The War Report - 2021: War Is Over… For Now
NXT vs. AEW: Dynamite - which was the better show this week?
Promo Performance
In the run up to any major WWE or NXT event you can guarantee that the mic work will be A+, and tonight was no exception.
Quick words from WALTER, Finn, and Karrion Kross did their jobs, as did The Way setting up a Women’s Tag Title match against Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon at TakeOver. Now, I love Shotzi and Ember, but their characters are dickheads. Gurning, preening, shouting a load of crap and firing missiles at people, I just really want to see them get their arses kicked.
Tomasso Ciampa had a fantastic promo ahead of his NXT UK Title match with WALTER. Ciampa gave the significance behind his necklace, and admitted that he had changed, but a man who has something real to fight for is better than a man with nothing to lose. I was already pumped for this fight, now it is definitely must see.
Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory had a nice moment ahead of the main event. Theory reassured Johnny that he’d win and they’d re-enact the Fingerpoke of Doom. Johnny said it killed the business, but if that’s so then why are they still there? Theory’s work as part of The Way is some of my favourite stuff in all of wrestling right now. He gets it.
We also had a masterful video package ahead of Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly, addressing the fact they have had a friendship and issues since before NXT. We even got a still from their ROH Title match at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Very nice. Seriously though, an absolutely incredible video package.
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Shock horror! For the second week in a row AEW didn’t give us an obligatory Sting interview! Instead the old crow and Darby threw a load of money off a bridge, as Darby told Matt Hardy he is a shell of his former self. I sometimes find Darby’s videos a little self-indulgent, and while this one certainly was, it was also pretty damn good, and got this burgeoning feud over.
We heard from Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page. Both men are tired of being passed over, and have decided to team up. While I am sad that we won’t get an extended solo run for Scorpio, a team of Sky and Page could be amazing. I’m a big fan of both men, give them some wins and a tag feud and let’s see where this goes.
Mox had his weekly video where he was pissed off. Jade Cargill threw more barbs at Red Velvet, before pummelling Madam Cake later on. We also heard from Britt Baker who threw shade at Thunder Rosa, and Jurassic Express plugged their match next week with Bear Country, as well as Godzilla vs. Kong for some reason. All basic, but kept things ticking over.
Taz and the lads tried to reassure the audience that everything was rosy, but Cage looked like he was ready to rip Ricky Starks’ head off. Let them fight, give them 15 minutes plus. Please.
AEW’s promo of the night was short but to the point, as Don Callis further got into Matt Jackson’s head. Callis’ work as a horrible little weasel has been fantastic on AEW and IMPACT recently.
Winner: NXT. It’s a WWE produced go-home show, we were guaranteed some good mic work. Ciampa and Cole/O’Reilly being the stand-out segments.
