Background TakeOver was a series of
professional wrestling events that began in May 2014, as
WWE's then-
developmental league NXT held its second
WWE Network-exclusive event, billed as
TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of its major NXT events. Rival was scheduled as the fourth NXT TakeOver event and took place on February 11, 2015, at NXT's home arena,
Full Sail University in
Winter Park, Florida. The main event of the TakeOver: Rival was a storyline between long time real life friends and often in-ring opponents
Sami Zayn and
Kevin Owens. The storyline played on the decade long friendship between the two, predating both of them working for WWE, back when they were known as Kevin Steen (Owens) and El Generico (Zayn). The two became friends when they worked for the Canadian
International Wrestling Syndicate IWS and later on won several tag team championships as
Kevin Steen and El Generico including the
PWG World Tag Team Championship twice and the
ROH World Tag Team Championship. While they were close friends, the two also had a very intense storyline feud in
Ring of Honor (ROH) that lasted from late 2009 until late 2012 where Zayn signed a contract with WWE. Steen, given the
ring name Kevin Owens, signed a WWE contract during the summer of 2014, joining Zayn in NXT. During the build to Owens' debut at
TakeOver: R Evolution they acknowledge the past history of Zayn and Owens, citing their friendship. At "R Evolution", Owens won his debut match against
CJ Parker and then later on in the night Zayn defeated
Adrian Neville to win the
NXT Championship. After the victory Owens came to the ring to congratulate Zayn on the victory, but then turned on him and attacked Zayn, performing a Powerbomb onto the ring apron on Zayn. On January 14, 2015, Zayn successfully defended the championship against Neville, only to be attacked by Owens after the match once more. At the following NXT show, Zayn demanded a match against Owens, with Owens pushing back saying he was a "prize fighter" and would only fight Zayn if the NXT Championship was on the line, a stipulation Zayn agreed to. In the weeks prior to the TakeOver: Rival show, NXT held a tournament to determine the next challenger to the NXT Championship, announcing the tournament before Owens goaded Zayn into giving him a match for the championship. The eight man tournament included
Finn Bálor,
Curtis Axel,
Hideo Itami,
Tyler Breeze,
Tyson Kidd,
Adrian Neville,
Baron Corbin, and
Bull Dempsey. The first round of the tournament was broadcast on January 21 and 28 with Balor, Itami, Neville, and Corbin all advancing to the semi-finals. On January 15, 2015 (shown on January 28), the team of
Blake and Murphy upset the reigning
NXT Tag Team Champions The Lucha Dragons (
Kalisto and
Sin Cara) to win the championship. Prior to the victory, the team had only won a few matches since they became a regular tag team six months prior, so the title victory was seen as a surprise. Following the title change, NXT quickly announced a rematch between the two teams for TakeOver: Rival. ==Event==