After weeks of feuding against each other, tonight’s December 30th episode of WWE NXT confirmed a brand new grudge match between Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame for NXT New Year’s Evil 2026.
Fans witnessed an in-ring segment between Paxley and Dame during tonight’s taped episode. While Dame addressed Paxley, the former NXT Women’s Champion would come out and challenge her former ally.
Shortly after issuing the challenge for WWE NXT New Year’s Evil, Paxley would also make it clear that neither Niko Vance & Shawn Spears can get involved during their bout and would be barred from ringside. Paxley and Dame previously faced each other at NXT Deadline 2025, where the latter picked up the victory following an interference from The Culling.
WWE NXT New Year’s Evil 2026 | Orlando, Florida
The upcoming WWE NXT New Year’s Evil show is scheduled to take place on January 6th, 2026, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. With still a week left for the show, WWE has confirmed four matches for it.
Jacey Jayne vs. Kendal Grey for the NXT Women’s Championship
Oba Femi vs. Leon Slater for the NXT Championship
Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe for the NXT Women’s North American Championship
Continuing a big week for the company, WWE NXT is in Los Angeles tonight for its first episode of 2025.
NXT New Year’s Evil takes place from Shrine Expo Hall and will feature three championship matches. Iron Survivor Challenge winners Giulia and Oba Femi are both getting their title shots. Giulia is challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship, while the NXT Championship will be up for grabs in a triple threat between Trick Williams, Femi, and Eddy Thorpe.
The Heritage Cup Championship will also be contested in a rematch between Lexis King and Charlie Dempsey. It will be a sudden death round instead of the traditional multi-round format.
Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx) are set to compete in a six-woman tag team match as they take on Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley & Shotzi. And there will be a four-way bout between Stephanie Vaquer, Kelani Jordan, Cora Jade, and Lola Vice.
Plus, following his appearance on Raw’s Netflix premiere, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be in the building for NXT tonight.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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New Year’s Evil from inside the Shrine Auditorium in LA on the air, and various wrestlers are seen arriving to the building. That includes The Rock arriving in a pickup truck, and he gets out popping the top on a beverage just before putting his custom title belt over his shoulder.
Corey Graves is back on commentary in NXT for tonight, as he joins Vic Joseph and Booker T at the announce booth.
Opening the show is a women’s title match.
Giulia defeated NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez to win the title
Giulia pinned Perez clean to win the title, in what was a helluava match. Superb. Great opener.
Great wrestling from the start with counters and reversals. The mood shifts when Perez slaps Giulia across the face. Giulia fires up and answers back with a headbutt. The intensity picks up from there. Just before the show cuts to its first commercial break, Perez stomps on Giulia’s arm with Giulia draped on the bottom turnbuckle.
The show returns from the break with Perez executing a Frankensteiner off the ropes, and she gets a near falls on Giulia. They trade strikes, until Perez goes back to targeting the arm. Perez with a tope suicida. Moments later, Giulia has turned the tide. Giulia with a super butterfly suplex off the top rope. Great action here, and Giulia strikes with a sit-out tombstone piledriver.
Perez counters Giulia, and Perez locks in a crossface. Perez breaks the hold and goes for Pop Rocks, but Giulia escapes, only to eat a dropkick as the action spills outside. At ringside, Giulia drops Perez with a Northern Lights Bomb on the floor. They tease a double count-out. Cora Jade runs down to ringside, and she rolls Perez into the ring. Somehow this is not a DQ, and referee keeps counting on Giulia, who barely breaks the count.
As they go home, Perez applies a Fujiwara armbar. Giulia escapes the hold, and she hits Perez with a knee strike. Giulia follows up with a Northern Lights Bomb, and Giulia hooks a leg for a three count. And new…
Eddy Thorpe was supposedly injured as the victim of another sneak attack, but this is like the boy that cried wolf. NXT GM Ava does not believe him this time, and she leaves his laying there selling for the trainers.
A video package has Je’Von Evans speaking through clinched teeth, as he vows revenge on Ethan Page. Evans jaw is wired shut after he head was Pillmanized by Page in an angle from late-December.
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Kelani Jordan, Cora Jade and Lola Vice in a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender for the NXT Women’s North American Championship
Vaquer pinned Jordan to win the match. Plethora of high spots and fast-paced sequences throughout the match, but especially in the closing moments. Vaquer does a dive to the floor, followed by Jordan doing a moonsault off the top turnbuckle to the floor.
