7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE NXT: New Year's Evil (Results & Review - 2 Jan)
Trick/Melo takes center stage, Valkyria flies high, Roxanne comes unglued, Femi breaks out.
After years of suffering from an identity crisis that saw it migrate from a pseudo-indy promotion to a third brand, to a dark and boring 3.5-star match factory, to a neon-infused, sex-crazed botch-fest, WWE’s developmental brand has finally hit on a blend of all of the above to arrive at something that truly offers a bit for everyone.
NXT’s New Year’s Evil special provided that mix for fans Tuesday night, with some quality in-ring action, recognizable names, green wrestlers plying their trade, comically bad backstage segments, and a fair amount of melodrama.
Overall, New Year’s Evil was a brisk, entertaining program with matches that didn’t overstay their welcome and segments that didn’t linger too long, so if they were bad, they just breezed by before viewers could become annoyed.
At the same time, there wasn’t a ton from Tuesday’s show that will likely make a year-end highlight reel, safe for Joaquin Wilde being launched off a unique slingshot and Oba Femi winning the NXT Breakout Tournament.
Fans who went into Tuesday knowing what to expect weren’t disappointed by New Year’s Evil. Even the bait-and-switch main event provided a good plot development for the Trick Williams-Carmelo Hayes saga, and it gave fans a nice surprise appearance.
Let’s get to it…