The 2021 NXT WarGames was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand, NXT 2.0. It was the fifth annual and final NXT WarGames event, and was NXT's first major event held following its rebranding as NXT 2.0 in September, which reverted it to being WWE's developmental brand. It took place on December 5, 2021, at NXT's home venue, 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.
There were five matches scheduled on the event's card, as well as one dark match that occurred before the live broadcast. There were two WarGames matches, one each for the men and women. The main event was the men's WarGames match where Team 2.0 (Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, and Tony D'Angelo), representing the NXT 2.0 era of wrestlers, defeated Team Black & Gold (Johnny Gargano, LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Tommaso Ciampa), representing the old guard of NXT before its rebranding to NXT 2.0. The women's WarGames match opened the show and saw the team of Cora Jade, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, and Raquel González defeat the team of Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne) and Dakota Kai.
This was NXT's first PPV and livestreaming event held following the discontinuation of the NXT TakeOver series, subsequently being NXT's first WarGames event to not be held as a TakeOver event, as the events from 2017 to 2020 were held as an annual subseries of TakeOvers titled "TakeOver: WarGames". It was subsequently NXT's first event outside of the weekly NXT progam (which was also rebranded as NXT 2.0) to not be promoted under the TakeOver name since Halftime Heat in February 2019 as well as NXT's first major event to not be held as a TakeOver since the brand's inaugural livestreaming event Arrival in February 2014. It was also NXT's first major event in which the Performance Center was not referred to as the Capitol Wrestling Center, which was phased out with the restructuring to NXT 2.0 and due to all COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. This would also be NXT's last event to feature the WarGames match as the following year, the concept was moved to the main roster as part of Survivor Series with NXT's WarGames event being replaced by Deadline.
This would be NXT's last major event to air on traditional PPV, as in 2022, WWE shifted to only broadcasting NXT's major events on its livestreaming platforms. This was also the first and only NXT WarGames to livestream on Peacock in the United States following the shutdown of the American version of the WWE Network in April. It would also be WWE's last PPV and livestreaming event to carry the term "pay-per-view" as WWE began to use the term "premium live event" for these major events, including NXT's, beginning with Day 1 the following month.
Production
Background Since May 2014, WWE had held a series of periodic professional wrestling events for its NXT brand titled TakeOver, which were originally livestreamed exclusively on the WWE Network before also becoming available on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) in October 2020. WarGames was an annual subseries of TakeOver events that began in 2017, based around the WarGames match; it was originally held as a support show for the main roster's Survivor Series event in November before moving to December in 2020. In September 2019, NXT began to be regarded as WWE's third main brand with that year's TakeOver: WarGames being the first TakeOver held following this recognition, but in September 2021, NXT went through a restructuring and was rebranded as "NXT 2.0", reverting to a developmental brand for WWE. In October, it was speculated that the company may end the TakeOver series as another TakeOver event was not scheduled for 2021 after TakeOver 36 in August.
On November 9, 2021, NXT's fifth WarGames event was announced to be held on Sunday, December 5, 2021, at the brand's home venue, the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The announcement confirmed that the event would not be a TakeOver event, thus marking NXT's first PPV and livestreaming event held following TakeOver's discontinuation, as well as the first non-TakeOver to air on any of these broadcast outlets since Halftime Heat in February 2019, and also NXT's first major event to not be held as a TakeOver since the brand's inaugural livestreaming event Arrival in February 2014. It was also the brand's first PPV and livestreaming event held following its rebranding as "NXT 2.0", which also phased out the Capitol Wrestling Center name for the Performance Center as all COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted. It would also be NXT's first WarGames to livestream on Peacock in the United States following the shutdown of the American version of the WWE Network in April. On the day of the event's announcement, WWE had originally made a post on Twitter referring to the event as "TakeOver: WarGames"; however, the tweet was quickly deleted and reposted omitting the "TakeOver" title.
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.
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 2.0.
At NXT: Halloween Havoc on October 26, Raquel González lost the NXT Women's Championship to Mandy Rose after interference from Dakota Kai. A match between González and Kai was later scheduled for the November 16 episode of NXT, which ended in a disqualification win for González after interference from Toxic Attraction (Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne). After the match, Cora Jade attacked Dolin and Jayne, only for Rose to overpower her. Io Shirai then grabbed a crutch from the injured Zoey Stark and attacked Kai and Toxic Attraction with it, sending them retreating. Shirai, Jade, and González then challenged Toxic Attraction and Kai to a WarGames match at NXT WarGames. A day later, the match was made official. The following week, Rose lost to Jade in a non-title match after interference from Kay Lee Ray, who later joined Shirai, Jade, and González's WarGames team. On the November 30 episode, Ray defeated Kai in a ladder match to earn her team the WarGames advantage.
