5 Ups And 3 Downs From WWE NXT New Year's Evil (Jan 4)

2. MSK And Riddle RKO Imperium

Though the build to get here has oftentimes veered on the side of questionable, to put it mildly, the promise of WALTER leading his army against Riddle's stoner bros felt like a pay-off capable of papering over the never-ending "shaman" nonsense that brought us to this moment.

Sure, would it have been awesome to have seen Jeff Hardy lining up alongside the former NXT Tag Team Champions to go to war with The Ring General and co. as recently revealed was to be the OG plan? You bet your ass it would, but seeing WALTER pulverise the two high-flying whippets and dropkick Riddle into next Monday night more than made up for that Charismatic "shaman" change-up.

MSK felt as fresh as they have for months too, with Nash Carter looking notably trim as he flipped and dived around the ring like a man possessed and Wes Lee throwing caution to the wind time and time again. But the moment fans demanded from the get-go was always going to be the headline here as Riddle and WALTER whet our appetites for a dream singles bout down the road with more chops and German suplexes than you can shake a Viper at.

Speaking of which, following on from a beautifully synchronised set of dives to the outside, it wasn't long before Riddle and his pals had Imperium right where they wanted them, nailing Fabian Aichner with a twisting jumping tag team neckbreaker/Floating Bro combo before a devastating RKO to Marcel Barthel sealed the deal for the bros. Oh, and special shout out to the strongest man in NXT Aichner literally catching the Raw Tag Team Champion in mid-air and deadlift suplexing him with freakish ease - watch out Cesaro...

This match delivered all it needed to. It made fans need to see that MSK vs. Imperium title rematch that the former have now seemingly earned, but may have to earn once again via the Dusty Cup. And if Riddle vs. WALTER isn't propping up a supercard before the end of 2022, hang your heads in shame, WWE.