Last year, Balor & O’Reilly had a much lauded match at a Takeover that was by far, the best NXT Championship match of the year. Having hurdled that incredibly low bar, I did still have some issues with that match. Despite the concerted effort to wrestle something far more grounded and focused, I thought some of the more overwrought aspects of NXT main events still found ways to rear its ugly head.
Not so here.
This match absolutely delivers on the promise that the first title match set. It focuses fully on the idea of being a well thought out, struggle filled contest without the added pressure of being a Takeover main event. O’Reilly comes in with a very focused plan of attack: going after Balor’s arm. It opens up a weakness of Balor that follows the champion the whole match long.
The champ, however, is much more focused on proving a point. Despite retaining in their first title match, Balor’s jaw was busted up enough to keep the champion out of action for the remainder of the year. So when Balor sees the opportunity to pay O’Reilly back, he does so by kicking the ring rope into the challenger’s mouth.
O’Reilly sells the big damage perfectly and it opens him up to the onslaught of the champion who came to pay back the injury to dealt to him in the previous match. From there it becomes an unconventional dueling body work match with O’Reilly going after the arm and Balor using the jaw as his opening.
Just as the match starts to ramp up towards its climax, it provides another excellent piece of history to wrap things up. It’s a solid kick from Balor to O’Reilly’s live that allows him to set up the finishing submission hold–a play on how Balor worked over O’Reilly’s midsection in the first match.
While this never reaches quite the same visceral heights of violence that the first match did, it also never feels like it loses its way either. It’s an extremely focused, airtight sub-20 minute match that does so much in its runtime without going overboard or overindulging. A wonderful championship match, the likes of which I hope we see more of in NXT.
