WWE: Ranking the Top 25 NXT TakeOver matches of all time
16. NXT Championship Title vs. Career Match: Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn (NXT TakeOver: R Evolution, Full Sail University, 12/11/14)
I almost didn’t include this match, but a few friends insisted I rewatch it and reconsider. I’m glad I did. This is still a spectacular contest, but it’s the story before, during, and after that really make it so special. Sami Zayn put his career on the line going into this contest, believing he didn’t deserve to be in NXT if he couldn’t become NXT Champion.
After a grueling contest, he finally vanquished Neville to capture the title. The NXT roster, including his longtime friend Kevin Owens, came out to celebrate with him, but several minutes of celebration became a nightmare when Owens attacked Zayn, laying the foundation for the rest of each man’s career in WWE.
15. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch (NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, Full Sail University, 5/20/15)
Potentially one of the most underrated contests in NXT TakeOver history, this mid-2015 clash between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch preceded the epic between Sasha and Bayley by just three months. Banks was cementing herself as a dominant champion, but Lynch also proved herself on this night.
Becky Lynch had been struggling some to find her identity in NXT, but you can see the seeds of the attitude and uniqueness that eventually created The Man in this contest. These two women delivered a great story with top-notch in-ring psychology, and any fans of Banks or Lynch should definitely go back and watch this one again.
14. WWE United Kingdom Championship Match: Tyler Bate (c) vs. Pete Dunne (NXT TakeOver: Chicago, Allstate Arena, 5/20/17)
While NXT UK was technically founded in late 2016, the brand didn’t have their first shows air until October of 2018. During the interim, the WWE United Kingdom Championship existed in the regular NXT universe.
Here, we saw inaugural champion Tyler Bate defending against Pete Dunne. Honestly, this match is shorter than I remembered, but it’s because of the energy that Bate and Dunne bring from bell to bell. Ultimately, this was the start of Pete Dunne’s legendary 685-day reign as United Kingdom Champion.