NXT TakeOver: In Your House was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on June 7, 2020 at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, however, the Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream Backlot Brawl was pre-recorded on May 28 in the parking lot of Full Sail University. It was the 29th NXT TakeOver event, which mark the 25th anniversary of the first In Your House pay-per-view. It was the first In Your House-branded event since St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House in February 1999. It was the first NXT TakeOver event to be held at Full Sail University since TakeOver: The End.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a Triple threat match to win the NXT Women's Championship. On the undercard, Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa by technical submission, Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American Championship, and Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream in a Last Chance Backlot Brawl to retain the NXT Championship.




Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez defeated Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox by pinfall.


You're going to hear me say this throughout the entirety of this write-up, but I felt that this was a match that should have been on NXT television either last week or this coming week. Candace LeRae and Mia Yim didn't really advance their feud as they merely walked off to the back for Shotzi and Tegan to continue their lackluster feud with Kai and Sonya Deville's big sister, err Raquel Gonzalez.



Shout out to Dakota Kai with the Hana Kimura tribute in her gear tonight though.

I just didn't think this was a great opener at all (especially by TakeOver standards), even though all of the girls tried to make this watchable and I have see FAR worse women's matches than this.



Finn Balor defeated Damian Priest by pinfall.


I was talking about this with a friend on Twitter last night during the show and I couldn't help be bored watching a Finn Balor match. I can't knock both guys either as I knock both of them are capable of knocking it out of the park. I can't put my finger on what it was, but the vast majority of this match I wasn't feeling until the finishing sequence.


There's no way in hell I would have agreed to take that back bump onto the corner of the steel steps. Don't forget that's how HBK almost got permanently put on the shelf from back injuries. You can't take shit like that lightly.

I felt that Priest needed the win here more than Balor did. It just didn't feel right. I get that they are trying to carry Balor's momentum over until travels to and from the UK are allowed again for we can FINALLY get that match between him and WALTER, but I didn't think a loss here to Priest would have hurt him too much, especially when we don't have a date for whenever this global pandemic is going to die out completely. I guess they could have had Imperium come out and cost him the match, allowing Priest to pick up the win but it would have meant more if Priest beat Balor without any outside help/interference.

This one is a tough call period as Balor didn't need the win, but you couldn't give Priest a win from a screw job to Balor either. Either way, they booked themselves into a corner with this one.



Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano by pinfall to retain the NXT North American Championship.


Johnny Failure didn't let me down in this least with another losing effort. That being said, the right man won here. Keith Lee should not have lost the title tonight and nor did Gargano deserve to win it at this point of his new heel persona. The onslaught of no selling every big move and spot in this match - which has become a Gargano staple at this point in all of his TakeOver matches - really annoyed me to no end here. My boiling point was with the keys to Lee's eyes and that didn't end it there, only for Lee not to sell that at all, just like Gargano didn't sell the Shoulder Block through the plexiglass.

I'm surprised the match didn't end to both competitors being exposed to outside pathogens and bacteria after this spot. 


For all of Gargano's amazing in-ring talent and ability to tell a narrative with his matches, you would think that after all this time at the PC, he would learn the value of selling. Less can mean a lot more than trying to fit in 30-50 unnecessary spots in one match for cheap pops, dude.



I did laugh at the usage of the door cam when Gargano locked himself out of the "house" setup on the entrance tunnel. That got a good laugh out of me about halfway into this match.


#Respect. #BlackLivesMatter

I found myself rolling my eyes at Candace and Mia showing up a few minutes after that with a costume change.



C'mon now. We're starting to get to Brandi Rhodes level of silly with these mash-up appearances in the show with little to no continuity. Mia and Candace walked out during this match like this was their first time seeing each other tonight and we didn't get any update on their brawl backstage. It was like "welp, moving on..." after the opener stopped.



We did get this gem of a segment backstage afterwards though. Where the hell did they dig up Todd Pettengill from anyway?


Backlot Brawl: Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream by pinfall to retain the NXT Championship.

Out of all of the "cinematic matches" that WWE and AEW have put out over the course of the last few months, I have to say that this one ranks as low as the Final Chapter between Ciampa and Gargano from a month or so ago. I just wasn't feeling this at all. I was thoroughly entertained at Dream's Negan attire though, despite the fact that he looked exactly like Ron "The Truth" Killings/R-Truth when he was in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling when he was gunning for the NWA-TNA World Championship.




