5. Sami Zayn (c) Vs. Kevin Owens - TakeOver: Rival
You'd be hard pushed to find a more enchanting story in professional wrestling than the mirrored careers of Rami Sebei and Kevin Steen. Best friends for the longest time, the two have won championships together and put each other through misery all over the world, and deservedly so their paths finally converged under the banner of World Wrestling Entertainment. Two months earlier, Sami Zayn had a beautifully emotional moment with his winning of the NXT Championship, a moment that was cut short in joy when Owens turned on him to begin the road to this battle. As such, this was all about Owens getting under Zayn's skin initially, and Sami being unable to hold back his vitriol and anger. The turning point of the match saw Zayn hit a moonsault on the outside that led to him hitting his head on the ramp. Owens became the proverbial shark smelling blood at this point, and the onslaught was brutal. Head shot after head shot was followed by a successive powerbombs, and a teased third led to the match being called off. It was professional wrestling storytelling at its most cruel; the bully had won. Zayn's injury denied the audience the chance at redemption once more, but 2016 will surely see the two collide on the biggest of stages.
John Bills
Contributor
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
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