The Best Match From Every 2021 WWE PPV

With all due respect to Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross, their placement on the TakeOver 36 card meant that Triple H's era of NXT went out with a whimper instead of the emphatic bang that preceded it.

Yes, both the NXT Championship match and the conclusion of the aforementioned Cole-O'Reilly trilogy had exceptional arcs filled with betrayal, psychological warfare and unbridled havoc. Granted, Joe's victory over Kross made him an unprecedented three-time NXT Champion. Unfortunately for both bouts however, extenuating circumstances opened the door for another match to steal the show.

First, the known impending departures of not only Cole, but O'Reilly months later made what should have been a thrilling conclusion feel very by-the-numbers. Secondly, the suspicious 'injury' Samoa Joe sustained after defeating the bungled Kross project before immediately surrendering the NXT title upon acknowledgment of a planned brand reboot was compounded by another inevitable release. Lastly, there was a general deflated atmosphere at TakeOver 36 in the wake of the prior masterclass.

For 25 minutes, United Kingdom Champion WALTER and challenger Ilja Dragunov took turns caving in chests, knocking off heads and somehow producing an angry, no-frills bellow of a sequel that surpassed their initial confrontation. With the NXT UK landscape firmly under 'The Austrian Anomaly's boot, Dragunov did the unthinkable, ending WALTER's towering 870-day reign of terror as United Kingdom Champion with a textbook sleeperhold to wild acclaim.

It was violent, brutal and the action was edge-of-the-seat until it was over--a blueprint to which all PPV matches should strive.