Just before the finish, Vice takes a knee from Jade. Vice falls outside. Jade takes an Olympic slam from Jordan, and Jordan climbs to the top rope. 450 splash, but no water in the pool. Vaquer follows up, and she executes her finisher on Jordan. Vaguer then scores a pinfall.
In a backstage skit, Oba Femi admits to Ava that he did in fact attack Thorpe. Ava still seems indifferent.
Triple H and Nick Khan are seen on camera in the front row.
A video package sponsored by an insurance company features OTM cutting a promo on NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazier & Axiom. The two teams meet next Tuesday in a tag title match.
Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley & Shotzi defeated Fatal Influence (NXT Women’s North American Champion Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne & Jaxmyn Nyx) in a six-women tag team match
Shotzi pinned Henley to win the match, which may set up Shotzi as a potential challenger.
The match goes through a commercial break. Breakneck pace just before cutting to commercials, and everybody is down selling when the show cuts away. Back from the break, and they are working over Paxley. Hot tag to Dolan.
For the finish, Shotzi tags in for some tandem moves. Paxley also helps with double-team moves. Her and Dolan jump off the apron with stereo quebradas. Meanwhile, Shotzi with a senton bomb on Henley. Shotzi goes on to cover the North American Champion for a pinfall.
Ethan Page is arguing with Ava in a backstage skit, as Page is upset like Dennis Stamp. He is not booked. In walks The Rock, and he interrupts Page. Rock and Page meet and shake hands. Rock has heard some things about Page, and it was not all good.
Rock brings up Page breaking someone’s jaw, and Rock tells Page that payback willl be a bitch. Nonetheless, Rock tells Page to that he can come to him if needs anything. Rock goes to give Page a warning about Rock’s daughter Ava, although she is never referred to as his daughter on television. Rock tells Page he will see him on the main roster, and Rock slaps Page on the buttocks like an old school football coach.
Rock then asks Ava for advice with the crowd. Sure, like he needs it. Ava tells him the NXT crowds are different. Rock says he will speak from the heart.
Lexis King defeated Heritage Cup Champion Charlie Dempsey (with No Quarter Catch Crew) to win the trophy
King pinned Dempsey in what was a good match. This show has yet to have a bad match. Really good so far.
The match goes through a commercial break. They traded submission holds at times. They also traded stiff strikes. They collides together a few times. The second time, Dempsey went for a leap frog. King inadvertently headbutts Dempsey in the groin. Dempsey sells big. King then delivers The Coronation, and King covers Dempsey for a three count.
A backstage skit sets up a number one contender match between Shotzi and Stephanie Vaquer. That is set for next week.
Oba Femi defeated NXT Champion Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe in a triple threat match to win the title
Femi pinned Williams, thanks to some unintentional help from Thorpe. Good match, but the subplot with Thorpe detracted from the fight between Femi and Williams. However, Thorpe’s involvement allows Trick to save face despite the finish.
No Eddy Thorpe to start the match, and it begins as a singles match with Trick squaring off with Oba. Thorpe would run in later to join the match. Not long after the start of the match, the show cuts to a commercial break.
When the show returns from the break, Thorpe is making his way through the backstage area, and Thorpe is wielding a metal folding chair. Meanwhile, Femi and Williams are having a slugfest in the ring.
Trick gives Femi a Rock Bottom off the middle rope for a near fall. They continue to trade strikes. Trick fires up and is on a roll, until Femi blocks Trick’s knee strike finisher. They go on to trade near falls. Trick counters Femi’s finisher, and Trick lands a big boot for yet another near fall.
Sit-out powerbomb by Femi on Trick, followed by a cover. Thorpe suddenly appears a ringside, where Thorpe pulls the referee out of the ring to break up a pin. Thorpe still has the chair. Femi with biel throw, brings Thorpe into the ring. Femi then mauls Thorpe, beating him from pillar to post. Thorpe got nothing.
Great false finish as Trick lands his jumping knee strike out of nowhere, but Femi kicks out. Trick measures for another kick, but Femi dodges and Trick is hit by Thorpe with a chair. Pop-up powerbomb by Femi, and he covers Williams for a pinfall. And new…
Rock closes the show
Closing the show is an appearance by The Rock. Huge pop of course. Rock shake hands and interacts with the fans in attendance on his way to the ring. His entrance took forever, and the crowd chanted his name once the music finally stopped blaring over the house speakers.
