10 Best Matches In NXT TakeOver History
Spoiled for choice, but which matches made the cut?
NXT’s live specials have had a habit of outshining main roster pay-per-views in recent years. It started with NXT Arrival, a blockbuster night of action highlighted by an epic Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro showdown back in February 2014. NXT’s young stars made WWE’s Elimination Chamber (which took place 4 days prior) look tame by comparison, and the developmental brand has grown exponentially since the live specials adopted the TakeOver monicker that May.
From Sami Zayn and Finn Balor to Sasha Banks and Kevin Owens, NXT has spawned countless future main roster stars, and their TakeOver performances are part of their success. Unhindered by the main roster’s rules and restrictions, NXT’s biggest and brightest rarely fail to deliver, and any credible “Match of the Year” list is peppered with TakeOver clashes.
Last week’s TakeOver: Brooklyn II produced another stunning night of action, and with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka and Bobby Roode leading the Full Sail charge, there’s little sign of slowing down. TakeOver will continue churning-out high-level matches with frightening consistency, even with NXT’s relatively high roster turnover.
In the wake of Brooklyn II, let’s take a look at some of NXT TakeOver’s greatest moments. Here are the 10 best matches in TakeOver history.
10. Finn Balor Vs. Kevin Owens (TakeOver: Brooklyn, 2015)
NXT has produced some borderline classic events over the past few years, and Brooklyn ranks among the best. An outstanding card from top-to-bottom, it featured one of the best WWE women’s matches in recent memory (we’ll get to that later), and was headlined by this Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens ladder match.
They initially had a tough time capturing the crowd’s imagination after the women’s match, and while this NXT Title match wasn’t quite on-par with Owens and Balor’s WWE Beast in the East clash, it remains a thrilling match.
Owens had dropped the NXT Championship to Balor one month prior, and Brooklyn was presented as his last shot at regaining it from The Irishman. Ladder matches can be tough psychologically, particularly in one-on-one situations without any other wrestlers to help set the ladder spots up, and Balor and Owens did well to prevent things from descending into a spotfest. The big moments flowed together seamlessly, and Owens was particularly excellent in his domineering bully role, especially when interacting with the crowd.
They won the hot crowd over by the end, and when Finn Balor climbed the ladder to retrieve the belt, it was the last time fans would ever see Owens in NXT. Bigger things awaited KO on the main roster, while Balor was now fully established as NXT’s icon.