NXT New Year's Evil 2025 Review (January 7th, 2025)

The 767th episode of WWE NXT, and a very special event that was treated like a PPV. A card that reminded me of. old school NXT Takeovers, with 2 major championship matches, the appearance of The Rock himself, and more crazy things scheduled on a weekly show. The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles had such an incredible look for the show, once again showing that WWE is the best when it comes to production and showmanship.

We see the people entering the arena like they do in real professional sports, adding some legitimacy and authentic sport feel to the product, followed by the commentary team announcing the return of Corey Graves to NXT for the first time in years. A welcome addition who added a lot to the presentation.

We then go to the ring, right away going into our first match of the night. The NXT Women's Championship with Roxanne Perez defending against the Iron Survivor Challenge winner Giulia. These two have history, as Giulia debuted only a few months ago and has already lost to Roxanne, primarily due to interference by Roxanne's friend turned enemy turned friend Cora Jade. As for the longer story of the match, NXT has the greatest women's division in the entire world. Roxanne Perez is only 23 years old, but is a absolute prodigy and has been incredibly successful. She is "homegrown" in WWE (she wrestled in other promotions for a year or so but still) while Giulia was a international sensation for years and years in Japan. She came into NXT as a major deal, almost immediately getting a shot at the championship. Roxanne defeated her through cheating, and since then they have been surrounding each other. Giulia went on to win the Iron Survivor Challenge, a 25 minute sprint of action and drama with 5 competitors battling it out. Giulia then called her shot against Roxanne, who has been champion for over 250 days.

The match itself started off a little slow, which is how a major match really should start. The crowd was incredibly into it, which helped the atmosphere and feeling of the contest, with the crowd giving it a lot of applause and cheers from the get go. The two women started with feeling each other out. Getting used to each other's moves and what they are going to go for. Showing that they know each other well. Roxanne quickly tries to break Giulia's arm using the ring post, needing it for the advantage against the woman who would easily out strike her. Giulia starts to get a comeback after we come back from commercial break. Giulia hits some big moves, like a modified Butterfly Driver along with her finishing move a Northern Lights Bomb on the floor. Both women are laid out and at risk of getting counted out, but Cora Jade once again comes out to try and help Roxanne retain. Giulia gets back in the ring just in time and gets hit with Pop Rox, Roxanne's finishing move. A quick and sudden flurry of drama comes with Roxanne once again going after the arm she has been targeting the entire match, wrenching it back in a Armbar. Giulia is able to escape and hit a brutal knee to the face, then hits another Northern Lights Bomb to finally win the NXT Women's Championship and end the historic reign of Roxanne. We start the year of 2025 with a new champion in the absolutely stacked division hat will easily be able to carry it on her shoulders. A great match with a VERY hot crowd ending in what was honestly a rather short match and should've been given more time.

Result: Giulia def. Roxanne Perez to become the new NXT Women's Champion

Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

We go backstage to see 1/3 of the main event match Eddy Thorpe writhing in pain on the stairwell. Now, about a month ago, Thorpe actually faked being attacked backstage to skip the Iron Survivor Challenge for the men in hopes to get a one on one NXT Championship match. He succeeded, but the match ended in controversy as Thorpe and Champion Trick Williams pinned each other at the same time. It lead to a draw where General Manager Ava awarded the match to Trick, which upset Thorpe. He was able to be added to the Championship match in the main event, but right now Ava comes and doesn't believe he was really attacked. The increasing tension between Thorpe and the management of NXT grows, seemingly in hopes to try and create an anti-authority figure...yet with the authority being put in the position of the good guy, which is quite the switch up that is welcome in this situation.

We go on to the next match, which is another women's match. NXT is really the only show where you will see multiple lengthy women's matches that have story and reason. It is a Number One Contender's Match (basically determines who will challenge the champion next) for the Women's North American Championship. Stephanie Vaquer, who is in a similar vein to Giulia in that she was a world traveled superstar and multi champion in various promotions. She debuted shortly after Giulia and was seen as similar position in the hierarchy, but hasn't really been pushed all the way to the top like her counterpart.

But before the match can officially start, we get a video package looking over the feud and history between Ethan Page and Je'Von Evans. Page was hinting at possibly leaving NXT or retiring, but used it to blindside Je'Von, leading to an incredibly violent and vicious attack that ended in Page wrapping a steel folding chair around Je'Von's face and stomping on it, breaking Je'Von's haw and causing it to spit out a lot of blood. Je'Von is being interviewed, where he reveals that his jaw has been wired shut and he can't eat or talk properly. He threatens to make Ethan feel the same kind of pain and get his revenge, which is incredibly intriguing and exciting.

