Which was better - Arrival or R Evolution?

[Trill Co$by]

So, in my opinion, the best two wrestling shows produced by WWE this year were the first and last NXT Live specials produced by the WWE in Arrival and Takeover: R Evolution respectively. Both of these events were, in their own way, what every great event should be. Their cards were well put together, and the reception for both events was pretty well received despite Arrival being the quintessential Guinea Pig for the entire WWE Network's "Live Broadcast" ordeal.

But which of this two events was the better of the two? Both events, as I stated, were soundly put together and each of them featured some great matches as well as great moments.

For Arrival, you had:

NXT Tag Team Championship - The Ascension vs. Too Cool in an almost 7 minute bout.

NXT Womens Championship - Paige (c) def. Emma to Retain in 13 minutes.

Final Chapter - Sammi Zayn falls short to Cesaro in a 23 minute classic.

NXT Championship - Adrian Neville def. Bo Dallas in a 16 minute ladder match.


For Takeover: R Evolution you had:

Debut of Kevin Owens as he def. CJ Parker in 3 minutes.

Finn Balor & Hideo Itami def. The Ascension in a 11 and a half minute warzone.

Charlotte def. Sasha Banks to retain the NXT Women's Championship

Sammi Zayn def. Adrian Neville to become the new NXT Champion, followed by a Kevin Owens heel turn.



In my opinion, the two shows are almost dead even. But in my opinion, the match between Cesaro and Zayn was so well put together, and just so awesome, that I have to go with NXT Arrival being just a hairline fracture better than the recent event.

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

Great thread, first off.

Onto the question in hand...

Both events were phenomenal and Ive not enjoyed 2 hours of wrestling SO much in years from each event. For me though, the personal animosity that's been built, the next 3 months of storyline that's been set up, the way they handled an incredible turn by Neville, to turn him back the same night (playing to the crowd perfectly), and the way that in the past year, they've truly built Sami Zayn into THE future of the WWE makes me feel like R-Evolution was the better show by a margin.

Zayn vs Neville, I figured would be like their past matches; a spot fest. But it was a very well put together psychological match which told the story perfectly. I adored it, so yeah, R-Evolution for me.

 

[Navi]

Both were absolutely fantastic shows, and so enjoyable to watch. But R Evolution has the edge for me.

Finn Balor's entrance was amazing with the smoke and the face and body paint. Even the Ascension were looking at him like WTF. I actually burst out laughing at the look on their faces.

Owens debut was great and the heel turn at the end was perfect. He really made a splash in his first outing an showed he's a force to be reckoned with.

The two highlights was the Diva's match between Charlotte and Banks. It was what a Diva's match should be. Not the usual slap and scream fest we've become used to seeing.

And the Zayn/Neville match was perfect. So many times I thought "Zayn's done that's it" and then he would come back. Loved the ending when everyone came down to congratulate him. It seems like they are really a family that cares about each other there. Well except for Owens of course.

One thing that makes NXT work is the crowd. They don't chant stupid crap, and get right into the matches. I love watching it just to see what they are going to do as well.

 

[hollowpoint]

Originally, my vote was for R Evolution without question for the simple reason that it was a great card from top to bottom. Also it was the freshest event of the two in my mind. Given now the wonderful creation of the WWE Network (for 9.99), I was able to go back and watch Takeover and R Evolution back to back. I always gauge a PPV/Event by the perceived worst match on the card. In this case (R Evolution), my opinion was the Divas match was the weakest in relation to the rest of the card. Not only was this match awesome, it damn near stole the show!

Now I did enjoy Takeover, don't get me wrong, I just thought the intensity of this latest NXT gem was far greater than the original one. Not only was it intense, but it also created a buzz that made people want to tune in the following weekend. On top of that it was the culmination of the long struggle of Sami Zayn finally capturing the title.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Both were strong shows, all of the NXT specials were great when you get down to it, but I have to give the edge to R Evolution. From an overall standpoint when comparing the overall product & roster placement at the beginning of the year to the end of the year, I think the brand is stronger now.

Comparing the matches looks something like this to me:

NXT Tag Team Championship
At NXT Arrival, the overall condition of NXT's tag team scene was so weak that The Ascension was placed up against a comedy tag team from the 2000s that nobody had seen, heard or thought about in years. At R Evolution, you had two unique tag teams in The Lucha Dragons and The Vaudevillains that brought a unique and fun mesh of styles. Either team could've won and while the match could have been longer, it was still a very solid 7 minute match between two fun teams.

NXT Women's Championship
I thought Paige vs. Emma was a really good match, but I just never could get into Emma's dancing gimmick. It was just too goofy, plus to see how far she's fallen on the main roster almost puts a bit of a taint on the match in some ways from a retroactive perspective. From the standpoint of athleticism and storytelling, I thought Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks was just all around superior. Charlotte's crazily athletic and has come a long way in just a few years while Sasha Banks is great in her role and has a keen understanding of in-ring psychology. Neither of these girls is the least bit afraid to take a bump.

NXT Championship
Neville vs. Dallas was a good ladder match but, frankly, it was overshadowed by Zayn vs. Cesaro. Also, Bo Dallas just isn't anywhere near Neville's level inside the ring or in athletic ability. Neville vs. Zayn had just about anything you could want in a match: great storytelling, hard hitting action, believable near falls and both men ultimately coming out of the match looking like true stars.

