NXT TakeOver was created as the brand's special event in 2014. We saw multiple Takeovers each year, and they were usually great. The series continued until 2021, when Takeovers were discontinued after NXT was turned into NXT 2.0.
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The last NXT Takeover was NXT Takeover: 36. Even though NXT was pretty much a developmental show, main eventing Takeovers was still a big deal. Let's take a look at the 11 wrestlers with the most NXT Takeover main events.
11 Roderick Strong - 4
Roderick Strong has never been involved in the main event scene of NXT, but has managed to be in part of 4 NXT Takeover main events. All 4 of his main events have been in WarGames matches.
He was part of the first-ever NXT Wargames main event match in 2017, where he teamed up with The Authors of Pain to take on the teams Sanity and Undisputed Era. He then ended up being a part of The Undisputed Era and he main evented the next 3 WarGames events as part of said group.
10 Pete Dunne - 4
Similar to Roderick Strong, Pete Dunne also had his first TakeOver main event as part of a WarGames match. In 2018, he teamed up with Ricochet and War Raiders to face The Undisputed Era.
He main evented another WarGames event in 2020, as he was a part of Team McAfee to once again face Undisputed Era. His first singles NXT Takeover main event was in 2021, where he main evented NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day against Finn Balor, challenging for the NXT Title.
9 Shinsuke Nakamura - 4
Shinsuke Nakamura didn't have a very long run in NXT, but he managed to be at the top during the time, and he main evented 4 NXT Takeovers. He signed with NXT in 2016 and got his first main event in that year itself.
He main evented 4 consecutive Takeovers for the NXT Title - both Takeover: Brooklyn II & Takeover: Toronto against Samoa Joe; and both Takeover: San Antonio and Takeover: Orlando against Bobby Roode.
8 Sami Zayn - 4
Sami Zayn was a part of the NXT main event scene during the initial TakeOvers. He was part of the main event of NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, which was the second-ever Takeover. It was a Fatal 4-Way NXT Title match between Zayn, Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze and Adrian Neville.
At the next Takeover, Takeover: R Evolution, he was once again part of the main event, this time in a singles title vs. career match against Adrian Neville. Then, at both TakeOver: Rival and TakeOver: Unstoppable, he faced Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship.
7 Kevin Owens - 4
Kevin Owens came into the NXT Title scene while feuding with Sami Zayn. Their first main event encounter was at NXT TakeOver: Rival, with Sami Zayn as the defending champion. At TakeOver: Unstoppable, they once again collided for the NXT Title, this time with Kevin Owens as the NXT Champion.
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Kevin Owens had another main event encounter against Finn Balor at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in a Ladder match. Owens was promoted to the main roster soon after, but he returned in 2019 to main event NXT TakeOver: WarGames teaming up with Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic to face Undisputed Era.
6 Finn Balor - 6
Finn Balor had two runs in NXT, and he was at the top as the NXT Champion in both runs. As mentioned in the previous entry, he wrestled Kevin Owens at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in a Ladder match.
After this, Balor had three matches with Samoa Joe at TakeOver: London, TakeOver: Dallas and TakeOver: The End. His other two main events came during his second run, where he faced Kyle O'Reilly and Pete Dunne at TakeOver: 31 and TakeOver: Vengeance Day, respectively.
5 Samoa Joe - 6
Similar to Finn Balor, Samoa Joe also had two runs in NXT, main eventing TakeOvers during both the runs. He had NXT Title main events against Finn Balor at TakeOver: London, TakeOver: Dallas and TakeOver: The End.
He also main evented TakeOver: Brooklyn II and TakeOver: Toronto against Shinsuke Nakamura, first as a defending champion, and then as a challenger. He was also part of the final TakeOver, TakeOver: 36, where he faced Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship.
4 Kyle O'Reilly - 7
Kyle O'Reilly being ranked so high on this list is a bit of a surprise. He was an important part of NXT, but he was never really in the main event scene. Four of his main events were part of WarGames in the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, where he was a part of Undisputed Era.
He had two singles TakeOver main events. First was against Finn Balor at TakeOver: 31 in an NXT Title match. He also main evented Night 2 of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver against Adam Cole in an Unsanctioned match.
3 Tommaso Ciampa - 7
Tommaso Ciampa was at the top in NXT for a long time as is evident from his number of main events. His first TakeOver main event was an NXT Tag Team Titles Ladder match at TakeOver: Chicago, where he teamed up with Johnny Gargano to challenge The Authors of Pain.
In 2018, he had three consecutive main events against his former buddy, Johnny Gargano. The three TakeOvers they main evented were TakeOver: New Orleans, TakeOver: Chicago II and TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. His last main event was against Adam Cole at TakeOver: Portland.
2 Johnny Gargano - 9
Johnny Gargano was one of the best and most popular wrestlers in NXT. In fact, he was known as The Heart and Soul of NXT. His first main event was at TakeOver: Chicago where he challenged Authors of Pain for the NXT Tag Team Titles alongside Tommaso Ciampa.
RELATED: Johnny Gargano's 10 Best Matches, According To Cagematch.Net
In 2018, Gargano was part of his first singles TakeOver main event against Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. He then main evented three TakeOvers against Tommaso Ciampa, as mentioned in the previous entry.
1 Adam Cole - 10
Adam Cole spent all of his time in WWE as part of NXT and he was the NXT Champion for a long time. He was part of four Wargames main events, as he led Undisputed Era against different opponents each year.
His first singles main event was against Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: New York in a two-out-of-three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship. The next two TakeOver main events were also between Cole and Gargano.