At NXT: Halloween Havoc, Tommaso Ciampa defeated Bron Breakker to retain the NXT Championship. On the November 23 episode of NXT, Halloween Havoc hosts Grayson Waller and LA Knight engaged in a brawl that spilled backstage. Later that night, Carmelo Hayes retained the NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and Pete Dunne in a triple threat match after interference from Tony D'Angelo. After the match, the brawl between Waller and Knight returned to the ring before Ciampa sent Hayes, D'Angelo, and Waller retreating. However, Breakker appeared and sided with Hayes, D'Angelo, and Waller. They then challenged Ciampa, Knight, Dunne, and Gargano to a WarGames match before the two teams brawled as the show ended. A day later, the match was made official for NXT WarGames. On the November 30 episode, Breakker defeated Gargano in a ladder match to earn his team the WarGames advantage. Breakker's team was named Team 2.0 to represent the NXT 2.0 era of wrestlers, while Gargano's team was named Team Black & Gold to represent NXT prior to the rebranding as those were the colors of the brand.
At NXT: Halloween Havoc, Cameron Grimes was invited to Duke Hudson's Poker Room on the following week's episode, where he beat him with a full house of 2's against his Aces. On the November 16 episode of NXT, Hudson challenged Grimes to a poker showdown where he lost again due to his bluff, and powerbombed him through the poker table before trimming his beard and ponytail. The following week, a short-haired Grimes challenged Hudson to a hair vs. hair match at NXT WarGames, which he accepted.
On the November 23 episode of NXT, Malcolm Bivens and the Diamond Mine confronted Joe Gacy in the ring for stealing the spotlight away from them the prior week, and wanted to take it back by asking him to leave the ring so that Ivy Nile could have her match. Gacy respected Nile's right to have a match but had no respect for NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong, saying his name invoked "toxic masculinity" and that the cruiserweight division divided people by promoting exclusivity and "weight shaming". Strong said he wanted to embarrass Gacy, leading Bivens to set up a match between the two at NXT WarGames. The following week, Gacy (accompanied by Harland) hosted an all-inclusive invitational in response to the Cruiserweight division being a "toxic environment" that left out "height, weight, and gender bias". After Gacy's matches against two enhancement talents, Gacy left Strong lying following a handspring clothesline before retreating with Harland.
On the November 30 episode of NXT, Kyle O'Reilly and Von Wagner defeated Legado Del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza) to become the number one contenders for Imperium's (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) NXT Tag Team Championship. The match was subsequently scheduled for NXT WarGames.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsVic JosephWade BarrettBeth PhoenixSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodríguezRing announcerAlicia TaylorRefereesDarryl SharmaDallas IrvinDaphanie LaShaunnDerek SandersBlair BaldwinFelix FernandezPre-show panelSam RobertsMcKenzie MitchellDenise Salcedo Dark match Before the event went live on pay-per-view and the streaming services, Odyssey Jones defeated Andre Chase in a dark match.
Preliminary matches The actual event began with the women's WarGames match, which saw Cora Jade, Kay Lee Ray, Io Shirai, and Raquel González take on Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne) and Dakota Kai. Kai and Ray started the match. Ray dominated the first few minutes. As Ray's team had the WarGames advantage, Jade entered next. Ray performed a KLR Bomb on Kai onto a trash can wrapped around Dolin before Shirai entered next. She brought multiple chairs and another trash can into the cage. However, Kai performed a Pump Kick on Shirai as she entered the cage. Kai and Dolin then dominated Shirai and Jade. Dolin then sent Jade into the cage wall before Jayne entered next. She brought a table into the cage while Dolin set it up. After the tide shifted, Shirai, Ray, and Jade placed Jayne onto the table, and Jade performed a Senton from the top of the cage on Jayne through it, dislocating her left shoulder in the process. Shirai then placed Jade's shoulder back into place, after which, González entered next with Rose entering last. Rose set her sights on the injured Jade until Shirai attacked her. After Rose, Dolin, and Jayne dominated González, Jade broke up a pinning attempt with a kendo stick. Rose performed a Bicycle Knee to Jade's injured shoulder, but Jade kicked out. In the climax, González performed a Chingona Bomb on Jayne, after which, González and Dolin took each other out. Jade then pinned Jayne to win the match for her team.