NXT TakeOver: Rival results - Kevin Owens destroys Sami Zayn to become NXT Champion
Owens could be set for a showdown with Irish sensation Finn Balor...
Last Updated: 12/02/15 2:49pm
Kevin Owens is the new NXT Champion after winning the belt via referee stoppage at Takeover: Rival.
The Canadian pummelled former friend and reigning titlist Sami Zayn with a catalogue of punches and pop-up powerbombs, forcing the official to stop the match and hand Owens the strap.
Zayn had fought gamely early in the contest but had no answer to Owens’ rage after he kicked out of an initial powerbomb and soon shipped the belt he won from Neville at TakeOver: R Evolution in December.
Newcastle-born Neville, meanwhile, missed the chance to earn another shot at the NXT title at TakeOver: Rival after losing a No 1 contender’s match to Irish Superstar Finn Balor.
Neville saw his attempts to clobber Balor, who was wearing his traditional special-event war paint, with the Red Arrow stymied, with the wrestler from Wicklow hurling his opponent into the turnbuckle.
Balor then defeated The Man that Gravity Forgot with his Coup de Grace double stomp to secure a maiden opportunity at the NXT Championship at a later date.
Balor’s former tag-team partner, Hideo Itami, was also victorious on Wednesday night, polishing off Tyler Breeze with a running dropkick having previously been caught in a Figure-Four Leglock.
Baron Corbin, meanwhile, bested Bull Dempsey in a No Disqualification Match, kicking out of a diving headbutt, flooring The New York Nightmare with End of Days and surveying the wreckage from a chair.
Blake and Murphy retained the NXT Tag Team Titles by beating ex-champions The Lucha Dragons, Sin Cara pinned following a brainbuster from Murphy and a frogsplash from Blake.
Plus, Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte, Bayley and Becky Lynch in a Fatal Four-Way to win the Divas Championship for the first time, a roll-up on pre-match titlist Charlotte sealing the triumph.
