8 HUGE WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House 2021 Predictions You Need To Know
Ahead of a future hopefully outside of the CWC, TakeOver goes back to the past one more time...
For fans of a certain vintage, the original NXT TakeOver: In Your House was one of the best things WWE produced during the original grip of the pandemic.
Mining areas of nostalgia that have gone criminally under-utilised over the years, the black-and-gold brand headed not for the Attitude Era yet again, or the recently and laughably lionised Ruthless Aggression years, but for the one pay-per-view brand that came to symbolise and definite the company's commercial nadir.
1995 was as bad as it got financially for WWE, and the subsequent two years weren't much better at the box office. But beneath all that red ink was some white hot in-ring action. As white as the picket-fenced Floridian home used as part of the iconic set and brought back last year for Io Shirai to leap off of en route to winning the NXT Women's Championship.
No spot was a more perfect encapsulation of how the evening perfectly blended the magic of the theme with the action of the present, but this year's event may need much more of the latter now that the novelty's worn off.
Ultimately, 2020's show started as a play on words that suited the unprecedented times. Fittingly, this could well be the last TakeOver before the punters can leave their house again in massive numbers. It would be nice if this uneven era for the once-prestigious brand went out with a bang...
8. Who Gets Kickoff Honours?
A quick look up and down the NXT roster at the moment reveals something rather pleasing. Almost everybody of note is involved in something.
With the end of the Wednesday Night Wars came an end of several bad habits Triple H et al had gotten into at the height of a ratings battle they were comfortably losing. It's been slightly betrayed by two particular ingredients on this show (and more on those later), but even then the offences aren't as eggregious.
Ultimately, what this logically paced booking creates is a situation where nicking a spot on the TakeOver pre-show is a lowkey reward. Something or other will deemed slightly beyond the level of a television contest, and the black-and-gold brand isn't short on options.
Hit Row look set to feud with Legado Del Fantasma after this event, but could leave a mark in the meantime. A Frankie Monet squash wouldn't hurt, especially if she lets her dog sh*t on the fake grass by the set. Io Shirai will presumably find a plus-one to challenge Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell for the Women's Tag Team Championships.
Could she do it here? And, for that matter, might she even get the win with Hartwell's head elsewhere...?