Every NXT TakeOver Main Event In History: Ranked

Sometimes, the originals are just better and boy, is this one the best of an era that fans sometimes forget was a golden period for NXT.

The match was drama personified as Sami Zayn put his NXT career on the line against a dominant champion, whose morals were slowly unravelling with desperation to keep his prized possession.

Zayn at Full Sail is very much similar to CM Punk anywhere in Chicago, with the crowd exploding into thunderous anytime he landed a strike. Corey Graves put it perfectly in that it was "As much as this match is Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville, it is Sami Zayn vs. himself." As Zayn was fighting an uphill battle from the start, needing to stay focused in order to not be distracted by Neville’s ever-growing heelish antics. By the end of the contest, Neville was a full-on bad guy after harking back to THAT fatal four-way by pulling the ref into the fray, preventing Zayn from hitting his finisher. However, when Zayn was finally able to keep Neville down the feeling was electric.

A rapturous standing ovation followed from both the crowd and the locker room, which only made Kevin Owens following betrayal even more devastating. This was NXT at its finest and should truly stand the test of time as one of the brand’s greatest matches.