That was a gnarly gash on Cole's arm from taking that bump onto the windshield of the car from off that ladder. After like two to three camera cuts, it was cleaned up though. That was another issue with this match - all of the unnecessary camera cuts. It made this match feel overproduced and it came the cost of holding my attention. Every time they would get something going, there would be a few camera cuts like they have to show the mock "crowd" of onlookers while everyone re-positions and clearly cooperates to setup the next spot. At this point, you took me completely out of the suspension of belief that this is any sort of a "brawl" or "street fight". Instead, it came across as poorly planned fight choreography.



Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa by submission.

THIS looks oddly familiar...
...To THIS.

I know I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, but Kross needs to be REALLY careful about not getting Marc Mero'd by Sable... errr Scarlett in his corner. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was eyeballing that outfit she was wearing more than actually caring about the bulk of this match.



I read that tweet shortly after this match started and I CANNOT unsee that now.

As for this match, there's not much really to talk about. Ciampa talked up a good game, only to get squashed in less than six minutes. Kross definitely needed to win here, so I'm not going to argue that, but I was just a little underwhelmed that they put this match that far up on this card in terms of match order. I almost completely forgot that it was booked for tonight until it came up after the NXT Championship Match. Kross needed to win in a convincing, dominating fashion and I'm not going to argue that decision here in the least. I won't admit that I agreed with the execution though. I will admit that this match had me more interested than the actual build getting to it though.


Triple Threat Match: Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley by pinfall to win the NXT Women's Championship.

I'm not going to say that this was the best that I have seen from these women as I think we all can say that we've seen MUCH better outings from all three women involved. It didn't feel like they were telling a story here; instead, it felt like they were checking off the bullet points on the list of big spots that they wanted to hit. I had to laugh at one point when the referee had to stand in Io's way to get her to hit the brakes on offense as the cameras was playing catch up with the replays and what not. 


Io putting the IYH set to good use here.

I'm sure this is a minor gripe for everyone else, but I groaned in disgust watching Rhea and Charlotte roll around the ring to reposition themselves for the best camera angle at that point too. I know WWE loves their dynamic camera angles and shots, but some of these TakeOver matches would benefit with a static/fixed camera angle and only change cameras for ringside action and/or dives. All of this diving and/or rolling out of the ring (watch Rhea do this on several occasions in this match) to hide out of the field of vision on the current camera to setup the next spot is more distracting than anything. Every time that happens in one of these multi-person matches, I'm always asking myself when and where is the other opponent who has been "hiding" going to reappear from "out of nowhere." I like that stuff used sparingly, not in every one of these matches. 


SHIIIIIDDDD. That bump looked it like it sucked royally. How Rhea isn't concussed off of that is a nothing short of a miracle.

Looking at that bump in slow motion, I have to say that both Io and Rhea are at fault there. Io for misjudging the distance and Rhea for sitting up to prep and tense her torso up for the impact far too early. Just yikes... That being said, I'm glad that Io FINALLY won the NXT Women's Championship, but NXT are dirty at how they did this finish. Charlotte Flair won AND lost the title without being pinned or submitted to any of the NXT Women on their current roster. Her reputation is untarnished. She didn't give not a single rub to the women in that division. I still don't understand what was was the point of having Charlotte chop Rhea Ripley's legs off when she was red hot on momentum following 2019. The only way I can see Rhea redeeming herself is going up to the main roster and beating Charlotte on a PPV AFTER Charlotte has won back the Women's Championship from either RAW or SmackDown! There's no reason to take that belt right off of Io after she just won it. I'm still pissed off that Io didn't beat Shayna Baszler for it in that fateful Steel Cage Match that I ranted about last year. Charlotte Flair gets off scotch free from coming back to NXT and putting that women's division through the ringer with not a single woman on that roster besting her while she was there. That's just really fucked up to say that NXT had such a strong outing at Survivor Series last year.

(Shudders) I really hope that she's not going back to take back the RAW Women's Championship from Asuka. Charlotte ending Asuka's winning streak is still another travesty that should not have transpired either. In either case, good riddance to Charlotte on the black and yellow brand. She didn't do a goddamn thing to boost or elevate that women's division while she was parading around on all three shows every week. I won't deny nor undermine Charlotte Flair's abilities in the least, but it's long overdue for her to be giving back to these divisions and helping elevate them instead of ruling with an iron fist. The number of promising potential threats and competitors for her in the coming years is looking smaller and smaller by the day from the way how WWE booking treats almost anyone who is matched up to face The Queen.

I have to wonder though. Who are they going to match up against Io in the meantime?


Overall, I didn't think this wasn't a bad show. Just not a show that holds up to the high standard that the NXT TakeOver specials are known for. That much can't be helped without the raging fans at Full Sail University or any other venue they could have held this show at unfortunately due to the global pandemic.

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