Last night, NXT held their fifth special event, entitled Rival. It was a night of change, as two titles changed hands and a new number one contender was crowned.
The jewel of the night was easily the main event, where fans saw Kevin Owens destroy his former friend Sami Zayn and snatch away the NXT Championship almost as quickly as he won it. The match started off well, with Owens initially playing the cowardly heel, leading to an impressive spot where Zayn leaped over the referee and top rope in order to take out Owens.
In all, the match was booked perfectly. There was some great in-ring psychology between the two, as Zayn injured his head at one point in the contest after performing a moonsault to the floor. While being checked out by the medical staff, Owens capitalized, hitting multiple powerbombs before the referee was forced to stop the contest. In the end, the juxtaposition of Owens laughing and celebrating his victory while Zayn lay motionless was the perfect way to pass the title to Owens while furthering the “broken friendship” storyline.
The other title change involved Sasha Banks finally capturing the NXT Womens Championship from Charlotte in a fatal four-way match. Anyone who’s seen Charlotte and Sasha compete over the past few months knew this wouldn’t disappoint and it certainly didn’t, as each competitor had some time to shine.
One of the more impressive moments was Charlotte performing a diving crossbody to take out all three of her opponents. Overall, it was nice to see Sasha pick up the victory, and ultimately the title, by pinning the champ in the middle of the ring.