We then go back to the ring for the four way match. Vaquer takes on Lola Vice, a legitimate former UFC fighter named Valerie Loureda, Cora Jade who is best friends now with former Women's Champion Roxanne Perez, and a bright young upstart in Kelani Jordan, a former artistic gymnast.

As for stories in this match, Kelani was the inaugural North American Champion in the women's division before being screwed out of it, having to fight 3 women back to back to back. And even then, it took interference and cheating to lose. Lola Vice has been a long time main event ready star, so close to reaching the scene but losing past championship matches. She also recently has some drama and rivalry tendencies with Vaquer, the two latina stars getting into arguing and fighting over who is the best and who deserves success. As well as Vaquer and Cora Jade being embroiled in a rivalry due to Cora's relationship with Roxanne and Vauqer being a long time friend and partner with Giulia.

The match itself was all action and drama, with every woman having their time to shine and hit their moves. Lola was showing more fight and seriousness in this match, perhaps hinting at a attitude change for her. Cora was cheating whenever she could, hoping to sneak out a victory whenever she could. Kelani and Vaquer were both showing heart and determination to win, with Kelani hitting a perfect Moonsault (basically a backflip) to the floor onto everybody else. Kelani showed heart and incredible skill despite only being a wrestler for 2 yearsm part of WWE's NIL (Next In Line) program where they hope to take college athletes rather than independent wrestlers, building Superstars from the ground up. It has proven to be successful so far with the likes of Bron Breakker, Oba Femi, Kelani, and more. Anyways, Vaquer gets the victory after a flurry of moves and close calls that ends in her pinning the former champion Kelani, meaning she will go on to face the current Women's North American Champion Fallon Henley, a member of the villainous group Fatal Influence. The crowd was hottest for this match and the main event, with these women doing everything they can to try and win. A seriously great match with an invested crowd and the right winner while adding more storyline and character progression for everyone involved.

Result: Stephanie Vaquer def. Lola Vice, Kelani Jordan, and Cora Jade

Star Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

Backstage we see General Manager Ava talking to the women's tag team The Unholy Union, announcing that they will have a match against Fatal Influence and the Meta Four to see who will go on to face the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions (WWE has a LOT of championships, so it's okay if you are confused). She is then asked about Eddy Thorpe being attacked, and she says how it's all a rouse like the last time. She is interrupted by Oba Femi, who is another 1/3 of the main event for the NXT Championship and the winner of the men's Iron Survivor. There is history with Oba and Eddy, as Eddy blamed Oba for attacking him when he faked it. The two have bad blood while Oba just wants to win the NXT Championship.

We go to the ring for yet another women's match, once again showing the depth of the roster and how the division truly is stacked and the best. Fatal Influence (Women's North American Champion Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne, and Jazmyn Nyx) are competing in a 3v3 tag team match. Fatal Influence's story of coming together has to do with the fact that Jacy and Fallon have been long time members of the independent scene. Fighting and clawing hard to reach the pinnacle in WWE. They formed over their combined disgust and hatred for the very members of the NIL program, saying that it is disrespectful to have D1 and D2 athletes just come into the locker room while Jayne and Henley had to EARN their spots on the roster. It has been a heavily pushed group, getting a lot of television time and focus, which is a very interesting and great story to tell with them while pushing more of the women's divison to the forefront.

Their opponents, the newly formed team of Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley, and Shotzi Blackheart come out to the ring. To simplify the story, Gigi and Jacy used to be a group fo their own before Jacy turned on and attacked Gigi. Gigi returned, but there has been some minor tension within Fatal Influence, as Jacy and Fallon have argued over the reason for Gigi's return. Is it revenge against Jacy for attacking her, or is it for the Women's North American Championsip? Tatum is a crazy girl who plays with dolls and talks to herself. And Shotzi is a long time member of the roster who has been out with injury for a while. During their entrance, the team of Paxley, Shotzi, and Dolin are blindsided and attacked. We start the match with Jacy and Paxley, fighting with a whole lot of fire and energy. A whole lot of team offense and tagging in and out keeps the match constantly moving and keeping the energy as high as possible. Despite only being a team for a month or so, Shotzi, Gigi, and Tatum (who still don't have a proper team name yet) have incredible chemistry and great team offense. The match breaks down into more chaos, with a specific moment of Shotzi trying to dive between the ropes onto Fallon before being blasted with a Forearm and crashing onto the mats. Everyone then gets a chance to hit a move on the floor, leading to everyone being laid out at once as we go into a commercial break.

