After running through a few jobbers on the weekly show, Karrion Kross had his first high profile match at NXT TakeOver: In Your House last night against former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, and it wasn't too far off a squash.
Although Ciampa did get some offence in and managed to hit Willow's Bell for a 2-count, Kross dominated most of the bout with stiff shots and a flurry of devastating Doomsday Saito Suplexes. In the end, The Blackheart's attempt at a Fairytale Ending was countered into the Kross Jacket, and the referee called for the bell when he began to fade.
We assumed Kross would win this one, but it was somewhat surprising that the match didn't go on a bit longer and Ciampa was taken out with relative ease. NXT is clearly pushing Karrion as a force to be reckoned with, but surely someone lower on the card could have served as a stepping stone? We would like to see Ciampa get a win back (even if it's a quick rollup or something) to even the score at some point, but that seems unlikely.
Expect Kross to decimate some more black and gold brand stalwarts and possibly zero in on Keith Lee's NA Championship in the near future. Now there's a match we'd love to see.