Ranking the Top 10 NXT TakeOver Matches of All-Time
By Carl Gac
WWE.com
5. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens, NXT Championship Match, NXT Rival
These two men needed no introduction to each other, having spent the last ten years or more as partners or rivals and even longer as real life friends. Zayn (as El Generico) and Owens (as Kevin Steen) were two of the best on the indy circuit for years before they made it to WWE. They made their names primarily in ROH but performed around the world as friends and foes.
Zayn had won the NXT Championship from Adrian Neville, and Owens had turned his back on his friend in the same night. Hitting a horrible looking power bomb on the ring apron only a few minutes after Sami had won the belt.
Zayn had spent months chasing the title and had finally won the belt a couple of months before this match. Owens had only been in the company for two months as he entered this match. Nobody could have predicted what would happen.
When the first move of a match is a dive over the top rope from your champion you know it’s going to be an epic. Owens spent the majority of the match beating Zayn up. Power bombs galore, big kicks and power moves all took it out of Sami, he couldn’t get into the match in any great way. All the abuse from Owens lead to the referee calling for doctors and eventually the match being stopped in Owens’ favour. We had a new champion after a match that was particularly brutal.
Kevin Owens needed no introduction to the NXT fans but this was the perfect way to welcome him as a dominating, powerful champion.
At the next NXT TakeOver we saw a rematch between them both which again ended without a pinfall as Owens injured Zayn to the point he couldn’t continue. That lead to the debut of Samoa Joe in NXT, that’s a whole other story!
Next: No. 4