Sunday, December 6th, 2020
WWE Performance Center
Orlando, Florida
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We get the awesome Black Sabbath introduction to kick things off.
WarGames Match
Toni Storm, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez & Candice LeRae vs. Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai & Shotzi Blackheart
Dakota Kai and Ember Moon start things off. They start off a little bit sluggish as far as WarGames matches go. Kai takes control as the clock hits zero and Blackheart comes in. She goes right under the ring and grabs a toolbox and a crowbar. It's a nice change to have the faces get the advantage. After Blackheart destroys Kai for awhile, Kai is able to take out Blackheart and focus back on Moon. Blackheart hits a missile dropkick off the shoulders of Moon as the countdown begins and Gonzalez enters. They attack her as soon as she enters, but Gonzalez is able to hold her own. In comes Rhea Ripley and it's a nice change, as Ripley's offense is a little bit more suited for this type of match. Ripley goes over to the toolbox and pulls out a mini sledge and uses it on Kai. With all of the other women down, Ripley and Gonzalez start brawling as the clock counts down again. Toni Storm is on her way down and she goes under the ring for some kendo sticks. Storm immediately takes off the top turnbuckle and then hits Ripley with the kendo stick. Things have now picked up nicely after a mediocre start. Blackheart and Kai climb to the top ropes, but the other women all meet them there and we get a double top rope moves in each ring. Gonzalez kicks Shirai out of the ring as she tries to get in and Storm ties the door shut so she can't come in. Shirai tries to climb in, but she is kicked off the cage. Down comes LeRae and Shirai is attacked from behind by Indi Hartwell. LeRae goes for a pinfall attempt in the ring, but the referee won't allow it because Shirai is not in the match. Shirai is now on the top of the cage and puts a garbage can on herself and hits the dive. That was certainly memorable. Shirai picks up the mini sledgehammer and goes to work. She gets an assist by Ripley to hit a DDT. Shirai looks fantastic here. Shirai hits a moonsault and almost pulls off the victory. We get some more chaos here. Kai hits a double stomp off the top rope on Shirai, who was placed once again in the trash can. Moon hits a top rope Eclipse on Kai onto two chairs in a crazy spot, but the count gets broken up by Storm. Storm then hits Storm Zero on the trash can and this one too gets broken up. Blackheart and LeRae are up on a ladder and Blackheart knocks her off on a chair. Blackheart leaps on her and in kind of a weird spot, LeRae visibly was grabbing and moving the chair around. Shirai hits a moonsault, but a spear from Storm on Ripley breaks up the pin. Ripley gets sent flying into the cage in a somewhat scary looking way. Shirai tries to hit a top rope hurricanrana, but Gonzalez blocks it and powerbombs her through the ladder for the victory. I certainly didn't see Gonzalez getting the pin here. After a disappointing start, this match was really cooking once Shirai entered. Shirai and Ripley were especially impressive in there tonight. Good start to the show.
Match Rating: ***3/4 (out of 5)
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher
Both men come out quickly, making me think the women's match ran a little long. They go right to the mat as you would imagine here. Thatcher aggressively goes after the throat of Ciampa and the ref checks on him before letting them go at it again. Thatcher continues the assault and he very much reminds me of heel Ciampa. Ciampa battles back with a series of a ton of clotheslines in a fun spot. Ciampa hits a superplex and gets a nearfall. After a double throat thrust by Thatcher, he goes for the Guillotine. Ciampa uses his ring awareness and drives both of them through the ropes and to the floor. Back in the ring, Ciampa hits a running knee lift and puts on one of the most convincing chinlocks that I have ever seen. Thatcher, who is bleeding from his ear, breaks out of the hold and takes it out on Ciampa. Ciampa tries to fight back, but Thatcher pulls Ciampa's throat into the top rope. Ciampa has Thatcher in a Guillotine in the ropes and then hits a devastating DDT and gets the pinfall victory. Both men sell their injuries after what was a fantastic match.
Match Rating: ****1/4
Stap Match
Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes
Grimes brought his own strap and after some debate, the referee allows them to use it. Grimes attacks Lumis before he can even get the strap on. Grimes takes the attack outside the ring. The match hasn't officially started yet since Lumis doesn't have the strap on. Back in the ring, Lumis is able to regain control and he puts on the strap. Grimes does what he can to escape but he can't because, you know, he is strapped to him. Grimes tries to scale the outside cage, but it of course doesn't work either. Grimes is able to dump Lumis over the barricade and it allows him to catch his breath. Lumis creeps over barricade, but Grimes hits a kick to the head and then pulls him over with the strap. Grimes takes the bag containing the other strap and puts it over the head of Lumis before hitting him with the second strap. Lumis is able to hit a blindfolded spinebuster, but pulled into the steel corner for the cage. After some kicks off the apron by Grimes, Lumis pulls Grimes off the apron and to the floor. Grimes is able to hit a German suplex into the turnbuckle to slow Lumis down. Grimes brings in the chair and uses it on the back with repeated shots. Lumis fights back and puts the Silence on and puts the strap over the face of Grimes and he taps out. This was an entertaining bout, but not up to the level of the previous two matches.
Match Rating: ***1/4
A vulture is shown and I am guessing Karrion Kross is returning soon.
