After nine years of peaks and valleys, the Triple H-led Full Sail University era of NXT has come to an end.
The brand is moving into a new era reportedly being led by Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard. All signs point to the show having a very different direction than we are used to. With that in mind, why not look back at the best matches from the last decade of NXT?
Everyone knows Takeovers produce elite matches on a regular basis, but this list will focus on the weekly television show.
Some of these matches are legendary, some deserve more recognition, but all of them remind us of why we loved NXT.
These are the 15 best NXT TV matches of the Full Sail Era. And yes some of these are technically at the Performance Center but we couldn’t think of anything else to call this era so deal with it.
15. Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn (August 21, 2013)
We start this list with a match from the early days of NXT. This was before the time of Takeover events and before the time of widespread love for the brand in general.
NXT produced a number of big stars early in its life such as Seth Rollins and Big E, but Sami Zayn was someone who had to start at the bottom of the brand’s roster. One of his early rivals was Antonio Cesaro.
In August 2013, the two were engaged in a pretty epic rivalry when they put on this Best of Three Falls match. This was before indie superworkers dominated NXT and the main roster so this was a real treat.
Cesaro taps Zayn out with a chinlock in this match. A basic, run-of-the-mill chinlock. Incredible stuff.
14. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Finn Balor (July 13, 2016)
After Finn Balor lost the NXT Championship to Samoa Joe, he asked what was next for him. That question was answered by the newly debuted Shinsuke Nakamura.
Nakamura wanted to be champion but said he first had to beat the icon of NXT, Finn Balor.
In July 2016, Nakamura and Balor wrestled their lone NXT match. Nakamura still felt very special and a match with former New Japan Pro Wrestling star Balor was exactly what the fans wanted at the time.
Sure enough, the match was great with both men treating it with the gravitas it deserved. This was Balor’s first farewell match from the brand and the win launched Nakamura into title contention.
13. Rhea Ripley vs. Shayna Baszler (December 18, 2019)
Some matches are on this list because of the moments they helped create while others are on the list because of the impeccable quality of the in-ring work. This match had both.
Shayna Baszler had run NXT’s women’s division for the better part of two years by the end of 2019. She had run through nearly everyone in the division, holding the women’s title for 548 combined days. Enter Rhea Ripley.
It is hard to explain how popular Ripley was at the time but she had eclipsed everyone else on the brand when she finally defeated Baszler to become champion.
Both women had a hard-hitting ferocious style that meshed very well. This was the biggest match possible in NXT at the time and the two involved did everything possible to make the match live up to the hype.
12. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black (July 25, 2018)
Talk about an incredible reaction. Tommaso Ciampa was the best heel in wrestling at the time he won the NXT Championship from Aleister Black and it showed with this reaction.
One of the few times the title changed hands at Full Sail after Takeovers went on the road, Ciampa and Black had a very good match before the legendary finish. They went back and forth before Ciampa’s hated rival Johnny Gargano emerged and accidentally cost Black the match.
This was one of the rare moments where a heel winning the title actually got booed. People were not excited to see a big moment live, they were furious. This was a different kind of heel heat folks.
11. Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez (January 6, 2021)
One of the more recent matches on this list, Raquel Gonzalez had to fight through Rhea Ripley to make it to the top of the NXT women’s division.
At New Year’s Evil, the two battled in a Last Woman Standing match. This was about as violent a match as you will see on WWE programming nowadays. They fought with chairs, put each other through glass windows, and threw each other through the stage.
Rhea also stuffed Dakota Kai in a locker which is just good fun.
10. Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle (May 27, 2020)
The first-ever Fight Pit match. The concept was new and intriguing enough before you even thought about shooters like Timothy Thatcher and Matt Riddle being involved.
There was still some pro wrestling wackiness like Riddle hitting The Floating Bro off the cage, hopefully satisfying those who still want to see high spots among shoot-style grappling.
This was Riddle’s send-off for the NXT brand, putting over Thatcher and this new gimmick match in the process.
9. Undisputed Era vs. The Revival (November 20, 2019)
If the Undisputed Era and The Revival were in NXT at the same time, they could have had the best WWE tag team match ever at a Takeover event. Instead, this one-off appearance in 2019 gave us just a taste of what we missed out on.
The Revival had been completely underused the moment they arrived on the main roster. Total shocker. However, when they returned to NXT to face Undisputed Era in 2019, the connection with the brand was still there.
They showed they were still the team that put the NXT tag division on the map with a wonderful battle with Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish.
Again this was fantastic but this match given 20 minutes on a Takeover card would be an all-time classic.
8. Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole (July 8, 2020)
Despite being spoiled by a Performance Center talent looking on at ringside, Keith Lee and Adam Cole was NXT’s biggest match of 2020.
The double title match was the main event of NXT’s Great American Bash event and it saw Cole’s 403-day title reign come to an end.
The bloom had started to come off the rose for NXT by this point but there is no denying the quality and impact of this match.
This match would certainly place higher if it was in front of a bigger audience but for a match held in a mostly empty warehouse, they did an incredible job.
7. Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas (February 21, 2018)
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas at Takeover Philadelphia is one of the most legendary matches in NXT history. Their rematch a month later may not be quite as great, but it does come close.
Gargano put his career on the line for one more shot at Andrade’s gold. A bold play and one that did not pay off for him.
Gargano was by far the most popular star on the brand at the time and when Ciampa hit him with the crutch the crowd could not have been more livid. Andrade was also firing on all cylinders at the time, going through his greatest stretch during his time in WWE.
All of these components combined together to create a very important moment in NXT history and one of the best matches in the history of the show.
6. Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae (October 28, 2020)
Enough cannot be said about NXT’s portrayal of its women’s division. Years ahead of its main roster counterpart, women’s matches were portrayed as important and given enough time to back it up.
The best example of this on NXT television was at Halloween Havoc 2020. Io Shirai put her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Candice LeRae in a Tables, Ladders and Scares match. Because Halloween, you see.
Shirai and LeRae always had great chemistry. This was more than evident with the match at Takeover Toronto 2019, but here they took it to another level.
This TLC match (TLS match? I don’t know) was Shirai’s best match as champion and one of the few classic matches to take place on NXT TV at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
5. Pete Dunne vs. Ricochet (September 19, 2018)
I hope you are ready to read about NXT UK folk for a while. It is no secret that the top talent from NXT UK is great but when they got a chance to shine on NXT prime, they always seized the opportunity.
One such match was in this double title match from September 2018. Ricochet and Pete Dunne put their North American and UK titles on the line and absolutely tore the house down for the Full Sail crowd.
Two of the most dynamic performers in WWE at the time, Ricochet’s high-flying and Dunne’s grounded styles played off each other brilliantly. These are two guys who deserved to have a proper feud in NXT.
However, it was not to be with the two joining forces to fight Undisputed Era shortly afterward. Thankfully, we still have this match which is one of the most underrated gems in NXT history.
4. The Broserweights vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews (January 15, 2020)
If the pandemic stole anything from NXT it was the Broserweights. One of the most organically entertaining duos to come through WWE in a long time, unfortunately, COVID got in the way of what could have been.
For the time we got with them, however, they were brilliant. Storming through the Dusty Rhodes Classic, they wrestled Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews of NXT UK.
A breathtaking performance from both teams, this was still when Dunne and Riddle were finding their legs as a team. Thankfully, they meshed wonderfully and had two excellent opponents to bounce off of.
3. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly (July 8, 2021)
When Adam Cole turned on the Undisputed Era we knew we would see him face Kyle O’Reilly. At Takeover Stand and Deliver they had a wacky Unsanctioned match but at Great American Bash, they just wrestled.
Spoiler, these two are very good at wrestling. The first match used as many gimmicks as possible but this match focused more on subtle storytelling within the match itself.
Cole and O’Reilly have wrestled all over the world and it was only right for them to have a classic match in NXT before going their separate ways.
2. Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate (December 20, 2017)
Everyone remembers Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate’s classic match from Takeover Chicago in 2017. However, far fewer ever bring up their rematch on NXT TV in December of 2017.
While this match does suffer in comparison due to the smaller crowd, the work is right on par with their Chicago match. They were two of the best workers in all of WWE at the time and the UK style was still relatively fresh to the American audience.
It would still be a while before the launch of NXT UK as a brand so for a while matches like this were the best we got. An incredible main event, had this been on a Takeover card there is a good match this would have topped Chicago in fans’ minds.
1. Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain (July 11, 2018)
The greatest match in NXT TV history and possibly the best match in WWE television history as well.
Moustache Mountain had won the NXT Tag Team Championship in the UK to one of the most deafening reactions ever recorded by WWE. Their reign would not last long, however, as Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong challenged them in July.
These were arguably the two best tag teams in WWE at the time. The work in the matches they had speaks for themselves with fans completely invested in both teams.
However, while all the work in the match elevated it to near-perfect status, it was the finish that put it over the edge.
With Trent Seven’s injured leg trapped in a kneebar, Tyler Bate made the shock decision to throw in the towel to save his partner but surrender the tag titles. Absolutely Shakespearean.
As we venture forth into this new era of uncertainty with NXT, it is worth remembering just how great this brand has been.
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