[7.0] "Damn good show espically for one of the first takeovers this show is definitely helped by the last two matches but this was the show that fully put NXT on the map what a great show with all the future stars of the next few months, Balor and KO, Sami getting his moment, Neville's Painful defeat, The last big NXT match for the Accension just a great show here"

[7.0] "Overall, this was a very good show, carried by two excellent matches: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks and, of course, the outstanding Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville main event. The tag match featuring Finn Bálor and Hideo Itami also delivered nicely, fast-paced and well executed. The rest of the card was more average -- not bad, but noticeably weaker -- showing once again that NXT TakeOver events of that era sometimes struggled with overall balance. Still, the show stands out as a success, elevated by the emotional intensity of the main event and the memorable debut of Kevin Owens, which clearly marked the beginning of a new chapter for NXT."

[7.0] "Je pense que c'est le takeover qui marque un tournant, il est un poil mieux que les autres mais je pense qu'il est noté comme ça seulement grâce au superbe Main Event, on est encore loin de la qualité des ppv de 2018-2019. En vrai le match féminin est bon, L'entrée de Balor est cool, Owens en sang pour ses débuts c'est sympa et c'est à peu près tout ce que je retiens"

[8.0] "The best takeover up to the point of its airing. Had solid matches even if only the main event reached great levels. It was so great any of the lesser early matches are made up for by its phenomenal conclusion and post match angle."

[7.0] "This show was pretty average all the way through excluding the end of it. All the matches were fine if a bit bland. But the end was so good that it makes up for it a lot. And not only the Sami vs Neville match, but the post-match too. It was great seeing the big celebration, but KO's turn on Sami, and all it led to, really gives quite a bit of charm to this watch. ***1/2"

[7.0] "A more consistent event than the previous NXT special, but not peak performance yet. Kevin Owens debuts by destroying CJ Parker, who manages to break Owens nose with a palm strike to make for a menacing image of KO after the victory. As good as a 3 minute squash could be (8/10) Lucha Dragons retain the tag titles against Vaudevillains. Serviceable match with a lot of high flying moves, its over pretty quickly (6/10) Corbin squashes Dillinger in seconds and has a fee off with Bull Dempsey, the crowd counting the seconds was fun, but its a nothing match (4/10) Balor & Itami vs the Ascension is a solid tag match. A bit too slow on the heat section but pretty fun when Finn is in. The first demon entrance in WWE was a cool moment (6/10) Charlotte vs Sasha shows the potential the NXT women's division had and it was a good glimpse at future main roster title matches. Natural selection from the top was a good finish. They would have better matches than this one though (7/10) The Main Event is the best match of the night with Sami Zayn's underdog story culminating in him finally winning the belt off Neville. A lot of really good Wrestling but it wasn't as gripping as some other highlight matches from this era (like the Fatal Four Way title match or Zayn/Cesaro) still was miles ahead from a lot of the main roster at that point so it makes sense it got so much love (8/10) Post match we get a celebration with the whole locker room coming to congratulate Sami (forgot Sam iCallihan was in NXT at this time) and its all leading to the really nice KO heel turn by surprise at the end. Good way to close a fairly good show with an electric crowd"

[7.0] "This really is a two match show, the rest of it isn't really worth checking out. Kevin Owen's debut on the night Sami wins the NXT title is kind of cool however. The Ascension match was too long and boring for me, but the tag title match is compact and full of fun lucha spots. Charlotte v Sasha is as good as you'd think it is, and Sami and Pac put on a real show with a true classic."

[9.0] "This is one of, if not my favorite NXT PPVs ever. Truly the start of the Black & Gold Era and how I got into NXT."

[7.0] "(Sorry english is not my firtst language) There was to many squashes on this show like: Kevin Owens vs CJ Parker, Baron Corbin vs Tye Dillinger and The Lucha Dragons vs The Vaudevillains. And this random lose of The Asscension was for nothing but Womens and Mens title was a really good matches"

[10.0] "The undercard is nothing to write home about really but the fantastic NXT Women's Title match, the NXT debut and phenomenal heel turn of Kevin Owens and the perfect main event revolving around Sami Zayn helps make NXT TakeOver: R Evolution a phenomenal show and the first classic NXT takeover."

[8.0] "As I finally have access to rate shows, I thought it would only be right to come back to the very first NXT Takeover I watched live. I didnt come into this blind mind you, I had been paying attention to NXT since around Summerslam and one man had more than caught my eye, that being Sami Zayn, who I will stand by saying is in my top 5 favourite wrestlers ever. I fondly remember this show but lets see if nearly 10! Whole years on it still stands the test of time. I remember this was the era of NXT before the true black and gold era where every match would be crazy good so Im intrigued to see how some of these matches are actually booked. We started out with Kevin Owens against CJ Parker, who would later go on to have a great career in NJPW and AEW as Juice Robinson. WWE didnt see him in this same light it seems because Kevin was pretty dominant, he got busted open in this but was built to look really strong, nothing wrong with this match, it fulfilled its purpose! (2/5). The Lucha Dragons then defended their tag gold against the fresh team of Simon Gotch (best known for burying Enzo Amore) and Aiden English (always criminally underutilised) this match was fine, no real heat to it but it was paced well for 6 minutes. (2.5/5). We had Baron Corbin squash Tye Dillinger, fun fact - both of these men were still on NXT as recently as April 2024. The gimmick Corbin had around this time of short matches with the fans counting along was actually really fun! (0.5/5). We followed that up with the Takeover Debut of Finn Balor and Hideo Itami going up against The Ascension. The story of Itami in WWE is a sad one but glad to see him back to his best as KENTA in Japan. This match was fine but there was never any doubt over who was winning this, the debut of the Demon here was truly awesome and Im beyond glad I got to see it in real life before WWE started to bury the gimmick. (3/5). Charlotte vs Sasha was next in a great showcase of what the Womens title scene in 2016 would constantly be. Thank god for these women from NXT for in-part saving the main roster women from Vinces awful awful treatment of them, a really good match which I remember liking 10 years ago and had me thinking Why dont they usually get to do that? (4/5). We finish up here with the meat and bones, Sami Zayn against Adrian Neville in a last chance match for the NXT Title. There was rumours swirling about Zayn heading to the main roster but surely he had to win this? Well in the best NXT match up until this point and an absolutely incredibly tense match, Zayn finally won the big one, really amazing match, I miss when Sami used to dive through the turnbuckle and land a DDT from it, thats such a good move. The after match celebrations and heel turn from best friend Kevin Owens just added to this and I would love for them to do this again if Sami wins a world title (maybe with Kevin as Mr. money In the Bank? ) I think it was a perfectly booked end to the show. (5/5). Overall I give this an 8, it showed the direction NXT was going in with some very promising performances from very promising talent but 2 squashes isnt exactly what you want to see on a Takeover show."

[8.0] "This show is easily the best takeover at the time it happened. Kevin Owens debut was sick and he was put over as a beast. A alright tag match and a short Baron Corbin squash match hurt this show, but after that it picks up with demon finn balor and kenta (not calling him Hideo Itami) in a tag match with The Ascension. Charlotte and Sasha Banks have a good match and then Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn have a tremendous main event where Sami Zayn finally wins the NXT title after months of bad luck. A nice celebration happens for Sami, but out of nowhere Kevin Owens turns heel and throws his longtime friend against the ramp. The shock ending was magnificent and showed why Triple H deserved the fruit basket for this great show."

[8.0] "This was absolutely awesome. There were two rather short matches, a mediocre tag title match, the debut of Finn Balor a demon persona, a pretty good horsewoman title match, and the main event was a really good wrestling match with an emotional title win and an even better heel turn."

[7.0] "Half of these matches are rather short, but the last three matches keep getting better. It's a well structured Pay Per View in the second half. Charlotte and Sasha both have better matches, but even early on here they still have great chemistry. Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville is one of the best matches NXT ever put on to this day."

[6.0] "Two squashes, two clunky tags, an underwhelming (but not bad) Horsewomen match, and one certified banger in the main. I went back and watched this recently (going through all of the old Takeovers, and you really see which ones stand up, and which fall over upon re-watching). I gave myself one rule: "don't let an environment dictate the rating; a s*** match that's full of botches but a hot crowd, is still a s*** match." Thus, a lot of these Takeovers that I thought I loved don't stand the test of time. Hot crowd, and WWE's take on an "indy style", but most of these Takeover matches even back then are plagued with rest holds and typical WWE peacocking. I feel people should go back and re-watch some of these... Especially considering the true resurgence of the Indy scene across the world."

[6.0] "A wildly overrated show, the main event was very good and shows how good nxt can get, but nothing else was truly amazing. Credit to Charlotte and Sasha for a having a better match than most women in american wrestling at the time (especially in wwe). The 2 tag matches and 2 squash matches don't belong on a network special like this imo and would fit in more on nxt tv. Kevin owens attacking Sami right at the end was a cool moment that really cemented Kevin Owens as a heel."

[9.0] "By far the best takeover at the time of it happening. Not perfect because oh my gosh why are we still getting multiple squash matches in a Takeover card. Feel like the only purpose of CJ Parker (who I just figured out was Juice Robinson) is to get squashed on PPV. But there isn't a bad actual match. The tag division still isn't at its strongest like I know it is going to get, but the match is very average. Cool seeing the first appearance of The Demon and the match was pretty good with Kenta and Balor. The women's title match is great and shows off two of the women who made women's wrestling a big deal in North America. And the main event segment is perfect, including the match itself and the Owens heel turn. Great Takeover that still has stuff to improve on but is the first truly great card they put together."

