NXT TakeOver: R-Evolution (December 2014)

Original Airdate: December 11, 2014

From Winter Park, Florida; Your Hosts are Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, and Corey Graves

Opening Match: Kevin Owens v CJ Parker: This is Owens’ NXT debut. He jumps Parker right away in the corner to setup the somersault bodyblock, and then dives onto Parker with a somersault plancha on the outside! Back in, CJ is begging off, but Kevin shows no mercy, and keeps pounding. The referee intervenes long enough to allow Parker to take a cheap shot, and a palm strike gets two - drawing blood from Owens' nose hardway in the process. Ouch! Parker keeps coming with a cross corner double-knee, but Owens responds with a lariat, and a pumphandle-neckbreaker leads to the Pop-Up Powerbomb at 3:13. Man, Parker is like NXTs go-to super card job guy, isn't he? ** ¼

NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Lucha Dragons v The Vaudevillains: Sin Cara starts off against Simon Gotch, and quickly hits a springboard forearm and a springboard moonsault press for two. That brings Aiden English in to try and run interference, but Cara sends him to the outside with a headscissors. Back to Gotch with a dropkick and a michinoku driver for two. Backslide, but Simon manages to blind tag during it, and English pulls Cara out to the floor. Inside, Aiden stomps him down as the challengers start to cut the ring in half, until Sin manages to dodge a superplex to get the tag, and Kalisto is a casa of fire - Roseanne Barr the door! Salida Del Sol finishes Gotch off at 6:47. The Vaudevillains completely bombed on the main roster, but they certainly had potential. ** ¼

Baron Corbin v Tye Dillinger: Barely a match, as the Baron fights off a blitz in the corner with a snake-eyes, then blasts him with a big boot before finishing with the End of Days at 0:40. ¼*

The Ascension v Finn Balor and Hideo Itami: Big brawl to start, with Balor and Itami cleaning house. Things settle on Viktor and Itami to start, and Hideo blasts him with a running dropkick for two right away. Tag to Balor for a cross corner chop for two, but another charge misses, and Viktor dumps him into the heel corner for a beating. Tag to Konnor, but he runs right into a nice dropkick from Finn, and Itami tags in for some chops and a kick combination. Konnor responds with a flapjack for two, and Viktor tags in to stomp him down as they cut the ring in half on Itami. Hideo manages to fight Konnor off just long enough to get the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! Finn clears the ring and hits both guys with a somersault plancha on the outside, then takes Viktor in for the Coup de Grace, but he dodges. Balor recovers with the 1916 anyway, but Konnor breaks it up at two! Viktor with a clothesline for two when Itami saves, so Konnor dumps him out, and they go for the Fall of Man on Balor. Hideo trips Konnor up to stop it, and Balor back flip kicks Viktor in the head to setup stereo flying double-stomps at 11:29! Really fun, old school style tag match, and the crowd was super into it from bell to bell. ***

NXT Women's Title Match: Charlotte v Sasha Banks: Sasha disrespects her at the bell, so Charlotte takes her down with a Thesz-press for some mounted punches. Into the corner for some chops, so Sasha tries bailing, but Charlotte drags her back - only for it to backfire, and Charlotte to end up tossed into the steps. Back in, that gets two, and Sasha's boobies are apparently sore from all the chopping earlier. Good thing she wasn't a new mom at the time, otherwise half the front row would have been covered in splattered milk. Double-kneedrop on the middle turnbuckle gets two, but she makes the mistake of mocking the strut, and gets schoolgirled for two. Jawbreaker follows, but Banks counters a bodyslam into a NASTY straightjacket. In all the best ways though, of course. Charlotte escapes in the corner, but Sasha slams her back down by the hair for two, and grounds her in a headscissors. She takes a page out of Charlotte's own book by driving the champion's face into the mat in the hold, but Charlotte powers out with an electric chair! Slugfest is won by Charlotte, but Sasha dodges a vertical suplex - only to get caught with a neckbreaker for two! Man, they are not messing around tonight! Charlotte gets sent to the outside on a missed charge, and Sasha dives after her with a tope, then brings her in for two. Another slugfest, this time won by Banks, but Charlotte hits her with a spear as they criss cross. Charge in the corner ends in Sasha taking her down with a drop-toehold into the turnbuckles, but Charlotte blocks a lungblower. Figure Four, but Banks counters with a small package for two, then hits a neckbreaker for two. Sasha is frustrated, allowing Charlotte to recover with an exploder suplex. That sets up the flying moonsault, but Sasha dodges - only for Charlotte to land on her feet, and immediately reroute with a somersault senton splash for two! Eat your heart out, Simone Biles! Crucifix powerbomb, but Banks blocks, and drops her face-first into the turnbuckles again to setup a vertical superplex - only for Charlotte to counter with a Natural Selection from the top to retain at 12:12. Holy fucking shit! That was, without exaggeration, the best women's match I've ever seen! Crisp, hard hitting, innovative - this had it all, and it didn’t even need to get into the tired finisher/counter/finisher stuff to build its drama. And it earns the highest rating I've ever given to any women's match in the four years this site has existed: **** ¼

