10 Best Rivalries In NXT History
7. Cesaro Vs Sami Zayn
Zayn vs Cesaro was a huge rivalry in the early days of NXT that helped put the black and yellow brand on the map.
In 2013, Cesaro and Sami were two very different men - Zayn was the upstart newcomer to WWE, whilst Cesaro had been with the promotion for a few years and was stuck in somewhat of a rut.
They played their roles perfectly. Zayn was the plucky underdog - a character he does better than 90% of wrestlers on the planet - and Cesaro was the determined heel who wanted to beat Zayn and beat Zayn bad.
The two put on some amazing matches, including a two-out-of-three falls match that still stands as one of the best in the history of NXT's weekly programming.
Zayn's obsession with defeating Cesaro was woven into his other storylines as well, including feuds over the NXT Championship. The obsession became so great that Zayn and Cesaro faced off one more time at the first ever NXT Network Special - Arrival - which took place almost eight months after their first match.
Cesaro and Zayn's rivalry epitomised what NXT would become: great in-ring work, characters people could get behind and well-told, long-term story-telling.
For the quality of the matches and its importance to establishing NXT as WWE's in-house indie promotion, Cesaro vs Zayn may not be known by a lot of newer NXT fans, but it's definitely worth checking out if you want some great wrestling.