UnWrest Focus: WarGames- NXT TakeOver: WarGames II (The Undisputed Era vs. Ricochet, Pete Dunne, and War Raiders)

As I'm writing this, NXT TakeOver WarGames II is about 12 hours old. And the doubt has been laid to rest: Triple H knows how to book a WarGames match. The past 2 WarGames matches have been incredible. But the question remains (even with the slightest bit of time to absorb the match): Was this the greatest WarGames match ever? Here's my review of the WarGames match from NXT TakeOver: WarGames II. (For the full review of this great event, click on this link. )  After the review, I will render my evaluation and rank this WarGames against the dozen + WarGames matches I've reviewed recently.

NXT TakeOver: WarGames II
11/17/2018
WARGAMES
The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong) vs. Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders.

LET THE WARGAMES BEGIN!

ADAM COLE (BAY BAY!) starts the match for the Undisputed Era. Ricochet starts the match for the other team.

The bell rings. Both men tell the other to come into their ring. Ricochet decides to meet Cole in his ring, and it's on after 35 seconds of postering. BIG CHOP by Ricochet. Ricochet hits a head scissors takedown and dropkick to Cole. Now they go into the other ring. Uppercuts in the corner by Ricochet. Flying back elbow by Ricochet gets met with a backstabber by Adam Cole. Cole now takes the advantage with some usual strikes. Ushigaroshe by Adam Cole to Ricochet. And now, they go into the other ring. (It's a hard thing for the first two men as you want the fans on either side of the arena to stay in the match until more guys come in.) More attacks by Cole to Ricochet. Big dropkick by Ricochet sends Cole into the other ring. SPRINGBOARD EUROPEAN UPPERCUT FROM ONE RING TO THE OTHER BY RICOCHET!

The third entrant is Kyle O'Reilly!

Palm strikes by O'Reilly to Ricochet followed by more strikes. 3 minute period here until Ricochet gets help. Cole and O'Reilly go to work. Ricochet attacks and strikes both men between the rings. DRAGON SCREW BY O'REILLY TO RICOCHET! More strikes and blows by Cole and O'Reilly. Ricochet slithers around and gets a couple blows in. But O'Reilly and Cole just unload with some crazy kicks and strikes. A 2-Man Ushigaroshe by Cole and O'Reilly.

The fourth entrant is Hanson! (Hanson kept Dunne in the cage.)

Hanson now starts striking heavily at both Cole and O'Reilly. Hanson does a lot of crazy moves for a super heavyweight. Clotheslines into the corner on both Cole and O'Reilly endlessly going. Finally, O'Reilly and Cole get Bronco Bustered at once in the same corner. Ricochet uses Hanson's back to do a Shooting Star Press to Kyle O'Reilly. O'Reilly saves Cole from an attack by Hanson.

The fifth entrant of the match is Roderick Strong.

Strong comes in and unloads both Ricochet and Hanson. Fast offense and lethal offense by Strong. Great showing in 45 seconds by Strong already. The Undisputed Era triple teams Hanson with a fast array of maneuvers, including an Olympic Slam by Strong. Ricochet gets lit up in the corner with a bunch of chops and kicks by O'Reilly and Strong. Cole continues to choke Hanson in the corner.

The sixth entrant is Rowe.

Rowe just knocks down all the UE members. Rowe hits a bunch of strikes and blows to all three men including an Psycho Knee strike to Rowe. ROWE HITS A POWERSLAM/ POWERBOMB TO O'REILLY AND STRONG AT THE SAME TIME! Damn. O'Reilly meets the steel as does Strong. Cole is alone between The War Raiders and Ricochet. LONG DART FOR COLE INTO THE CAGE WALL!

The seventh entrant is Bobby Fish.

Fish pulls Dunne's arm through the cage and DOUBLE LOCKS the cage. He takes the key and throws it into the crowd. Fish goes under the ring and throws in some steel chairs. He's in the cage as the Undisputed Era starts unloading with chair shots. By the way, the clock for 3 minutes didn't start until Fish entered the cage. Now, Ricochet and War Raiders are being destroyed with the steel chairs. The chairs have Undisputed Era markers on them. lol. ROWE GETS PUT THROUGH THE CHAIR BY STRONG WITH A ROCK BOTTOM! Rowe gets thrown into the cage so hard that the wall almost falls over. Hanson suffers the same fate.

The final entrant is Pete Dunne.

They have the key for the original lock, but they can't get him out. Meanwhile the Undisputed Era continues to destroy the War Raiders and Ricochet in the ring! STRONG AND FISH SUPERPLEX WAR RAIDERS IN OPPOSITE RINGS! The referees have bolt cutters. They cut Dunne out of the cage. Here comes Pete Dunne! Undisputed Era tries to stop Dunne from getting in, but he uses a Kendo stick to attack all of UE. Ricochet dives off the top rope and onto the UE in the ring. Dunne is throwing in trash cans into the ring. And here comes a table! Dunne isn't done yet. Another table is being slid in. This is nuts. He's in the ring.

WARGAMES IS OFFICIALLY ON!

