Here are the results from last night’s NXT Takeover: In Your House which took place from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Shotzi Blackheart, Tegan Nox, and Mia Yim defeated Candace LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez in a six-woman tag team match; Finn Balor defeated Damien Priest; Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American title; Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream in a last chance backlot brawl to retain the NXT title; Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa; Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match to become the new NXT Women’s champion.
Hey everybody! It’s @TheMagnumDA with Part One of THE GREATEST PICK’EM OF ALL TIME. Tonight, the NEW WOPC Champion MagnumDA (that’s me) will put his title on the line against Colin in a two-part PPV aggregate series. Since WWE is touting their Backlash main event as being “the greatest match of all time”, I figured we’d copy that and FINALLY decide, once and for all, who the real pick’em king is.
For Part One, we’re focused on NXT: In Your House. No bonuses, no fancy stuff, just straight up “Who Ya Got?” Tonight’s scores will be combined with next week’s scores (from Backlash), and whoever has the best cumulative score will be the Undisputed WOPC Champion. With that, good luck Colin!
ON WITH THE SHOW!
Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest
Magnum: I see Damian Priest’s stock on the rise, and to put him on the map, he needs a gigantic victory. This has a long-term program feel to it, so I’ll give Damian the win for tonight.
Colin: I thought Finn would have a bigger impact in NXT when he returned. It’s not a failure like Charlotte’s return mind you, but I was expecting more. This feud will probably continue and for that to happen, Damien Priest has to pick up the victory.
Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel González
Magnum: This feels like the kind of thing where we could see a rematch or a follow-up to this contest, so give me LeRae, Kai, and Gonzalez to get the victory tonight.
Colin: The heels have been getting the upper hand lately which leads me to believe it’s time for some babyface payback. So Yim/Blackheart/Nox get the W.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross (with Scarlett)
Magnum: I believe that there are big plans for Karrion Kross, so look for him to get a big win tonight and make his mark on the NXT brand.
Colin: Kross and Scarlett look fantastic together. I still think Scarlett would look even better by my side, but that’s another story. Hah! The two seem to be getting a killer push, pun intended, so I am predicting that Kross will get the win over Ciampa.
NXT North American Championship
Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
Magnum: I’m looking forward to this match very much. Gargano’s going to have some moments where he gets dangerously close to the North American title, but look for Keith Lee to get one of the biggest wins of his career tonight.
Colin: This should be a great match. For his size, Lee can really work and Gargano is always top notch when it comes to Takeover matches. I can’t recall a bad Gargano match at a Takeover. But Keith Lee will reign supreme this time.
NXT Women’s Championship – Triple Threat Match
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai
Magnum: I think Bayley and Sasha Banks winning the tag titles is going to start a long-term program where Charlotte gets back in the mix for the Women’s Championship on Smackdown. That means we should see a new champion tonight. I think it’s finally Io’s time. I will take Io Shirai to win the NXT Women’s Championship.
Colin: The “Charlotte Flair to NXT experiment” has failed in my opinion. Leave her on the main roster. Her return did zero for NXT. I’m hoping that finally Io Shirai gets her moment. She’s one of the best wrestlers in the world and that title has been evading her for a long time. Time to pull the trigger and let her run with the title. Io Shirai is the new champion.
NXT Championship – Last Chance Backlot Brawl
Adam Cole (c) vs. The Velveteen Dream
Magnum: Any time you hear “Last Chance”, you can’t help but think that the Dream is going to finally do it. I am not sure what Adam Cole’s future holds, but if he’s on his way to AEW, this is the time to drop that strap…or is it? I could absolutely see a scenario where Cole wins this match, and then drops the title Wednesday on NXT to someone else. Hmm…this is a tricky situation. Eh, screw it. I’ll take the Dream – he deserves it. Cole’s title reign is OVER.
Colin: I love Adam Cole as champion, I really do. He and The Undisputed Era are awesome. But how many times can Dream lose? It becomes ineffective at the end of the day and for that reason I’m picking Velveteen Dream to become the new NXT champion. Cole’s run with the title lasted over a year and I think it’s time to get into a program with another individual.
Well, there you have it for Part One of THE GREATEST PICK’EM OF ALL TIME. We will see you next Sunday for Backlash. Edge vs. Orton – looking forward to it!! @TheMagnumDA signing off.
NXT Takeover: In Your House takes place in a couple of hours from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and with six matches on the card, we present you the latest odds of the full card.
Please remember that odds are likely to change as the show gets closer to bell time so be careful when betting with your money.
In the last chance backlot brawl between Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream for the NXT title, Cole is favorite at 1/5 to retain and Dream is 3/1 to get his long-awaited NXT title.
Charlotte Flair remains the big favorite to retain the NXT Women’s title with her odds at 4/6, while Io Shirai is 11/9 to win her first NXT title and Rhea Ripley is a long shot with odds of 7/1 to regain her title.
Keith Lee is the slight favorite to retain the North American title with odds of 4/5 while Johnny Gargano is very close with odds of 10/11. If Gargano wins he would join the triple crown list having won every male title in NXT.
