The 2020 NXT TakeOver: WarGames was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. It was the 32nd NXT TakeOver event and the fourth annual NXT WarGames. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took place on December 6, 2020, from the Capitol Wrestling Center, a bio-secure bubble that was hosted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The event centered on the WarGames match, a type of roofless steel cage match that surrounds two rings placed side by side and is contested by teams of multiple wrestlers; the first team to score a pinfall or submission wins while escaping the cage is a forfeit.
Five matches were contested at the event, including two WarGames matches with one each for the men and women. The main event was the men's WarGames match in which The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) defeated Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan), while the opening bout was the women's match, where Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel González, and Toni Storm) defeated Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai).
This was the first WarGames event to air on traditional PPV in addition to the WWE Network. The 2020 event ended the show's tradition of being held as part of Survivor Series weekend. It was also the final WarGames held under the TakeOver series, which was discontinued in late 2021 with WarGames held as its own event that year. This would also be the final WarGames event to livestream on the American version of the WWE Network, which merged under Peacock in April 2021.
Production Background
TakeOver was a series of professional wrestling events that began in May 2014, as WWE's NXT brand held its second WWE Network-exclusive livestreaming event, billed as TakeOver. The "TakeOver" moniker subsequently became the branding for all of NXT's major events held periodically throughout the year. While originally exclusive to the WWE Network, TakeOver events also became available on traditional pay-per-view beginning with TakeOver 31 in October 2020.
Announced on September 3, 2020, the 32nd TakeOver event was scheduled for December 6. During the November 18 episode of NXT, it was promoted as "TakeOver: WarGames", marking the fourth WarGames event, an annual subseries of TakeOvers that featured the WarGames match and were originally held as a support show for WWE's annual Survivor Series for the main roster. Unlike previous years, however, the 2020 WarGames was not held as a support show for that year's Survivor Series as it was instead held two weeks after Survivor Series. It was available for purchase on In Demand.
The WarGames match is a type of roofless steel cage match that surrounds two rings placed side by side. It is contested by two or three teams composed of three to six members each. One member from each team starts in the cage, and every couple of minutes, another team member enters in a staggered format until all participants have entered. Once all participants are in the cage, the match officially begins and the first team to score a pinfall or submission wins, while escaping the cage is a forfeit.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. NXT's programming was initially held at its home venue at the time, Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. In October 2020, NXT's events were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the Capitol Wrestling Center, which was hosted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Like the WWE ThunderDome utilized for Raw and SmackDown's programming, LED boards were placed around the Performance Center so that fans could attend virtually, while additionally and unlike the ThunderDome, friends and family members of the wrestlers were in attendance, along with a limited number of actual live fans, divided from each other by plexiglass walls.
Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT.
In July, a feud began between Pat McAfee and The Undisputed Era's Adam Cole. This led to a match at TakeOver XXX, where Cole was victorious. On the October 21 episode of NXT, Undisputed Era members Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly were scheduled to challenge Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) for the NXT Tag Team Championship. However, Fish and Roderick Strong were attacked backstage, leading to O'Reilly choosing Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. They won the title after interference from Pat McAfee, who aligned with Burch and Lorcan. At NXT: Halloween Havoc, McAfee stated that it was part of a feud between him and The Undisputed Era, and also revealed that he hired Ridge Holland to attack Adam Cole at TakeOver 31. After Holland legitimately got injured during a match against Burch, McAfee hired him and Lorcan to take out Fish and Strong. As a result, O'Reilly gave the Undisputed Era a title match He later came from the back and was joined by Pete Dunne, who turned on O'Reilly and aligned himself with McAfee's stable, called The Kings of NXT. The following week, the stable interrupted a match pitting Drake Maverick and Killian Dain against Ever-Rise (Matt Martel and Chase Parker) before talking about The Undisputed Era's rise in NXT. On the November 11 episode, McAfee and Dunne accompanied Burch and Lorcan for the latter's title defense against Breezango, which they won. After the match, McAfee, Dunne, Burch, and Lorcan laid out both teams. The following week, McAfee interrupted NXT Champion Finn Bálor mid-promo to brag about all his stable had accomplished. McAfee warned Bálor to hand the title to his stable or be attacked. Bálor revealed that he brought friends, which was revealed to be The Undisputed Era, and they brawled with McAfee's stable as the show ended. On November 19, a WarGames match pitting McAfee, Burch, Lorcan, and Dunne against The Undisputed Era was made official for TakeOver: WarGames. On the November 25 episode of NXT, Dunne defeated O'Reilly in a ladder match to earn his team the WarGames advantage.
