Nostalgia was in full swing at Full Sail as NXT TakeOver: In Your House took place last night. We started the night with the 6 Woman Tag Team Match and ended it with the Triple Threat for the NXT Women’s Championship.
This was the first NXT TakeOver of the Covid-era and was helped greatly by the inclusion of “fans” at ringside. Their cheers and jeers certainly gave the atmosphere a boost and made for a much easier and familiar watch. The show offered up loads of fun mixed with great action and a very satisfying conclusion.
Let’s get to it;
6 Woman Tag Team Match
The match starts with Mia Yim and Candice LeRae in the ring. Yim wants LaRae but the poisoned pixie just laughs at her and tags in Raquel Gonzalez.
Yim goes after Gonzalez with big chops and a guillotine chokehold. Gonzalez would power out with big suplex and tag in Dakota Kai and Yim would tag in Tegan Nox.
Nox and Kai would go at with fierce and fast action into a quick succession on pinfall attempts.
Shotzi Blackheart was next to be tagged in as LaRae would enter the ring also. The action would spill outside and Blackheart would attempt a dive but Gonzalez would catch her and toss her away with ease. Yim would follow with a dive taking out Gonzalez and Kai. LaRae would hit a spinning springboard splash on Yim then Nox would take everyone down with a beautiful Molly-go-round.
Back in the ring, Blackheart hits LeRae with a nice Meteora. Blackheart would lock in Cattle Mutilation LaRae but Gonzalez breaks it up and smashes Shotzi with a big clothesline.
Kai would step in to keep up the control for the heels. Kai would go for her Kaio Kick in the corner but Blackheart would move and Kai would nearly hit Gonzalez.
LaRae in and Blackheart makes the tag to Yim. Yim takes it to LaRae and hit her with a Dragon suplex for the two-count. Yim would take her eye off her opponent and smashes Gonzalez with a stiff elbow. LaRae would take advantage and catches Yim and drops her with a suplex of her own.
Gonzalez and Nox would both get tagged in and Nox would get the better of Gonzalez with a barrage of kicks and strikes until Gonzalez powerbombs her for a two-count.
Yim and LaRae battle outside an into the garage of the retro In your House set.
Back in the ring, all four remaining competitors are in the ring. Kai accidentally hits Gonzalez with a big kick, giving Nox the chance to chokeslam Kai and eliminate Gonzalez with help from Blackheart.
This would leave Kai all alone with Nox, who would hit a Shiniest Wizard on her bitter enemy for the win.
A good fun match that got to showcase all six women. Raquel Gonzalez looked particularly strong with some great power spots. There were some moments that showed possible animosity between Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez, which will be interesting to see how that plays out. It seems as though LaRae and Yim’s feud is far from over and Shotzi shined and it is always great to see Tegan Nox get the victory.
Scarlett’s TakeOver Debut
Scarlett Bordeaux made her NXT TakeOver debut. She accompanied Karrion Kross to the ring in emphatic fashion for his winning effort over Tommaso Ciampa.
Scarlett is a megastar in the making. The presentation of both her and Kross has been excellent so far and seems as though there are big plans for the both of them moving forward.
NXT Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match
This was the first time women were in the NXT Takeover main event since NXT Takeover: Respect in 2015. And all three competitors did not disappoint.
This was an absolute war. All three warriors beat and battered each other from start to finish. The action was stiff, intense and athletic – a perfect mix to add importance to the title after the Flair reign lessened it somewhat.
A massive congratulations to Io Shirai. Read our full review of the match and title win here.
Lets get to the winners and losers.
Winner: Io Shirai
Not only did Io win the NXT Women’s Championship but she also jumped off the house. The win is more than deserved for Shirai who has arguably been one of the best wrestlers in the NXT women’s division for years now. Shirai proved that she could not only hang with but defeat two of the company’s most powerful and physical performers.
The title change means that the weird Charlotte experiment is over and we can now move on and get the NXT women’s division we all know and love back.
With Shirai as Champion there is now opportunity to allow more of the women on the such roster such as Candice LaRae, Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai to challenge for the title. After years of dominent and predicatble titles runs from Baszler and Ripley, we now have the chance to have a more competitive women’s division.
Loser: Rhea Ripley
‘The Nightmare’ is having a nightmare in 2020. Her stock has fallen greatly since she got involved with Charlotte and has yet to improve since. Taking the pinfall like she did tonight was something that just wouldn’t have happened before WrestleMania.
Could this be the end of Ripley’s NXT career? A jump to the main roster would certainly revive her career and give either RAW or SmackDown’s women’s divisions a much-needed boost.
Final Thoughts
As much the title win and Io Shirai finally becoming champion is amazing to see, her vicotry leaves a lot of questions. What was the whole point in Charlotte ending Ripley’s championship run in the first place?
Ripley had an amazing 2019 and seemed to be in for a big push as the face of NXT. Enter Charlotte and all of that push and all of that build was over. Logic said that Charlotte becoming champion was to elevate the division and NXT as a whole. However, it just felt as though she was positioned above and better all in the division.
Charlotte as champion just didn’t work. She didn’t boost the ratings, raise the title or put anyone over. Even in losing the title Charlotte didn’t take the loss that privilege fell to Ripley. Again.
Anyway, that is now all behind us. We have a champion that will bring excitement and fresh championship matches to our screens. But there is q question that remains, will Io Shirai remain heel or will the title win turn her face? If she stays heel then we can get title programmes with Tegan Nox or Shotzi Blackheart. If Io turns face then we get title programmes with Candice LeRae and Dakota Kai. All of which are excellent possibilites.
So after a slight dip, we now have an NXT women’s division that offers challenge and opportunity to all.
What did you make of the title win, the Charlotte experiment and Ripley’s career going forward? Let us know ion the comments below. As always stay tuned to Diva Dirt for all of your NXT news and reviews.
