How NXT Takeover: In Your House 2020 Should Be Booked

 

Hey everyone! Ever since Night Of Champions 2015, through multiple accounts, every month before major WWE pay-per-views, I’ve come on here and booked the cards to make them as exciting, intriguing, and best possible scenarios for the future. I do both NXT and main-roster pay-per-views, as well as the occasional big milestone RAW or Smackdown weekly show. Without further ado, here is how NXT Takeover: In Your House 2020 should be booked.

 

MAIN SHOW:

·         Here we are again. Another booking post, and the world still isn’t better from the last time you and I met here. In fact, it’s now even worse. In Your House is back in the year of our lord 2020 and it’s absolutely glorious. Perfect choice to bring it back as a Takeover with the name so in fitting with the current times we find ourselves all living in together. Now, let’s hop into our time machines, travel inside YOUR house, and distract ourselves from the real world with some pro wrestling. BLACK LIVES MATTER.

 

1ST MATCH: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano (Singles match for the NXT North American Championship)

 

·         Johnny Gargano, the challenger, is out first followed by Keith Lee, the champion. We get formal ring introductions and the match gets 22 minutes. Our opening contest of the night starts off with immediate explosiveness as Gargano fires away with Superkicks and top-rope moves, trying to knock the bigger man down and gain the early advantage. Gargano’s momentum comes to a screeching halt as he grabs Lee in a headlock position, then runs up to the top turnbuckle and hits a rope-assisted bulldog which he transitions into a Gargan-No Escape. Lee isn’t having it and powers to his feet with Johnny on his back and hits an Electric Chair. Some other big spots in the match include:

·         Keith Lee tries for a Spirit Bomb but Gargano maneuvers himself mid-air so that he manages to grasp Keith Lee around the waist and hit a CODE RED into a pinning combination as he lands for a near-fall

·         Lee and Gargano are exchanging strikes near the ropes, and Keith grabs Gargano and delivers a big front suplex with Gargano landing stomach first on the top rope. Johnny is on the apron now as Keith Lee runs the ropes hoping to knock Gargano off the apron but Gargano thinks he sees the advantage, tries for his Slingshot Spear, but Keith Lee is one step ahead and pounces Gargano back through the ropes to the outside.

·         Gargano hits a Suicide Dive outside the ring onto Keith Lee with SUCH VELOCITY KEITH LEE IS SENT BACKWARDS CRASHING INTO THE BARRICADE AND SHATTERS AN ENTIRE PANEL OF PLEXIGLASS. Gargano rolls Lee’s limp body into the ring but only gets a 2.9.

·         The match ultimately ends after a sub-half hour of crisp pro wrestling as Keith Lee begins KEITHING UP. Gargano hits a Reverse Frankensteiner but Lee gets to one knee and Keith’s up to his feet, unharmed. Gargano hits a barrage of Superkicks but Lee no sells again, Lee hits his Fireman’s Carry Jackhammer looking move but doesn’t manage to make a cover as his leg gives out, that Johnny has been working on the whole match. Both men are down and all of a sudden, Candice LeRae runs down and appears to just be there to cheer on her man, but as the ref is distracted checking on Lee, Candice slips Gargano the same car keys that Johnny used to blind Keith Lee on last week’s NXT. Both men begin to rise to their feet and Gargano has his hand behind his back, holding the foreign object, and Keith has no idea what’s coming. Candice hops up on the apron and tries to remove a turnbuckle pad to distract the referee, while Gargano ties Keith Lee’s arms up between the ropes so that he can’t escape or charge Johnny. The ref is still distracted and Gargano holds the car keys high in the air and is about to jab them into the eye sockets of Keith Lee when ALL OF A SUDDEN MIA YIM RUNS DOWN AND HITS A HURRICANRANA ON LERAE, SENDING HER OFF THE APRON CRASHING TO THE FLOOR OUTSIDE. Mia then runs into the ring and nails Johnny with a Seoul Food and her and Candice brawl around ringside. Amidst all the chaos, Keith Lee hits one final Spirit Bomb to retain the title. We go to replays of the match and Keith and Mia celebrate.

