TJR WWE NXT In Your House 2022 Preview
This is the TJRWrestling WWE NXT In Your House preview featuring six matches total and five of the matches have titles on the line.
I still miss the Takeover name for these shows, but WWE has gone away from that label since last September when NXT 2.0 became a new thing.
The lineup for the event is solid although I don’t think it’s strong as the NXT Stand & Deliver event from WrestleMania weekend two months ago. Plus, that show was in front of arena crowd in Dallas with about 5,000 people while this event is in front of the same Orlando fans that they are always in front of with about 800 vocal fans in attendance. One thing that’s lacking here is that they don’t have stipulation matches. I was hoping for one or two matches to stand out a bit with stipulation matches, but it’s not really happening here. I’m writing this solo. Let’s get to it.
(Note: All graphics are from WWE.)
NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships: Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne (c) vs. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance
Dolin & Jayne are part of the Toxic Attraction group that has dominated the women’s division since last fall. It’s their second reign as the champions. Some of their matches are decent, but at other times you can tell they need some more experience. I like the babyface team of Carter & Chance (Kacy Catanzaro with a new name) since they’re one of the few actual teams in WWE’s entire women’s division, so when you consider that, it’s easy team to like and root for. The time feels right for a title change. I think the babyface team of Carter and Chance are going to get the win.
Winners AND NEW NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions: Kayden Carter & Katana Chance
Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Cruz del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) vs. Tony D’Angelo, Stacks & Two Dimes
The stipulation here is that the losing team must work for the winning team.
It’s been a long-term storyline although it’s been weird because both of the main guys – D’Angelo and Escobar – are heel characters, so who are we left to root for? I don’t know why I’m supposed to care who wins or loses since they’re all heels. I think Legado could work fine as a face side since they have had a run for a few years on NXT, but neither side really turned. Tony is more of a pure heel that’s doing the mafia gimmick with the new guys Stacks & Two Dimes by his side. I think Stacks & Two Dimes have only had one televised match on NXT TV so far, which means it’s a big match for them.
Escobar beat Tony D a few weeks ago thanks to Escobar getting some help from his friends. I think that means Tony D is going to win here, so then Legado will be part of Tony’s mafia group after that. Perhaps that will lead to them being a really strong group together moving forward or they went get along and that could be what turns Legado face. Anyway, there are a few different ways that it can go. I think this will be just an average match. The Legado guys are great, but it’s the other side that I’m worried about.
Winners: Tony D’Angelo, Stacks & Two Dimes
NXT Tag Team Championships: Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson) (c) vs. The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed)
The story here is that if The Creed Brothers lose then the Diamond Mine group will disband according to leader Roderick Strong, who has been acting heelish while the others in the group appear to be faces now. I have been impressed by the NXT newcomers Pretty Deadly, who came over from the NXT UK brand. Meanwhile, The Creed Brothers have been doing a nice job of being a babyface team.
It should be a good match with Pretty Deadly working well as a heel team that knows how to isolate the faces well. I’m expecting it to be one of those matches where the faces are selling a lot, then the hot tag comes and something is going to happen to cost The Creed Brothers the win. I think maybe Roddy Strong will be the reason why they lose because they are clearly on the outs. They might as well break up Diamond Mine since they have released people that were part of it. I’ll go with the champions retaining.
Winners: Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson)
NXT Women’s Championship: Mandy Rose (c) vs. Wendy Choo
The Wendy Choo character is something that is very polarizing to fans. She’s got the whole sleeper gimmick where she dresses in pajamas, likes to take naps and acts like a three-year-old little girl at times. Then the bell rings, she does a lot of cool moves and shows that she belongs in the ring. I’ve reached the point now where I can say she has won me over due to her performance in the ring. It’s kind of like Orange Cassidy’s gimmick as the lazy guy, but when the bell rings, he’s pretty good in there. As for Mandy Rose, she remains one of my favorites. I think she would do well on Raw or Smackdown as the leader of Toxic Attraction, but I guess she’ll keep going in NXT for a while.
A title change is certainly possible, but I think Mandy is going to keep her title. Maybe she’ll cheat or just capitalize on a mistake by Choo. I can see somebody like Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade or Nikkita Lyons as the next champion. They are better choices than Choo is although I wouldn’t be that surprised if there’s a title change here.
Winner: Mandy Rose
NXT North American Championship: Cameron Grimes (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes
This is my favorite match on the card, and I think it will be the best match of the night. Grimes won the title at Stand & Deliver in April in a Ladder Match while Melo had a legit gripe that he wasn’t beaten for his title. They did a triple threat match also involving Solo Sikoa and Grimes kept his title there. Now it’s a singles match with Melo showing a lot of confidence going into it as usual.
When Grimes won at Stand & Deliver it was the right guy at the right time because he had never won a title in NXT before. Now that Grimes has been a champion, it wouldn’t shock me if they put the title back on Hayes. If Hayes doesn’t win then they can certainly push him into the NXT Championship picture because he’s ready for it. I’ll go with Grimes retaining the title, but this is another match where I think the challenger might win.
Winner: Cameron Grimes
NXT Championship: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Joe Gacy
(The stipulation is that Breakker loses the title if he is disqualified.)
It’s the second title shot for Gacy, who didn’t even earn a title shot the first time around. That’s my issue with the story. Instead of having a top contender for Bron’s title, they put Gacy in this spot because he kidnapped Bron’s dad Rick Steiner. Is that really the best way to build a title match? I say no. I don’t really like it from a booking perspective. I can pick apart some of the other title challengers too. NXT must do a better job of setting up title matches in the future.
Since this is Bron’s first title feud after winning the title back from Dolph Ziggler at WrestleMania weekend, I don’t think he should lose the title to a guy like Gacy, who really isn’t known as a strong wrestler. Gacy is fine as a creepy heel character with followers. I just don’t think he should be NXT Champion. The stipulation will likely lead to a spot or two where it looks like Bron might be DQ’d, but it won’t happen and I think Bron will find a way to win the match to keep his title.
Winner: Bron Breakker
While I don’t think Gacy is going to win the NXT Title, here’s a good video package about the match.
BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Cameron Grimes vs. Carmelo Hayes. They’ve wrestled before in singles, but this match should get a lot of time and be the best match they’ve had together.
The Match I Care About The Least
Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne vs. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance.
Longest Match
Cameron Grimes vs. Carmelo Hayes.
Shortest Match
Mandy Rose vs. Wendy Choo. Just a hunch that it goes around 12 minutes and everything else is longer than that.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
It’s about a 6.75 out of 10. I wish I was more excited about the show, but it’s tough for me to compare it to some great show. I think it’s good at best, but mostly average stuff. That rating might be optimistic by me because I try to put a positive spin on things at all times. I’m mostly excited about Grimes vs. Hayes because I think it’ll be the best match on the show and everything else is kind of average. They might surprise us. I think in terms of star ratings there might be two or three matches around three-star level and then Hayes/Grimes could be at four-star level or higher. Anyway, if you need something to watch on a Saturday night, I think the NXT talent will work hard, but it’s not at the same level of quality as the previous era of NXT. That’s okay, though. It’s about giving young talent a chance to show what they can do. A lot of them will have that opportunity at this show on Saturday night.
In Closing
I’ll be back with a review of WWE NXT In Your House on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday night. I might not be able to do it live, but I should be able to get it done later that evening.
If you’re out there on Twitter you can message me @johnreport any time. If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.