11 Notable WWE Title Changes That Happened At House Shows

3. Samoa Joe - NXT Championship (2016)

AJ Styles US title
WWE.com

WWE’s developmental territory has made a name for itself in recent years with its rabid following and periodic standout TakeOver PPV series. The special events often showcase top feuds, including battles for the NXT Championship.

However, the longest-reigning NXT champion did not lose his title at a TakeOver special, or even on the WWE Network program. Finn Balor had defeated Samoa Joe at two previous TakeOvers (London and Dallas) and defended his NXT title several times at house shows, but it was an untelevised event in Lowell, Mass. where Joe would topple Balor.

The title change had to be a surprise for everyone involved, considering Balor had just beaten Joe at the pre-WrestleMania TakeOver three weeks earlier. Finn would be promoted to the main roster a couple months later and become the first WWE Universal Champion.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.