The match that should have closed out Beast in the East also was the best match of the night/morning. Kevin Owens versus Finn Balor for the NXT Championship got all the bells and whistles youd associated with a main event: great video package, special ring introductions, ceremonial Japanese flower presentations and streamers, and 20 minutes to put on a clinic. Regardless of whether fans or WWE itself considers NXT the companys minor leagues, the Owens/Balor match was the big match on the card (with Brock Lesnars bout being a special attraction). The two men hit each other with high-impact moves throughout, see-sawing back and forth and taking fans right along with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_VCdjPCa7k With Owens spending more and more time on the main roster, it was a pretty safe assumption that he was going to lose the NXT Championship. While it could be argued that having Owens lose clean hurt him, it also helped legitimize Balor as champ. If, say, John Cena had interfered, it would have tainted Balors victory. Instead, we got a great title match with a great finish and a new, strong champ.
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.