We come back to see Fatal Influence beating down on Tatum paxley, a very formulaic and common thing in tag team matches. One person being beaten up a lot to build to a member of their team being tagged in and running wild. Shotzi was nowhere to be seen at first, making it appear as if it was going to be a 2-on-3 handicap for a brief moment. Tatum was able to get some time to recover and tag in Gigi, leaving Gigi and Jacy in the ring to fight it out. Gigi got some degree of revenge, attacking her former partner and friend with a lot of stiff offense. The crowd was noticeably quiet for this match, only realising it at this moment. They would cheer for big and important moments, but for the rest it was rather stoic. The match comes to a sprint of an end with Shotzi hitting a Diving Senton onto the champion Fallon Henley. Now, typically when you pin a champion, you earn a title match. But with Vaquer's victory earlier in the night, it should be interesting to see how the story with the title progresses. The match itself was a lot of chaos, which had the crowd getting invested by the end, but there was also quite a few sloppy and messy moments, especially from Shotzi. It can not be blamed as things happen, but there were moments where it felt rather avoidable or egregious.

Result: Shotzi, Gigi, and Tatum def. Fatal Influence

Star Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

We go backstage to see Ethan Page and Ava, with the two talking about Page's actions and Je'Von Evans injury and video. Ethan is then interrupted by The Rock, the real life father of Ava. Both men are incredibly charismatic and have a great segment, talking to each other with a lot of fun jabs back and forth. I doubt The Rock will appear often on NXT television, but it would be a pretty awesome to see. The Rock basically says that Ethan must respect Ava, due to her being the General Manager. I also love that The Rock is really helping make his daughter seem so important and asking his own daughter for advice. I actually loved this segment and it was so obvious that Ava just couldn't stop smiling from how much fun it was to be with her dad on television.

We go to the ring for our next match. For the NXT Heritage Cup, Charlie Dempsey (son of wrestling legend William Regal) vs Lexis King (son of wrestling legend Brian Pillman) competing in a Sudden Death match. So to quickly explain, the Heritage Cup is fought under what is commonly called British Rounds, which means 2 out of 3 falls with 6 rounds each lasting 3 minutes with 20 second breaks in between. A fall ends the round immediately, and a draw by the end of the time limit means the champion retains. As for story, Lexis King actually defeated Dempsey for the Heritage Cup by disqualification, yet the cup was returned to Dempsey as it is unknown if it can change hands in such a way. So they decided to have a rematch, where this match will have no time limit and only one fall to win. Despite having the physical heritage Cup, King was named the defending champion, so it gets somewhat confusing over who is champion and challenger. But for the actual match, it was an incredibly slow and technical match, which is personally some of my favorite matches. Making it feel so real and like a real sport. Back to the days of old with wrestling having no strikes or slams. Just like amateur wrestling with transitions and take downs and submission holds. It was incredibly different from every other match on the show, which is always great to have some variety on a show. Showing every different style of wrestling. It finally progressed with King hitting a dive to the outside on Dempsey and his stable mates in the No Quarter Catch Crew, a bunch of wrestlers who care about the legacy and honor of REAL wrestling. Some more wrestling and a bit of added speed and drama made the match exciting, with Dempsey being busted open at one point, although it was not overly graphic. Dempsey began to show more violence and anger, almost knocking out King before they collided heads. Dempsey was trying to focus on winning, but there was a moment where King "accidentally" low blowed Dempsey with a headbutt as Dempsey went for a leap frog. King then hit his finishing move The Coronation, "regaining" his Heritage Cup. This continues to tell the story of Lexis King, who is desperate to not be like his father Brian Pillman, not wanting to cheat to win and fight with honor and respect. He has repeatedly won matches in the past by "accidentally" cheating, as if it is just part of his DNA and he can't escape it. These two men put on a very technical masterclass of holds and selling, with the crowd not seeming too heavily invested until the ending. It was really a good change of pace.

