Power Ranking the Best NXT Championship Matches Ever

Despite being around for just three years, the NXT Championship has been the impetus for an impressive number of mat classics.

The longer build time between NXT events, the glut of talent at Full Sail University and some stellar storytelling have led to masterpieces from Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. With Finn Balor now holding the belt, there are sure to be more great NXT title bouts on the way.

Balor's victory over Owens for that championship instantly ranks as one of the best matches with the NXT gold on the line.

It's a highlight of a history that has picked up momentum in the last year-plus. In NXT's early stages, it was just a renamed version of Florida Championship Wrestling. The brand had yet to find its voice; it had yet to make the WWE Network its home.

As a result, early champions Seth Rollins and Big E Langston had fewer opportunities in the spotlight.

NXT was a little-watched underground favorite. It didn't have the production value that today's version of the show has. It didn't have live TakeOver specials to cap off stories and produce fireworks.

There were a handful of notable bouts in those early years, but it wasn't until Neville rose to power that the quality of the action and depth of the in-ring stories really began to grow. 

The classics came flooding in that point. Choosing between them is a matter of dissecting the emotional power of the narrative and excitement of the action, as well as factoring in how many big, memorable moments the clash created. 

With that in mind, we'll take a look at the best that the quest for the NXT Championship has had to offer so far.

Honorable Mention

• Big E Langston vs. Seth Rollins—Jan. 19, 2013
• Adrian Neville vs. Bo Dallas—March 27, 2014
• Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens—NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable

Had Rollins vs. Langston come later, it would have benefited greatly from the current buzz surrounding NXT today. That bout had no high-quality video package to get fans psyched. It had little hype and little pre-match story to work with.

Still, Langston's power and Rollins' selling acumen made for a good contest.

Langston had a tremendous following at the time. Watching his fanbase roar as he tore through Rollins was a treat.

Dallas and Neville outdid their ladder match with this TV bout. Rather than revolving around created ladder spots, this was more a story of a heel desperate to win over the babyface.

It was a more aggressive, more energetic outing. Not having nearly as much hype and backstory as the top five entrants on this list holds it back, however.

This Zayn-Owens battle was mostly a repeat of their first match. Zayn's shoulder injury kept it from being as hard-hitting. It also led to the action ending earlier.

Their chemistry and the bad blood they were able to create, though, helped lead them to a strong bout.

5. Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd (NXT TakeOver)

Watching Adrian Neville fend off Tyson Kidd was like seeing a man fight himself in the mirror.

Neville's and Kidd's similar styles made for a compelling stretch of action. This was fast, smooth and left little time for fans to catch their breaths.

Kidd's slow growth into a heel was on display here. He grew increasingly nasty as the match went on, and his moral code seemed to loosen right before our eyes. 

As a battle of the emerging star against the more established name, this was, in a way, the poor man's version of Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XIX. It didn't have the star power of that bout, but it did have a similar dynamic. 

In terms of pure wrestling, this would rank near the very top. Other matches' more developed stories and bigger moments keep Kidd vs. Neville from getting a higher spot on this particular list.

4. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (TakeOver: Rival)

A friendship left in ruins led to the most dramatic NXT title change we have yet to see.

WWE expertly folded in Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' pre-NXT rivalry into its own narrative. That allowed Owens and Zayn to build on momentum that had begun elsewhere.

Zayn had to quickly go from celebrating a title win to clanging swords with a man he thought was his ally. 

That story made this a highly anticipated showdown. Owens and Zayn made sure to build on that anticipation, fusing their styles together to thrill fans. In the end, though, this was not as tremendous from an in-ring standpoint as the very best the championship's history has seen.

It's the way the match drew fans in emotionally that warrants its high spot here.

It's not often that we see fans as concerned for a wrestler's well-being as they were when Owens went on the attack. It's not often that the audience forgets wrestling's scripted nature momentarily and bemoans the unjust way in which Owens captured the title. 

3. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn (Fatal 4-Way)

Electricity ran through this Fatal 4-Way match from bell to bell.

The action remained fast. The drama came in continuous waves. Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville worked a fluid, high-energy bout.

From Breeze nearly stealing the match on several occasions to Neville showing a touch of heel behavior in order to win, the contest featured a number of compelling subplots.

The pre-match narrative, though, was not as developed as the clashes that claimed the top two spots on the list. It was clear that each man was very hungry to win the championship, which was excellent.

There just wasn't the amount of personal issues that drove Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens and Neville vs. Zayn after this. 

2. Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens (Beast in the East)

The rise of Finn Balor was masterfully done.

Battling in Japan, the country where he first made his name, Balor went up against a man with little regard for him or anyone else. Kevin Owens was so overconfident and so preoccupied with his rivalry with John Cena that he opened himself up for defeat.

NXT borrowed the pageantry of a Japanese title bout, making this feel like an even bigger fight than it was.

Owens was superb as a heel. He flung a bouquet of ceremonial flowers into the aisle. He mocked his opponent and Cena as well.

In the end, this was Balor's moment. He was his usual fluid, dynamic self in the ring and made his homecoming a memorable one.

Only a story with deeper roots and an even more tremendous showing in the ring tops this one as the best in NXT title history.

1. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn (TakeOver: R Evolution)

Sami Zayn's "road to redemption" is the best story NXT has told.

A slow-burning narrative saw Zayn keep hitting a wall just as he seemed bound for big things. A losing streak set a fire in him, and he spent weeks making up for each defeat with an emotional win over each of the men who beat him. That all culminated in Zayn's dethroning Adrian Neville.

The match itself was the ideal mix of high energy, mat wrestling and showmanship. 

The fact that each man knew each other so well made for great chemistry and played into the in-ring story as well. Neville had a counter waiting for Zayn's big moves, and vice versa.

Combine some of the best wrestling done on an NXT stage with Zayn's story climaxing, and it's hard to top this. It's filled with lasting images as well, from Zayn mulling over whacking Neville over the head with the title to Kevin Owens following a brotherly hug with a slam onto the steel ramp.

This match accomplished everything it wanted to extremely well.

Neville looked like a warrior despite the loss. Zayn got to complete his journey in emphatic fashion. And Owens' attack acted as a cliffhanger and announced his arrival as NXT's resident monster. 

Expertly booked and superbly performed, Zayn vs. Neville remains the NXT title benchmark until someone can pull off an even grander masterpiece.