Main Event: NXT Title v Career Match: Adrian Neville v Sami Zayn: Zayn absorbs the crowds love as the bell sounds, and they feel each other out to start. Neville starts trying to dizzy him with acrobatics, but runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and Zayn hits a slingshot moonsault press on the outside when the champ tries bailing. He milks the count, but runs into a leg lariat for two on the way back in, and a crucifix gets two. Neville goes to the eyes to slow Sami down enough for a clothesline, and a snapmare sets up a seated dropkick to the back of the head for two. Chinlock, but Sami fights free, so Neville punishes him with a running uppercut for two. Series of kneedrops get two, and a gorgeous 2^nd rope dropkick is worth two. That was brilliantly executed. Zayn starts throwing clotheslines to fight Neville off, and a standing dropkick puts the champ on the floor - only for him to rush in and catch Zayn with a headscissors as he plans a dive. That sends Sami to the floor, but he returns the favor by rushing in and backdropping Neville over the top as HE plans a dive, then hitting him with a somersault plancha to end the sequence. That was great, and required some serious timing. Zayn with a flying bodypress on the way back in for two, but Neville blocks a vertical suplex and tries a handspring elbow - only to get caught, and countered into the blue thunder bomb for two! Another wild, expertly timed sequence! Neville snaps him with a jawbreaker to try and sway control, and a well executed bridging German suplex is worth two. They're doing some really complex stuff, but not sacrificing proper execution like a lot of lesser workers might. Another reversal sequence ends in Neville hitting a sitout powerbomb for two, but Sami just won't back down or quit! Slugfest goes Neville's way, but a dropkick misses, and Sami blasts him with a clothesline. Helluva Kick, but Neville sidesteps, and goes up for the Red Arrow - Zayn lifting the knees to block! Koji klutch looks to finish, but Neville makes the ropes! Zayn keeps coming with the exploder suplex, but Neville counters with a victory cradle for two - the referee getting bumped on the kickout. That allows Neville to hit a superkick on the distracted challenger, and an inverted rana gets a dramatic two! They are pulling out all the stops here! Both guys are dazed, and Neville tries a roundhouse kick, but Sami counters into a two-alarm rolling German suplex, into a half-nelson suplex for a third alarm! That nicely sets up the Helluva Kick, but Neville bails before Sami can do it. Zayn goes after him with his (always cool) tornado DDT through the posts, and back in, the Helluva Kick finally hits - only to take out the referee in the process! As Zayn struggles to revive him, Neville goes to the outside to retrieve the title belt to use as a weapon - only to have Sami kick it away from him. With the referee still down, Zayn picks up the belt, and considers his options - will he take the easy way? He teases bashing Neville's brains in, but ultimately makes the Roddy Piper call, and discards the weapon. However, unlike Piper, he's able to fight Neville off, and hit the Kick to win the title at 23:15 - earning a thunderous ovation from the crowd! And a well deserved one, quite frankly! This was somehow even better than the women's match! It took a few minutes to get going, but once it did, WOW! Afterwards, the entire locker room comes out to lift the emotional new champion onto their shoulders, and even Neville embraces him. It's a beautiful moment as the confetti falls from the ceiling - only for it to be abruptly broken up when Kevin Owens (who was the first to hug Zayn after the win) comes back out, and DESTROYS him with a powerbomb onto the apron. I wish literally ANYTHING on the main roster was as good as this match and segment. **** ¾  

BUExperience: What’s not to love? Two bonafide classic matches to cap off a strong show where nothing sucked make this one a definite must-see!

*****