NXT TakeOver: In Your House (June 2020)

 

Original Airdate: June 7, 2020

From Winter Park, Florida; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, and Tom Phillips. The old school In Your House opening (complete with Todd Pettengill!) is great stuff, as is the classic set design

Opening Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez v Tegan Nox, Mia Yim, and Shotzi Blackheart: Gonzalez and Yim start, with Gonzalez overpowering her. She towers everyone else in this match. I guess you could call her... GIANT Gonzalez...? No? No takers? Nox tags in, but gets batted around as well, until Gonzalez tires of her, and passes to Kai. Nox quickly schoolgirls her for two, but Kai returns the favor for another two. Sloppy pinfall reversal sequence follows, and wow, Dakota is wearing the hell out of those shorts. Nox with a somersault senton in the corner for two, and it's over to Blackheart, but she misses a straddling ropechoke. That allows the tag to Candice, but Blackheart quickly fights her off with a kick, sending her to the outside. Blackheart dives, but Gonzalez catches her, and we get a dog pile sequence with everyone trading dives. Dust settles with Blackheart hitting a dive on Candice on the way back inside, and she hits the straddling ropechoke for two. Blackheart hooks a bridging butterfly submission, but Kai saves, and Gonzalez gives Blackheart a bashing for two. Kai tags in to legally beat on Blackheart, and they cut the ring in half on her. She manages to fight Candice off long enough for the hot tag to Yim, and she quickly hits Candice with a bridging dragon suplex for two. Big boot, but LeRae ducks, and counters into a suplex to buy time for a tag to Gonzalez. Mia passes to Nox at the same time, and Tegan actually wins a slugfest! I like Nox at lot, but I don't expect her to have a long career ahead... her knee looks like it's being held together with duct tape, and she's not exactly working a low impact style. Gonzalez powerbombs her for two when Mia dives in for the save, and Roseanne Barr the door. Mia and Candice brawl to the back as Gonzalez and Kai try to polish Nox off, but Blackheart saves her from a double team, and the babyfaces dump Gonzalez to the outside - allowing Tegan to hit Dakota with the shining wizard at 9:50. Not for lack of effort, but this never really clicked. *

Finn Balor v Damian Priest: Balor attacks with a running dropkick before the bell, and he pounds Priest into the corner as we get officially underway. Finn clips the knee and stomps the shit out of him until Priest bails, and Balor follows with a forearm on the outside. Whip into the steps, but Priest reverses, and he drops Finn onto the apron with a snake-eyes. He adds a sidewalk slam onto the apron as they head back inside, and I dig how they used the '90s' filler from their videogame build-an-arena feature as part of the set design tonight. Synergy! Priest works him over with lots and lots of stomps, and I'm pretty sure Rock's daughter is one of the people in the 'crowd' for this. Priest works a cobra clutch, but Finn escapes, and hits a vertical suplex. Dropkick sends Priest to the outside again, and Balor follows to stomp the shit out of him out there. They're both really stomp-happy tonight. Priest tries a crucifix powerbomb on the way back in, but Balor counters to the 1916, so Priest counters back with a falcons arrow. Back to the powerbomb, but Finn counters again, this time landing a double stomp. That was as brilliantly executed as Priest's falcons arrow was poorly executed. They trade strikes next, ending in Balor landing a pele kick for two, as the announcers talk about the 'NXT Universe' trying to fire Finn up. Really? Reversal sequence ends in Priest taking a spill to the outside, but he drags Balor out with him, and chucks him into the guardrail. He finally hits the crucifix powerbomb out there, dropping Finn across the apron with it, and hooking the leg for two on the way back inside. Finn with a pair of cross corner backelbows, but Finn counters a third with a sling blade. That allows him to try for the running dropkick, but Priest counters with a roundhouse kick. Inverted DDT, but Balor counters with a matslam, and the running dropkick connects. Coup de Grace, but Priest grabs him by the throat to block, and hits a chokeslam off the top for two. Priest takes him out to the apron for a crucifix powerbomb onto the steps, but Balor slips free, and sends Priest crashing down onto them instead. Wow, that looked brutal! Priest beats the count in, so Finn welcomes him with a flying double stomp to the back of the head, and then dives again with the Coup at 13:06. This was fine, but felt kind of aimless between the big moves. ** ¼

NXT North American Title Match: Keith Lee v Johnny Gargano: Gargano tries to wrestle him, but Lee just powers out of everything, so Johnny challenges him to put 'em up. Lee obliges, but that goes badly for Johnny, and he ends up cowering in the corner. Charge ends in Lee shoulderblocking him down, so Gargano bails to the outside to regroup, and he steals the high ground when Lee follows. Tope, but Keith catches him, and tries a powerbomb on the floor, but Johnny slips to the apron to block. He charges with a dive, but Lee catches him in powerbomb position, though Gargano is able to escape again. Lee ends up press-dropping him across the apron, and a big punch knocks Johnny up the aisle. He tries bailing into the house set, but the door is locked, and Lee goes after him. Why not just go through the garage? That whole sequence felt like an excuse just to shoot from a doorbell cam, and it's killed the momentum of the match. Back inside, Lee keeps pounding him, but he hurts his hand, and Johnny throws an enzuigiri. He takes Lee into the corner for a ten-punch, and he starts working the hand from there, as the match slows way down. Man, everything after that stupid doorbell camera shit has been a chore. Lee's selling is also terrible. Lee dodges the slingshot shoulderblock and hits an inverted DDT across the knee for two, but Johnny slips out of the follow-up, and they slug it out again. Gargano hangs in with him this time, and he grapevines the arm, but Lee muscles out, and hits a clothesline for two. Powerbomb, but Johnny grabs at the hand again, and hooks a sunset flip for two. Gargano Escape, but Lee blocks, so Johnny throws a superkick. Lee responds with a fireman's carry, so Johnny counters with a cradle for two, but walks into a chokeslam, and has to bail to the outside to avoid getting covered. Lee drags him back in, but Johnny swipes at the hand, and that buys him time for a tope tornado DDT on the floor! Unfortunately for him, now he's got an unconscious champion on the outside, and there's no way he can get him back inside. Should have thought that one through, Johnny. So Gargano breaks the count to buy time, but it backfires, as Lee recovers, and sends him crashing through the rail with a charge! They wrecked the social distancing dividers! And you thought sitting in the crowd for an old ECW show was dangerous! Lee starts dragging Johnny back into the ring, so Candice LeRae shows up, but Mia Yim cuts her off. They brawl around ringside, giving Gargano time to pull a weapon out of his tights, and he blinds Keith with it. That sets up the slingshot DDT, but it only gets two. That would have been a hot near fall with a proper crowd. Johnny stays on him with a superkick for two, and another superkick still only gets two. Third superkick for two, and hey, maybe change it up a little? Clearly that game plan is not working, bro. Johnny is apparently thinking the same thing, but takes too long figuring out what he should try, and gets powerbombed by the champion. Lee is battered, however, so no cover. Another powerbomb into a death valley driver finishes at 20:34. I love Johnny Gargano, but he was pretty boring on offense tonight, and the match felt like it dragged on forever. * ¾

NXT Title Backlot Brawl: Adam Cole v Velveteen Dream: If Dream loses, he can't get another title shot while Cole is champion. This is pre-taped in a parking lot somewhere, with a ring that's surrounded by cars. Dream taunts him to start, prompting Cole to charge with the belt, but Dream dodges. Dream with a series of cradles for two counts, so Cole bails to the outside, and nails him with a big boot after stealing the high ground. Watching them do a straight wrestling match with these weird cinematic camera angles is really annoying and disorienting - much like cinematic mode on GTA. Cole decides to leave in a vehicle, but Dream goes after him, beating on the car with a bat. This feels ripped straight from the headlines. They keep brawling as another car shows up, and apparently they're playing it like it's just some random passerby, who gets shocked by the brawling, and then drives away. Um, okay. Dream beats him around the set, until Cole finds a fire extinguisher, and blinds his challenger. That allows him to pound Dream back to the ring area, but Dream manages to send him into the post out there. He lands a superkick, then sprawls Adam out on the hood of a car for a dive off of a ladder, but the rest of the Undisputed Era show up in another car, which distracts Dream enough that he can't complete the spot. Cole follows up the ladder, but Dream shoves him off, and he crashes through the windshield of the car - complete with obvious fake blood. So the Era just kick the shit out of Dream, but Dexter Lumis shows up now to save, leaving the two combatants alone again. They head into the ring, where Dream buries him under a pile of chairs for two, but eats a Panama Sunrise onto the chairs to allow Cole to retain at 15:06. I'm over cinematic wrestling, and this wasn't a particularly good example of it anyway. ¼*

