WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House Review - June 13, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed and NXT Tag Team Champions MSK def. Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza)

As fun of a six-man tag team match as this was, it honestly felt like it belonged on NXT TV. The Winners Take All stipulation came together a mere five days ago on the television show and Reed and Escobar haven't been feuding for more than a month. I figured there was a chance Legado del Fantasma would win, but it would have premature if they did. Again, this was well wrestled and a nice way to start off the show, but it felt shoehorned onto the card and should have been saved for later down the line when there was more bad blood between the two trios.

Xia Li def. Mercedes Martinez

This was another match that didn't feel TakeOver-worthy. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great we got two women's matches on TakeOver with one of them not being for a title, but without anything at stake and Martinez not being firmly established as a babyface yet, I can see why it was difficult for some fans to care. That said, this was a perfectly decent match and I liked how they played off their history in the Mae Young Classic from a few years ago. Li won as she should have to continue her ascent. The post-match stuff was dragged out a little long and didn't come off amazing, but at least Mei Ying finally got physical. Li is the real attraction of the group, but I'm glad Ying bothered to get off her chair for once.

LA Knight def. Cameron Grimes in a Ladder Match to Win the Million Dollar Championship

This is where the show started to pick up for me as this felt more special (and unpredictable) than almost anything else on the card. As I've said over and over again, NXT needs to cool it with the Ladder matches, including in NXT UK. I feel like we get so many of them and I'm definitely feeling that Ladder match fatigue at this point. That said, this was a hell of a war with both guys having strong showings and giving it their all. Grimes in particular bumped his ass off and I had no problem with him losing now that he's apparently a babyface, he can absorb the loss. Knight was tailor-made for that Million Dollar Championship and needed the victory more in my opinion.

NXT Women's Champion Raquel Gonzalez def. Ember Moon

​Moon had practically zero chance of winning this match, but I knew it would be a quality contest and it did not disappoint. The story was that if Moon hit the Eclipse, it would be all over. She did, but Dakota Kai got Gonzalez' foot on the rope in time, and I'm sure she'll take credit for that eventually. Shotzi Blackheart returned and ran off Kai, but it still ended with a win for Gonzalez. This was solid and the effort was there, but again, the outcome was never in doubt.

NXT Champion Karrion Kross def. Kyle O'Reilly, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and Pete Dunne in a Fatal 5-Way Match

I knew this was going to be wild and action-packed and that's exactly what it was. I'm not even sure what to say other than I enjoyed every second and thought the layout was terrific. Everyone had their time to shine. Yes, that includes Kross, who I've seen people bash by saying he was the worst part about this match. I don't understand the overwhelming amount of hate for Kross, but oh well. It made the most sense for him to retain the title, but where do go with him from here? I would say you can do Kross vs. O'Reilly, but he technically took the losing fall, and I don't want him getting another shot if he's just going to lose again.

Overall Show

This was the most amount of people WWE has had in the Capitol Wrestling Center to date, but you'd never know (aside from the lack of screens) because of how tame they were throughout most of the show. I know this wasn't the most stacked card on paper, but they definitely could've been livelier at various points. Plus, the build to this TakeOver was rushed and most of the matches were easy to predict. Don't get me wrong, this was a solid show on the whole but also one of the weaker TakeOver specials in recent years. That said, William Regal closing the night teasing a change left me looking forward to the fallout on Tuesday, so that was a nice hook.

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