 

WINNER by PINFALL and STILL NXT North American Champion: Keith Lee

 

·         Mia and Candice continue fighting and all of a sudden, Dakota Kai’s music hits and Mia looks toward the entrance ramp but her and Raquel Gonzalez blindside Yim from behind. The heels begin beating down Mia Yim in a 3-on-1 effort but then Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart both run down for the save and clean house. It’s absolute pandemonium and out comes NXT General Manager William Regal to attempt to restore order. He announces that because of the events that have just unfolded, the 6-woman tag team match will begin RIGHT NOW, and because it is evident that things are going to get ugly, the match will also now be contested with NO DISQUALIFICATIONS. REGAL SENDS A NEW REF TO THE RING AND WE’RE RIGHT INTO OUR NEXT MATCH.

2ND MATCH: Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox (No Disqualification 6-Woman Tag Team match)

 

·         This match has already started in unique fashion as all 6 women grab their own steel chairs and as soon as the bell rings, they all charge at each other and begin swinging away. This match could absolutely blow everyone away and exceed expectations under a No DQ stipulation, just imagine what they could do. In the matter of about 2 minutes, this match instantly becomes more interesting and has added a new layer to it. After 15 minutes of weapon usage, dives and fast-paced action, the match ultimately ends in a series of events that begin with Raquel and Dakota hitting a Double Chokeslam to Tegan Nox through the announce table. Those two are then quickly taken out as they turn around right into that Coffin Drop-looking move by Shotzi Blackheart that she almost killed herself with on NXT, and they all get taken out on the outside. It’s now down in the ring to Mia Yim and Candice LeRae, the same two women who made this match happen in the first place. Both one half of the two biggest power couples in NXT. Candace and Mia have a short sparring before Mia Yim hits the Protecc Ya Necc for the win for her team. We go to replays of the car crash that was the final moments of the match with everyone dropping like flies, and the final thing we see is Mia and Shotzi helping Tegan Nox up out of the rubble of the announce table, the Tegan is in the middle, limping on one foot, but the three women stand tall as the victors on this night. In the coming weeks on NXT, there could be a triple threat #1 Contenders match for the Women’s title between these three women, just as a “friendly” competition, which I would have Tegan Nox ultimately come out on top of.

 

WINNERS by Pinfall: Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox

 

·         We get an ad for Backlash, where every match will be the GREATEST WRESTLING MATCH EVER.

 

3RD MATCH: Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor (Singles match)

 

·         Damien Priest is out first followed by Finn Balor. This is the most nothing match with the most nothing build on a Takeover card that I can remember for some time. The match goes 13 minutes. Here are some big spots in the match:

·         Balor knocks Priest to the outside and goes for a Tope Suicida but no one is home. Priest moves out of the way and Balor manages to land on his feet but immediately is subjected to a chokeslam on the apron by Priest, which gets a near fall.

·         Balor tries for a 1916 on Priest, but Balor fails to lift Priest high enough and Priest lands back on his feet. Priest then hoists Balor up and sends him flying across the ring with his release Falcon Arrow.

·         The end of the match comes when Priest goes for The Reckoning but Balor twists out and nails a Slingblade. Balor hits a flurry of his signature moves, including the Shotgun Dropkick into the corner, followed by the Coup De Grace. Balor finishes him off with a 1916 off the top rope for the victory. I feel like Balor should go over Priest here because they’ve tried to establish him as one of the big stars of NXT and the veteran coming back to his turf, but the only really big win he’s gotten since going back was against Gargano at the last Takeover. Priest isn’t connecting with a lot of people including me, I think he either needs a gimmick change or he needs to just go up to the main roster already because he’s one of those rare guys that would connect better with a main roster crowd than a hardcore NXT crowd to me. Balor can get back into NXT Title or NXT American Title contention with this win, and it gets him back on track and gives him back the credibility that someone of his name value should have.

 

WINNER by PINFALL: Finn Balor

 

·         We go to a video package with the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion, El Hijo Del Fantasma. He’s sat in a dark, undisclosed location alongside his masked kidnapper goons. He introduces his henchmen and cuts a heel promo on Drake Maverick, breaking him down and taking shots at his Twitter video where he cries to get his job back. Fantasma calls him pathetic, and declares that Maverick is undeserving of ever challenging for his title. We then go into the video package for our next match, the Women’s title match, and we get a brief backstage interview with Rhea Ripley which ends with her music hitting as she then heads to Gorilla.

