Setting the Bar High: Ranking Every Match from the NXT TakeOvers before WrestleMania

#2 The Authors of Pain vs. Team #DIY vs. The Revival (NXT TakeOver: Orlando)

The #DIY-

val

(or Team Re-I-Y?) hits tandem superkicks

WWE is a babyface territory, but Paul "Triple H" Levesque, who gave NXT its life and identity, grew up obsessed with Ric Flair and his work in the National Wrestling Alliance; Levesque's love of the NWA shines brightest in the fact that his developmental league is, more often than not, a heel territory.

The Authors of Pain, like The Ascension before them, were WWE's mysterious team of monsters running roughshod over the tag division; they took the championships from Team #DIY at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio the weekend of the Royal Rumble, then faced their first high profile defense in Orlando, against the former champions and the men who used to be the most feared team in NXT, The Revival.

Akam and Rezar destroy their only remaining

challengers

The match hit peak insanity when The Revival and Team #DIY mixed-and-matched to deliver each team's signature maneuvers to their enormous armored foes, but Akam and Rezar shook off the tandem attacks to eliminate first Gargano and Ciampa, then The Revival (who, in one of the strangest but most enjoyable twists of early 2017, were working clear babyfaces for the first time in NXT) to continue their ownership of NXT tag team glory.