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On Sunday, NXT delivered a great event for the fans who watched NXT TakeOver: In Your House. Not only did Keith Lee and Adam Cole manage to defend their titles during the event, but the newcomer Karrion Kross also had an impressive TakeOver debut against former NXT Champion, Tommaso Ciampa.
The women too impressed during the event as Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley to become the new NXT Women’s Champion, while Tegan Nox, Shotzi Blackheart, and Mia Yim defeated the heel team of Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez.
To reward them, NXT is giving Nox and Blackheart a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at next week’s show. A Women’s Tag Team Championship match is set to take place this Sunday at Backlash, and the winner will face these two women.
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This week, Finn Balor and Dexter Lumis were out to prove a point to the NXT Universe, while the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion shocked the entire WWE Universe with his big reveal.
In this article, we will look a the five things WWE got right on NXT after TakeOver: In Your House.
#5 The NXT Mixed Tag Team Match
A Mixed Tag Team Match was set for this week’s NXT as Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae came out to compete against Mia Yim & NXT North American Champion, Keith Lee.
The match seemed to be a fun booking from the start and Lee and Yim exploded on their opponents from the opening bell. However, the heel couple relied on their heelish tactics to get back into the match as Gargano helped LeRae get the upper hand on Yim.
LeRae and Gargano then did well to team up against The Limitless One, but The HBIC wasn’t too far behind in helping her partner out.
The match had some top quality moments, one that fans always want to see from mixed tag team matches. Yim did the unthinkable during the match as she suplexed the former NXT Champion to make a big statement.
The Poison Pixie showed a lot of heart as Gargano DDTed Lee onto her and later rolled him up to pick up the victory.
While the result was a bit odd, the match itself was good. Gargano had lost cleanly to Lee at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, and there was no reason to allow him to pin Lee a few nights later. It seems like Yim and LeRae will continue to trade blows for some weeks, but Lee and Gargano should not get into any Championship match soon.
#4 The Prince sets his eyes on the gold once again
At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Finn Balor silenced Damian Priest who was looking to 'Live Forever' after taking down The Prince of NXT. However, the big man bit off more than he could chew and The Prince managed to show his dominance over the Black & Gold brand once again.
However, Cameron Grimes, who’d defeated Balor not too long ago thanks to an attack by Priest, was not ready to shut up this week after Priest’s loss. This resulted in The Archer of Infamy punching him in the face during a backstage interview just before he was ready to compete against Balor again.
The Technical Savage tried to get himself out of the match by faking a broken jaw, but William Regal wasn’t ready to bow down to any excuses.
The match started with Balor looking to prove a point again and show Grimes what facing a former Universal Champion feels like. Even though Grimes showed some fight, he was no match for The Prince.
Balor delivered a reverse 1916, followed by the Coup de Grace, and then went for the overkill with another 1916 to pick up the victory.
Is the NXT North American Champion ready for The Prince of NXT?
After the match, Balor called out Keith Lee and challenged him for the NXT North American Championship. This was an interesting move as Balor failed to win the NXT Championship from Adam Cole last year and was looking to go after the NXT United Kingdom Championship before the global pandemic halted his plans.
It’ll be good to see how this match works out, and Balor could end up being the perfect Superstar to dethrone Lee without damaging his image.
#3 El Hijo del Fantasma takes off the mask
Last week, Drake Maverick and El Hijo del Fantasma had an epic battle for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, and had it not been for the masked men who caused an interruption, Maverick could have gone on to win the title for the first time in his career.
This week on NXT, Maverick interrupted Fantasma in the ring and said that he wanted a shot at Fantasma’s NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Fantasma agreed to fight the smaller man again, just before two masked men came out to the ring again.
Fantasma headbutted Maverick and helped the two men beat him down before hitting the Phantom Driver on the former General Manager of 205 Live.
NXT has a new heel faction now
The two masked men took their masks off to reveal themselves to be Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza before Fantasma removed his own mask. He told the NXT Universe that he was truly Santos Escobar and believed that his reign over the division was just getting started.
While many had guessed that Fantasma would be the leader of the masked men, this reveal was still very well done and told a good story. Maverick is the current babyface underdog who has a great story behind him and pulling off the big reveal against him worked extremely well for the NXT brand.
#2 Dexter Lumis steps up to The Undisputed Era
After an average opening segment on NXT where Adam Cole spoke about his match against Velveteen Dream at NXT TakeOver: In Your house and his match for later in the night against Dexter Lumis, the NXT Champion was ready to face another challenger.
Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish were at ringside for the match as Lumis tried to take down the NXT Champion in one of the biggest matches of his career.
Lumis was resilient and tried his best to stay dominant over his rival as Cole used every tactic he had to take down the odd Superstar. Lumis managed to get him in the Kata gatame a few times, but Cole kept on fighting. He even managed to fight his way out of a Panama Sunrise attempt and turn it into a Kata gatame.
The NXT Champion had some backup as usual
While Lumis was looking good in the match, Fish decided to distract the referee as Stong hit him with his finisher to allow Cole to set up the Last Shot for the win.
Lumis seemed like an excellent opponent for someone like Cole as both men have completely different characters. Cole has a habit of working well with anyone, and he did that extremely well during this match. Lumis was shown to be strong and resilient and it took Strong and Fish’s help for the NXT Champion to come out on top once again.
Will we get a match between Strong and Lumis soon? We’ll just have to wait and hope for it!
#1 The NXT Champion’s time begins to run out
After the main event of this week’s NXT was over, The Undisputed Era decided to teach Dexter Lumis a lesson and beat him down until The Velveteen Dream came out to make the save.
The lights then went out and Scarlett walked down the ramp alone. She set an hourglass in the ring for Adam Cole on behalf of Karrion Kross before smiling at the NXT Champion and walking back.
This was, by far, one of the best set-ups towards another rivalry for the undefeatable Cole. Kross had a good match against Tommaso Ciampa at TakeOver: In Your House, and it seems like NXT is not wasting any more time in getting Kross to challenge the Champion.
Is the reign of the greatest NXT Champion nearing its end?
Even though it seems a bit too rushed, Cole has run out of opponents on NXT, with only the NXT North American Champion Keith Lee looking like the other big opponent for him.
Since Kross is very fresh and has an incredible character with Scarlett by his side, we could watch him have a great rivalry against Cole which could take weeks or even months to develop until the showdown takes place.
As for Lumis, it seems like he will be teaming up with Velveteen Dream soon to take on Strong and Fish in tag team matches for some time.
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