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NXT was not afraid to start off the new year with a bang. NXT New Year's Evil had all the makings of an NXT TakeOver including multiple intense grudge matches and several important title matches along the way.
Presented without commercial interruption, Finn Balor would fight Kyle O'Reilly one more time for the NXT Championship. The last time these two fought, The Prince was put on the shelf for months with a broken jaw but still won. This time, O'Reilly might need to do even more to capture the gold.
Two men who could be considered the No. 1 contenders to the NXT Championship after New Year's Evil, Damian Priest had put himself in the cross-hairs of Karrion Kross. Doomsday has returned to WWE, but The Archer of Infamy planned to stop him before he could do any more damage.
Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez were once friends. Now, they have become bitter rivals. In a Last Woman Standing match, these two fought to prove who was truly the biggest giant of the women's division.
Santos Escobar has ruined the chances of so many young stars as NXT cruiserweight champion, but Gran Metalik was not afraid of him or Legado del Fantasma. The Monday Night Raw star was happy for this opportunity to finally add gold to his legacy in WWE.
Finally, Xia Li and Boa were set to return to the ring, molded by an absolutely barbaric training regimen from a mysterious teacher and the even-more mysterious woman behind him. No one knew what to expect of this returning group of changed performers.
Hosted by Dexter Lumis, New Year's Evil promised to be a special night. Top talent stepped into the ring for the first time or the last time, heralding a new year with some early potential match of the year contenders.
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Damian Priest smiled in the face of the early destruction of Karrion Kross. He rocked The Doomsday Deviant with a series of right hands and kicks. However, the ribs of The Archer of Infamy slowed him too much to keep control in this fight.
Kross trapped Priest in the tree of woe and targeted the rips with stomps and an unpadded knee strike. He tried to turn this into a Saito superplex, but The Archer of Infamy escaped and planted The Doomsday Deviant with the Razor's Edge.
Suffering through each move, Priest still managed to hit a running springboard somersault plancha into a spinning heel kick and the South of Heaven for a nearfall. Kross responded with a release German suplex and powerbomb for a nearfall.
Outside, the two fought through the pain where Kross finally took the unstoppable edge. He slammed The Archer of Infamy's ribs into the steel stage then his back onto the steel steps. A Saito suplex and a running forearm to the back of the neck ended it.
Result
Kross def. Priest by pinfall.
Grade
B-
Analysis
A match will never suffer for lacking commercial breaks, but this contest did not quite earn that honor over the better contests to come. After time away, The Doomsday Deviant was off his game. He and Priest struggled to find consistent chemistry in a hard-hitting fight.
The two did manage to tell a strong story throughout. Priest was clearly coming in injured, and Kross was glad to take advantage. The Archer of Infamy sold his injuries well and smiled in the face of his own doom. If the two were fighting at their best, this could have been special.
Kross was the only man that could win here. He is still completely undefeated in NXT, and the man that beats him needs to do so on a major stage. These two could have a rematch down the line, but Priest is not the right one to stop The Doomsday Deviant.
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Gran Metalik made Santos Escobar pay for his early arrogance, flying around the ring with ease. The NXT cruiserweight champion caught him on a headscissors takedown, turning the move into a powerbomb on the barricade. Escobar wore his opponent down with a surfboard until Metalik turned it into a pin attempt.
Metalik got moving again and planted the champion with a springboard running plancha. Escobar answer with a vicious suicide dive. With no respect for lucha libre, Escobar almost ripped off Metalik's mask. Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde almost got involved, but Lince Dorado made the save.
The champion took advantage of the chaos, surviving a Frankensteiner and planting his challenger with Legado followed by the Phantom Driver for the three count.
Result
Escobar def. Metalik by pinfall to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Grade
C+
Analysis
The fast build to this match may have let down the action as it was hard to get truly invested. It was obvious that Metalik had no chance no matter how good he looked, and there was little drama throughout to sell that potential ending.
However, this was never meant to be about drama. It was a solidly fun action-heavy lucha libre battle. Metalik got to show what he can do at his best. Escobar proved he's a talent that can translate to any roster. It was a good win for the champion.
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As the mysterious woman watched from her throne on the stage, Xia Li dominated Katrina Cortez. She seemed unaffected by any pain, more interested in showing respect to the woman watching. Li sealed the victory after a series of kicks thanks to a leaping spin kick.
William Regal announced earlier in the day that Timothy Thatcher was injured and would not be able to compete at New Year's Evil against Tommaso Ciampa. In an interview, Bronson Reed made a declaration that he would fight anyone and everyone in NXT in 2021.
Result
Li def. Cortez by pinfall.
Grade
B+
Analysis
What a reintroduction for Li and Boa. These two wrestlers barely made an impression before they were taken out of the ring for their intense training montage. Now, Li especially feels like a star, who could challenge just about anyone.
The presentation of the entrance coupled with the dangerous presence at the top of the ramp make this instantly one of the most intriguing acts in NXT. While this was just a squash match to start, Li looked as in tune as she ever has.
