wrestling / Columns

The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 NXT Takeover Matches

August 15, 2016 | Posted by Mike Chin
NXT Takeover: Dallas Sami Zayn and Nakamura Image Credit: WWE

SummerSlam is less than a week away. But with the WWE’s return to the Barclay Center comes another spotlight event the night before—NXT Takeover: Back to Brooklyn. Since the launch of the NXT Takeover brand in 2014 as a series of live two-hour specials on the WWE Network, we’ve encountered an interesting phenomenon: more often than not, these NXT specials are better than the PPVs put on by the WWE main roster.

And so, as another NXT Takeover show looms, this week I’m counting down my picks for the seven best NXT Takeover matches to date. I’m focused on matches more or less in a vacuum—what happened from bell-to-bell—though, inevitably, larger stories did become a secondary concern. As always, my personal opinion weighs heavily. Without further ado, here’s my list.

#7. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at Respect

As is the case for most matches on this countdown, the quality of this match did not depend on the unpredictability of its outcome. After a long story and a great journey, Bayley had won the NXT Women’s Championship off of Sasha Banks at the preceding Takeover show, and Banks had already moved up to the main roster. There was no reason to expect that Banks would regain the title in this thirty-minute Iron Man Match, and she rightfully did not. But that doesn’t mean that the story to get us to that finish wasn’t satisfying, or masterfully told.

This was Bayley and Banks working in the main event spot and working a gimmick that WWE had never entrusted women with before. And the results were outstanding. Bayley and Banks cut a great pace, never visibly stalling. Banks played her heel part particularly well, poking Bayley in the eye to steal the first fall, and later stealing a headband from Izzy, Bayley’s super fan, to mock her. The two traded falls only to remain locked in a tie for most of the last thirteen minutes until the big finish when Bayley trapped Banks in a stretch and then mercilessly kicked her in the back of the head—poetically, much like Banks had kicked at Bayley’s injured hand in the past—until she had to surrender right before the final bell.

The Iron Man gimmick can result in an epic match, but it also runs the risk of losing the interest of the fans as they twiddle their thumbs waiting for the big finish. This match was shrewdly planned and extremely well executed to land safely in four-star-plus territory.

#6. Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens at Brooklyn

This was the rematch between Balor and Owens, after Balor had won the NXT Championship, conducted under Ladder Match rules. Given the proliferation of many-man ladder matches like Money in the Bank, tag team ladder bouts, and the apparently annual Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match at WrestleMania, it can be difficult for a one-on-one Ladder Match to capture the imagination of the crowd the way that it once did, but this bout proved to be a tremendous exhibition for Balor and Owens—a pair of versatile, hungry performers who can brawl with the best of them.

Owens’s chemistry with Balor may be second only to chemistry with Zayn, but the two nonetheless worked a tremendous vicious bully versus never-say-die hero dynamic that saw Owens savage Balor with the ladder, only for Balor to keep coming back, culminating in a big double stomp off the ladder spot to put away Owen and facilitate Balor retaining the title.

Particularly for as stacked of a show as NXT Takeover: Brooklyn was, Balor and Owens did a tremendous job retaining the audience’s energy in a top-notch main event.

#5. American Alpha vs. The Revival at Dallas

One of the ways in which NXT has been so, so good—particularly on these live specials—is in pushing its tag team division. It starts with the development of actual coherent teams—not just two guys thrown together, but pairs that operate under a common identity and that both work toward a mastery of the tag team fundamentals and put their own spin on them. NXT has had a number of very good teams, but I’d argue that no two are better than the hard-hitting, back-to-basics, heel Revival and the uber-athleticism grounded in amateur-style wrestling represented by American Alpha.

These two teams have assembled quite a few good-to-great matches, but from where I’m sitting, none was more satisfying than this one in which American Alpha defeated the reigning tag team champions after fifteen minutes of wall-to-wall action, including great heat segment on Chad Gable and hot finishing sequence. The bout was particularly successful as a hot opener in front of a hot crowd to launch what was arguably the all-around best NXT Takeover show.

#4. Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville at R-Evolution

The NXT brand capped off 2014 with R-Evolution, an excellent show that opened with Kevin Owens debuting as a face and ended, most memorably, with Owens turning heel and attacking Sami Zayn. But to get to that attack, we first needed to see Zayn in action, Zayn getting his ass kicked, and, finally, Zayn realizing the destiny he’d working toward most of that year—an NXT Championship.

This match wasn’t only about Sami Zayn, though, as there was reigning champion Adrian Neville to contend with. Together, the two put on a twenty-three minute clinic that mixed technical, high-flying, and brawling offense and that shrewdly played on the history of these competitors and focused on the story of whether Zayn ever could realize his dream of championship glory. Zayn got distracted trying to help the ref after a bump and ate a superkick and reverse hurricanrana for his troubles. Zayn had the opportunity to use the title belt to secure the win but passed up on it. Finally, Zayn went all in and scored the pin fall to cap a great match, to cap a great rivalry, to cap a great story of Zayn rising to the top of the NXT mountain.

And while this match earns its placement based on the quality of the match itself, the aftermath was noteworthy, too, as the locker room cleared to help Zayn celebrate, only for supposed best friend Owens to level him with a clothesline and an apron powerbomb—a scintillating finish to the show that set up NXT’s top rivalry for the months ahead, and a feud that would transition over to the main roster.

#3. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at Brooklyn

I’ve addressed this at least twice before on 411mania, but to get it out of the way again, I fully understand arguments that this was the best women’s match in NXT history, and that it was better than the match I have ranked directly ahead of it. I don’t begrudge anyone that opinion and I feel it’s very close, but this is my countdown, and I would place my number two pick just a hair ahead of this number three pick.

Moving along, Bayley vs. Banks at NXT Takeover Brooklyn was in many ways analogous to Zayn vs. Neville at R-Evolution, albeit with a more clearly defined heel character. It told the story of an uber-face who had pursued the title over a period many months getting one last shot, going all in, looking overmatched and finally realizing potential in an NXT-career-defining win.

The credit goes to both women for this masterpiece. To Banks for playing the heel role better than almost anyone in the business at this stage, vicious and dogged in her punishment, particularly assaulting Bayley’s arm and hand. And then there was Bayley, playing the underdog, playing the hero. In my original viewing, Banks’s work on the hand actually had me sold that she might retain the title, despite all logic suggesting she wouldn’t given the story being told and that she had already debuted on the main roster. But then there was the finish. Bayley with a top-rope, reverse hurricanrana. Bayley with a Bayley-to-Belly to finally score the pin. It was a great moment to cap a great match at the climax of a great rivalry.

#2. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks at Unstoppable

In the spring of 2015, Sasha Banks had asserted herself as a dominant heel champion and in this match, she faced a very game challenger in face Becky Lynch. The psychology of this match was so, so grabbing as the both women attacked each other’s arms with fury, and told a tremendous story of Lynch working as the bigger, more powerful of the two, while Banks was just plain meaner and stiffer with her offense. It was full of false finish submissions galore, leading up to Banks scoring off the top rope and locking in the Banks Statement for the win. All the better, post-match, Banks balanced her portrayal of exhaustion and smug superiority, while Lynch looked positively devastated as she sobbed in the ring.

This is the single match, more than any other, that made me an NXT fan. I followed loosely, and watched NXT specials on the Network up to this point, but had to work while this show was on and only tuned in at the end of night to breeze through it because I’d read that Samoa Joe debuted at the end of the show. This match positively captured my imagination, though, for the passion with which each performer carried herself, the degree to which I bought on those submissions and the epic finish.

From an objective stand point, I completely understand why a lot of folks lace Bayley-Banks ahead of this one, and I do feel that the two are very, very close in terms of overall match quality. But for my countdown, I can’t erase my initial impression of this match–that it was the best American women’s match I’d encountered and my favorite match of 2015.

#1. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn at Dallas

This past WrestleMania weekend featured a number of good to great matches across a number of promotions and brands. While I can’t claim to have watched them all, I can say this—from what I did see, there was Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn, and there was everything else.

From the set up, this one was special. It was Nakamura’s highly anticipated debut after making a name for himself in Japan, in front of a rabid, smart crowd. It was Zayn’s send-off match as he was already becoming a fixture on the main roster and even had a match set for WrestleMania later in the weekend. So, you have arguably the hottest prospect NXT had ever signed pitted against many fans’ long-time favorite on his way out the door.

As such, the atmosphere for this one was great, and Nakamura and Zayn told their story in the ring perfectly, building from a slow start to a frenzied pace with plenty of brutal brawling as the match went on. Zayn, the perpetual face still played his never-say-die part to a tee, despite not having a traditional heel to base his work around. And Nakamura both sold like a champ and offered his first exhibition to the NXT faithful as to why he’s called the King of Strong Style.

After plenty of false finishes, this match closed with Nakamura hitting the Kinshasha for the decisive pin fall victory—a completely fitting and satisfying finish for the debuting hero to get that first signature victory, and for Zayn to do what he did best—lovably lose a painfully close match. From where I’m sitting, it’s the best NXT match to date, and the best match to appear and the WWE banner at all for these past two years.

Which matches would you add to the list? Some of my top honorable mentions included Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens at Rival and at Unstoppable, Bayley vs. Asuka at Dallas, Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze at Fatal 4-Way, Dawson and Wilder vs. Enzo and Cass from London, and Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe at London and at Dallas. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.