Result: Lexis King def. Charlie Dempsey to win(?) the NXT Heritage Cup

Star Rating: 4/5 Stars

We go backstage to see Ava talking to Women's North American Champion Fallon Henley and Stephanie Vaquer, before being interrupted by Shotzi. This leads to a announcement where Shotzi and Vaquer will have a match against eachother, and the winner of the match will go on to challenge Henley for her championship.

We quickly go onto our main event of the evening. NXT Champion Trick Williams, who is one of the most popular and loved people on the entire WWE roster, defending against men's Iron Survivor Challenge winner Oba Femi and Eddy Thorpe, who lied and manipulated his way into the title match. This match was given a big fight feel, with it being treated as an incredibly important match.

However, the match starts with Oba and Trick fighting it out 1-on-1. The announcements come, only announcing Oba and Trick, with the crowd clearly split on who they want to win. Trick is charismatic and beloved despite his skill level perhaps not being up to par, while Oba is just as popular and treated like a dominant, conquering monster. He has only lost 2 matches out of his career 23 matches (only counting televised matches since he appeared in the Breakout Tournament in 2022, as that is what WWE counts) and they were due to a lot of interference. During the match, we see backstage where Eddy Thorpe leaves the trainer's room with a steel chair, clearly hurt but wanting to fight. Trick and Oba are putting on a great, very even match with the crowd still clearly behind both men. A avalanche Book End (the commentary team calls it the Rock Bottom but I think Book End is better for this context) nearly earns Trick the win, but Oba kicks out. They exchange big, loud shots back and forth with Trick getting the advantage, including a major slam on the bigger man. The action is quite good and smooth for their experience levels, making it appear as if both men were more experienced then they actually are. Oba hit his finishing move and went to pin for the win, but Eddy Thorpe finally showed up and pulled the referee out of the ring, preventing the match from ending just yet. The crowd rained down boos and Oba laid out Eddy, who was still selling the beat down from earlier in the night. This match really was the one with the hottest and most vocal crowd. At one point, Oba is beating down on Eddy when Trick hit a Trickshot, his finishing Knee Strike, out of nowhere and nearly got the victory. A very complicated finish with a lot of moving parts in Eddy Thorpe lifting up his steel chair and Oba dodging another Trick Shot, leading to Eddy being laid out and letting Oba hit a Powerbomb on Trick to win. This match was strangely booked, but with the perfect result. Honestly, this really should have just been a one-on-one match against Oba and Trick. Eddy's involvement was so minor and inconsequential that it took away from the match for me. But with a crowd as hot at this one, it doesn't really matter too much.

Result: Oba Femi def. Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe to win the NXT Championship

Star Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

Oba and new Women's Champion Giulia stand at the top of the stage, ushering in a new era for the developmental brand of WWE with new top champions.

We get a quick run down over what matches to expect for next week's show, including a NXT Tag Team Championship match between Nathan Frazer and Axiom defending against OTM members Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, as well as The Unholy Union vs ONLY Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, not a three way.

But then we go to the end of the show, where The Rock appears on NXT for the first time ever. The crowd sounded like they were split with cheers and boos. His entrance was long, really milking in the historic moment. When he finally grabs a microphone and the music stops, the crowd continues to cheer for a while. It truly is a strange sight to see The Rock in NXT, but he helped the arena sell out and that is commendable. He clearly wants to help WWE and especially NXT succeed, which would make sense considering he now owns a LOT of stock in the company.

For the ending of the show, it is rather slow and drawn out. The Rock clearly didn't plan anything, which he even stated himself. He would speak from the heart, and he clearly did just that. It once again, much like his appearance on Monday Night Raw just one night before, felt incredibly out of character and ignoring the history they had set up. But then, he starts to mock the online community and fans for calling him out. The Rock basically revealed he was thinking ahead and was going to screw over Cody Rhodes, so who knows what is really going on. It was a strange end to the show and The Rock lifted the curtain over WWE being a scripted television show. The Rock promoted and talked up NXT, saying how it was must see wrestling and that everyone should watch it. That NXT is the future of WWE, which is a great thing to do for the brand...but once again felt out of character.

The show overall had a pretty good crowd, but they really lit up for the beginning and end. A great show in terms of in-ring wrestling and futhering the future of the brand, but the rest of the card or segments were fine. The opening match and the Heritage Cup matches were my favorite, while the 3v3 women's tag and the main event felt strange and lackluster to me. But for a weekly edition of NXT, it overdelivered.

Overall rating: 7/10