NXT TakeOver: Rival (February 2015)

Original Airdate: February 11, 2015

From Winter Park, Florida; Your Hosts are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, and Jason Albert

Opening Match: Tyler Breeze v Hideo Itami: Itami charges right after him at the bell, but Breeze hides in the ropes, and pops off a kick before Hideo can catch him. Itami wins a criss cross with a knee, and sends Tyler to the floor following a shining wizard. Breeze tries to sucker him into a chase, but runs into a dropkick on the way back in. Breeze dodges the Shotgun Kick, however, and he starts going after Itami's leg. Ringpost figure four wears him down, and a sharpshooter looks for a submission, but Itami gets the ropes. Itami tries the GTS, but Breeze counters with a schoolboy for two, so Itami blasts him with the Shotgun for two, but Breeze snaps off a superkick for two. That leaves both men down, but Itami gets the better of a slugfest, and he unloads with kicks to setup a seated corner dropkick. Shotgun Kick finishes at 8:16. This was alright, though I honestly don't quite see as much in Itami as everyone else seems to. * ¾

No Disqualification Match: Baron Corbin v Bull Dempsey: I get such a Mantaur vibe from Dempsey. Corbin charges in and slugs him to the outside, but gets reversed into a apron, and vertical suplexed on the ramp. Bull knocks him into the post as well before bringing it back in, but Corbin manages a rotating spinebuster for two. A sloppy cactus clothesline (that sees Corbin fall out of the ring and Bull lamely force himself over after) follows, but Dempsey shrugs him off, and hits a flying headbutt for two on the way back in. He grabs a chair, but Corbin counters with the End of Days at 4:13. Ugly match. ½*

NXT Tag Team Title Match: Blake & Murphy v The Lucha Dragons: The champs try to double up on Sin Cara to start, but he fights them both off, and goes to work on Blake. A headscissors puts him down (on the second try, after botching the first), and Kalisto adds to the botch list by messing up a dive onto Murphy. Cara redeems himself with a crazy victory cradle off the top rope for two, and both tag. Kalisto flies around on Murphy, and an assisted senton splash gets two. The challengers cut the ring in half on Murphy, but he manages a blind tag to Blake, and a tandem side suplex/cutter combo gets two. The champs cut the ring in half on Sin, but he quickly gets away to tag, and Kalisto nearly breaks Murphy's neck with a kneeling rana. Nasty! Reversal sequence ends in Kalisto hitting a rana for two, and a crucifix gets two. Tags all around, and Cara hits Blake with a flying bodypress for two, and an inside cradle gets two. Blake with a sunset flip for two, but Murphy runs into a dead lift powerbomb for two. Another reversal sequence ends in Murphy hitting a brain buster, and Blake quickly punctuates it with a flying frogsplash at 7:57. A bit all over the map, and sloppy at points, but watchable overall. **

#1 Contender's Match: Adrian Neville v Finn Balor: This is a tournament final. Balor tries charging, but Neville is ready - taking him down with a side-headlock. That leads to a reversal sequence on the mat, and both guys criss cross as the feeling out process continues. Neville tries a sunset flip, but Balor counters with a seated dropkick, and Adrian bails. Back in for another criss cross, and this time Balor sends him to the outside with a standard dropkick, but Neville comes flying back in with a missile version for two! He grounds Balor in another headlock, but Finn keeps fighting, so Adrian backelbows him for two, and works him over in the corner. Chinlock, but Balor fights out, and dodges him in the corner this time - only to have a springboard countered with a dropkick! Neville with a hanging vertical suplex gets two, and he grounds him again with another chinlock. The level of the work here is really good, but they're going back to the chinlocks and headlocks too often. Balor escapes, and manages to send Neville to the outside with a kick, and he dives out after him with a somersault plancha. Adrian is running scared, and Balor stalks him with a dropkick that sends Neville through the guardrail! Back in, Balor hits a flying double stomp TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD, which is just fucking insane. It only gets two. Man, no wonder guys are getting hurt left and right these days. That should be an ultimate finisher that only gets busted out once or twice a year, but it gets the same treatment as a backbreaker does. Balor tries a reverse 1916, but Neville blocks, and starts unloading a kick combo. Balor responds with a pelekick, but Neville manages a superkick before going down - both men left looking up at the lights. Neville gets the best of it with a German suplex, and a bridging version gets two. 2^nd rope corkscrew 450 splash gets two, but Balor manages to fight back with a sling blade. Lariat and a reverse 1916 get two, but Neville manages to block a trip to the top rope, and slam him. That sets up the Red Arrow, but Balor lifts the knees, and immediately shifts into an inside cradle for two! The timing on that was nuts! Balor keeps coming with a dropkick and the Coup de Grace finishes at 13:36. Took a few minutes to get going, but it was loaded with complex spots, and perfect execution throughout. *** ¾

