5 Ups And Downs For WWE NXT Takeover: Rival

Two months ago, WWE was closing out a dismal 2014, a disappointing year that started out with a ton of potential and devolved into a mess. Despite the downswing, WWE was able to salvage a little something when its developmental territory, NXT, held a two-hour special event, Takeover: (R)Evolution. The PPV-esque event tore down the house and set the bar extremely high for future WWE events. Wednesday, NXT held Takeover: Rival, its follow-up special event to (R)Evolution. The two-hour program featured showdowns between new NXT Champion Sami Zayn and longtime friend/rival Kevin Owens, a number one contender€™s match between Adrian Neville and Finn Balor, and a four-way NXT Women€™s Championship. On paper, this was a stacked card of six matches that looked like it could deliver an even-better product than December€™s event. Rival delivered solid matches up and down the card and produced some surprise endings, keeping fans captivated and likely winning over some new subscribers to the Network who are taking advantage of the service being free for February. It easily made up for the mess that was the Royal Rumble. Call Rival a perfect companion to (R)Evolution that certainly shook things up for NXT. It didn€™t have the euphoric highs of (R)Evolution, but that€™s going to happen when one event closes out with the promotion€™s biggest babyface winning the title and the next has him losing it in a brutal match. In fact, it was really tough to find any solid negatives about the special event, which in and of itself is a huge compliment. So let€™s see what made the list.