Karrion Kross makes his Takeover debut tonight and he’s quite the overwhelming favorite with odds at 1/20 while Tommaso Ciampa is way, way behind at 8/1.
In the other two matches, Finn Balor is favorite 1/2 to win against Damian Priest who is 6/4, and in the six-woman tag team match, Candice LaRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez are favorites with 4/5 odds against Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, and Shotzi Blackheart who are at 10/11.
This episode is the one we have all been waiting for. Nikki Bella is getting married again…we hope.
Her boyfriend, Artem, propsed while Nikki was in France for her wine company in order to expand into the French wine market. Artem had also invited his parents to come over from Russia to witness the event, however, the Bella clan wasn’t sure that Nikki would say yes, so they chose to come along for support. Once they all got to France, Nikki became nervous about meeting her boyfriend’s parents, especially since they spoke no English. Also, she felt as though her family with all loud drama might scare Artem’s respectable Russian parents.
But, once the two families met they seemed to get along well despite their inability to understand each other. Artem’s parents seemed happy that their son had found love in America, as well as finding a family to watch out for him.
They also were delighted that Nicole had said yes to Artem. I wasn’t suprised though. I mean who wouldn’t say yes to a proposal that took place in a French castle. Furthermore, there was an orchestra, rose petals, and champagne!
Artem also told Nicole that there were no words to describe how much he loved her. He then gave her a huge diamond ring. After Nikki said yes, both families toasted the happy couple. Then, there was another reason to celebrate…the twins 36th birthday.
I thought it was nice of Brie to allow her birthday to be taken over by the proposal. Brie had another reason to be happy. She found out that is was pregnant. There is plenty for the fans to watch for the rest of the season!
Live tonight from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, WWE presents NXT Takeover: In Your House exclusively on the WWE Network. The full card is as follows:
Adam Cole vs Velveteen Dream in a last chance backlot brawl for the NXT title; Charlotte Flair vs Io Shirai vs Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match for the NXT Women’s title; Keith Lee vs Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American title; Finn Balor vs Damian Priest; and Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart, and Tegan Nox vs Candice LaRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez.
A subscription is required to watch Takeover and if you have the free version of the WWE Network you will need to upgrade to the paid version.
As expected, the WWE tour of Japan set for July has been canceled completely and is not being rescheduled for the time being.
Two shows in Osaka on July 2 and 3 and another one in Yokohama on July 4 will not be happening as WWE officially announced that they were canned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those who purchased tickets will be getting a refund starting on June 8.
WWE tends to visit the Land of the Rising Sun every early July. WWE also rescheduled the Australia and New Zealand tour to 2021 and the South Africa tour to September 2020 although that is also probably going to get canceled.
There will be a special episode of The Bump today starting at 10:30AM on the WWE Network, YouTube, and Facebook as the crew runs down the card and things happening tonight on NXT Takeover: In Your House.
Guests scheduled to be appearing on The Bump are Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, and Mauro Ranallo.
Meanwhile, WWE will also be hosting a Watch Along for Takeover and it will air on WWE’s social media properties. Renee Young, Natalya, and former NXT stars Bianca Belair and Ruby Riott are scheduled to be appearing live on the broadcast.
Takeover: In Your House airs on the WWE Network tonight and it’s only available for those who have a paid subscription to the service.
NXT will present its first Takeover since February tomorrow night exclusively on the WWE Network. This takeover, appropriately titled In Your House, revives a name that has not been used in WWE since February 14, 1999, when the last In Your House: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in Memphis.
Today we will look at the odds of the top two matches of the card – the NXT title match and the NXT Women’s title match. We will present the full betting odds for the whole card tomorrow night.
In the NXT title match between Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream, the reigning champion is the favorite to retain his title with odds of 1/4 while Velveteen Dream is 5/2 to win. This will be a backlot brawl and features the stipulation that if Dream does not win, he cannot challenge for the NXT title again as long as Adam Cole remains champion.
The NXT Women’s title will be defended in a triple threat match as Charlotte Flair puts her gold on the line against Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai. Flair is currently the favorite with odds of 8/11 in her favor while Io Shirai is 7/4 to get her first title, while Rhea Ripley is a long shot at 5/1 to regain the title.
Last night’s Smackdown on FOX dropped below two million viewers for the first time in 5 weeks, pulling in 1,935,000 viewers, a big drop of 235,000 viewers from last week. The first hour did 1,962,000 viewers and the second hour dropped slightly to 1,908,000 viewers. Smackdown did a 0.5 in the 18-49 demographic and was second for the night and first in the 18-34 chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE is advertising the position of a lead writer for Smackdown after Chris DeJoseph, who was in that role until last week, got fired.
DeJoseph’s firing was handled by Vince McMahon, who made the decision himself after according to some rumors, DeJoseph displayed some unprofessional behavior and inappropriate conduct. DeJoseph was rehired by WWE in December 2019 but the 39-year-old only lasted six months. This was his second stint with the promotion after previously having worked there between 2004 and 2010 as a senior writer and producer.
DeJoseph served as a producer for several television shows such as Big Brother, Redneck Island, Flipping Vegas, American Grit, Paradise Hotel, and was the co-executive producer of Lucha Underground before he returned to WWE.