Rock has goosebumps and he shows them off as he paces around the ring. Rock even talks about having chills as he begins his promo. He pauses so the crowd can chant his name again. Rock looks towards the timekeeper, and says we have six minutes left. He has hardly begun to speak yet.
Rock says he has a lot of nicknames, and he talks about a few. He also does some catchphrases. Rock says the crowd is feeling it, and they need to help The Rock out. Rock addresses the hug with Cody Rhodes the night before on Raw. Rock mocks the fans for having a problem with it. Rock says to shut your mouth and enjoy the ride he is taking them on.
Rock keeps cursing and keeps getting bleeped out. He does apologize for the language after saying they have a few minutes left. Rock says he wanted to go see NXT, but Rock did not know what to say.
Rock wants to tell the fans something important, which wants to thank them. He puts over the fans for coming to NXT, and the crowd chants “N-X-T.” Rock tells the fans they are important to the show. Rock talks about depending on the crowd. Rock says he loves NXT and does his “can you smell” catchphrase as the show goes off the air. What a haphazard promo that went nowhere.
WWE has confirmed the venue for NXT New Year’s Evil.
On January 7, NXT will present its first television episode of 2025 with New Year’s Evil. It had already been announced that the show would take place from Los Angeles. It’s now been revealed that The Shrine Expo Hall will be the venue. It’s located in downtown LA near the University of Southern California.
Two title matches have already been made official for New Year’s Evil. Following their Iron Survivor Challenge wins at Deadline, Giulia and Oba Femi are getting their title shots in Los Angeles. It will be Roxanne Perez vs. Giulia for the NXT Women’s Championship and Trick Williams vs. Femi for the NXT Championship.
Tickets are going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Pacific time on December 18. A pre-sale will begin the day before that.
New Year’s Evil has taken place as a special episode of NXT annually since 2021. With NXT moving channels back in October of this year, this will be the first New Year’s Evil to air on The CW Network.
Tuesday night’s New Year’s Evil episode of WWE NXT averaged 768,000 viewers on USA Network, up 14.6 percent from last week. It’s the best audience total for NXT since October 24, which was the first night of Halloween Havoc.
NXT drew a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 31.6 percent from last week and is the highest rating the show has done since November 7. It ties the third-highest rating NXT has drawn since September 2020.
As compared to the same week in 2023, which was also a New Year’s Evil special, NXT’s overall audience was up 17.6 percent while its 18-49 rating was up 56.3 percent. It’s the 39th straight week that NXT has seen year-over-year growth and the second straight week that the increase in the key demo has been over 50 percent.
Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for NXT, as well as the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was up 12.1 percent in overall viewers and up 25 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.
WWE’s New Year’s Knockout Week continues tonight with a special episode of NXT.
TTwo championship matches headline NXT New Year’s Evil 2024. Trick Williams and Blair Davenport are getting the title shots that they earned by winning the Iron Survivor Challenge matches at NXT Deadline. Williams is challenging Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship. Davenport is facing Lyra Valkyria with the NXT Women’s Championship on the line.
A grudge match between Tiffany Stratton and Fallon Henley will go down tonight. If Stratton wins, Henley has to become her servant for a day. If Henley wins, Stratton will need to spend 24 hours working as a ranch hand for Henley.
The winner of the Men’s Breakout Tournament will be crowned when Riley Osborne and Oba Femi face off tonight.
With Dragon Lee unable to appear due to visa issues, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro will have a mystery partner against the No Quarter Catch Crew (Drew Gulak, Damon Kemp & Myles Borne). Roxanne Perez vs. Arianna Grace is also set.
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The show begins with a video package highlighting tonight’s supercard. The first of two title matches opens the show, which is live from a sound stage at the Performance Center in Orlando.
The first 30 minutes is commercial free. That is special, but the setting itself is run-of-the-mill. Special graphics on the video screen aside, this looks like any other episode of NXT from the PC.
NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria defeated Blair Davenport to retain her title
Valkyria pinned Davenport after a Michinoku Driver/fireman’s carry combo finisher. Seemed very snug at times, like they were beating the heck out of each other.
