WWE NXT's Keith Lee Retains North American Championship in Brutal Match

After throwing some jabs throughout the past two weeks on NXT, North American Champion Keith Lee and Johnny Gargano finally had the chance to lock horns in the ring at tonight's TakeOver: In Your House, and it delivered in more ways than one. Gargano had a bag full of tricks tonight, including those car keys from last week, but Lee was prepared this time, and at times threw Gargano around like a rag doll. Gargano capitalized on every opportunity to hurt Lee, however, and after a hard-fought match that both competitors will have bruises from, it was Lee who took the victory.

Lee would demonstrate his sheer power several times throughout the match, launching Gargano onto the side of the ring and tossing him back towards the ring when Gargano tried to go back through the door and run away.

Despite those setbacks, Gargano kept chipping away at Lee, grounding him with a series of holds and trying to sap his energy so he couldn't use all that power to his advantage. He managed to get him to the ground for a while, punching Lee in the face where he hit previously with those keys.

It looked bad for Lee for a minute, but the Limitless one came back strong, dropping Gargano to the floor several times and shifted momentum in his favor. Gargano countered by hurting Lee's finger, but Lee dropped him to the floor again hard.

They exchanged punches and then Gargano got Lee's hand in a hold, but Lee lifted Gargano up with brute strength and slammed him to the floor, essentially curling him.

At one point Keith Lee got Gargano outside the ring and threw him through the plastic shields that were all around the ring, and Gargano was out cold after that. As Lee hoisted Gargano LeRae came out to help him, but Yim also came out and took down LeRae.

While LeRae was distracting the referee, Gargano pulled out those keys he hid at the beginning of the match and used them on Lee's face once more, but Lee would not go down. A few superkicks later and Lee still didn't go down.

Lee was able to get a chokehold on Gargano and then delivered a Spirit Bomb. Lee then delivered another one and then hit him with the Big Bang Catastrophe, and that was enough for the win.

Check out the full card for NXT TakeOver: In Your House.

NXT Championship Match: Adam Cole vs. The Velveteen Dream

NXT Women's Championship Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross with Scarlett

NXT North American Championship: Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano

6 Woman Tag Match: Shotzi Blackheart, Tegan Nox, and Mia Yim vs Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, and Candice LeRae

Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest

What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments or as always give me a shout on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!

For live coverage of the event you can find the entire CB WWE team at the following handles: @ConnorCasey_CB @ryandroste @EVComedy @Valdezology, and @MattAguilarCB.