The Smackdown lead writer job position is available on the company’s LinkedIn. WWE is also looking for writer assistants and writers for their television shows.
During a conference call with the wrestling media, Triple H said that the use of the name In Your House for tomorrow’s Takeover popped up because of the circumstances everyone finds themselves in with the coronavirus pandemic.
HHH talked about that as Takeovers evolved over the years, they were getting the name of the cities rather than a different name per event and now that they were stuck in Orlando, they were brainstorming on what it should be called.
“The conversation came up and it just seemed like the perfect timing. Everybody’s stuck in their house…it’s the perfect time,” Triple H said about the In Your House name.
Asked if there would be more In Your House for NXT, Triple H was non-committal but did not shoot down the idea at all, saying at it could definitely be something that comes back.
Episode 10 of season five of Total Bellas titled The Proposal did a total of 411,000 viewers, down 6,000 viewers from episode nine. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Bayley and Sasha Banks regained the WWE Women’s Tag Team champions last night during the main event of Smackdown on FOX after they defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
With this win, Bayley now carries two titles and she and Banks are now also two-time Women’s Tag Team champions, becoming only the second team to do that along with Bliss and Cross. The former champs won the titles this past April at WrestleMania 36 from The Kabuki Warriors.
Not everything was fine between Bayley and Banks though as the match involved several instances where Banks was not happy with her tag team partner, advancing their storyline which eventually will culminate in a match between the two.
A couple of segments and just one match have been announced for tonight’s Smackdown on FOX at time of this writing.
Last week, the show opened with Jeff Hardy getting arrested for hitting Elias with his vehicle but the former champion was released before the night was over. Tonight, Hardy will be giving his side of the story of what happened last week that saw both Elias and himself taken out of the Intercontinental title tournament.
Speaking of the IC title tournament, the two finalists – Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles – will be having a face-to-face encounter ahead of next week’s tournament final. The match has been taped already and is said to be off the charts.
The only match announced for tonight is a Women’s Tag Team titles match between the champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross taking on Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley and Sasha Banks.
Jinder Mahal, who returned to action in late April after 10 months sidelined, is back on the injured list.
Mahal confirmed the news that he had to undergo knee surgery, surgery that was performed at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. “Unfortunately I had to go under the knife again to fix some knee issues. The journey has hit a speed bump, but I will be back stronger than ever,” Mahal wrote in a post on social media.
The former WWE champion suffered a ruptured patellar tendon against Ali at a live event on June 15 of last year in Denver and had to undergo surgery to repair it, spending 10 months on the sidelines before returning on Raw.
The AEW Dynamite show scheduled for July 22 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, has been rescheduled again for 2021.
The show was originally scheduled for March 25 and was set to have the Blood & Guts match between The Elite and The Inner Circle. But after the coronavirus pandemic started, it was rescheduled for July 22. With no fans still allowed in arenas for live sports, AEW is now moving their booking to February 24, 2021.
“As illustrated in our mission statement, the safety and well-being of our fans and talent is always our top priority. AEW sends heartfelt thanks around the world to healthcare and other frontline workers who are answering the call to protect and serve their communities,” a statement from AEW said.
Fans who have already purchased tickets will be offered a refund via the point of purchase, or have their original ticket valid for admission to the event on February 24, 2021.
Impact Wrestling has tweeted that an announcement regarding the future of the Impact World title will be made this coming Tuesday on Impact on AXS TV.
The title is currently being held by Tessa Blanchard but Blanchard has been missing in action since the coronavirus pandemic started and missed two sets of television tapings. Since then, Impact held a tournament to determine the number one contender for the Impact World title which Ace Austin won.
Apart from that Moose has been parading around with the old TNA title and declared himself as the real champion of the promotion.
Blanchard won the title in January of this year at Hard To Kill defeating Sami Callihan.
NXT came close to match AEW’s viewership this week, registering 715,000 viewers, down 16,000 viewers only from last week’s broadcast. The show did a 0.20 in the 18-49 demographic, placing NXT in #45 for the night on the chart. The difference between the two shows this week was only 15,000 viewers, down from the 96,000 difference from last week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dynamite won the ratings this week, but suffered a big drop in the numbers mainly thanks to the no post-PPV bump and no Mike Tyson along with news broadcasts getting more viewership than usual due to the protests. This week’s show did 730,000 viewers, down 127,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. With a 0.29 rating, Dynamite dropped to #27 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The free month offer of the WWE Network where fans were able to sign up and watch a pay-per-view for free has been terminated with the arrival of the free version of the WWE Network.
And no, the free version of the Network will not allow anyone to watch the live, monthly pay-per-views so no one can sign up anymore and cancel their subscription 30 days later before getting billed.
Shows which are not part of the free version of the Network have a lock on them and fans will be asked to upgrade to a paid subscription to watch the locked content. The free WWE Network has 15,000 titles for viewing pleasure.
Giving a free month of the Network service especially during WrestleMania raised many eyebrows several years ago when WWE implemented the offer and while it led to a spike during the big four PPVs, those fans quickly canceled the service and most signed up again using a different e-mail address to make use of the offer for another pay-per-view.
