WWE NXT Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from January 21

When all is said and done, the January 21 episode of NXT will be remembered as the official start of the road to the next Takeover special, which will take place on February 11.

General manager William Regal was busy Wednesday night, announcing a non-title match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the show, a tournament to decide the next No. 1 contender and a Fatal 4-Way match for the women's title between Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.

Finn Balor and Hideo Itami advanced in the aforementioned tournament, setting up a second-round battle between the two tag team partners.

Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake, after months of consistent improvement, scored a monumental victory over The Vaudevillains that certainly inserted them into tag title contention.

On the heels of the show, which Superstars emerged as winners and which limped away losers?

Winner: Sami Zayn

The NXT champion kicked off this week's show by brutalizing Tye Dillinger, then demanding Kevin Owens come to the ring to face him. Sami Zayn showed great intensity and anger as he called his former tag team partner and friend to the squared circle.

But Owens never appeared. Instead, William Regal granted Zayn a non-titled match against him at Takeover.

Zayn needed a segment like this, one that built upon the passion he showed prior to TakeOver: R Evolution last December. The more he can prove himself as anything but a squeaky clean babyface, the more he will appeal to a larger fanbase when that time comes.

Winners: Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake

Even as an enhancement team whose only purpose has been to lay down for the likes of The Ascension and the Lucha Dragons, Murphy and Blake have done a phenomenal job of consistently improving with every passing week.

Every match they've competed in they've looked more and more impressive in defeat, demonstrating outstanding tag team wrestling and a fiery and energetic style that was not generally associated with performers in their roles. Tye Dillinger and Jason Jordan are two competitors who've received numerous opportunities but were never able to make the most of them the way Murphy and Blake have.

Wednesday night, the duo was rewarded for their hard work, dedication and progression, defeating Aiden English and Simon Gotch to become legitimate contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championships.

With a big match against Kalisto and Sin Cara slated for next week's show, the face of the tag division may be changing, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Loser: The Vaudevillains

If Murphy and Blake are winners from this week's broadcast, The Vaudevillains are certainly losers.

After appearing to be the team that would dethrone the Lucha Dragons, they found themselves on the losing end of a match against Murphy and Blake and are now out of tag title contention.

Where Simon Gotch and Aiden English go from here, with only one title to compete for, remains to be seen. A potential rivalry with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady could be fun, but it would certainly be disappointing for a team that appeared to be heading in the right direction just a month ago.

Winner: Hideo Itami

There were very real doubts about Hideo Itami's ability to pick up the WWE style ahead of Wednesday night's show.

To this point, he has demonstrated an ability to throw vicious strikes but has not impressed with other aspects of his in-ring performance.

That all changed when he stepped inside the squared circle with Tyler Breeze for this week's main event.

Itami delivered his finest showing to date. Sure, he relied heavily on the same strikes fans have become accustomed to seeing, but he brought a much fresher and more defined performance to his match. He was crisper and just plain better than he had been to that point.

It was a performance Itami needed to gain confidence in himself and the confidence of the fans.