At NXT: Halloween Havoc on October 28, Johnny Gargano defeated Damian Priest in a Devil's Playground Match to win the NXT North American Championship, becoming the first-ever two-time NXT North American Champion. On the November 11 episode of NXT, Gargano defended the title against Leon Ruff, who was picked as his opponent by a roulette-style spinning wheel. During the match, Priest distracted Gargano and was pinned by Ruff to win the title for the first time. The following week, Ruff retained the championship against Gargano via disqualification when Priest intentionally punched Ruff. On the November 25 episode of NXT, all three competitors were on The KO Show to state their case for why they wanted the NXT North American Championship, when NXT general manager William Regal appeared to announce the title would be defended in a triple threat match at TakeOver: WarGames.
On the October 7 episode of NXT, Dexter Lumis defeated Austin Theory in a match but was then attacked by Cameron Grimes, saying he felt disrespected by him the prior week. At NXT: Halloween Havoc, the two met in a Haunted House of Horror match, with Lumis beating him in the ring by submission. They faced each other again in a blindfold match on the November 18 episode of NXT, ending in a no contest after Grimes unknowingly knocked the referee unconscious and eventually ran off. The following week, Grimes defeated Jake Atlas in a match but was soon interrupted by Lumis, who offered him a strap but he refused to wear it. Later that night, Regal met Grimes backstage to set up a strap match between him and Lumis at TakeOver: WarGames.
On the November 18 episode of NXT, Timothy Thatcher defeated August Grey in a match but was soon confronted by Tommaso Ciampa, and Thatcher backed away from him saying "I have no problem with you". On the December 2 episode of NXT, Thatcher was in the ring teaching a "Thatch as Thatch Can" lesson on "Distractions", when Ciampa appeared and was told by Thatcher that he did not want any trouble with him. After throwing him to the mat following an attempted attack, Ciampa was blindsided by Thatcher's student and thrown into the plexiglass by Thatcher himself, who then applied a guillotine choke to make him pass out. Thatcher later said he would meet Ciampa for a "lesson" at TakeOver: WarGames.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsVic JosephWade BarrettBeth PhoenixSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodríguezRing announcerAlicia TaylorRefereesDrake WuertzDarryl SharmaD.A. BrewerTom CastorStephon SmithAja SmithJake ClemonsInterviewerMcKenzie MitchellPre-show panelSam RobertsWade Barrett Preliminary matches Before the event began broadcasting live, a six-man tag team match occurred as a dark match between the team of Curt Stallion, Ashante "Thee" Adonis, and August Grey, against the team of Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza, and Joaquin Wilde, who are collectively known as Legado del Fantasma. This match was uploaded to WWE's YouTube and Facebook accounts the day of the event. After an opening sequence where each man tagged in once, Legado del Fantasma isolated Adonis with repeated tags and tandem offence. He eventually made the "hot tag" to Stallion, who for several moments was dominant in the match, easily dispatching with all three members of the opposing team. The finish came when Grey and Mendoza were legal, and Grey Irish whipped Mendoza into his corner. Escobar blind tagged himself into the match, and entered the ring while Grey executed a hip toss on Mendoza. As Grey turned around, Escobar executed a leg lariat and "Legado" to win the match.
The actual event began with the women's WarGames match, with the team led by Candice LeRae facing the team led by Shotzi Blackheart. Dakota Kai began the match for LeRae's team, and Ember Moon for Blackheart's. Blackheart's team held the advantage heading in to the match, so after five minutes, Blackheart herself joined the match. Further entrances happened at three minute intervals, first Raquel González from Team LeRae, then Rhea Ripley from Team Blackheart, then Toni Storm, then Io Shirai, before LeRae was the final entrant. González, along with an interfering Indi Hartwell, kept Shirai from entering the two-ring WarGames structure for several minutes, and when LeRae entered, Storm secured the cage's entry door with her studded belt, seemingly keeping the NXT Women's Champion from entering. Shirai eventually entered the match by diving off the top of the cage structure and into the ring, while inhabiting a trash can. Other noteworthy spots included Moon performing "The Eclipse" onto Kai while Kai stood stunned over two steel chairs, Blackheart performing her signature finishing senton splash off a ladder onto LeRae while LeRae had a chair draped over her (reportedly causing LeRae to sustain a broken arm), Kai performing a diving double stomp onto Shirai while Shirai was again inhabiting a trash can, and González performing a Chingona Bomb onto Shirai through a ladder bridge set up between the two rings. This last spot was the match's conclusion, with González pinning Shirai to secure victory for Team LeRae.