NXT Women's Title Fatal Four-Way Match: Charlotte v Sasha Banks v Bayley v Becky Lynch: No tags, and the first fall wins. Sasha and Becky look so different without the neon hair colors. Charlotte tries to take on all three challengers to start, but that doesn't end well for her, and Bayley schoolgirls her for one. To the outside, Becky throws her into the digital ring apron so hard that it shorts out (in a nice touch), then back in as she and Sasha gang up on little Bayley. Things break down when they realize only one of them can score the winning fall, of course, and Becky delivers a pumphandle suplex to get Bayley to herself. Series of legdrops get two, and a corkscrew legwhip sets up an inverted figure four, but Sasha saves. She goes to work on Bayley, but misses the double-kneedrop in the corner, and Charlotte thunders back in with a neckbreaker on Banks for two. Becky has really tightened up her belly since getting called up to the main roster, while Charlotte has gotten a little chunky since the NXT days. Charlotte misses a charge on Sasha in the corner, but Becky gets in the way of the double-knee in the corner, so Sasha stacks them up, and gives it to both girls simultaneously for two. Bayley comes back and takes Banks out so she can finish Charlotte herself, and she hits a rana off the top to setup the Bayley-to-Belly suplex, but Lynch saves. That leads to a brawl on the outside between them, but Banks comes flying out with a (sloppy) tope onto both, leaving Charlotte alone in the ring to recover, and dive onto all three with a plancha. She selects Becky out of the pile of humanity to finish off, but Lynch comes back with an exploder suplex for two on the way back in. Superplex, but Bayley German suplexes Becky before she can execute it, and brings Charlotte down off the top herself with a Bayley-to-Belly superplex - only for Sasha to dump her, and cover Charlotte HERself for two! Bank Statement, but Lynch is coming, and she's forced to break and deal with her. That done, Sasha reapplies the hold, but Charlotte nearly breaks, so Banks shifts into a crucifix to win the title at 12:14. I've never really liked Fatal Four-Ways (or Triple Threats, for that matter). Yes, they tend to be all action (like this one was), but I always have trouble getting into the disjointed flow. Still, good stuff. ***

Main Event: NXT Title Match: Sami Zayn v Kevin Owens: Zayn can't wait to get his hands on Owens, so Kevin frustrates the champion by immediately bailing to the floor, and stalling. I love Owens' old school psychology. Sami gets increasingly frustrated, until he dives after his challenger with a somersault tope suicida, then drags his ass in for a beating in the corner. Oooh, Sami mad. Owens escapes a ten-punch with a stungun on the top turnbuckle, and he adds a pair of clotheslines in the corner for good measure. Cross corner whip is sold with Hennig-like zeal by Zayn, and a bodyslam gets him two. Owens grounds him in a chinlock, and a clothesline gets two. Sami slugs at him, so Kevin drops him front-first across the top rope for two, then grounds him in another chinlock. Zayn fights out, so Owens side suplexes him for two - and it's a beauty! He tosses the champ to the outside for some chops against the rail, then back in for a gutbuster to setup a senton splash for two. There was literally no point to going outside of the ring there, as literally nothing they did couldn't have been done inside of the ring. Zayn starts throwing clotheslines to come back, and he knocks Owen over the top with one, then follows to ram him into the steps. Much better! Back in, Sami hits the Blue Thunder Bomb for two, but Owens counters the Helluva Kick with a superkick! Somersault bodyblock against the turnbuckles gets two, and a pumphandle neckbreaker gets two. Pop-Up Powerbomb, but Sami counters with a dropkick, and follows up with a half-nelson suplex for two. Owens manages to snap his throat across the top rope to cutoff the comeback, but a flying somersault senton is blocked when Zayn lifts the knees! Ouch! Exploder suplex into the turnbuckles sets up the Helluva Kick, but Owens bails to the outside. Sami stalks after him, but that's exactly what Kevin wanted - grabbing him for a powerbomb into the apron! Sami fights him off and hits a slingshot moonsault press, but ends up smacking his head on the ramp in the process, and is slow in following up. He still manages to go for the Helluva Kick, but he's moving so slowly that Owens is able to counter with the Pop-Up Powerbomb for two! Owens keeps on him with a flurry of rights, as Zayn sells it all like death. Seriously, this is a master class on how to properly sell a beating, and garner sympathy from a crowd here. Another Vader-like powerbomb, but Kevin doesn't even bother covering - instead picking him right back up for another one. Arrogant cover, but Zayn has the gall to kick out at two! EMTs run in to check on Sami to really drive this home, but Owens pushes past them, and murders him with another two powerbombs in a row. Third, but the referee physically intervenes, and awards Owens the bout by technical knockout at 23:06. The crowd is just in shock here, with people literally in tears as Zayn is doing such an incredible job of selling! They'd go on to have better pure matches on the main roster, but from a sports entertainment aspect, this was absolutely brilliant. *** ½

BUExperience: Another good NXT effort. The last three matches alone are enough to carry any two hour show, but even the lesser undercard bouts all had purpose, and never felt like they were simply there to fill time, like a lot of the recent main roster pay per view undercards do

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