Dijak VS Tony D’Angelo
NXT New Year’s Evil began at Chase University as Andre Chase set his students homework to watch the show. Andre Chase then did a good job of hyping up all the matches whilst Duke Hudson was cheering on Bron Breakker in his match with Grayson Waller due to them being from the same country. He’s so funny. Andre Chase also praised Thea Hail and said everyone is behind her to win the 20-woman battle royal later on in the night. The first match of the night then took place as Tony D’Angelo battled Dijak. This was a solid match that I thought told a really good story. Early on in the match, Dijak went to throw Tony D into the barricade before Stacks jumped into D’Angelo and took the brute of the contact. Dijak was madly peed off about this so he handcuffed Stacks to the ring post/corner before he beat down D’Angelo some more. After both men came close to winning, Stacks got into the ring and said that he would deal with Dijak for his boss. Tony D shouted at him “I’m not your boss, we’re family” before he pushed Stacks out the way and got met with a big boot from Dijak for the 3 count. This was a pretty effective way for D’Angelo to lose and I’m assuming that he’s now going to be a good guy. As for Dijak, it was his best match for a long time and after the match, he stared down Wes Lee who was on commentary. Dijak’s definitely winning the belt.
Grade: B
Jinder Mahal arrives on NXT, Pretty Deadly tackles the Gauntlet
Toxic Attraction were being interviewed backstage and they made it clear that they will get revenge on Roxanne Perez at NXT Vengeance Day. When McKenzie Mitchell asked them what happens if they are the final two, they both laughed it off and said that Toxic Attraction wins. The Creed Brothers were then out as it was time for them to battle Indus Sher. Sanga came out to the ring and told them that Veer wasn’t there and this angered the Creed Brothers. And then, from out of nowhere, the Creed's were attacked by none other than Jinder Mahal. Mahal and Sanga beat down the Creed Brothers before Jinder made it clear that even though Veer and Sanga fight with respect, he doesn’t. It was a bit of a shame that the Indus Sher VS Creed Brothers match didn’t take place as that was a match I was looking forward to, but at least this did a good job of furthering the story. Let’s see how Jinder gets on in NXT.
Grade: B-
Pretty Deadly were backstage getting their hair ready before the New Day told them that because the Creeds VS Indus Sher match didn’t happen, PD were on next. This freaked out Kit Wilson and Elton Prince before they ran straight out. Sanga and Jinder Mahal were walking backstage before Valentina Feroz came up to Sanga and asked him if this is who he truly is. Sanga said that it is before Elektra Lopez came up to Feroz and told her that she needs to start looking out for herself. Pretty Deadly then came out to attempt to “run the gauntlet”. Wilson and Prince told the audience that they had found 3 top tag teams and the first group that came out were called “The Rockers”. Pretty Deadly squashed them and won with Spilt Milk. The New Day then came out and said they expected this so they brought out the second team. That team was Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. Enofe and Blade performed really well in this match and overall, I enjoyed it a lot. At one point, Elton Prince hit a superplex onto Enofe and Malik Blade followed it up by hitting a frog splash across the ring for a near fall. In the end though, Pretty Deadly used their heel tactics to get the victory. The New Day were then back and they announced that the final team in this match would be Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. However, we cut backstage and Briggs and Jensen were laid out on the floor. The arena then went green as Gallus returned to NXT! Pretty Deadly were shocked and horrified at this and they got the crap beaten out of them by Mark Coffey and Wolfgang. Gallus picked up the win in comfortable fashion before they stood face to face with the New Day. I’m guessing that match will happen at Vengeance Day and it should be entertaining. In terms of the Gauntlet itself, I thought it was well executed.
Grade: B
NXT Championship: Bron Breakker VS Grayson Waller
Julius Creed stormed out of the medical area and made it clear that he was going to ask for a match with Jinder Mahal. Ivy Nile questioned this before Creed questioned why Nile didn’t understand. We then went to the Diner, but instead of Apollo Crews, it was Carmelo Hayes. Melo wrote in a diary like Apollo before he was distracted by Trick Williams who was wearing a luchador mask. Melo told Trick that the NXT Championship is his. We then got the “Countdown to the New Year” and after it finished, Tiffany Stratton came out. Stratton asked the crowd if they’d missed her before she said that she is back to make everything better. I really rate Tiffany Stratton so I’m glad she’s back. We then went to the parking lot and Katana Chance and Kayden Carter were being congratulated for becoming the longest-reigning NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions in history. Tiffany Stratton then walked past them and she wasn’t too happy to receive a question from the cameraman.
