The Real Winners and Losers from WWE NXT WarGames 2020

Every WWE show gives Superstars an opportunity to make a name for themselves. Something like NXT TakeOver: WarGames ups the intensity, as it's typically one of the most exhilarating events of the year.

The titular cage matches are brutal demolition-derby battles that can give wrestlers some great footage for their career highlight reels.

Standing tall after that fight makes all the damage worthwhile. On the opposite side, going through all that just to come up short must be a crushing defeat.

Looking back on those matches and everything else that took place on this card, which Superstars stood out as the biggest winners and losers of the night?

Let's recap what took place Sunday at NXT TakeOver: WarGames and give credit where it's due, for better or worse.

WWE NXT TakeOver WarGames 2020 Results

• WarGames match: Team Candice defeated Team Shotzi by pinfall.
• Tommaso Ciampa defeated Timothy Thatcher by pinfall.
• Strap match: Dexter Lumis defeated Cameron Grimes by submission.
• Johnny Gargano defeated Leon Ruff and Damian Priest by pinfall to win the North American Championship.
• WarGames match: The Undisputed Era defeated Pat McAfee, Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan and Pete Dunne by pinfall.

Technically speaking, as this is a team match, all of Team Candice LeRae are winners and all of Team Shotzi Blackheart are losers. One pinfall settled it, and the babyfaces were left nursing their wounds while the heels had their hands raised.

The two biggest standouts, though, would have to be Raquel Gonzalez and Io Shirai. Ultimately, those two are who decided the outcome, as Gonzalez powerbombed Shirai through a ladder and scored the pin for her team.

Beating the current NXT women's champion is a big win for Gonzalez. To date, that's the most important thing she's ever done in her career. It may even put her at the front of the line as the next challenger for the title.

Shirai theoretically should have been the winner here, as holding the title should mean she's the best of the best. However, not only did she not pull that off, but she also didn't even manage to avoid being the one to lose for her group.

This is after Shirai perpetually failed to get into the ring several times during her entrance. Each time she tried to get through the door, someone (normally Gonzalez) put a stop to it. The power was never truly in her hands.

All things considered, this was by no means a weak showing for the champion in the grand scheme of things. However, it clearly wasn't her night. It was Gonzalez's.

Credit goes to Tommaso Ciampa for winning his match, but the bigger story is how Timothy Thatcher turned out the loser.

Both Superstars beat the tar out of each other in a rough match. Neither one will be feeling OK when he wakes up tomorrow.

But Thatcher was the one who took the most amount of punishment, particularly with a stiff knee to the side of the head. A few seconds later and for the rest of the match, Thatcher's ear was pouring blood.

Going through all that pain but managing to at least win would be one thing. Having to suffer like that just to get pinned makes it hurt all that much more.

Thatcher also could have used a victory like this. He's developed an inability to win important matches outside of his Fight Pit contest with Riddle. Since then, he's even struggled against some of his students.

Thatcher's going to need some wins and some ice packs to rehab this loss.

Dexter Lumis was victorious in the strap match, so Cameron Grimes is a bigger loser out of the two. However, they could both be considered losers, as this match was mostly a dud.

Both are capable of doing better work, but their hands were tied here—quite literally.

WWE made a mistake booking this as their third gimmick match, following the blindfold match and the considerably more fun Haunted House of Terror.

Strap matches aren't one of WWE's go-to gimmicks and for good reason. It's not exactly the most engaging gimmick. For the most part, there are only three parts to it: whip your opponent, pull your opponent or strangle your opponent.

This went on too long, so those three things became tiresome.

This is also the third one this year, so it's not as if fans haven't seen it in a while and it's a fresh stipulation.

Oddly, WWE also keeps booking these matches to end in a pinfall or submission. No longer do Superstars have to tap the four turnbuckles to win.

That would have at least presented a different style of finish than what they've done before. Grimes has lost to Lumis by submission in the Haunted House of Terror and simply did the same here.

Lumis and Grimes weren't able to do anything interesting worth booking them on this card, so they're both losers here.

Leon Ruff scored a massive upset several weeks ago when he got a quick pin on Johnny Gargano to win the NXT North American Championship. Here, Gargano settled the score by recapturing the title.

Granted, it wasn't with ease. Ruff put up more of a fight than most would have anticipated, and Damian Priest nearly had the match won, too. Without the interference of several Superstars dressed as Ghostface from Scream, Priest likely would be the one holding the title once more.

But Gargano was able to orchestrate this plan and capitalize on it to win back the title for a historic third time. He now is allied with Austin Theory, who has all the potential in the world to be a major star in WWE's future, meaning Gargano has a powerful new ally to help him hold on to this title much longer than the last time.

Between this and Team Candice winning earlier, it seems The Gargano Way is proving itself valid.

Pat McAfee, Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan and Pete Dunne came up short in the final WarGames match of the night, but they were far from losers on this show. Those guys put up a great fight and nearly ended up on top.

McAfee in particular was a treat. Somehow, he's able to cut promos better than most of the WWE roster and can execute flawless moonsaults and other maneuvers plenty of others botch on a regular basis with significantly more training. He's incredible and deserves to be called a winner in his own right.

But The Undisputed Era celebrated as the show faded away. These guys have battled inside WarGames several times and are now 2-2 with this big win.

Despite McAfee setting up tables ahead of time with their names on them, it was The Kings of NXT who wound up going through most of them, which is telling, especially as The Undisputed Era lacked the advantage at the start of the match.

They no longer hold the gold in NXT like they once did, but Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong and especially Kyle O'Reilly as of late perpetually prove they're the anchors of the brand.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.