4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE NXT New Year's Evil (Review)

NXT New Year’s Evil was a case study in what happens when you throw way too many booking tricks and shortcuts into the mix – you end up with a jumbled mess.

The developmental brand’s first big show of 2023 featured a few decent moments, but nothing was a standout, and the in-ring action was decent at best overall. Even the only title match on the night didn’t get a clean finish, instead being used to set up a rematch at the PLE next month.

But consider that we got a retread of the 1994 Royal Rumble finish, a broken rope factoring into the NXT Championship match, a tag team beating up another team and taking their place to seemingly earn a title shot, a return promo that could have been written by a narcoleptic child, and shoddy matches that had little business being on a “marquee” wrestling program.

Despite firing Mandy Rose, NXT still can’t seem to move on from Toxic Attraction. Instead of having the remaining members step back, maybe get a new gimmick or at least cool off a bit, they’ve decided to go the Poochie route and push them harder. And it’s not working.

Let’s get to it…