NXT Takeover: In Your House Recap w/ The Chairman

NXT Takeover: In Your House is in the books and the night was filled with throwbacks to the good old New Generation days. From the intro to Todd Pettengill cameos. Don’t forget the advertisements of ICO PRO and 900 numbers to get your hands on the merchandise. Sadly nobody won a brand new house, but we did get a great throwback stage of a house. Anyhow let’s see what happened on the 25th anniversary of In Your House.

 

Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, and Shotzi Blackheart vs Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez

The first match featured six of NXT’s deep women’s division. Every knows of the rivalry between Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai and the added elements of Shotzi and Raquel. Mia Yim and Candice LeRae have had their share of animosity recently and that is what led to this six women tag match. This was a decent starter, but I was disappointed that Candice LeRae and Mia Yim’s rivalry was put on the backburner in favor of the old rivalry of Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai. Candice and Mia brawled to the back and were never seen again. The match finished with Tegan hitting the Shiniest Wizard on Dakota Kai.

 

Finn Balor vs Damian Priest

The Archer of Infamy has been causing havoc for the Prince, but on this night the Prince vanquished his latest rival. This was a decent match and Priest looked solid against one of NXT’s best. However when Priest landed on the steel steps hard, that is where his downfall began. Balor used his signature Coup De Grace twice to end it once in for all. We speculated that Damian Priest could be on the verge of all call to Raw or Smackdown on the Hot Tag Wrestling podcast so that remains to be seen. As for Balor, one would assume the NXT Championship could be his next target unless WALTER somehow gets back into the equation sooner than later.

 

Keith Lee (c) vs Johnny Gargano; NXT North American Championship 

This was a good match. Keith Lee at one point smoked Johnny Gargano thru the Plexiglas surrounding the audience in one of the biggest jaw dropping moments of the night. Of course you knew Candice LeRae was going to get involved, but Mia Yim was right behind her and nullified the threat. However Johnny Gargano dropped some keys into his trunks right as he walked to the ring and introduced them to Keith Lee’s eye. Gargano looked poised to score the win, but Lee kicked out. Gargano kept laying on the offense, but Lee wouldn’t quit. In the end, it was the Spirit Bomb that did Johnny Wrestling in and Keith Lee retains.

 

Adam Cole (c) vs Velveteen Dream; NXT Championship Match

The second I realized this wasn’t the main event, I knew Dream wasn’t going to win. This of course was a backlot match and if Dream lost, he would never be allowed to challenge for NXT Championship long as Cole is champion. WWE loves the cinematic matches, but this one was a flop. Cole and Dream I feel are talented enough to wrestle in a standard wrestling match and didn’t need this stipulation. Cole at one point took a nasty fall on a windshield. Of course you knew Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish were going to get involved and the second they did Dexter Lumis showed up. Lumis tossed the Undisputed Era in the trunk of a car and drove off. Cole managed to retain with a low blow stunning the Dream and hitting the Panama Sunrise on a pile of chairs in the ring. Dream I’m assuming is heading to Raw and Smackdown next while Cole probably moves onto Finn Balor.

 

Tommaso Ciampa vs Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett 

The NXT  plant crowd chanting “fall and pray” ruined the awesomeness of the Karrion Kross entrance. I joked that Kross would destroy Ciampa in five minutes on the Hot Tag podcast this week and I was almost right because it was six minutes. Sure Ciampa got some offense in, but wasn’t much. I was surprised being Ciampa is one of the biggest stars in NXT, but it’s clear Karrion Kross is the next big thing of NXT. I’m curious to see where things go next for Karrion Kross. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Kross will be NXT Champion by years end.

 

Charlotte Flair (c) vs Rhea Ripley vs Io Shirai; NXT Women’s Championship

Once Cole and Dream took place in the middle of the show, I figured the women were getting the main event slot. With the women getting the main event slot, that’s when I realized Charlotte wasn’t leaving the champion. The question is would it be Rhea or Io? These three went all out and deserved the main event spot. The match even ended up on the stage where Io jumped off the house and took Charlotte and Rhea out. Eventually action returned to the ring and Rhea had Io locked in the Prism Trap, but Charlotte decided to introduce the kendo stick and took out both opponents. Charlotte looked like she was on her way to retaining once she locked Ripley in the Figure Eight. However Io had other plans and hit a moonsault on Rhea that was good enough for a three count. Io Shirai is the NEW NXT Women’s Champion. Shirai is now on top of the NXT Women’s division and this of course now begs the question of how much longer is Charlotte going to hang out in NXT???

 

Definitely not one of the best Takeover shows and not even one of the best In Your House shows. However we were provided a solid night of entertainment that gave us a new women’s champion and lots of questions about the future of the NXT brand. We’ll find out this Wednesday what is next for the black and gold brand.