As for the non-title matches:

Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro

Zayn & Cesaro have had some of the best matches in NXT history and this one may have been the absolute best of their series. They're two perfect examples of what can be done with strong, consistent booking.

Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs. The Ascension

A strong tag team match but, for me, I thought Zayn vs. Cesaro was a stronger outing. Maybe it has a bit to do with the newness of Balor & Itami as I just wasn't as invested in this feud overall. Balor looked like a star, however, while Itami continues to progress.

You also had the debut of Kevin Owens at R Evolution and he made an immediate impact. He came off as a hard hitting brawler who isn't afraid to do some high risk stuff.

At NXT Arrival, I got the feeling that they felt like they needed a little help from the main roster. By R Evolution, there was no need as I think most fans who've watched and compared the two would probably say that NXT currently has the overall superior product.

 

[MC_Live]

This is a very interesting question. A tough one to call. To me though, I gotta go with R Evolution. Partially for sentimental reasons. Seeing KENTA, Prince Devitt, Kevin Steen, PAC, and El Generico all move up under their new names was awesome. And there was just not a bad part of the show. The same can be said about Arrival, but R Evoultion just blew me away. Great matches, great moments, shock value. It may be a perfect show. And everyone seems to forget about the Roman Reigns promo, which is a good thing. In the end, Arrival was great, but I think R Evolution was just more badass!

On a side note, Arrival had a MUCH better name. As great of a show as R Evolution was, the name is kinda stupid

 

[Fillet Club]

Personally? While arrival was a fantastic show in its own right... I think that R Evolution might be the closest thing to perfection that we have ever seen. Just for clarity I thought that this year's Wrestlemania was fantastic (easily one of the best) but it didn't come even close to R Evolution, it was easily one of the best pure wrestling shows I've seen in the past ten years.

The future is incredibly strong and if they let Finn Balor use the body paint on the main roster he'll be a megastar.

 

[GoatfaceKiller]

REvolution gets my vote. Forgive me if my spelling/grammar is off...I'm typing this under a severe sinus infection atm.

Sami finally wins the big one! That, alone, is enough to push REvolution over Takeover...for me, that is. Neville's Lygerbomb was picture perfect, and the Reverse Frankensteiner was the icing on the cake. Spot fest? F that. Spots like those are a bigtime step up from basically anything you see in WWE matches...even Mania events. It's sad, though...since NXT is technically the "minor leagues"...oh well.

Finn Balor's entrance > anything main roster (save Undertaker at Mania). It was really sweet to see him deliver that Inverted Brainbuster (a move that appears about once every 10 years in the US), as well.

Charlotte continues to put on Diva classics. Her matches over the past six months plus have been THE best in the WWE on the women's side. Sasha did her part, too...and tbh, I was expecting The Boss to take the title so that Charlotte could make her way up the ladder. I guess they think she needs to stick around for a couple more months...?

Kevin Owens' debut was pretty kickass. Sure, I expected him to squash CJ Parker...but that broken nose from the shotei sure did add some fuel to his fire. 4/5 stars on that - and that's including his attack on Zayn...which, while it caused me to put on much the same face I did when Brock defeated Taker, was something that probably needed to happen in order to help propel the next big feud. NXT storylines > Raw storylines? Oh my...time to get some new writers for the main roster methinks.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Both were excellent shows. Let's take a look at each....


NXT Arrival
1. Cesaro defeated Sami Zayn in a singles match (22:55)
2. Mojo Rawley defeated CJ Parker in a singles match (3:25)
3. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) (c) defeated Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty and Grand Master Sexay) in a tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship (6:40)
4. Paige (c) defeated Emma in a singles match for the NXT Women's Championship (12:54)
5. Tyler Breeze fought Xavier Woods in a no contest in a singles match (0:35)
6. Adrian Neville defeated Bo Dallas (c) in a ladder match for the NXT Championship (16:02)


NXT Takeover: R Evolution
1. Kevin Owens defeated CJ Parker in a singles match (3:14)
2. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) (c) defeated The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) in a tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship (6:40)
3. Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger in a singles match (0:41)
4. Finn Bálor and Hideo Itami defeated The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) in a tag team match (11:38)
5. Charlotte (c) defeated Sasha Banks in a singles match for the NXT Women's Championship (12:12)
6. Sami Zayn defeated Adrian Neville (c) in a singles match for the NXT Championship; if Zayn lost, he would have quit NXT (23:18)



Arrival had the better Womens Championship match as well as the better Tag Team Championship match. It also had the great opener in Zayn VS Cesaro and we saw the beginning of Neville's NXT Championship reign. On the other side of the coin, R Evolution saw the end of said reign in what might be the best NXT match I have ever seen. R Evolution also had stronger non-title matches than Arrival did, and that's without even starting on things like Owens' debut and heel turn or Balor's stellar entrance. While both were shows that you need to see if you missed them, NXT R Evolution has set the standard for every new NXT Takeover event to live up to. It was the best.

 

[Marky9281]

Id say REvolution only because the main event was better.

Both had 2 of the 3 best WWE divas matches this year (The other was also an nxt match go figure). Id give that edge to Charlotte and Sasha tho.

The best individual match of both events was Zayn - Cesaro.

But its all about how you finish and REvolution clearly had a greater ending