and with each passing year, the anticipation for the event grows stronger and stronger. With the current embarrassment of riches within NXT, is this set to be the best TakeOver yet?


ALLSOPP: I cannot see past Shayna Baszler’s team, purely because of how strong she has been booked in NXT. It is implied she is taking this match seriously, as she didn’t include Marina Shafir or Jessamyn Duke on her team, mainly because they are garbage and would prove to be the weak link. As much as Rhea Ripley is a dominant and powerful wrestler, Baszler’s overall strength, and the fact she is taking this match seriously, means the faces will be unable to overcome The Queen of Spades.

WHELAN: I think that Rhea Ripley’s team of faces will win the women’s WarGames match. I feel Ripley versus Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship is the next obvious match, and after Baszler’s recent dominance, this win is needed to show Ripley is a viable contender to The Queen of Spades.

DeFELICE: I feel like this is a good way to establish a new challenger for Shayna Baszler, who is well over a year into her NXT Women's Championship run. I think Rhea Ripley will beat her, but I don’t think she beats her here. I think Bianca Belair takes the fall here because she can, and will, eventually rise up to become a champion in her own right.


WHELAN: I definitely don’t see The Undisputed Era as overwhelming favourites, however I do still believe they will win. I could apply the same logic as I did for the previous question to this match, but Tommaso Ciampa does not need this win to be seen as a top contender. I still feel with The Undisputed Era holding all of the gold, it is hard not to bet on them winning their second WarGames match.

DeFELICE: I'm assuming that the established faction gets the win here, although it's always a good time to have them lose in a massive match like this, with no hard NXT Championship related consequences. Either way, this is my favorite match of the year, and I’m looking forward to it.

ALLSOPP: I see The Undisputed Era as favourites for this match, especially as they all enter the match as champions. However, this does not guarantee they will win, especially as the faces have been gaining a considerable amount of traction over the past few weeks. Keith Lee, in particular, has been extremely impressive, which is why I believe he will secure the fall for his team. A face team win here would set up so many great storylines over the next couple of months.


DeFELICE: I think we see the same established level of violence that we saw at NXT TakeOver: Toronto II between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. It’s a good look for NXT, as it is different from the main roster, but it doesn’t go too far like some may argue AEW Full Gear did.

ALLSOPP: There is an acceptable amount of blood within wrestling matches, especially in the modern era. But on the same level, there is such a thing as too much blood, or indeed too much hardcore style wrestling. When wrestlers move closer towards genuinely hurting themselves for the spectacle, it becomes harder to enjoy wrestling as an art form. NXT has never relied on hardcore style wrestling, however the competition from AEW could result in Triple H feeling a more violent WarGames match would interest fans, as long as there was an acceptable limit to the level of blood and hardcore style wrestling. Admittedly, WarGames matches in the 80’s would be violent and bloody, but in 2019 this is not a necessity to enjoy the match. I will go out on a limb though, and predict more violent WarGames matches than we have seen so far in NXT.

WHELAN: Though I don’t personally feel this way, there was a lot of backlash to the violence seen at AEW Full Gear. I feel NXT will see this, and stick to the level of violence we have seen in the previous WarGames matches, relying on spots like an Io Shirai Moonsault from the top of the structure for their big moments. If there was a hardcore specialist in either match, then we may have seen the bar raised, but I feel that it would be unnecessary to add anything too extreme into an already clustered and hectic match.