NXT TakeOver: In Your House is now just a thing of the past and it is time to move forward. It has moved several storylines forward as well as better developed others. There were two women’s matches tonight as usual for the brand and the first one was a mixed tag team match that hit on all cylinders. It further developed the animosity between Candice LeRae and Mia Yim alongside their significant others.
Prior to the bell ringing, LeRae and Yim along with Johnny Gargano and Keith Lee all start their trash-talking towards each other. The women would both get into the faces of the men which caused Lee to lift up LeRae and place her to the side. This initiated the first attacks as the men brawl in one corner and the women in another. Lee and Yim had the advantage early on. When the bell finally rings, the women are left in the ring with Yim on the offense. Yim and Lee take out the Garganos with synchronicity in their movesets.
The match would introduce some intergender wrestling which WWE is known to shy away from. Both Yim and LeRae are no strangers to it however as they both have plenty of experiencing wrestling the men on the indies and other promotions.
The match reached its climax when Lee had both Gargano and LeRae upon his shoulders. LeRae delivered a rake to the eyes causing their escape. Gargano delivered a step-up enziguri which led to a DDT from LeRae.
After delivering Seoul Food to Yim followed up by La Quebrada, LeRae is unable to put Yim away and gets a near fall. The ending of the match comes when Yim was knocked to the outside. LeRae was laying in the ring and Gargano delivers a DDT to Lee which causes Lee to land on top of LeRae. This was the end for LeRae, but while Lee was lifting up LeRae trying to help her, Gargano rolled him up to get the victory.
The second match was a much shorter one but has promise if they keep it going. It was Kacy Catanzaro vs. Dakota Kai. It appears we are moving past Kai vs. Tegan Nox at this point and into possibly a tag team division emerging.
Kai picked up the win as she delivered the GTK after a fireman’s carry for the pin. After the match, Kai and Raquel Gonzalez had more in store for Catanzaro, but Kayden Carter made her way to the ring to stop it. Carter would stop the attack by pulling the legs out from under Kai which made Gonzalez chase after her. The power of Gonzalez would be too much for Carter who would try her best to fight her off. Gonzalez and Kai would stand tall in the end leaving Carter laid out in the middle of the ring.
Kai also appears to have the NXT Women’s Championship on her mind as she made a motion and statement in regard to it. There wasn’t much advancement from the new champion Io Shirai as she was not physically in attendance.
It was announced after the NXT episode aired that the Women’s Tag Team Championship will be defended on next week’s show. Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox will face whoever will be champion after the Backlash event this Sunday. The current champions are Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley. The tag team division seems to finally be heating up.
Rhea Ripley was involved in a backstage segment with Robert Stone. Stone has been trying to build back up his brand ever since Chelsea Green left him a few weeks ago. He tried to recruit Ripley, but she responded that he had a miserable one in a million shot. He got excited thinking he at least had a chance. Ripley deposited him into a bin to show that she wasn’t interested in the slightest.
Scarlett also appeared at the end of the show to deliver a message from Karrion Kross to Adam Cole after the main event. It seems like time may be up for Cole as Kross has him in his sights.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week:
WINNER: Dakota Kai
Dakota seems to possibly be next in line for the title. It is hard to fathom them moving on from Io vs. Rhea, but perhaps they are going to throw her in the mix. At the very least she and Raquel should be going for the tag titles. Picking up a win after her loss at TakeOver shows she hasn’t been left on the back burner.
WINNER: Mia Yim & Candice LeRae
These two put on a great match. A really solid one-on-one between the two needs to come next, perhaps with a stipulation. It was nice to see some intergender wrestling also as I know the two have been known for such prior to joining NXT. Their last encounter just between the two of them ended in a double count-out which led to the six-woman tag match at TakeOver. They need the time to put on a monster of a match with perhaps a street fight stipulation.
As far as any losers this week no one really stood out as one. Kacy losing isn’t a bad thing as it shows that there is promise to use her and Kayden more frequently. My only big problem was not seeing Io and having a big lack of follow up from her big win. I don’t see that really hurting her, but it left me with some disappointment. I want to know what is next for the title picture.
What did you think of this week’s NXT? Who were your Winners & Losers? As always, leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