In setting up the finish, Davenport executes an avalanche Falcon Arrow off the top, but Valkyria rolls outside the ring before Davenport can cover her. Davenport goes outside after Valkyria, and Davenport is tossing her around near the announce desk. Davenport goes for a knee strike, Valkyria moves, and Davenport strikes the desk. Davenport sells her knee after she broke a hole in the desk.
Back in the ring, Davenport goes for a suplex, but her knee gives out. She goes for a double stomp, after delivering one earlier in the match. No water in the pool this time around. Davenport lands on the mat, and sells her knee. Valkyria boots her in the face, and Valkyria executes a finisher. One, two, three, and Valkyria retains via pinfall.
Lola Vice ran down to ringside with her contract she recently earned. The gimmick is the contract is like Money in the Bank, and it can be cashed it at any time. Vice is about to cash in when Tatum Paxley jumps out from the front row to attack Vice. In runs Elektra Lopez to back up Vice, and she brawls with Paxley. Valkyria makes a save, and there is a brawl at ringside. Seems to set up a tag match with Valkyria teaming with Paxley for sometime soon.
A crawler at the bottom of the TV screen during the last match promised breaking news, and it involved the men’s NXT Championship match scheduled for the show. NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov is not cleared to compete, so they title bout for later tonight is reportedly off.
In another change to the advertised card, Dragon Lee is having some of sort of issue with his visa. Therefore, Dragon Lee is missing the show. He is replaced by Carlito in a trios match that is up next.
LWO (Carlito, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro) defeated No Quarter Catch Crew (Drew Gulak, Damon Kemp & Myles Borne) in a six-man tag team match
Kemp drops the fall for his team, after he is pinned by Del Toro.
Wilde does a wild dive to the outside, where Carlito and Del Toro help by launching him off the middle rope. Wilde is soon cut off, and the heels work him over. That builds to a hot tag, where Carlito tags in and cleans house.
Wildes wipes out Gulak and Borne, after a corkscrew senton off the top to the floor. Kemp goes for an O’Connor roll on Carlito, not realizing there was a blind tag. Kemp takes a backstabber from Carlito, and Del Toro follows up with a Phoenix Splash. Del Toro then scores a pinfall on Kemp. Playing into his gimmick, Carlito spits an apple in Gulak’s face after the match.
Grayon Waller returns to NXT when he interrupts an interview with Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes. Hayes hypes up Trick, before Hayes promises that Williams will put up his title shot tonight in a match against Waller. Trick is not happy with Hayes, but Waller accepts the challenge nonetheless.
Riley Osborne is featured in a vignette from Chase U. In the skit, Osborne recites and essay he is writing about his match later tonight.
Arianna Grace defeated Roxanne Perez via a reversed decision
Perez attacks Grace after the match, and the referee reverses his decision. That awards the match to Grace, despite Perez scoring a pinfall. Perez teases a heel turn, or something like that.
Perez pinned Grace after Pop Rox (Code Red). Grace got some offense with some heel tactics, as she worked over Perez. Eventually, Perez hulks up. Perez looks to make a comeback. Grace cut her off, but Perez counters into her finisher. Perez then cradles Grace for a three count.
Grace yells at Perez after the match, screaming that Perez “needs help!” Perez snaps and jumps Grace. Perez locks in a crossface, and several referees have to pry her off Grace. Perez flashes a sinister smile before letting go of the hold. I will never be comfortable with that sport after living through the summer of 2007.
Blair Davenport and Nikkita Lyons argue in a backstage skit, nearly leading to a fight. This would seem to set up a singles bout between the two.
Fallon Henley defeated Tiffany Stratton in a servant or ranch hand stipulation match
Henley pinned Stratton to win this grudge match. Thus, Stratton has to serve as a ranch hand for Henley.
This is a takeoff of an angle done with Jimmy Garvin and David Von Erich in World Class, during the heyday of that promotion in the 1980s. Garvin lost a match, and he had to serve as Von Erich’s valet for a day. That led to humorous skits where Von Erich ordered Garvin (and Garvin’s valet Precious) to do various chores around the ranch. The angle was likely done elsewhere at other times, by the World Class version I recall fondly the most.
The match goes through a split-screen commercial break. They had a good grudge match. The setting hurt it some, as they likely would have more heat in an arena setting outside of the sameness of the sound stage.
For the finish, Stratton grabs a metal folding chair. Stratton looks to use the chair as a weapon. The referee takes the chair from Stratton. With Stratton distracted by the chair, Henley charges at her to deliver a running knee strike. Henley then covers Stratton for a pinfall.
Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker star in a lackluster skit where they agree to team up for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They still bickered, but they are a team. Whatever, dudes. Why should we care?
Oba Femi cuts a promo ahead of his match tonight in the finals of the Men’s Breakout Tournament. Oba Femi is such a promising new character.
Cora Jade and Gigi Dolan get into a argument over a locker. So, we have another grudge match over a locker. Half expecting to see Mr. Belding run in to ask, “What is going on her!?” Even Saved by the Bell had more complex storylines than fights over a dern locker.
Ridge Holland sits down for an interview, where he discusses the injury angle with Dragunov. Holland also discussing other injuries he either suffered or was part of during his WWE career.
Holland talks about blowing out his knees in a NXT match. Holland returns and joins the main roster, and Holland gets smashed in the face. He had reconstructive surgery. Now Holland is back. Holland goes on to say he had no ill intend when Dragunov suffered an injury in their match.
Holland concludes by saying he is going to show who he truly is by running through the NXT roster.
In a backstage skit, Thea Hail marks out when she high fives her crush, Riley Osborne.
Oba Femi defeated Riley Osborne to win the NXT Men’s Breakout Tournament
The match probably went too long, but it was a tournament final so they were given a lot of time. Femi is portrayed like a monster heel.
As they went home, Osborne is going for a shooting star press. Oba Femi gets his knees up, and he awakens like a Kraken. Femi gives Osborne a snake eyes, and Femi tosses Osborne with a suplex that seems rather unsafe. Femi then delivers a powerbomb, and Femi covers Osborne for a pinfall.
OTM cut a promo on NXT Tag Team Champions The Family. This hypes up a tag team title match on the next episode of NXT.
Kiana James and Izzi Dame are interviewed by Kelly Kincaid. Another interview on this show where no one interrupted them. That has to be some kind of record.
More tension between Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes, as Williams tells Hayes that Williams wants to wrestle on his own tonight. That means no Hayes at ringside, which visibly upsets Hayes.
Jacy Jayne is somehow no in charge of Chase U, or at least their booking of matches. Jayne tells Andre Chase to only focus on his debt, and she is now in running things. Jayne replaces Chase with Riley Osborne as Duke Hudson’s tag team partner in the Dusty Classic. Jayne vows to restore Chase U to glory. I was unaware her character cared so deeply about education until now.
Tatum Paxley continues to freak out WWE Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria.
Nathan Frazier and Axiom agree to team up for the Dusty Classic. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade overhear Frazier bragging, which is Frazier’s new gimmick where he stick his foot in his mouth.
NXT Tag Team Champions Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo cut a promo on OTM. Tony D also introduces the audience to Adriana Rizzo, who has been featured in skits over the last several weeks. Joe Gacy also locked himself in a trunk for some unrelated reason. Tony D was not alone in being confused by Gacy’s gimmick. Same here.
Trick Williams defeated Grayson Waller
Williams pinned Waller, after a surprise appearance by Kevin Owens. Carmelo Hayes also did a run-in, as he argued with Williams just before the finish. In winning, Williams remains the number one contender.
Not a bad match, but anti-climatic after it replaced a main event title match that was build up for a few weeks. A cameo by Kevin Owens at least made it feel a little more special.
The match goes through a split-screen commercial break. Probably did not need to be that long, but it was the main event so they got main event time. They did some good near falls after the show returns from the commercial break. Waller is overheard at times loudly calling spots. Kayfabe, brother.
Carmelo Hayes runs down and jumps on the apron at one point. Williams and Hayes argue as Waller looks to capitalize. Kevin Owens suddenly appears at ringside. Owens attacks Waller, and Owen rolls Waller back into the ring. Williams abandoned his argument with Hayes just in time to hit Waller with a flying knee. Williams then covers Waller for a three count. Williams retains his number one contender status.
Here are notes for the NXT brand following Saturday’s NXT Deadline event with full audio from Shawn Michaels’ post-event media call available below.
Roxanne Perez and Grayson Waller won Saturday’s Iron Survivor Challenge matches to earn future NXT Championship matches.
During the Deadline post-show press conference, Shawn Michaels said that the Iron Survivor winners will receive their title matches on January 10’s New Year’s Evil edition of NXT.
