HUGE Title Unification Match Set For WWE NXT New Year's Evil

Champ vs. Champ, and two other title matches confirmed for 4 January.

By Andrew Pollard /

WWE.com

As NXT looks to make a (day-glo) splash with its upcoming New Year's Evil episode, it's been announced that Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong will take on North American Champion Carmelo Hayes in a title unification bout.

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Last night's NXT offering saw Malcolm Bivens throw down the challenge to Hayes, with Melo accepting said challenge later in the night. Strong and Hayes will be involved in a Wade Barrett-moderated contract signing on next week's NXT show, before then squaring off at New Year's Evil on 4 January.

All of this comes hot on the heels of plentiful speculation that plans were in place to retire or rebrand the NXT Cruiserweight Champion, and this seemingly seems to be the next step in calling time on the prize currently held by Diamond Mine's leader.

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Additionally, this week's NXT also confirmed two further matches for New Year's Evil. As predicted, NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa will again defend his title against Bron Breakker, whilst NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose will put up her gold in a triple threat bout against Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez.