NXT TakeOver In Your House airs this Sunday, June 7, live on WWE Network. The latest edition of TakeOver features a “Last Chance Backlot Brawl” for the NXT Championship, a triple threat for the Women’s Championship, a demon vs. a priest, and more. Come back to UPROXX on Sunday night for TakeOver results, news updates, and an open discussion thread.
NXT TakeOver: In Your House Card
1. Last Chance Backlot Brawl (If Dream loses, he can no longer challenge for the NXT Championship while Cole is still champion): Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream
2. Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai
3. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross
4. North American Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
5. Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez
6. Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest
As always, we’ve got your complete rundown of the card and analysis below, featuring predictions for all six matches. Make sure to drop a comment and let us know who you think’s winning, and be here on Sunday night to see if you’re correct.
Here’s what we think will go down at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. Needs more Poppy.
Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest
What You Need To Know: Damian’s last name is “Priest.” Finn Bálor can occasionally turn into a demon. It writes itself, people. (Also, Finn wants revenge for Priest randomly jumping him while he was trying to figure out how to un-pause his rivalry with WALTER.)
What Will Happen: Priest could really use a victory over a guy like Bálor, but is that going to happen? Probably not. Finn Bálor only seems to be in NXT for a creative rehab stint so he doesn’t lose his mind and go crazy jobbing to Bobby Lashley four times a month on Raw, and he’s only taking losses if there’s extracurricular nonsense going on. Unless Priest is going to debut a manager or some sort of backup, Bálor is going to dropkick him and Slingblade him and dropkick him and Slingblade him and dropkick him and Slingblade him until he turns to dust.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – PrinXe over Priest, sending Bálor up to the purpler pastures of challenging for the NXT Championship. This is the match I’m least looking forward to from both an in-ring and drama standpoint, so I’m hoping it surprises me and is shorter than twenty minutes.
Raj Prashad – Priest could use a big win coming off his chase of the North American belt, and picking up the victory over Bálor would go a long way. I’ve got Priest.
Elle Collins – While I think Finn could afford the loss, I just don’t have much faith in Damian Priest. Maybe that’s just me, but I think Bálor’s winning this one.
Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez
What You Need To Know: Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai were best friends until Nox decided hanging out with Rhea Ripley’s War Games team while they make fun of Kai was cooler than having Kai’s back. So Kai turned on her, destroyed her knee, and started teaming up with the tallest and strongest woman she could find. Meanwhile, Mia Yim and Candice LeRae are embroiled in a feud concurrent with the feud of their significant others, and honestly, it all just goes back to War Games. That match really emotionally crippled the NXT women’s division, huh?
What Will Happen: I like matches like this on “pay-per-views” (or whatever) because they’re under-card story progression or payoffs without needing title belts involved. Wrestling has way too many damn title belts. Given Candice’s need to prove herself as a heel and shape her character’s identity, Nox and Kai continuing their thing, Raquel Gonzalez hossing up and throwing people around, tank entrances*, terrifying Coffin Drops straight to the floor, and also Mia Yim being present, this could fuck around and steal the show. Let’s go 2006 Dragon Gate with it!
*Honestly all I really need for this match to be a success is for Shotzi, Tegan, and Mia to all enter in little tanks. Or to enter together in one big tank.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I’m very hyped for this match because it’s so unconventional for a TakeOver – it looks like the last time there was a multi-man tag on one of these was in 2017, and I don’t think there’s ever been a women’s tag match on a TakeOver. I feel like these six wrestlers will go above and beyond, and this match will also make me feel pangs of longing for New Japan to return because rivalries in NJPW are almost entirely advanced by putting people that hate each other on the opposite sides of multi-person tags.
Raj Prashad – I’ve got Yim, Blackheart and Nox picking up the win here.
Elle Collins – I’m always going to want to see the team with Shotzi Blackheart win, but I think this is a match where all three heels need to show that they’re a force to be reckoned with, so I’m expecting LeRae, Kai, and Gonzalez to take it.
Scott Heisel – Whoa, Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox are gonna wrestle each other? That’s gotta be a first! Anyway, I will never pick against someone with green hair and a tank (plus NXT’s *other* Blackheart is gonna be losing this evening), so Team Shotzi for the win.
North American Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
What You Need To Know: Keith Lee’s girlfriend and Johnny Gargano’s wife are feuding, so now they’re suddenly feuding over the North American Championship as well. With Undisputed Era doing their own thing, Damian Priest occupied and Dominik Dijakovic rumored to be headed to the main roster, Lee’s well of opponents is completely dry. Additionally, Johnny is cartoonishly evil now.
What Will Happen: I’ve been hoping this would happen for months and it never does, so here it is again. I hope Gargano manages to win the North American Championship somehow and Adam Cole retains, allowing Keith Lee to pounce Cole into oblivion and become the face of the brand he should already be. Plus, if Cole’s going to ride out his contract and bail (or head to the main roster, where 5-foot-8 dudes who got popular on the show Vince McMahon doesn’t watch ALWAYS thrive), our last image of him under the NXT banner should be his frightened face as he goes sailing over the barrier, over the crowd, out of Full Sail, and into the night sky. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll get pounced all the way to Jacksonville.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I think it could work for either man to win this match, but I’ll say Lee retains. The only reason I think it would make sense for Lee to lose this belt is so he could challenge for the big one, and it looks like Dexter Lumis and Finn Bálor would be first in line. I’m guessing either Lee and Yim or Gargano and LeRae (or maybe both) go on to feud with NXT’s new established couple, Kross/Scarlett, after this.
Raj Prashad – Lee and Gargano are going to tear the house down in this one, and I’ve got the champ retaining here.
Elle Collins – I assume there will be shenanigans in this match. Despite having their own six-woman tag to worry about, it’s hard to imagine Candice and Mia not getting involved here. Still whatever happens I’m expecting Keith Lee to retain.
Scott Heisel – I’m totally down with Evil Johnny sneaking out a win here, only so at the next Takeover he and Keith Lee can somehow recreate the Hulk/Loki scene from Avengers.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross
What You Need To Know: Tommaso Ciampa lost an hour-long match to Johnny Gargano when he made the mistakes of (1) trusting Gargano’s wife and (2) not wearing a cup. Then he got attacked by a murderous warg (?) who wrestles in MIST FIELDS, is obsessed with clock metaphors, and head-drops you over and over while his hot valet who might also be a ravenous bird screams and crawls around. Ciampa’s gonna get got.
What Will Happen: If this goes longer than five minutes, they’re making a mistake. Kross needs to figuratively gut Ciampa and hang him up to dry, especially in his first match against an opponent who looks like he’s had a wrestling match before. Maybe Scarlett can shave Ciampa’s beard for good measure. Really send a message to everyone else on the roster. You thought THIS guy was scary? Hold on to your butts.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – The most exciting thing about this match to me is for Kross to have a match that isn’t a squash. His character stuff (in Impact and now in NXT) tends to get kind of love/hate reactions, but his regular wrestling is un-controversially pretty rad. I’ll predict he wins, establishing a new heel for NXT in the ring, beyond the goth Tik Tok entrance.
Raj Prashad – There’s no way Kross makes the debut he made without running through someone like Ciampa. I’ve got Kross dominating Ciampa.
Elle Collins – The new scary bald guy has to defeat the previous scary bald guy to prove that he’s the baldest, scariest guy. Don’t get me wrong, if Ciampa was like an Executive Vice President of NXT or something, I might expect him to beat the big scary new monster in his first PPV match, but he’s not so I’m pretty sure Kross will win.
Scott Heisel – See you at the Kross roads, Ciampa. Now tell me whatcha gonna do when judgment comes for you?
Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai
What You Need To Know: Charlotte Flair!
What Will Happen: Charlotte Flair!
(I was going to leave it like that as a joke, but you came here for at least a mild amount of analysis, so here goes. I think this one depends on if they’re booking it like a regular Women’s Championship match, or if they’re giving Charlotte the Ronda Rousey treatment. If it’s the former, Rhea Ripley will win back the NXT Women’s Championship by pinning Io Shirai, or vice versa, so Charlotte can lose without losing, and maybe they can do a Ripley vs. Flair one-on-one rematch at or around SummerSlam. If it’s the latter, Ripley will win by rolling Charlotte up. That gets her the Women’s Championship but doesn’t really bring closure to the story, and then Charlotte just kind of goes away forever. I’m gonna be bold and pick Io to pin Ripley while Charlotte’s knocked out on the floor, which still somehow leads to Ripley vs. Flair. Or Flair just spears them both at the same time and pins them in a pile.)
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – The pattern for this Flair vs. Ripley feud is other women getting pinned as collateral (Bianca, you were champion in my heart!) so I’ll guess that Rhea regains her title by pinning Io. I’ll guess that this match turns out pretty good and we transition to the continuation of the Ripley vs. Shirai one-on-one feud afterward.
Raj Prashad – This seems like the spot to get Ripley the belt back after Charlotte has paraded across the other brands with the NXT belt for the past few months. While she should be the favorite, going with Shirai to earn the win and get a run with the belt.
Elle Collins – It would make a lot of sense for this Triple Threat to get the belt off of Charlotte without her having to take a pin, whether it goes back on Rhea or finally on to Io. The thing is, though, I don’t think WWE’s nearly as interested in making sense as they are in Charlotte Flair. I think she retains.
Scott Heisel – Charlotte has wrestled nine matches between all three WWE TV programs since winning the NXT women’s championship at WrestleMania. I am beyond sick of seeing her at this point and would be happy if she vanished off TV until the Royal Rumble. I predict she drops the belt here to Io Shirai.
Last Chance Backlot Braw: Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream
What You Need To Know: If Velveteen Dream doesn’t win this match, he can’t challenge for the NXT Championship again until Cole drops it. To celebrate both men’s need for the spotlight, Bill Regal booked them in a “Backlot Brawl,” which is apparently a ring surrounded by cars with their headlights for lighting. Sadly (or not, depending on how you think about it), they can’t do this like the original Backlot Brawl because Roddy Piper passed away and Goldust works for another company. And how well would O.J. Simpson chase footage play in 2020?
What Will Happen: Per my North American Championship pick, I want Cole to retain — maybe the other Undisputed Era members are hiding in the cars, and even if Dexter Lumis checks in they’ve still got the faces outnumbered 4-2 — and then drop the belt in spectacular fashion to Keith Lee. Keith is the guy who should be on top right now, unless we want to COMPLETELY abandon all that momentum he got from Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. Plus, I want to see Cole pop up at All Out, possibly as a cute guy Dr. Britt Baker ran into at her day job. Tell me Hikaru Shida hitting Britt with a nasty running knee and a hard cut to Cole in the front row making a shocked face isn’t the best-ever way to debut a guy.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I’ll predict that this is when they put the belt on Dream and finally send Adam Cole up to the main roster.
Raj Prashad – The specific stipulation gives me the impression Cole picks up the win and continues his streak as the champ. After just coming up short last time, I think this is when Dream finally gets on top.
Elle Collins – How does Adam Cole still have this belt? Not that he’s been a bad champion, but it feels like he’s had it for a million years. Nobody else in the Undisputed Era has gold around their waist anymore — honestly, it kind of feels like that era is over. And if it’s not Dream’s time now, when will it be? Put that belt on him.
Scott Heisel – Dream has cooled off a ton in recent months. His gimmick is similar to Orange Cassidy in that it *needs* an audience to properly work, and without it the whole thing feels a little forced. (The danger of any other gimmick than “I’m a fighter with long hair and a beard” in the pandemic era, I suppose.) Still, this seems tailor made for Dream to win and finally ascend to the top of the mountain, freeing Cole and his cronies to get called up to Raw and rekindle their feud with Drew McIntyre.
Bring back the house set and Todd Pettengill, you cowards!
Agree with our picks? Think Shotzi Blackheart’s going to dive to the outside and become a Shooting Stars meme? Drop down into the comments section and let us know about it. And make sure you’re here on Sunday for all the festivities, as we share an open discussion thread, post some results, and try not to be surprised when evil Johnny Gargano defeats a guy he shouldn’t be able to pin even if you gave him a forklift. See you this weekend!