10 WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House Impulse Reactions
House Party!
NXT TakeOver: In Your House was a brand new kind of TakeOver, and not just because of the fabulous - and your writer had high expectations but it really was f*cking fabulous - use of New Generation nostalgia to market the event.
It seems approximately one billion years since February's TakeOver: Portland card, but a prevailing criticism of the show seemed to suggest that people were now getting literally too much of a good thing. The match quality was high, but so too was the repetition in the agenting and use of finisher kickouts.
Some changes were very clearly needed on the brand, but then substantial ones were thrust upon it.
TakeOver: Tampa was the first victim of the ongoing global circumstances cancelling WrestleMania weekend, but it being broken down into three tepid TV tapings wasn't the only reason the matches didn't hit. The empty Performance Center setting was rank, the stakes suddenly felt wholly unimportant, and the television show's propensity for a screwy finish here and there overwhelmed the otherwise-awesome reputation.
In Your House, rather fittingly, was to be a rebuild job. An attempt to look at the foundations of what made both the black-and-gold brand and the New Generation B-shows so beloved by their niche supporters in the first place.
10. For The Love Of Todd
Right up the street (or...in the house) of those that care about the rest of the nostalgia around this show, Todd Pettengill's presence in the build-up was saved until the final 48 hours before the show, but what a welcome presence he was.
Appearing first via a preview video for Comicbook.com, he then opened up the TakeOver: In Your House Kickoff Show. It was like he'd never left.
A hype man like few others in company history, Pettengill used to work overtime to get viewers to call their local cable companies back when the pay-per-views played host to the good (in-ring classics that had repeatedly failed to draw), the bad (Hog Pen matches, Crybaby matches, matches) and the ugly (all of In Your House 4). Any extra buys on the night were entirely due to his magnetic and authentic personality.
Sam Roberts and Scott Stanford brought their usual 5/10 effort and enthusiasm to the rest of the pre-show and honestly couldn't follow him. Their green screen was at least decked out in garish yellow, purple and blue to add excitement where they couldn't summon it.