WWE NXT: New Year's Evil Review - January 7, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Giulia def. Roxanne Perez to Win the NXT Women's Championship

The last singles match these two had three months ago on the CW premiere episode was good, but this was better. The crowd sounded significantly hotter this time and the action was entertaining throughout. This was a fitting end to Perez's excellent second run as NXT Women's Champion and Giulia was the right person to dethrone her. Let the speculation begin as far as how soon Perez will be main roster bound.

Stephanie Vaquer def. Kelani Jordan, Cora Jade and Lola Vice in an NXT Women's North American Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Match

Vaquer, Jade and Jordan have been at odds for a few weeks now, whereas Vice was just a random addition (I'm well aware of the angle they did last to explain why she'd be involved, but still). This was a fun four-way with a nice pace. Vaquer made the most sense to win since Jade and Vice are heels (or at least I'm pretty sure Vice is a heel) and Jordan was just champion. Honestly, I'd have no issue with Vaquer taking that title from Henley by Vengeance Day.

Shotzi, Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley def. Fatal Influence (NXT Women's North American Champion Fallon Henley, Jacy Jane and Jazmyn Nyx)

I haven't been able to get into Fatal Influence (it reeks of Toxic Attraction 2.0 to me), but they have made fine foils for Shotzi, Dolin and Paxley, who I've enjoyed as a trio. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this six-woman tag team match (not that I expected this to be a banger, anyway), but it was pretty much what it needed to be. Despite Vaquer just becoming number one contender to the NXT Women's North American title, Shotzi has also earned herself an eventual title shot by pinning Henley.

Lexis King def. Charlie Dempsey in a Sudden Death Rules Match to Win the NXT Heritage Cup Championship

King originally won the NXT Heritage Cup title two weeks ago, but the decision was reversed by Ava in a backstage segment on last week's show because Dempsey technically won the title by disqualification. That was a dumb decision, but at least King properly won the belt, er, cup here. This was a well-worked match and it was a cool moment for King, but I'd rather they ditch the Heritage Cup crap all together and put more effort into the depleted NXT North American Championship scene.

Oba Femi def. Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe in a Triple Threat Match to Win the NXT Championship

The fact this turned into a Triple Threat to begin with is ridiculous, but all of the additional overbooking was even worse. Thorpe was shown attacked in a stairwell earlier in the episode and Femi later admitted to Ava that he did it out of revenge for what Thorpe did to him last week. Femi suffered no consequences (I guess because Ava has an issue with Thorpe) and the match remained a Triple Threat, even though a majority of it was the singles match we should've gotten between Femi and Williams. Got all that? Nonsense aside, Femi vs. Williams was solid and Thorpe showing up at the end did create more drama over the outcome. I was pleasantly surprised that Femi actually won and that he pinned Williams to do it. That might mean Williams is on his way up to the main roster imminently as well.

The Rock Addressed the Audience

If you're WWE and Rock tells you he's available to appear on your developmental brand, you don't say no, but man, this was another total waste of time. He had a little over 10 minutes to work with but wasted most of it making his entrance, walking around the ring, going back and forth with the crowd and swearing. I'm sure the live crowd had a blast with this (especially since they got to hear everything uncensored), but I can't say the same as a viewer watching from home. Rock played off online frustration with his actions from Raw and teased that they should basically stay tuned, but if everything he's done this week was intentional, then I have no idea why he's making everything more convoluted unless he genuinely doesn't know whether he'll be at WrestleMania 41 or not (I'm convinced of the latter).

Overall Show

This might be the most newsworthy edition of NXT ever for the three title changes alone, along with Rock's appearance. As I mentioned, Rock's promo accomplished nothing and almost took away from Femi's moment, but this was a strong show on the whole compared to what we normally get from NXT TV. Getting on the road at least once a month has helped a lot and this was another awesome venue. It definitely feels like a new era in NXT and that's great, but if some names are headed to Raw and SmackDown soon, the brand desperately needs a few fresh faces to replenish the pot so to speak, specifically in the men's division.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews