Last night’s NXT Takeover: In Your House provided something more than just another stellar NXT Takeover event. It gave us sense of normalcy.
Outside of the really fun throwback intros, old school ice cream commercials, and even a Todd Pettengill appearance, In Your House gave us something I dearly missed over the past few months — a live band performance. NXT staple Code Orange opened the show with an absolutely amazing performance that really set the stage. The stage in itself was an amazing production, with a front door, garage, and my personal favorite, a Titantron window. First impressions are everything and NXT got it right.
Shotzi Blackheart, Tegan Knox, Mia Yim VS. Candice Lerae, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez
The show opens with Shotzi riding her tank to the ring as only she can. I’m really glad NXT is letting Shotzi be Shotzi. The sky is the limit for her.
Another notable entrance was that of “The Poison Pixie” Candice LeRae sporting some pretty rad gear with broken wings. I’m loving all the new attire tonight, something I felt was really missing from Wrestlemania 36. Enough wrestling fashion for now, let’s get to the match itself.
I have to say this was one of my favorite six person matches I have seen in recent memory. Raquel Gonzalez was able to establish her self as a mega powerhouse as she power-lifted opponents and even caught Shotzi mid-air during a suicide dive! Lots of fast-paced and high risk action here, which is my personal cup of tea. Candice hit a springboard twisting plancha to the outside and Tegan was able to hit a super impressive Molly-Go-Round 450 to the outside.
Mia Yim proved that she did not believe in fairies as she took it Candice as they battle through the garage into the backstage area. Ultimately, Tegan and Shotzi are able to capitalize after a miscue by Dakota, allowing the faces to hit a beautiful tandem Ultimo Dragon type maneuver to take Raquel out of the equation. Tegan would then hit Kai with the Shiniest Wizard for the win.
Finn Balor vs. Damien Priest
Arguably, one of the more Heel vs. Heel type matches we’ve been seeing more of lately, this one involved a lot of outside the ring spots. Finn jumps Priest early, but Priest rallies after throwing Finn into the ring steps and slamming him onto the apron. Later in the match, Priest is able to apply more “punishment” onto Balor’s back by hitting a massive Razor’s Edge on the apron. I’m actually surprised at the amount of offense Priest is able to get in.
Finn finally rallies by knocking Priest onto the outside steel steps in a pretty vicious looking landing. The evil Prince hits a double Coupe De Grace to put away his opponent as he continues to ride his current wave of momentum.
NXT North American Championship Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Keith Lee (C)
It’s no secret that I am not a fan of the Johnny Gargano heel turn. I can’t wrap my head around any of it. I’ll spare you my Johnny rant, but hopefully this turn will make for more great potential matchups such as this. Johnny makes his way to the ring in what I believe to be Mandalorian-inspired gear, while putting a key (foreign object) into his tights. Also, I hate Johnny’s new music. But I digress. This starts out as a classic little man vs. big man matchup, but Keith Lee matches Johnny’s agility easily. Johnny’s strikes aren’t phasing Lee at all. Lee impresses by catching a flying Johnny Gargano not once, but twice during aerial maneuvers to the outside. Lee makes it look so easy.
Then we get to a spot that I wasn’t so fond of. Johnny tries to escape through the house door part of the set, that clearly has two giant openings on either side of it. (You’ll notice random WWE crew running around back there throughout the show) It’s just getting silly at this point and in my opinion takes away from what could really be an amazing match. Johnny finally wears Lee down after a few eye rakes and cheap shots. Gargano focuses on the eye of Lee leaving a lot of judgement to the ref’s discretion here. In fact nearly every strike, submission, and grapple seemingly involves Lee’s eye. Bonus points to the “crowd” for the “Johnny sucks” chants the theme of the Imperial March and “Gargano Sucks” chants to the Cena theme.
Lee finally uses his power to recover but can’t quite put Gargano away. Johnny tries to match fists with Lee which again doesn’t make any sense to me. Later on the outside Lee hits an amazing Pounce on Gargano through the plexiglass that might make for another amazing gif. I liked that spot a lot. Next, Candice causes a distraction but Mia essentially says, “I do not believe in fairies!” and makes the save. Johnny is however able use they key on Lee’s eye as we expected and hits one final beat for the potential win. Johnny then hits four separate DIY super kicks and Lee kicks out of all of them! Lee hits a Spirit Bomb but doesn’t make the cover. Lee hits the Big Bang Catastrophe to retain the title.
I have issues with this match. LOTS of discretion by the ref in terms of DQ, Interference, and count outs. Additionally, The Gargano Way is not for me. In fact, I think it took a lot away from this match. I think I hate heel Johnny.
NXT Championship Match – Backlot Brawl: The Velveteen Dream vs. Adam Cole
I’m surprised to see this match this early in the night, but I’m hoping this means the women’s triple threat will close the show.
This was another one of the more frequent cinematic type matches we’re seeing. I’m never a fan of the pace of these matches but this has some big spots. Cole is knocked off a ladder through the windshield of a parked car. The Undisputed Era interferes, but are driven out of town after Dexter Lumis puts them into his trunk. Chairs are piled in the middle of the ring and come into play whilst dream hits a flying elbow. Moments before Dream would reverse a Panama Sunrise into a Dream Valley Drive that I thought was a pretty cool spot. Ultimately Cole would not miss his second Panama Sunrise attempt that enabled him to retain his championship. This was an okay match, but I can see why it wasn’t the closer.
Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett vs. Tomasso Ciampa
Not gonna lie. I was stoked for this one. Kross’ entrance always gets me fired up. It is perfection. Kross takes everything Ciampa throws at him early and shakes it off. Kross overpowers Ciampa time and time again. Suplex after suplex after suplex. He even throws Ciampa into the apron back first. It is all Kross.
Finally Ciampa is able to get some momentum with a vicious knee into a Willow’s Bell DDT for a near fall. Ciampa looks for the fairy tale ending. Kross reverses it into an F-5 maneuver and hits the Kross jacket as Ciampa fades out. (Ciampa does not tap) Our Editor in Chief himself says Kross has a smooth handshake but this guy is a force to be reckoned with. As some of us expected, this was a bit of a squash match and a huge victory for Karrion Kross. This guy is a future NXT Champion to say the least.
NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
Quick shout out to Rhea for the one white boot and one black boot, which I can only assume is symbolic of racial equality.
Flair really displays her dominance by woman-handling both of her opponents early. Flair even hits a double spear but is unable to put away either opponent. Io really has a chance to shine here as well with some high flying offense including her patented springboard dropkick, suicide dives, and running hurricanranas! At his point she is really more of a face than a heel, because we all love her!
This is a really fun match with more counters than a Home Depot kitchen display. Flair hits a Natural Selection on Io for a near fall, but Io kicks out! The women take the fight to the In Your House Front Porch set and Charlotte sends Io through the window.
However, the Joshi Judas herself climbs to the top of the set and delivers a picture perfect cross body onto both opponents!! Back in the ring Rhea is able to hit a Riptide slam off the top on the Queen, but it’s not enough to put her away. Rhea than locks on the Prism Trap Submission on Io but Charlotte breaks it up with a Kendo Stick! Charlotte then locks in a figure eight on Rhea but Io breaks it up with a moonsault onto Rhea!! Io quickly pins Rhea to become your NEW NXT Women’s Champion!! This was a long time coming and very well deserved!! Great job Io!! Bonus points for the streamers, confetti, and the call by Mauro Ranallo.
After a night of some pretty solid matches, one thing is for sure. The women clearly took over TakeOver.
