NXT Women’s Championship: Lyra Valkyria VS Blair Davenport
NXT New Year’s Evil 2024 kicked off with the NXT Women’s Championship on the line as Lyra Valkyria looked to retain her Title over the “Women’s Iron Survivor”, Blair Davenport. I thought this was a pretty decent start to the show and the fact that this match was entirely “commercial-free” certainly helped things. Lyra is a decent in-ring performer who has grown since she debuted in NXT over a year ago whilst I do rate Blair Davenport as one of the best wrestlers in the NXT Women’s Division. In the end, though, a mistake from BD saw her injure her right knee and this ultimately allowed Valkyria to drop Davenport with a Roundhouse Kick before Lyra delivered her finisher to get the win and retain her NXT Women’s Championship. After the match, Lola Vice tried to cash in her NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament Contract, but Tatum Paxley arrived to stop this from happening. A totally fine, solid, and maybe even good way to start the show.
Grade: B-
The LWO VS No Quarter Catch Crew, Arianna Grace VS Roxanne Perez
Kelly Kincaid announced that unfortunately, Ilja Dragunov wasn’t medically cleared to compete which is why tonight’s NXT Championship match has/had to be called off. We then went straight into our next match as The LWO took on No-Quarter Catch Crew in six-man Tag Team action. Due to Dragon Lee being unable to get to the arena, Carlito showed up to be Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde’s partner, and yeah, I thought this was a decent match that showcased just how good Del Toro and Wilde truly are. There was one spot in particular that I can’t even explain (as it was so mad), and in the end, a nice move from Cruz Del Toro was enough for The LWO to win, and I can’t lie, I have no idea when the last time Cruz scored a pinfall victory. Anyway, after the match, Carlito spat apple in the face of Drew Gulak because he could!
Grade: C+
Trick Williams wasn’t at all pleased with his NXT Championship match being called off before Grayson Waller walked in and tried to stir the pot between Trick and Carmelo Hayes. This ultimately kind of worked for The Arrogant Aussie as after Waller challenged Williams to a match, Melo accepted on his friend’s behalf before Hayes upped the stakes by saying that Trick Willy would put his Number 1 Contender ship on the line. It’s always nice to see Grayson Waller in NXT. After a Riley Osbourne hype package, it was time for Roxanne Perez to go one-on-one with Arianna Grace. The action here was okay, but you can tell that Arianna’s still not super confident inside the squared circle. Still, she’s a fun character with a “likeable” personality whilst Roxanne Perez knows what she’s doing. In the end, Roxanne scored the victory with Pop Rox before Perez continued to beat up Grace after the match after the Heel said that Roxy has issues. For whatever reason, this annoyed the referee’s so much that they overturned the original decision and gave Arianna Grace the victory. I’m sorry, but that is completely stupid as it feels like stuff like this happens all the time and they never change the result!
Grade: C
Fallon Henley VS Tiffany Stratton, Oba Femi VS Riley Osbourne: 2023 NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament Final
Ava confirmed that next week will see the start of the 2024 NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic before Nikkita Lyons found Blair Davenport to warn her that she will drop her again when they finally have their one-on-one match. Speaking of one-on-one matches, it was then time for Fallon Henley and Tiffany Stratton to collide in an important grudge match. I’ve enjoyed the Henley-Stratton feud as it’s felt like something different whilst also showing that you can do Female feuds without having to have the Championship involved (take note SmackDown). However, I felt like the ending of this match kind of spoiled it a bit as for whatever reason, Tiffany Stratton just decided to have a fight with the referee over being allowed to use a steel chair and this allowed Fallon to hit a nice Shining Wizard to get the victory. Fallon winning is probably the right decision and it will be interesting to see Stratton as Henley’s “ranch hand” whenever that segment does take place, but yeah, this ending didn’t make The Center of the Universe look very smart at all.
Grade: C+
Baron Corbin suggested to Bron Breakker backstage that they should team up in the upcoming NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Bron laughed at this at first, but they ultimately came to some sort of an agreement and I’m now very intrigued by this pairing. Anyway, Cora Jade and Gigi Dolin then got into an argument in the Women’s Locker room (what a surprise) before Ridge Holland had a sit-down interview with Sarah Schreiber where he talked about all the different setbacks he’s faced in his career. I actually thought this was quite well done and it made you feel a little bit sorry for Mr. Ridge. Thea Hail then couldn’t contain her excitement when Riley Osbourne high-fived her before she joined the Chase U Student Section to see whether Osbourne could defeat Oba Femi in the Final of the 2023 NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament. I thought this was a decent match and I was intrigued by the fact that Osbourne has already won 2 matches despite being dominated for the most part. The second part of that sentence came true as Riley was chucked around by Femi for a while, but in the end, Oba got his knees up when Riley Osbourne went for his Shooting Star Press before Oba Femi hit his finisher to get the victory and crown himself as the latest Breakout Star in NXT.
Grade: C+
OTM cut a promo about how they’re coming for The Family’s NXT Tag Team Championships before Kiana James and Izzi Dame talked about their friendship. Trick Williams then got annoyed at Carmelo Hayes backstage for putting his NXT Championship opportunity on the line before Trick told Melo that he needs to go out there alone. Jacy Jayne then told Andre Chase that she’s taking over the running of Chase University and her first decision is to pair Duke Hudson up with Riley Osbourne in the 2024 NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Behind them, Tatum Paxley approached Lyra Valkyria and congratulated her on retaining her NXT Women’s Championship before Axiom and Nathan Frazer agreed to team up in the upcoming Dusty Cup. Also, Joe Gacy was just sleeping in Tony D’Angelo’s car boot which was slightly odd!
Grayson Waller VS Trick Williams
And in the Main Event of NXT New Year’s Evil 2024, Trick Williams put his NXT Championship shot on the line against “SmackDown’s” Grayson Waller. This match was being hyped up as “The Battle of the Iron Survivors” which I thought was quite cool, and I thought the match itself was pretty decent. It’s always fun when Grayson’s on NXT because Booker T really dislikes him whilst Vic Joseph can’t stand him either. Also, Vic should win an award for calling Waller “The Arrogant Aussie”. In the end, when it looked like Trick Williams was going to get the victory, Carmelo Hayes ran down and jumped on the ring apron for absolutely no reason, but Waller wasn’t able to take advantage of this as Kevin Owens shockingly showed up, and punched Grayson right in the face before Trick hit his finisher to secure the victory. Whilst it was a big shame to not get the Dragunov-Williams match, this was still a nice surprise.
Grade: B-
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