5 Surprising moments from NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019

#2 Finn Balor Defeats Matt Riddle Clean

It is the beginning of the end for Matt Riddle.

It hasn’t been the best couple of months for the Original Bro. He lost to The Velveteen Dream unsuccessfully challenging for the NXT North American Championship at TakeOver: New York. He lost the NXT Championship match in October against Adam Cole. Could the Original Bro beat Finn Balor in his return TakeOver match? All signs pointed to no.

I doubt many people were surprised that the newly heel Finn Balor defeated Matt Riddle on Saturday night. That was likely the most technical match of the entire show. It was a truly back and forth encounter where neither Superstar really dominated.

The finish was the truly surprising. Riddle hit his Bro to Sleep knee move. He should have gone for the pin. Instead he went to the top rope and missed. This led to a quick finish and a DDT by Balor for the clean win.

It seemed strange to have the newly heel Balor not have to cheat to win. It makes you wonder where Riddle goes from here as he has lost so much recently. Finn Balor on the other hand has an encounter with Johnny Gargano coming up soon. I cannot wait.