Tommaso Ciampa v Karrion Kross: Ciampa tries to come at him at the bell, but Kross quickly nips that in the bud with a big boot in the corner, and a suplex out. Ciampa bails to regroup, but Kross chases, and Ciampa is able to send him into the steps out there. He tries a DDT on the way back inside, but Kross blocks, so Ciampa tries a running big boot, but Kross no-sells. He dumps Ciampa over the top for a slam into the apron (brutal looking one, too), and that's enough to put him firmly in control of things as they head back inside. Kross works him over with a bunch of suplexes, including a neat northern lights suplex shifted into a short-clothesline. Ciampa fires up with some chops, and manages an enzuigiri to set up a running kneesmash that sends Kross to the outside. Ciampa with a DDT for two on the way back in, and another pair of kneesmashes rattle Kross. Fairy Tale Ending, but Kross counters with a fireman's carry drop, and he chokes Ciampa out for the victory at 6:13. Well, that was certainly to the point. **

Main Event: NXT Women's Title Triple Threat Match: Charlotte Flair v Rhea Ripley v Io Shirai: First fall wins it. Flair stalls on the outside to start, letting the other two have at it in the ring. They take the bait, so Charlotte waits until they engage, and then jumps them like a couple of scrubs. Charlotte hits Ripley with a neckbreaker and Shirai with a fallaway slam, then starts alternating on them with chops. That eventually backfires when she gloats too much, and her two challengers pound her into the corner. Ripley with a corner whip, but Flair flips to the outside, so Rhea tries a dive from the apron, but it misses. Charlotte responds by tossing her into the rail, but that allows Shirai to come off of the apron with a flying headscissors on the floor. Unfortunately for her, Charlotte is more Hogan and Flair, and immediately shrugs her off, and kills both challengers again with ease. Inside, Flair tries a suplex, but Shirai lands on her feet. Shirai tries to disorient the champion with flippy stuff, but Flair just ignores it, and grabs an elevated crab. Shirai fights her off as Ripley returns with clotheslines, followed by a series of kneesmashes on the champion. Rhea uses a seated dropkick, but that all allows Shirai time to recover, and she dropkicks her fellow challenger, then hits Charlotte with a tiger feint kick. Victory roll into a double stomp follows, and Shirai lands a seated dropkick on Flair for two. She goes for the kill, but Rhea cuts her off, and they end up knocking each other out during a slugfest. Charlotte capitalizes with a spear as they start to recover, getting her a two count out of each. Flair decides to try a flying moonsault onto both, but takes too long setting it up, and hits knees. That results in Ripley and Shirai unable to decide who will cover, and Shirai wins the battle, then celebrates with a crippler crossface to try and put Flair away, but Rhea breaks it up. The resulting scuffle allows Charlotte to recover with a big boot on Ripley for two, but the Natural Selection misses (complete with the worst camera angle possible), and Shirai dives in with a springboard flying dropkick on Ripley before she can capitalize on the missed Selection. That allows Flair to recover with a Selection on Shirai for two, and Charlotte is apparently in such shock that the match has to stop for a full minute. She recovers with the Figure Eight, but Ripley pulls her to the outside to break it up, and they brawl out there until Shirai dives with a tope on Rhea. She wastes time celebrating, however, and Flair chucks her through the window of the house set. She then makes the exact same mistake of celebrating, and Ripley is able to attack with a potted plant. Flair and Ripley brawl around some more, until Shirai comes off the top of the house set with a dive onto both. That would have been a major and memorable spot during the original In Your House days, but it's just another thing in 2020. Shirai drags Flair back inside to finish, but Ripley cuts her off. Rhea tries a superplex on Shirai, but can't execute, so Io tries a rana off the middle, but Flair breaks it all up. Shirai gets dumped to the outside, allowing Flair to try and complete the superplex on Ripley, but she gets countered with a Riptide off the middle for two when Shirai breaks the cover. Ripley responds with the Prism on Shirai, but Charlotte comes in with the kendo stick to break it up, and she tees off on both for a while. That ends with a spear and a Figure Eight for Ripley, but Shirai comes off the top with a flying moonsault onto the prone Ripley for the pin at 17:34 before Charlotte can grab the submission! This was a really good match to a point, though it dropped off a lot for me once they started doing the extended brawl around the entrance set. Still really strong, and all action. Funny that what would normally be a middle of the road Takeover match (as far as star-ratings go) is easily the best match of the night this time. *** ¾

BUExperience: I dug the retro theme, but as far as quality goes, this was obviously a huge step down for these NXT specials. Huge. The main event is worth a look, but overall I’d call this the worst Takeover special in their six year history.

DUD