Kendo stick shots to the backs of UE by Dunne. The faces have UE all surrounded. Kendo shots to all of them. O'Reilly takes a bad bump on the metal bar between the two rings. Tricep stomp by Dunne to O'Reilly. Dunne is torturing O'Reilly in the 2nd ring all alone. RODDY GETS X-PLEXED BY DUNNE ON TOP OF O'REILLY! Knee to the chair to the face of Fish. This is utter insanity. War Raiders are going crazy. A slam by Rowe puts Hanson directly on O'Reilly. O'Reilly and Fish double team on Rowe. reDRagon is loose in NXT. Ricochet takes a Gutbuster into a Backstabber by Strong and Cole. The Undisputed Era are now surrounding Dunne. Dunne is fighting them off. Kneebar on the bad leg of Fish!!!! O'Reilly slides in to stop the attack. O'Reilly has a chain and wraps it around the ankle of Dunne. He's trying to hog-tie him. An ankle lock by O'Reilly to the bad leg of Dunne using a steel chain. Ricochet dives into the ring and stops it.
These guys are literally destroying themselves in this match. O'Reilly and Strong are put on the corners. So much going on. Dunne and Ricochet climb up on those corners. STEREO SUPERPLEX/HURRICANRANA BY BOTH MEN! A table is being set up now by Hanson. Cole is set up on the table and it buckles. But Hanson gets it set up. POP-UP POWERSLAM by WAR RAIDERS TO COLE. 1-2-stopped. Rowe is put through a table in between the two rings by Bobby Fish. Adam Cole and Ricochet are now going at it. Ricochet is placed on the corner near the table which is set up. Cole is in a Tree of Woe by Ricochet. O'Reilly is placed on the table by Ricochet. Strong hits a big knee to Ricochet. O'Reilly gets SPLASHED THROUGH THE TABLE BY HANSON WHO DIVES FROM ONE TOP ROPE OVER THE OTHER!  1-2-NO! It's broken up.
These guys are destroyed. Cole climbs up the top of the cage as does Ricochet. They are fighting on the top of the cage. Ricochet is getting the advantage. Here comes Roderick Strong. They are trying to push Ricochet over and out to make him forfeit the match for his team. Dunne and Strong climb up to attack Cole and Ricochet respectively. TOWER OF DOOM WITH 7 of the 8 men involved. Cole gets suplexed off the cage to the floor. Ricochet is alone on the top of the cage! He stands up and turns around! DOUBLE ROTATION MOONSAULT! All 8 men are down!
Both teams are regrouping in separate rings. They meet right in the middle! TRENCH WARFARE!!! Fish and Rowe are left standing. War Raiders hit Fallout on Fish. O'Reilly stops the pin. HANDSPRING ELBOW BY HANSON TO STRONG AND O'REILLY! Superkick to Hanson by Cole! Superkick caught by Dunne. BITTER END COUNTERED INTO A DDT! LAST SHOT! 1-2- Dunne kicks out. BITTER END! RICOCHET 450 SPLASHES ON COLE! DOUBLE PIN! 1-2-3!

Winners: Dunne, Ricochet, and The War Raiders
Match Grade: A+. I don't know if it was as good as last year's match, but this was incredible nonetheless. Some really great action from beginning to end with all 8 guys looking better after the match. Ricochet's dive over the top of the cage to the other 7 men was something that should be on highlight reels. The attacks in the ring without the weapons were brutal, but once the match devolved into a hardcore war, the match actually started picking up even more.
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Evaluation

With some time to evaluate this match, I'm ready to state the following. First, this is one of the best WarGames matches I've ever seen undoubtedly. These guys worked a great match and built up the drama moment by moment with some great storytelling. They also put their bodies on the line in a lot of uncomfortable spots involving the cage and the roof (see Ricochet's rotating moonsault). However, I felt that this match was a direct sequel to the first NXT WarGames. A lot of the things that happened in the match echoed what had come before just the previous year. That can be both a blessing and a curse. They used a lot of the same beats while sprinkling in some new spots here and there.
I'm ranking this as the third best WarGames match ever, behind the original NXT WarGames match and the Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance match. That's damn good company to have in terms of WarGames in my opinion. And that should tell you the level of match as far as I'm concerned. I just felt that the original NXT WarGames was better booked and better paced with originality. And Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance was a brutal bloodbath with a bunch of moving parts that made WarGames feel like an actual war. This match had that feeling to it as well, but I just feel that these two matches did that a bit better.

So, here are the NEW WarGames Rankings

WarGames Ranked (Thus Far)

1. WarGames (2017)- The Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong
2. WarGames (1992)- The Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting's Squadron
3. WarGames (2018)- The Undisputed Era vs. Ricochet, Pete Dunne, and War Raiders
4. WarGames (1988)- Horsemen vs. Dusty's Team
5. WarGames (1991)- The Horsemen/Zbyzsko vs. Sting, The Steiners, and Pillman
6. WarGames I (1987)- The Four Horsemen vs. The Dream Team
7. WarGames (1994)- The Rhodes and The Nastys vs. The Stud Stable
8. WarGames (1989) - Road Warriors/ Midnight Express/Dr.Death vs. Freebirds/Samoans
9. WarGames (1996)- Team nWo vs. Team WCW
10. WarGames II (1987)- The Four Horsemen vs. The Superpowers
11. WarGames (2003; MLW)- Funkin' Army vs. Extreme Horsemen
12. WarGamees (2018; MLW)- The Ravengers vs. Team Strickland
13. WarGames (1997)- Team WCW/Horsemen vs. Team nWo
14. WarGames (1993)- Sid, Vader, Harlem Heat vs. Sting, Bulldog, Dustin Rhodes, and Shockmaster
15. WarGames (1995)- Hulkamaniacs vs. The Dungeon of Doom
(Tie)16. WarGames (1998)- Garbage
(Tie)16. WarGames (2000)- WarGames 2000
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I hope you enjoyed this latest edition of UnWrest Focus: WarGames. If you can find any more WarGames matches that are easily accessible, let me know. I'll review them and add them to the list.

Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.