NXT TakeOver: R Evolution was the third NXT TakeOver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's developmental territory, NXT. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and took place on December 11, 2014, at NXT's home arena, Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
The show marked the WWE in-ring debut of Kevin Owens, who had signed with the company in the months prior to the event. The main event was for the NXT Championship as Adrian Neville defended against Sami Zayn, with the added stipulation for the match being that Zayn would have to leave NXT if he did not win the championship. The show featured five additional matches, including matches for the NXT Women's Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Production
Background
TakeOver was a series of professional wrestling shows that began in May 2014, as WWE's then-developmental league NXT held their second WWE Network-exclusive event, billed as TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of their NXT live specials. R Evolution was scheduled as the third NXT TakeOver event and took place on December 11, 2014, at NXT's home arena, Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
Storylines
The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on their weekly television program, NXT.
On November 27, 2013, Adrian Neville became the number one contender for the NXT Championship as he defeated Sami Zayn in a tie-breaker match between the two. After several unsuccessful challenges, Neville was finally able to defeat Bo Dallas for the Championship in main event of NXT Arrival. On the May 8 episode of NXT, Sami Zayn, Tyson Kidd, and Tyler Breeze all participated in a 20-man battle royal where the winner would get a match for the NXT Championship. The match ended in a three way tie between Zayn, Kidd, and Breeze. As a result, the three faced off a week later in a triple-threat match, where Kidd won to become #1 contender. At the first TakeOver, Adrian Neville successfully defended the championship against Tyson Kidd, while Tyler Breeze cheated his way to victory over Sami Zayn to become the number one contender. Following the event, Neville, Zayn, Breeze, and Tyson Kidd became involved in a four way feud, that led to a four way championship match in the main event of TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way. During the match, Neville prevented Zayn from winning the match as he pulled the referee out of the ring to stop the count. Moments later, Neville capitalized on the distraction to win the match and retain the championship. The way Neville regained the championship led to tension between Neville and Zayn, putting a strain on their friendship. With the loss, Zayn felt the need to redeem himself, as he took on and defeated Tyson Kidd, Titus O'Neil, and Tyler Breeze to earn another match for the NXT Championship. During the championship match, Neville appeared to be injured during the match, only to reveal that it was a ruse to trick Zayn to lowering his defenses. A surprised Zayn was quickly rolled up for the pinfall loss. Zayn later responded to comments that he was "too nice" to win the big one by laying out one final challenge to Neville for a match at TakeOver: R Evolution. Zayn also promised that he would quit NXT if he did not win the championship.
In early May 2014, Charlotte entered in the tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship, defeating Emma in the first round, Alexa Bliss in the semi-finals, and Natalya in the finals at the first TakeOver, to win the NXT Women's Championship. After a four-month absence from the show, Summer Rae returned on the June 6 episode of NXT, distracting Bayley and allowing Charlotte to get the victory. After the match, The BFFs ("Beautiful Fierce Females" - Charlotte, Summer Rae, and Sasha Banks) attempted to attack Bayley, only to be chased away by Emma and Paige. This led to a six-woman tag team match on the June 12 episode of NXT, which The BFFs lost after Bayley pinned Charlotte. On the July 3 episode of NXT, Charlotte got retribution over Bayley in a tag team match, where she and Banks defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch. After the match, Charlotte let Banks get attacked by Bayley, with Banks officially disbanding the BFFs in a backstage segment later that night.