Karrion Kross Wins Fatal 5-Way, Retains NXT Title at NXT TakeOver: In Your House

Karrion Kross beat Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Pete Dunne and Johnny Gargano in a Fatal 5-Way match to retain the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: In Your House on Sunday.

O’Reilly passed out in the Kross Jacket to force the referee to call for the bell.

Two weeks ago on NXT, a Triple Threat match was held between O’Reilly, Dunne and Gargano, with the winner earning a title match against Kross for the NXT Championship at the pay-per-view.

However, no winner was determined in that match as Cole returned after several weeks off television and assaulted all three participants in it. After wielding a steel chair and forcing a premature end to the bout, Cole set his sights on Kross.

The former Undisputed Era leader cut a fiery promo about being the face of NXT and called Kross overrated, which led to The Herald of Doomsday storming his way to the ring.

Cole called for an NXT Championship match, but a furious general manager William Regal refused to grant it. That is until Kross spoke up and expressed his desire to take on each and every contender at In Your House.

Kross said he wanted to take on Cole, O’Reilly, Dunne and Gargano all at the same time, which was an idea that seemed to captivate Regal and he agreed to make it happen.

Since debuting on NXT last year, The Herald of Doomsday has been a dominant force and entered TakeOver having not yet lost a singles match.

Kross won the NXT Championship for the first time at NXT TakeOver: XXX when he beat Keith Lee, but he had to relinquish it due to an injury suffered during that match. He returned in December and went on to beat Finn Balor for the NXT title two months later at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.

He successfully defended the title in a rematch against Balor on NXT a few weeks ago, which paved the way for him to face a new opponent at In Your House.

While O’Reilly and Dunne were looking to break through and become NXT champion for the first time, Cole and Gargano had already accomplished the feat, with the former owning the longest NXT title run of all time at 403 days.

Despite the remarkable amount of talent gunning for his title, Kross managed to prevail and retain at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, which further established him as the standard in NXT.

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