Surprisingly, the NXT Championship was then on the line as Bron Breakker defended his championship against the Arrogant Aussie, Grayson Waller. Early on in the match, Grayson Waller threw Bron into the corner and the middle turnbuckle completely snapped off. We then cut to an ad break and when we returned, it was “fixed”. An interesting thing to note is during the match, the crowd were chanting “Bron Breakker sucks” in the same style they used to do for John Cena. I guess that makes sense given Bron is being booked to be the biggest star. Breakker did his usual stuff, but he seemed a lot slower than normal. Considering Bron’s biggest upside is his speed, him wrestling slower makes him look kind of average (at best). In the best part of the match, Grayson Waller went to do his rolling stunner, but you could tell that Bron was ready to spear him. Waller noticed this too so he met him with a big boot for a really close near fall. The Arrogant Aussie then went onto the middle rope to do his elbow drop, but the turnbuckle broke again and Waller fell outside the ring. A fall so hard, Waller didn’t make the ten count meaning Bron retained. I have mixed feelings about the finish. It’s partly a rubbish way to end their big title match, but at least it gives them a reason to do it in a bigger arena. Also, it felt better because it wasn’t in the main event. I’ll also mention it now, Shawn Michaels announced at the end of the show that Breakker and Waller would battle again at NXT Vengeance Day, inside a Steel Cage.
Grade: C
Charlie Dempsey VS Hank Walker, Julius Creed VS Jinder Mahal
McKenzie Mitchell asked Roxanne Perez who she wanted to win tonight’s battle royal and Roxy said she’d be happy with anyone except Cora Jade. Apollo Crews was then sitting in a locker room before Axiom came up to him. The two both agreed that they can’t stand Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams before they agreed to team up to take them down next week. Drew Gulak was then out ringside to cheer on Hank Walker as the former security guard battled Charlie Dempsey. This was a very technical bout and you could tell that Hank had worked with Gulak because he was more competitive than the last time he fought Dempsey. However, Dempsey is still a technical master and he eventually forced Walker to tap out. After the match, Drew Gulak looked quite impressed with Dempsey and I fully expect those two to join forces sooner rather than later.
Grade: C
Alba Fyre went up to Sol Ruca backstage and she apologised to her about the fact that their match never ended up happening. Ruca said it was fine and that she didn’t need to worry about it and this angered Fyre as she said she was giving her an opportunity. Fyre’s definitely going to turn heel by WrestleMania (probably a lot sooner). We then got a video package confirming that Tyler Bate is returning to NXT next week and Bate told the camera that this time, he’s staying. I’m happy about this, Tyler Bate is excellent. The anonymous guy was then back and this time, he was filming Oro Mensah. I’m guessing this is a brand-new superstar altogether, not someone returning or coming down from the main roster. Speaking of the main roster, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal took on Julius Creed who was out for revenge. Jinder was on top for a bit, but as soon as Creed got hot, he was pretty unstoppable. However, Sanga distracted Creed and this allowed Mahal to take advantage before he hit the Khallas to get the win. As always, Julius Creed is superb and I really think he could be WWE Champion before his career ends. Also, this is by far the best that Jinder Mahal has looked in a long time.
Grade: C+
NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contenders 20-Woman Battle Royal
Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen were sitting in the medical area and whilst Fallon Henley was looking at Briggs, Kiana James was sitting with Jensen. Josh Briggs wished Henley good luck for the battle royal and Brooks did the same for James. NXT UK’s Stevie Turner was then live and she said that she was coming to NXT. I’m intrigued to see how good she is. The main event of New Year’s Evil then took place as we had a 20-woman battle royal where the winner would face Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship at Vengeance Day. In a shocking twist, Cora Jade was the first person to be eliminated. Lyra Valkyria through her out and to start with, it looked like she might have slipped, but I can tell you that this was meant to happen. Other notable moments that happened in this match include Indi Hartwell eliminating Lash Legend, Sol Ruca being thrown out, but she was eliminated because she landed on her hands. She then did a handstand to get back into the ring. Kiana James saved Fallon Henley from being eliminated whilst Nikkita Lyons threw out Elektra Lopez. Zoey Stark then threw Wendy Choo, but Choo landed on a pillow. However, Elektra then pulled the pillow from under Choo’s feet so she was also eliminated. Zoey Stark managed to eliminate her old rival Nikkita Lyons before Sol Ruca threw her out meaning the final 5 competitors were Alba Fyre, Lyra Valkyria, Sol Ruca, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. Alba managed to throw out Sol before she and Valkyria battled on the ring apron. Lyra ended up winning out as she eliminated Fyre before Cora Jade came out and helped Toxic A eliminate her. This meant that the final two were Toxic Attraction, but unfortunately for them, only one of them could win. Jacy Jayne was about to eliminate herself before she booted Gigi Dolin in the head. If you’re thinking that this means Toxic Attraction are no more, you would be wrong. The reason for that is both women ended up fighting on the top rope and both women landed on the floor at the same time meaning both Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne won the match. A triple-threat match between Perez, Jayne and Dolin should be fun, but it’s kind of obvious as to what is going to happen. Overall, I thought the match itself was pretty good with some interesting booking decisions.
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