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Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez headed straight to the outside to fight. The Nightmare handcuffed her opponent to the chain-link fence only for Gonzalez to break off the chain. Gonzalez blasted Ripley with the ring bell then attempted to bury her under the announce table and chairs.
The brutality from Gonzalez continued. She booted Ripley down the steps into the backstage area. The Nightmare responded by shattering a glass door with her opponent's back. Ripley followed up with a senton bomb off a locker through a table on her rival.
Dakota Kai ran in to save her friend only to get brutalized in a locker by The Nightmare before Ripley trapped her. The Nightmare trapped Gonzalez in the Prism Trap, adding in a steel chair. When Gonzalez worked her way out of it, she and Ripley ran hard into the LED board on the stage.
Neither woman looked ready to stop until Gonzalez grabbed Ripley and single-arm powerbombed The Nightmare through the stage. The heel was the only one to be able to stand back up.
Result
Gonzalez def. Ripley by ten count.
Grade
A+
Analysis
The bar for great matches in 2021 was set early by this insane and physical Last Woman Standing match. Ripley and Gonzalez had already proved their chemistry in the ring, but this match only extenuated what they do so well together.
Brutal destruction was the name of the game, finding new innovative ways to hurt each other. The pacing never falters in spite of the match type inherently setting up wrestlers to slow down. These two knew what they needed to do and delivered.
If WarGames had not been enough, Gonzalez has been made. This win has to put her at the top of the heap in terms of challengers to Io Shirai. She is the first woman in months to feel like she is ready to dethrone The Genius of the Sky.
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Earlier in the night, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong talked about the Dusty Rhodes Classic, facing Breezango in the first round. Cole made clear Undisputed Era would win all the gold again starting with Kyle O'Reilly.
William Regal would announce 2021 would see the first-ever women's Dusty Rhodes Classic for later in the year.
Johnny Gargano made an impressive entrance with The Way, celebrating the end of The Curse. Candice LeRae gave her husband a plaque for ending The Curse. Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell presented a special picture for The Way. Gargano then announced he and Theory would compete in the Dusty Rhodes Classic.
Shotzi Blackheart ruined the celebration, joined by Kushida, and Dexter Lumis rang the bell for an impromptu mixed tag team match.
Kushida rolled through on the NXT North American champion and nearly made him tap out to a cross armbreaker. LeRae tried to make the save, and Kushida and Blackheart proved they had tag team chemistry by knocking the married couple out of the ring.
Hartwell took out Blackheart, and Theory attacked Kushida. Both young members of The Way could not do enough though to save Gargano from a surprise roll-up by the Japanese Superstar for three.
Result
Kushida and Blackheart def. Gargano and LeRae by pinfall.
Grade
B+
Analysis
The Way's segments can be hit and miss, but this week worked especially well. It was funny and continued to develop key rivalries. Blackheart got a measure of revenge on The Poison Pixie. Kushida continues to put himself in position for a future title opportunity against Gargano.
Now that The Curse is broken, The Rebel Heart could lose at any time. While he deserves a sizable reign as champion, Kushida is well built as the man to dethrone the NXT North American champion. He has the momentum and needs one big win to put him over.
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Kyle O'Reilly went right after the jaw of Finn Balor that he broke in their last fight. The Prince responded by trapping KOR in an abdominal stretch, forcing O'Reilly to break the hold with his teeth on the ropes. This allowed Balor to smash KOR's jaw into the hard ropes, causing serious damage to O'Reilly's jaw.
This revealed The Prince's true game plan as he looked to break his challenger's jaw. He trapped KOR in a crossface that the challenger barely escaped. O'Reilly fought back desperately with kicks. The NXT champion fired back with a pele kick that sent his opponent to the floor.
O'Reilly transitioned through a series of submissions broken by The Prince punching his rival in the jaw. Balor landed the 1916 and went right into a crossface rather than the pinfall. KOR barely broke it up by hitting the right hand of The Prince that had been worn out through the match.
The NXT champion fired back with a Slingblade, standing double stomp and corner dropkick, but O'Reilly stood back up to stop the Coup de Grace. KOR hit a superplex into a brainbuster that he transitioned into an armbar.
Despite the pain he had faced though, Balor was in much better shape than KOR. He fought through and locked O'Reilly in an abdominal stretch where he yanked at the jaw until the challenger was forced to tap out.
Result
Balor def. O'Reilly by submission to retain the NXT Championship.
Grade
A+
Analysis
This match needed to be shown without a single commercial break, and it benefited immensely. The two tried to outshine their first battle, and they nearly did just that. This was brutal, bloody and all-out violence. The two men were technically excellent throughout in their focused attacks.
The jaw injury played so well to their history together where Balor was able to make a statement by forcing O'Reilly to tap out due to an injured jaw. The two men have incredible chemistry and told another excellent story together.
Balor needed to win as he has only truly begun his reign. He had a pair of great matches with KOR, and it is time for him to move onto more great opponents. Pete Dunne was watching at ringside, which would be the perfect next challenger to The Prince.
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