NXT: TakeOver: In your house

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Let's get to it.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Forgot this was on.

[Storm Trooper]

Love the set, and the callbacks to the days of yore.

Hearing William Regal say "Promotional Consideration Paid for by three following" I lost it.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Todd Pentigill was here as well.

[klunderbunker]

Takeover: In Your House
Date: June 7, 2020
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, Tom Phillips

I’m almost scared for this one, as I don’t know if NXT can pull off the same magic without the fans. It doesn’t help that the show has been a lot weaker since it moved to two hours, but you never bet against Takeover because the show has a pretty outstanding record. Tonight’s main event seems to be another cinematic match between NXT Champion Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream so let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

You Still Got It?

[Jack-Hammer]

NXT TakeOver: In Your House

1. Tegan Nox, Shotzi Blackheart & Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez & Candice LeRae - An energetic opener that was pretty much all action from the opening bell. The match piled all these existing feuds into one cohesive match and everyone was given time and a chance to shine. Mia Yim and Candice LeRae fighting out of the ringside area so neither of them would take the fall is smart as it's too early for Yim to take another loss and Candice hasn't been a heel all that long. Tegan and Shotzi scored the win and that's fine as neither Kai nor Gonzalez lost anything seeing as how they have multiple wins over the faces in singles matches. Under normal circumstances, this match probably would have wound up being part of a kickoff show or would've been taped and shown during the next NXT broadcast. ***1/4

2. Finn Balor vs. Damien Priest - An excellent, highly physical outing that's much more in line with what we're used to in terms of TakeOver matches. These two basically beat the crap out of each other in a back and forth outing that had both of them looking like stars. A little thing that put just a dash more drama into the match is how well Damien Priest is able to milk near falls; there were a couple of them in this match in which Priest held out to within just an instant before the ref's hand would've counted three. He does it really well and little things like that can count for a lot. Both guys were aggressive and there was a sense of urgency to the match. Balor comes up with the win after hitting a pair of Coup de Gras around about the 13 minute mark. ****

3. NXT North American Championship - Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano - Another great, physical match that also featured some really good storytelling to help seal the match up nicely. Over the weeks, Lee suffered a couple of "injuries", one to his left eye and one to his left hand, that Gargano exploited to make the match more even. Lee endured Gargano's onslaught while Gargano came off as a cagy, yet aggressive heel doing everything he could to take down a man that's a good 130 lbs. heavier than he is. There was some brief shenanigans from Mia Yim and Candice LeRae but it was kept short and sweet. The ending was something of a surprise to me as I expected Lee to drop the strap to Gargano. Lee nails Gargano with a Spirit Bomb, picks him up for what looked like another one only to transition it into the Big Bang Catastrophe for the win a bit after the 20 minute mark. ****

4. NXT Championship - Adam Cole vs. The Velveteen Dream - While not as good as the previous two matches, this was still an enjoyable brawl even with the predictable Undisputed Era interference. Some good physicality here, including a nice spot where Cole is knocked off of a ladder and through the windshield of a car, drawing some blood from his right arm and a little from sections of his back that his shirt left exposed. The ending here was also surprising as I figured it was Dream's time. He's setting Cole up but Cole lands a low blow before delivering Panama Sunrise onto a bunch of chairs that'd been piled into the ring earlier for the win at the 15 minute mark. As a result, Dream can no longer challenge for the NXT title while Cole is champion, which makes me think that Dream is about to get called up to the main roster pretty soon. If they're not gonna make him NXT Champion, then it's probably time for him to head to Raw or SmackDown so he can take his chances like so many others. ***1/2

5. Tomasso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross - First thing, just to get it out of the way, I suspect I'm not the only one who went cross eyed and forgot who I was for about 2 minutes after seeing Scarlett walk around. She's got the sort of curves you'd like to spent a week or two driving around. As tot he match, it was a physical outing that went down as I figured it should. Ciampa got in some solid offense, including hitting Willow's Bell, but Kross endured it and just beat the snot out of him. Ciampa really sold Kross' offense well and it helped make Kross look like an absolute animal. The ending comes just a little after the 6 minute mark after Kross counters the Fairy Tale Ending into a modified F-5 before locking on the Krossjacket. Ciampa passes out and Kross gets his first huge win. The idea was to establish Kross as a true force to be reckoned with, which is what happened and what needed to happen. While not the kinda match we're used to getting on TakeOver specials, the formula needed to be switched up for this particular match. ***1/4

6. NXT Women's Championship - Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai - A helluva match from the ladies to close the show out with. Rhea plays the scrappy challenger role extremely well, she has that youthful edge to her that helps add to her physicality in matches. Charlotte and Io showed throughout the match while they're arguably the two best female workers in wrestling today as both brought it. A strong sense of urgency here and all three women just went after each other with everything they have. The ending comes probably around the 18 minute mark as Charlotte has Rhea in the Figure Eight with Io nowhere in sight. Io climbs the turnbuckles and performs a moonsault off the top, landing mostly across Rhea's head but it was really the best way to do it considering the angle of the Figure Eight pulled Rhea's body into an angle where Io would've risked landing more on Charlotte than she would've Rhea. Charlotte's legs are still locked with Rhea's and is unable to break the count, making Io Shirai the new NXT Women's Champion. Again, this is a match that had an ending that wasn't what I was expecting but I'm not complaining. Io more than has the goods and I'm glad to see her pick up the title. ***1/4

Final Thoughts - Another strong outing from the NXT TakeOver series. While this one is on the weaker end of the spectrum, it's still better than just about anything else that could be put out there by any other promotion. From top to bottom, a roughly 2.5 hour show that featured great, high quality, entertaining wrestling matches and I don't think you can ask for more than that. Balor vs. Priest, Lee vs. Gargano and Flair vs. Ripley vs. Shirai were the top matches on the card and the other three matches weren't bad at all. The title matches all had outcomes that weren't what I expected, but that made for a fresh feeling as it's nice to be surprised, especially when the decisions make sense. The biggest surprise was Cole retaining the title so, again, I figure this means that the Dream is "main roster" bound before too long. Lots of little things also helped out this show including the fact that they didn't go overboard tonight with wrestlers hitting their finishers. They kept things more "realistic" in that you didn't have wrestlers hitting these huge mega moves over and over again only to have the opponent keep kicking out. A wrestler hitting his/her finisher once or twice, at most, with the opponent kicking out is enough, more than that and it just starts seeming a bit silly. Overall though, another strong showing for NXT.

Score: 8.5/10