NXT: Who Was The MVP of WarGames?

NXT aired its second annual Takeover: War Games on Saturday, and just like at any other Takeover, the showing from the NXT roster was riveting. Some, however, seemed to be way more suited for war than others.

We are currently coming off the heels of the second annual NXT TakeOver: WarGames event, and as with just about every Takeover that came before it, the event was a memorable success. Not only that, but there is a lot to rave about concerning the spectacle of the 22nd Takeover event in NXT’s history.

Last night’s show gave us two successful title defenses, a grudge match that can easily be considered a Match of the Year candidate, and a truly chaotic main event that was worthy of its spectacular namesake. Every NXT Superstar involved in last night’s show gave an impressive performance, but there was one participant in the main event who especially stood out in our eyes.

If we had to choose just one MVP of WarGames – not only of the match, but of the entire event – we would be amiss if we didn’t choose Hanson of the War Raiders.

Focusing on the WarGames match, everyone involved gave 110%, but at risk of downplaying their efforts, they did what we expected. Again, all of the wrestlers in the main event did great, but since they’re all remarkable athletes, we expected them to be great.

We expected Ricochet to commit to death defying stunts and execute an outrageous dive from atop the cage. We expected Undisputed Era to play a cohesive unit whilst being their usual sneaky selves. We even expected the War Raiders to ragdoll their opponents from ring to ring as a big hoss duo. We did not expect Hanson to do what he did in that match.

via WWE.com

Hanson went above and beyond during WarGames in a way that not even his most avid of fans have seen before. He truly went the extra mile and surprised all of us. It’s like Hanson knew that with this being his and Raymond Rowe’s first Takeover match, he had to pull out something special and something different with the brightest spotlight he’s ever wrestled under shining down on him.

Last night, we saw a 300+ pounder dart across the rings like a cruiserweight, while displaying unbelievable feats of strength. We saw the behemoth of a man bounce off the ropes to do springboards and cartwheels. He corner-clotheslined Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly back to back for a solid minute, crashed down onto KOR through a table off the top rope, and most impressively, he powerbombed six men off of his shoulders from along the walls of the cage.

In between all of that, him and his partner Raymond Rowe worked in tremendous tag team tandem with each other throughout the duration of the match. Not to take anything away from Rowe; he too displayed some freakish strength. However, it was Hanson who made our jaws drop not only for his strength, but his lightning fast agility.

We know for a fact that the War Raiders are going to have plenty of success as a tag team in WWE for years to come. If WarGames showed us anything, it’s that Hanson has the ability to carry even the most brutal matches and shine brightly among even the brightest of stars.