Triple Threat Match For The North American Championship
Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Leon Ruff
Gargano tries isolating Ruff and trying to score a quick victory before Priest can get back in the ring. Ruff gets a little bit of time to show off his athleticism before being thrown out by Priest. Ruff hits a missile dropkick and then he and Gargano team up to once again dump Priest out of the ring. Gargano hits a dive to the outside and tells Ruff to do the same, but Gargano hits a dive into the ring on Ruff in a great segment. Priest then throws Ruff with a Razor's Edge through one of the barricades, knocking it down and Ruff is checked on by multiple officials. Priest shows remorse, which allows Gargano to attack from behind. He hits a tornado DDT off the ring ramp and taunts Ruff as he heads to the back. After a series of counters, Priest is able to hit a spinning heel kick. Gargano is able to hit a Sliced Bread for a nearfall. We get yet another fast paced back-and-forth between the two that ends with Priest hitting a big clothesline. The pace thus far has been frantic. Ruff comes back in and leaps off Priest's back to hit a clothesline on Gargano. Ruff hits a somersault dive off the top rope to the outside on both opponents. Ruff hits a springboard Diamond Cutter for another close call. Ruff eats a big boot from Priest and he then hits a double flatliner on both men. Gargano counters the Razor's Edge by throwing Priest into the ring post and then throws Ruff into Priest. Gargano ties up Priest in the bottom two ropes and Ruff almost defeats Garagano the same way he won the title in the first place. Ruff misses a Frog Splash and he gets put in the Garagano Escape, but Priest is able to break the hold. Priest hits a top rope spinning heel kick. Ruff avoids a splash in the corner and hits two clotheslines to no effect. Gargano hits a kick to Ruff as he is going off the ropes. Out comes a trio of men dressed up in the Scream masks. Priest fights them off and hits a springboard somersault dive and then leaps over to another group on the other side. He hits a chokeslam on Gargano on the apron. Ruff hits a Frog Splash on Gargano, but Priest is just barely able to break up the pin. After two spinning kicks to the head of Gargano, Priest goes for the Reckoning, but another ghost face hits him from behind. Gargano hits a superkick on Ruff and then One Final Beat to recapture the North American Championship. Shenanigans aside, the pace of this match was absolutely unbelievable. Gargano continues to be Mr. TakeOver while Ruff and Priest both had tremendous outings. This might just be my favorite match of 2020. After the match is over, the main ghost face is Austin Theory.
Match Rating: ****3/4
WarGames Match
Undisputed Era vs. Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
Kyle O'Reilly and Dunne are starting things off. We get some aggressive mat wrestling from these two. Oney Lorcan is in next and they quickly destroy O'Reilly. O'Reilly fights for his life and hits a top rope knee to Lorcan. He is immediately greeted with a missile dropkick to the knee courtesy of Dunne. In comes Fish to the rescue. O'Reilly and Fish remind us all of just how awesome of a team they are and then hit a double leg strike to Dunne. Danny Burch is in next and he brings a cricket bat into the ring. O'Reilly is able to roll Burch into a heel hook and Burch taps. Of course that doesn't matter since all of the competitors aren't in the ring yet. Dunne breaks the hold and Burch destroys the back of O'Reilly. Roderick is next to come in and he immediately is greeted by the tag team champs, but Strong explodes with a double clothesline. Strong reminds us all why he is one of the most underrated performers on the roster until he is thrown into the cage by Lorcan. McAfee enters the match to give his team the last advantage of the evening. He grabs a bunch of tables with all of the names of the Undisputed Era's names on it. It's a good thing that no one in the first match decided to use those. McAfee hits a moonsault and puts Strong through the table. Adam Cole is in and uses a steel chair to help even the odds. Dunne and Cole go at it and then O'Reilly baits McAfee. That allows Cole to hit him in the back with a chair and then everything breaks into a huge brawl. McAfee slaps on the Figure Four on Cole while the other six men brawl in the other ring. Cole reverses the hold until Dunne saves his partner. The Undisputed Era hits a powerbomb on Dunne onto the body of Burch onto a table but it doesn't break. They hit a splash that finally breaks it. Cole then sends McAfee flying and through a table. They set all three of the others between the ropes and cage and just destroy one after the other. This leaves just McAfee and he tries to escape. The Undisputed Era catches him and attack him repeatedly. Dunne comes in and saves McAfee and completely turn the tide. Cole hits a leaping neckbreaker off the top rope on Dunne and Strong hits a superplex on McAfee. This leads to yet another brawl, but McAfee is on the top of the cage and he hits a swanton to take everyone down. I definitely did not expect this match to last as long as it has. DUnne hits the Bitter End on O'Reilly, but he is able to kick out. O'Reilly hits a suplex on the middle steel portion of the ring for yet another nearfall. McAfee knocks O'Reilly off the top rope with a chair to the knee. Cole gets the chair away, but McAfee hits a low blow. Burch gets driven into the table. Cole hits a superkick on a leaping McAfee. Cole hits a Panama Sunrise on McAfee, but he kicks out. I'm not sure I agree with that one. Things get absolutely insane and too hard for me to even recap. O'Reilly scales the top rope and hits a knee into a chair on the face of Lorcan and the Undisputed Era get the victory. The cardio of the Undisputed Era is pretty much unmatched and it showed here tonight. This was a great main event that played to the strengths of the eight competitors.
Match Rating: ****
Without a doubt in my mind, this was far and away the best wrestling show that I have seen in the COVID era. Actually, it's not even close. This was up to par with many of the best NXT TakeOvers and the show that WWE needed so desperately. Every match delivered tonight and hats off to everyone involved. This is a must watch.
Overall Rating: 96%
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