[7.0] "Pretty Good Event for sure but I do think the 9+ Rating is Overrating a bit too much. It was the Best NXT Event of the Year & better then most of the Main Roster PPV's in 2014 but I wasn't amazed by the Quality. I thought all matches we're solid except for Hideo + Balor vs The Ascension but Nothing really stood out to me, yes even the Main Event which I also thought was Good not Great."

[4.0] "This honestly is really just a one match show. That's it. The main event which is fantastic and one of the best matches in the history of NXT brand, but the rest of the show is just downright skippable."

[7.0] "The main event is fantastic. Charlotte/Sasha had a good match. Owens had a memorable debut and a memorable close to the show. The rest of the show is fine but I feel this show has such high marks based on the main event as opposed to the overall show. It was among the better portion of earlier Takeovers but it is hard to compare this one to some of the ones that would eventually follow."

[6.0] "The Sami Zayn match was great and I loved the story telling but the show cannot be carried by that one match."

[7.0] "Really enjoyable show, while the undercard in ring action wasn't up to takeover standards, even the earlier ones, it compensated with good moments, great atmosfere, and for my money, one of the best NXT main events ever"

[6.0] "Satisfactory event. The opener was fun to watch, because it was K. Owens debut, the two tag matches and the divas match were ok. The Main Event was very good and the post match segment was awesome."

[9.0] "This event was brilliant with the big matches matter and the smaller matches doing enough but not at all hindering the rest of the card. Zayn's payoff was amazing with Owens's betrayal really catching me off-guard even though I've seen it countless times before. I can't imagine what it must have been like at the time - great way to further story to cap off a great event."

[10.0] "My first comment of 2017. One of my favorite shows of all time with a really good match, one the greatest matches of all of WWE history, and debuts of all time. This show also has a lot of significance because this felt like the distinct end of gimmick filled NXT (which I really enjoyed) to the seeds of the Fire Pro Wrestling NXT."

[9.0] "This is the highest rated NXT show? Yeah, honestly I find this show a little overrated and mostly a two match show. Still fantastic on the whole though. Kevin Owens' debut against CJ Parker was fine for what it was, although spoiled slightly by CJ's reckless botch in which he bloodied Kevin's nose (**1/2), Lucha Dragons/Vaudevillains was fine (**1/2), Corbin's squash over Tye Dillenger happened (N/A), Hideo and Balor Vs The Ascension was just a showcase for two of the best talents in the world and not much more, although good (***), Charlotte Vs Sasha was fantastic, on the level of Charlotte's match with Natalya on May 29th, although once again she was not the better woman in the match, as Sasha delivered a wonderful performance (****) and Zayn/Neville was a legitimate ***** classic. Still the best match NXT and WWE in general has put on in recent years. On the whole a great show but mostly carried by the last two matches."

[7.0] "Again this is another good Special I suppose it would be classed as but I have no idea where the highly over 9/10 comes from."

[9.0] "Kevin Owens Vs CJ Parker **. The Lucha Dragons Vs The Vaudevillians **1/2. Baron Corbin Vs Tye Dillinger DUD. Finn Balor and Hideo Itami Vs The Ascension ***. Charlotte Vs Sasha Banks ***3/4. Sami Zayn Vs Adrian Neville *****. An okay opener. Tag match was okay as well. Next was a squash match. Next two matches were very good. Main Event was definitely MOTN and Match of the decade."

[10.0] "Best PPV of the NXT. Great match for the main title, the first steps towards women's revolution, and the debut match of the great Balor and Kent. And though there was only one great game, but the rest are just filled with incredible emotions and plot overtones."

[9.0] "Owens vs Parker: **1/2 Lucha Dragons vs Vaudevillains: ** Corbin vs Dillinger: 1/2* Balor & Itami vs Ascension: **1/2 Charlotte vs Banks: *** Neville vs Zayn: ***** A decent event that was totally saved by the main event, one of the greatest matches in history imo. Charlotte and Banks was good but could have been better with more time, the same could be said for most other matches on the card. One point added for the incredible swerve at the very end by Owens."

[10.0] "One of the best WWE events ever. Amazing women's match by Charlotte and banks. Neville and Zayn put on one of the best main events I've ever see"

[8.0] "Slightly awkward title aside, this was indeed a very good show. With the exception of the Corbin squash, every match delivered, with the main event being a must-see and the Charlotte-Banks and Balor/Itami-Ascension matches also being very good. Of course we also got to see Kevin Owens debut with a bang, both in his in-ring debut match and the hot closing angle after Zayn's title win to (re)start their feud. Certainly a great showcase for NXT going into the new year."

[8.0] "This was a great show but was far from spectacular. The final two matches were both great matches and were easily the highlight of the show but bar the Corbin match, which is too short too even bother with, were more of the basic garden variety type of match you can see on regular programming."

[10.0] "This was my favorite NXT specials so far. Kevin Owens (Kevin Steen) debut was awesome, Finn & Hideo vs Ascension was fun, NXT women match was amazing, and Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville was the match of the year. The only bad thing about this specials was the squash match and the tag team match was fine."

[4.0] "Ok, NXT Takeover: R Evolution was a two match show, period. The women's title and the NXT title matches were the defining matches for this card. Owens vs. Parker was a great moment, short match and honestly not a great match. Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains was a major flip fest... nothing special. Corbin vs. Dillinger was a squash match... how entertaining (sarcasm). Balor & Itami vs. Ascension was average, if the Ascension would have had A LOT less offense this match could've been something special, but instead we got kicks and punches in the corner followed by MORE kicks and punches in the corner, meh. NOW Charlotte vs. Banks, very very good match, this puts anything that the main roster WWE divas have done in a very long time to shame. Neville vs. Zayn, phenomenal match with really good psychology and A LOT of good wrestling. Two match show, two stars. **"

[10.0] "Amazing show from the start to end. I marked much when I saw Kevin Owens debut this night, as I was really looking forward it before the show. His match against CJ Parker was short, but it did it's job pretty well. That Pop Up powerbomb was pretty nasty move, gotta give some credit to Parker for being able to take it, as well being able to work a match like this. The Lucha Dragons Vs. Vaudevillains seems pretty interesting to me. Perhaps this will be Vaudevillains' next step to holding NXT Tag Title gold around their waists. Anyway, their match was entertaining, but if maybe couple of minutes longer next time, I'll be really happy. Baron Corbin's squash match against Tye Dillinger was kinda filler to me, but nah, it'll do. Then it was time for the tag match I had waited for as much as main-event of the evening. The Ascension Vs. Itami & Balor. Damn, that bodypaint of Balor got me mark out for him, and his entrance was something you would only see in WrestleMania. I've heard this was The Ascension's last NXT match, so god-knows when we're going to see them in the main-roster. Maybe next year or even before 2015. But, still, they really got to dominate Itami & Balor, before being defeated. That Itami's GTS teasing was pretty interesting, I say, as it would be great to see him use it. Charlotte Vs. Sasha Banks was something WWE's Diva's division should be, seriously, check that out. Then it was time for anticipated main-event. It was Zayn Vs. Neville. Career Vs. Title. The atmosphere was off the charts. The storytelling, pacing, psychology... It all worked. And I really jumped of joy at the end when Zayn finally won the NXT's big one. Felt like WrestleMania moment. Something once in a lifetime."

[10.0] "What a show! Incredible! Great entertainment all round, in particular the cracking women's match, and absolutely top-notch main event. And of course, the massive impact made immediately by Kevin Owens."

[10.0] "WOW! What can I say? ! NXT Takever REvolution was one of the top 5 best wrestling shows if not THE best wrestling show I've seen all year in 2014! It's awesome action packed nights like this one was that make me so proud to still be a wrestling fan and a huge NXT fan today! I knew this was going to be an awesome show already cause these NXT specials have always been awesome so far, but with all the crappy Raws WWE has put out lately, if there was ever a time to say that I'm so proud to be an NXT and wrestling fan, this is definitely it! I loved and enjoyed every single part of the show even another one of Baron Corbin's short matches especially the staredown him and Bull Dempsey had! You had Kevin Steen debuting and closing the show making a huge impact on his first night in NXT and WWE! You had an entertaining tag title match between Lucha Dragons and The Vaudevillains! Both those teams are great! You had Prince Devitt debuting the face paint in WWE on this night to go with him and Hideo Itami's match against The Ascension! Of course you had a great women's title match with Charlotte and Sasha Banks! Both those divas did fantastic and you had Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn tear down Full Sail with Zayn finally winning the NXT title! Awesome moment! All that plus Corey Graves debuting on commentary and doing a great job himself! Honestly there's nothing bad to say about NXT Takeover REvolution which is such a nice change for once!"

[9.0] "Kevin Steen is in "da house" - only with a different name. So we have Itami and Balor doing a great job, Zayn as champion, great matches, a fantastic turn at the end, everything to make a great show. I just think it wasn't perfect, there could be a lit bit more of action. At the end, I am satisfied."

[10.0] "Incredible show, there is nothing you can find wrong here. The ending with Zayn, Neville, and Owens was fantastic too. Balor and Itami were great, the women were way better than the main roster girls again, just great all round. It's a shame these guys are gonna have to go up to raw one day!"