NXT Women’s Championship: Roxanne Perez VS Giulia
After The Rock arrived at the arena, NXT New Year’s Evil 2025 kicked off with Roxanne Perez putting her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Giulia! This was the best match of the night in my opinion, it was good throughout, with Roxanne showing out once again whilst Giulia already looks like a star! There were close calls for both women, especially when Cora Jade arrived, but Giulia was able to kick out of a Pop Rox before The Beautiful Madness nailed The Prodigy with a driver to get the victory and become the brand-new NXT Women’s Champion! Congrats to Giulia, she’s going to make a great Champion, and as for Roxanne Perez, she’s been terrific in NXT, one of the greatest Champions in the brands' history, and now it’s time for her to win Main Roster Gold!
Grade: B
NXT Women’s North American Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match: Cora Jade VS Lola Vice VS Kelani Jordan VS Stephanie Vaquer, Fatal Influence VS Shotzi, Gigi Dolin, and Tatum Paxley
Eddy Thorpe was laid out backstage, but Ava wasn’t buying it for a second before Je’Von Evans could barely cut a promo due to his jaw being wired shut! It was then time to find a Number 1 Contender for Fallon Henley’s NXT Women’s North American Championship as Cora Jade, Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, and Stephanie Vaquer all clashed in a Fatal 4-Way! This was a decent contest, there was a lot going on, but it definitely hurt from following the opener! However, Stephanie Vaquer is great so she managed to pull it up a bit, and Kelani Jordan was definitely acting a bit more “Heelish” compared to usual! Cora Jade was trying her best to take advantage of everything whilst Lola Vice kept dishing out strikes, but in the end, it was Stephanie who dropped Lani with her finishing move to get the victory and earn herself a shot at the Women’s North American Title!
Grade: C+
Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn had a chat with Ava backstage before Oba Femi walked in to confirm that Eddy Thorpe was in fact not lying as he’d taken him out as a bit of revenge for last week’s attack! OTM then got a video package where they said they’re going to dethrone Axiom and Nathan Frazer for the NXT Tag Team Championships next week before it was time for more women’s action as Fatal Influence took on the trio of Shotzi, Gigi Dolin, and Tatum Paxley! I thought this was a decent match, I like Fatal Influence, I enjoy their dynamic, and I thought Shotzi and Gigi looked a bit better here. Tatum Paxley is obviously pretty talented so she did well here whilst Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx also played their parts too. In the end, it was Shotzi who got the win by pinning the NXT Women’s North American Champion Fallon Henley which is certainly an interesting move!
Grade: C+
NXT Heritage Cup: Charlie Dempsey VS Lexis King, Trick Williams VS Oba Femi VS Eddy Thorpe: NXT Championship
Ethan Page was talking to Ava backstage before The Rock walked in to give us a great face-to-face confrontation between The Final Boss and All Ego! The Rock told Ethan that whilst he’s The Final Boss overall, Ava is The Final Boss on NXT, and that’s important to remember! We then got a nice moment between Ava and The Rock before Charlie Dempsey and Lexis King collided to prove who is the true NXT Heritage Cup Champion! This was Sudden Death Rules, but what it actually meant was it was just a normal singles match, and I’m not sure that works when you consider they were fighting for a Cup that has its own set of rules! However, the action itself was fine, it was very technical, and we also had a controversial finish which might see this story continue! See, after an “accidental” low blow from Lexis to Charlie, The King dropped Dempsey with the Coronation to get the win and become the official NXT Heritage Cup Champion! I’m not really sure what story’s being told with Lexis King right now, but at least it opens up Charlie Dempsey to push on to bigger and better things!
Grade: C
Ava was talking to Fallon Henley and Stephanie Vaquer about a future match for the NXT Women’s North American Championship, but Shotzi walked in to say that she has the right to a Title opportunity! Ava then booked another Number 1 Contender’s Match for next week between Stephanie and Shotzi before we got the Main Event match of the night as Trick Williams looked to retain his NXT Championship over both Eddy Thorpe and Oba Femi! However, due to Eddy being taken out earlier in the night, most of this match was just between Trick and Oba, and honestly, that’s how it should’ve been all along! Whilst Williams was able to get some offense in, Femi was in control, and he had the match won with a Fall From Grace, only for Eddy Thorpe to pull the referee out of the ring! Thorpe then got back into the ring, but he was also taken by Femi before Oba got wrecked with a Trick Shot for a close near-fall! Trick Williams then attempted a second Trick Shot, but instead collided with both Eddy Thorpe and a steel chair, and this allowed Oba Femi to hit a second Fall From Grace to get the 1-2-3 meaning The Ruler is now the NXT Champion! Again, there was no need for Eddy Thorpe to be here, he didn’t add anything, in fact, he took some of the hype away! However, Oba Femi being the NXT Champion is awesome, he’s going to dominate again in 2025, and if this is the end of Trick Williams in NXT, well my gosh did he do well!
Grade: B-
The Rock Arrives on NXT
The final segment at this year’s NXT New Year’s Evil saw The Rock step into an NXT Ring for the first time ever! The Rock seemed a bit flustered by the crowd to the point where he didn’t really say much, but he did make a joke about the crowd not liking him being nice to Cody Rhodes, despite what they kept saying this time last year! Ultimately, The Rock was here to get more eyes on the show before Rocky told the fans that they are critical to the success of these young performers, and I do think that’s a very important thing to remember! The funniest part about all of this was The Rock kept swearing and ran over so The CW will not be pleased about that! There wasn’t much point to this, The Rock being on NXT was cool, but it shouldn’t have been the final thing on the show!
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