 

4TH MATCH: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley (Triple Threat match for the NXT Women’s Championship)

 

·         Rhea Ripley is out first, followed by Io Shirai, followed by the champion, Charlotte Flair. We get formal ring introductions and the match goes 18 minutes. The three top women in NXT facing off, this is gonna be a really good one. Had Dream/Cole not been pretty much confirmed as a cinematic spectacle like we’ve been seeing in recent times, then I would’ve had this main event. I don’t want to plague every match with ideas for spots in the matches, but some major ones include when Charlotte hits a Double Natural Selection on both Rhea and Io; Another one where Rhea, being the biggest and strongest woman in the match, is fighting off and overpowering the others. Io and Charlotte are forced to form a temporary alliance against the babyface and they hit a Double DDT in the center of the ring, and then, since they both happen to do Moonsaults, both go up top on adjacent sides of the ring and nail consecutive Moonsaults on Rhea. Charlotte scrambles for the pin first and Rhea kicks out. Io throws her off and tries a pin of her own but Rhea kicks out again. The match ends when Rhea picks up Io and Charlotte (she is probably stronger and more muscular than you reading this will ever be so she can do this) and hits a Riptide on both women at the same time and drapes Io’s lifeless body over Charlotte’s lifeless body for the double pin. I’ve said the word “Double” a lot of times during my write-up for this match, haven’t I? So, let’s talk about this decision on the winner. Not only the decision I think is best, but the decision that NEEDS to happen. It appears that there was some truth to the rumor that Rhea was actually supposed to defeat Charlotte at Wrestlemania until they ran into the issues with Ripley’s work visa, so as a result she was off TV for a month until things got worked out. Rhea’s reign was cut too short either way and there is so much more for her to do. The dominant performance I laid out for her in this match with her kicking out of finishers and pinning both women at the same time to win her title back, that will instantly skyrocket her back up into the position she was at before. HHH said on the conference call for this Takeover that Charlotte came to NXT to make the others she worked with elevated, but there’s just one problem with that logic… SHE’S BEATEN EVERYBODY. It’s not like Charlotte was ultimately a huge game changer in the Wednesday Night Ratings anyways, in fact they’ve consistently been lower than ever since NXT has been on USA. Going forward, Rhea and Io can begin a singles feud exclusively on NXT TV, and Charlotte’s involvement in NXT would come to an end at Summerslam, hopefully in front of fans, with Rhea vs. Charlotte one final time, potentially main eventing, where Rhea would beat Charlotte clean, once and for all, in the middle of the ring. Charlotte’s excuse for getting this rematch, other than the easy way out with her enacting her automatic rematch clause, being that the only reason she lost at IYH was that there was another body (Io) on top of her and it was made infinitely more difficult to kick out, the classic heel excuse. So Rhea wins her title back and looks like she could conquer the world, Rhea vs. Io would be the next feud on NXT television, Rhea vs. Charlotte in the feud-closer at Summerslam for the title where Rhea pins Charlotte clean. That’s where this needs to go.

WINNER by PINFALL and NEW NXT Women’s Champion: Rhea Ripley

 

·         We go to the announcers who thank the artist of the official theme song of the PPV.

 

5TH MATCH: Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett) vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Singles match)

 

·         Karrion Kross and Scarlett are out first followed by Tommaso Ciampa. The match goes 5 minutes. Let’s cut a long story short here; it’s an absolute sprint with Ciampa getting flurries of offense in but Kross always manages to survive. Kross kicks out of multiple Fairytale Endings and The match ends when Kross hits 4 Doomsday Saitos in a row and transitions the final one into the KrossFace and Ciampa passes out in the hold. Kross beating a top guy of the magnitude of Ciampa in such quick fashion will absolutely make him in one night and Ciampa is so good and reliable to be slotted into the main event program at a moment’s notice that this wouldn’t hurt him one bit. Ciampa still has enough time to get in whatever he needs to, but Kross should be getting the win here no doubt. I honestly think Kross will and should be NXT Champion before the end of the year. You read that right, not North American, not Tag Team, not Women’s (maybe Scarlett though), but the top dog belt, the NXT Champion. And we’ll see whether he would take that title from whoever wins our main event, coming up…. next.