During Saturday’s show, a vignette was shown of a woman with the vignette counting down to one before revealing the January 10 date with “Countdown to the New Year” shown on the screen.
It is possible the woman in the video may be Tiffany Stratton, who has been out of action with an injury.
This Tuesday:
Also during Deadline, Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne of Toxic Attraction brawled with NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. The two teams will now meet on Tuesday’s program.
Additionally, Damon Kemp will take on Duke Hudson, Von Wagner will face off against Odyssey Jones, and Lyra Valkyria will make her in-ring debut.
Tuesday’s New Year’s Evil edition of NXT averaged 685,000 viewers on the USA Network. That’s up 3.5 percent from last week and is the best audience for the show since Halloween Havoc on October 26.
In the 18-49 demo, NXT drew the same 0.16 rating as it did for the final show of 2021, matching NXT’s best number since Halloween Havoc.
NXT finished 24th on the cable charts in the key demo. Parts of a college basketball game and a college football bowl game on ESPN both aired against NXT and took the top two spots on the rankings.
NXT was up in every single age group with the exception of men 18-49, which dropped 17.4 percent from last week. The biggest increases were with women, with females 12-34 rising by 73.3 percent and women 18-49 increasing by 33.3 percent. In fact, there were more women than men watching in 12-34 this week. That’s very rare for a pro wrestling show.
As compared to this week last year, which came on the day of the insurrection at the United States Capitol building, NXT was up 3.5 percent in overall viewers but had the same rating in the 18-49 demo.
Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo numbers for NXT, along with the 10-week averages in both categories prior to this week. This week’s show was up 10.1 percent in viewers and 14.3 percent in 18-49 from the recent averages.
AJ Styles is headed to NXT for another confrontation with Grayson Waller.
The feud between Styles and Waller will continue when Styles confronts Waller at NXT New Year’s Evil next Tuesday. It will be the second confrontation that Styles and Waller have had on NXT.
After their feud began with Waller mocking him on social media, Styles showed up on NXT last week for a segment with Waller. Waller then returned the favor by appearing on Raw last night. They’ve teased having a match against each other, but WWE hasn’t confirmed when or if that match will be happening.
Waller kicked off tonight’s NXT following his appearance on Raw. It led to a match where Waller defeated Odyssey Jones. Waller was originally supposed to face Dexter Lumis, but Lumis didn’t appear on tonight’s show.
Styles appeared on the video screen after Waller defeated Jones. Styles said Waller may have gotten the attention he wanted by showing up at Raw, but it’s the wrong kind of attention. Styles announced that he’ll be at New Year’s Evil next week. Styles said it’s time for Waller to put up or shut up.
The updated lineup for New Year’s Evil is listed below:
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defends against Bron Breakker
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade in a triple threat match
Title unification match: NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong
Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) vs. Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)
AJ Styles will confront Grayson Waller
The winner of Hayes vs. Strong will be the NXT North American Champion going forward.
Riddle and WALTER will be on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match at NXT New Year’s Evil.
WWE has announced that Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) will face Imperium (WALTER & NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) at New Year’s Evil next Tuesday. The show is a special episode of NXT. It’s airing live on USA Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Barthel & Aichner won the NXT Tag Team titles from MSK at Halloween Havoc this October. After MSK’s loss, Riddle was revealed as their shaman as they tried to get back on track and get back to the NXT Tag Team titles.
Last week, Riddle encouraged MSK to call out Imperium tonight and said he’d be on the show with them. Barthel & Aichner also teased that WALTER would be appearing. Riddle and WALTER were both on the show via video to set up next week’s six-man tag match. When MSK called out Imperium for an NXT Tag Team title rematch, WALTER said they weren’t worthy. Riddle then challenged Imperium to face him and MSK in a six-man tag match next week.
This will be WALTER’s first televised match in WWE since losing the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 this August. WALTER was also in action at WWE’s house show tour of the United Kingdom in November.
Riddle & Randy Orton are the current Raw Tag Team Champions. They’re set to defend their titles against The Street Profits at WWE Day 1 this Saturday.
Riddle won’t be the only main roster star at New Year’s Evil. WWE has also announced that AJ Styles, who is feuding with Grayson Waller, will be appearing at the show.
Here’s the updated New Year’s Evil card:
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defends against Bron Breakker
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade in a triple threat match
Title unification match: NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong
Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) vs. Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)
