In February 2014, WWE held an event titled TakeOver for their NXTbrand, which at the time was a developmental territory for the promotion. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network.[1] WWE's next NXT event for the WWE Network was titled as NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way. With the announcement of this second TakeOver event, the "TakeOver" name was established as the brand used by WWE for all of their NXT live specials held on the WWE Network. Fatal 4-Way was scheduled to take place on September 11, 2014, at NXT's home arena, Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.[2]
WWE previously held a pay-per-view (PPV) titled Fatal 4-Way in 2010 for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It was a gimmick PPV, with several matches contested as fatal four-way matches.[3] This 2010 event was the only WWE PPV to carry the Fatal 4-Way name, after which, the promotion revived the name for this second NXT TakeOver event. Like the 2010 event, TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way was also a gimmick show, as the main event was contested as the titular match.[2]
Storylines
The card comprised six matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters 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.[4][5]
On February 27, 2014, Adrian Neville defeated Bo Dallas to win the NXT Championship at Arrival.[6] On the May 8 episode of NXT a 20-man battle royal with the winner facing Neville for the NXT Championship ended in a 3-way tie between Sami Zayn, Tyson Kidd, and Tyler Breeze.[7] The next week, Kidd won a Triple Threat match between the three to earn a title match[8] at the first TakeOver, which he lost. That same night, Tyler Breeze cheated his way to victory over Sami Zayn to earn a title match.[9] After this, Neville, Zayn, Breeze and Kidd became involved in a 4-way feud, leading to a fatal four-way match for the title at the event.[10]
In August 2013, Bayley started to team with Charlotte on a regular basis, but they were almost immediately targeted by the BFFs ("Beautiful Fierce Females", Summer Rae and Sasha Banks) as they attempted to convince Bayley to join their side.[11] This storyline culminated with Charlotte turning on Bayley during a match, promptly joining the BFFs instead.[12] On May 1, 2014, Bayley failed to advance in a tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship after losing to Sasha in the first round.[13] On June 12, Bayley earned a pinfall over Charlotte, the new NXT Women's Champion, in a six-woman tag team match.[14] In August, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to become the #1 contender for the Women's championship held by Charlotte.
NXT General manager William Regal introduced Kenta, who was making his debut. During his introduction, Kenta announced that he would be known as "Hideo Itami" (meaning "Hero of Pain") from that point on.[15] Moments later, they were interrupted by The Ascension, who were still angry over losing their NXT Tag Team Championship, and they attacked Itami. Konnor demanded a rematch, but Itami attacked The Ascension and chased them away.[16]