 

WINNER by SUBMISSION: Karrion Kross

 

·         We get an ad for NXT merch on WWEShop.

 

6TH MATCH: Adam Cole (c) vs. The Velveteen Dream (Last Chance Backlot Brawl for the NXT Championship; If Cole wins, Dream can no longer challenge for the NXT Championship while Cole is still champion)

 

·         Time to break out the ol’ imagination for another cinematic wrestling match… let’s have some fun, because this whole business is inherently ridiculous, and we love it for that. The first thing we see is the PC recruits that will make up the crowd pulling in to the drive-in wrestling match in their cars. They all park in their spots and out from…. wherever the entrance could possibly be, Out comes The Velveteen Dream followed by the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time, Adam Cole. It seems they usually have around 25-30 minutes of footage for these movie matches so that’s how long I’ll say it gets. There's plenty of environmental based offense from both men. Dives off trees, moves onto the roof of cars, they hit each other with garbage cans, traffic cones, stop signs, and the kitchen sink. The match ends when Dexter Lumis comes out of nowhere DRIVING A SCISSOR LIFT. Both men look at him in disbelief and Lumis steps off and just begins staring like only he can stare. Eventually Dream and Cole find themselves on the scissor lift about 20ft above the ground, or at least at the highest possible elevation that they can fall off without the risk of them both legitimately dying. The two are trading strikes and Dream hits a Dream Valley Driver off the scissor lift into the ring through a table. They land and it just so happens that Dream’s arm is draped over Adam Cole. The ref begins the count and it looks like we’re about to crown a new NXT Champion but all of a sudden, Dexter Lumis enters the ring and STOMPS ON THE REFEREE’S HAND. The ref retreats to the corner in pain and this gives Lumis time to reverse the situation, as he rolls Dream over on his back and drapes Adam Cole’s arm over him. Dexter Lumis slowly walks away and never looks back, as the ref counts the 3. Adam Cole is STILL NXT Champion. I just don’t think it’s the right call to put the title on Dream. Not just because of the still unanswered questions about the allegations made toward him that may result in a PR nightmare of epic proportions, but also just in terms of his TV character, which has cooled off considerably ever since his injury. This is nowhere near the same Velveteen Dream as even a year ago. There’s just been something…. off. And even if I were to put the title on Dream despite all this, it wouldn’t have much substance and be such a nothing reign anyways as his reign would barely surpass a few months since I’d have them fast-track Karrion Kross to the title before we hit 2021. I would have the Cole and UE/Lumis feud play out the next few weeks as a TV-exclusive mini feud, maybe even with a Lumis/Cole title match before Cole moves on, finally dropping the title to Killer Kross at the next Takeover, whenever that may be. As far as what’s next for Velveteen Dream, I’m honestly unsure. Keith Lee vs. Velveteen Dream for the NA Title could be intriguing, and it’s a match we’ve never seen before. But that’s all I’ve got for now… thanks for letting me In Your House. It was a pleasure. I hope to visit again next year.

 

WINNER by PINFALL and STILL NXT Champion: Adam Cole

 

FINAL RESULTS:

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1	Keith Lee (c) (w/ Mia Yim) defeated Johnny Gargano (w/ Candice LeRae) by Pinfall	Singles match for the NXT North American Championship	22 minutes
2	Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox defeated Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez by Pinfall	No Disqualification 6-Woman Tag Team match	15 minutes
3	Finn Balor defeated Damian Priest by Pinfall	Singles match	13 minutes
4	Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair (c) and Io Shirai by Pinfall	Triple Threat match for the NXT Women’s Championship	18 minutes
5	Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett) defeated Tommaso Ciampa by Submission	Singles match	5 minutes
6	Adam Cole (c) defeated The Velveteen Dream by Pinfall	“Last Chance” Backlot Brawl for the NXT Championship; If Cole wins, Dream can no longer challenge for the NXT Championship while Cole is still champion	30 minutes

 

Well, that was the post. Thanks for reading! As always, let me know what you liked and/or what you didn’t like from the post, and what from the post you’d like to see actually happen on the show tomorrow night! Be sure to look out for my post next week for the upcoming PPV, **”How WWE Should Book Backlash 2020”. Enjoy the show tomorrow night, everyone!