Predictions for NXT TakeOver: In Your House

#5 Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream for the NXT Championship

Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream

These fancy taglines, similar to a "last chance" match, can be tricky as they shift your focus from the actual story. The transition from a feud between Velveteen Dream and Roderick Strong to a feud for the NXT Championship with Adam Cole was not done in the smoothest way.

Straight off the bat, Velveteen Dream is not an NXT championship material. Not in any way because he is bad (far from that, he is actually very good), but because he doesn't work the NXT style of things. Adam Cole is both a perfect cocky character and a great NXT style wrestler at the same time, and that's why he has been the champion for a full year (in case you forgot that detail).

Velveteen Dream, on the other hand, if he becomes an NXT champion, might fall more towards the Bobby Roode end of NXT Champions' gallery rather than an Adam Cole or a Tommaso Ciampa since he is more of a character and an "experience" rather than a wrestler you would like to watch perform.

Back to the stipulation intricacies, this "last chance" match is actually a very good way to have Dream simply lose the match and move up to the main roster where he can flex his character under the more promo-based environment of WWE's programming.

For Adam Cole, though, winning here does not mean that his run should extend for another year because he should drop to the next challenger (which you can guess by this point), Keith Lee. Adam Cole, and the Undisputed Era as a unit, enjoyed a top run on the brand, so him winning here only to drop it to Lee so they can all move up to the main-roster later down the line might just be the more reasonable move.

Prediction: Adam Cole to retain his title