The 2024 NXT: New Year's Evil was the fourth annual NXT: New Year's Evil professional wrestling television special produced by WWE, and fifth New Year's Evil overall. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on January 2, 2024, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired live as a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT on the USA Network. The broadcast was part of WWE's week-long programming of New Year's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week. This episode also marked NXT's return to livestreaming on the WWE Network in the United Kingdom after previously airing on TNT Sports since January 2020.
| NXT: New Year's Evil | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | NXT | ||
| Date | January 2, 2024 | ||
| City | Orlando, Florida | ||
| Venue | WWE Performance Center | ||
| NXT special episodes chronology | |||
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| NXT: New Year's Evil chronology | |||
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Six matches were contested during the live broadcast. In the main event, Trick Williams defeated SmackDown's Grayson Waller to retain his Iron Survivor Challenge title opportunity for the NXT Championship; Williams was originally scheduled to challenge champion Ilja Dragunov on the show, but due to Dragunov being injured, the match was postponed. In another prominent match, which opened the show, Lyra Valkyria defeated Blair Davenport to retain the NXT Women's Championship, which was Davenport's Iron Survivor Challenge title opportunity.
This event is also notable for featuring Tiffany Stratton's final televised match on NXT, as she only appeared in a few segments before signing with SmackDown the following month.
Production
editBackground
editNew Year's Evil is a professional wrestling television special currently produced by WWE held around New Year's. It was originally broadcast as a special episode of World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro on December 27, 1999; WWE acquired WCW in 2001.[1] After 21 years since that WCW event, WWE revived New Year's Evil for its developmental brand NXT as a special episode of NXT on January 6, 2021,[2] and it has since been held annually in early January. During NXT Deadline on December 9, 2023, it was announced that the fourth edition of NXT: New Year's Evil would be held on January 2, 2024, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and broadcast live on the USA Network in the United States.[3] The show was held as part of WWE's week-long programming of New Year's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week, which included Raw: Day 1 and SmackDown: New Year's Revolution.[4]
In the United Kingdom, NXT had aired on TNT Sports since January 2020. However, beginning with New Year's Evil, NXT moved back to WWE's streaming service, the WWE Network.[5]
Storylines
editThe card included six matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT, and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up.[6][7]
At NXT Deadline, Blair Davenport won the Women's Iron Survivor Challenge to earn an NXT Women's Championship match against Lyra Valkyria, while Trick Williams won the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge to earn an NXT Championship match against Ilja Dragunov. Both title matches were scheduled for New Year's Evil.[8]
The NXT Men's Breakout Tournament is a tournament composed of eight male wrestlers from the NXT brand. The tournament began on the December 12 episode of NXT. The winner earns a contract and can cash in for an NXT Championship or NXT North American Championship match at any time. The final was scheduled for New Year's Evil.[9]
Tiffany Stratton and Fallon Henley had been feuding since October. Their feud came to a head on the December 19 episode of NXT, where Stratton dumped garbage on Henley and challenged her to a match at New Year's Evil, which Henley accepted. If Stratton wins, Henley must become Stratton's servant for a day. If Henley wins, Stratton must work on Henley's ranch for a day.[10]
On the December 19 episode of NXT, Arianna Grace mocked Roxanne Perez for losing her match to Kiana James at NXT Deadline before being slapped by Perez.[10] The following week, Grace spoke with Ava and recommended her to force Perez to take anger management classes. Ava then informed Grace that a match between her and Perez would take place at New Year's Evil, which was made later made official.[11]
On the December 19 episode of NXT, SmackDown's Dragon Lee defeated Joe Coffey and Charlie Dempsey in a triple threat match to retain the NXT North American Championship. After the match, Lee was attacked by Dempsey and his No Quarter Catch Crew stablemates Drew Gulak, Damon Kemp, and Myles Borne. The Latino World Order (Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro) then came out to save Lee.[10] The following week, No Quarter Catch Crew challenged Lee, Wilde, and Del Toro to a six man tag team match at New Year's Evil, which they accepted and was made official.[11] However, a day before the event, Lee announced on X that he would miss New Year's Evil due to travel issues and was replaced by Carlito.[12]
Event
editPremlinary matches
editMain event
editDespite Ilja Dragunov signing a contract to defend the NXT Championship against Trick Williams at New Year's Evil, it was announced during the event that Dragunov was not medically cleared to wrestle due to an injury incurred from Ridge Holland two weeks prior.[13][14] In the locker room, as Williams and Carmelo Hayes were discussing the news, they were interrupted by SmackDown's Grayson Waller. Hayes then put Williams in a match to face Waller with Williams' Iron Survivor Challenge title match opportunity on the line. Williams went on to defeat Waller after interference from SmackDown's Kevin Owens, who appeared from the crowd and attacked Waller with his arm cast.[15]
Results
edit| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[19] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyra Valkyria (c) defeated Blair Davenport by pinfall | Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship[16] | 8:26 | ||
| 2 | Latino World Order (Carlito, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro) defeated No Quarter Catch Crew (Damon Kemp, Myles Borne, and Drew Gulak) by pinfall | Six-man tag team match[17] | 8:35 | ||
| 3 | Arianna Grace defeated Roxanne Perez by disqualification[a] | Singles match[18] | 5:09 | ||
| 4 | Fallon Henley defeated Tiffany Stratton by pinfall | Singles match[18] Since Stratton lost, she became Henley's ranch hand for a day. Had Henley lost, she would have become Stratton's servant for a day. | 9:04 | ||
| 5 | Oba Femi defeated Riley Osborne by pinfall | NXT Men's Breakout Tournament final match[18] | 9:55 | ||
| 6 | Trick Williams[b] defeated Grayson Waller by pinfall | Singles match Williams' Iron Survivor Challenge title opportunity for the NXT Championship was on the line. | 13:06 | ||
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NXT Men's Breakout Tournament
edit| First round NXT December 12-19, 2023 | Semifinals NXT December 26, 2023 | Final New Year's Evil January 2, 2024 | ||||||||||||
| Riley Osborne | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Keanu Carver | 3:28 | |||||||||||||
| Riley Osborne | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Lexis King | 3:43 | |||||||||||||
| Lexis King † | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Dion Lennox | 2:59 | |||||||||||||
| Riley Osborne | 9:45 | |||||||||||||
| Oba Femi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Oba Femi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Myles Borne | 3:35 | |||||||||||||
| Oba Femi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Tavion Heights | 4:10 | |||||||||||||
| Tavion Heights | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Luca Crusifino | 3:25 | |||||||||||||
Notes
edit- ^ Perez originally won the match by pinfall, but due to her continuing to attack Grace after the match, the referee reversed the decision, Perez was disqualified.
- ^ Williams was originally scheduled to face Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship, but due to injury, Dragunov was unable to compete and instead, a match between Waller and Williams was scheduled.
References
edit- ^ Rueter, Sean (December 6, 2020). "NXT goes with a WCW deep cut for its next themed episode". Cageside Seats. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy (December 6, 2020). "WWE Announces 'New Year's Evil' Special Episode of NXT". 411Mania. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 9, 2023). "NXT New Year's Evil Announced For January 2, 2024". Fightful. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Barrasso, Justin (December 22, 2023). "WWE Announces New Year's Week Schedule". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ McGeorge, Alistair (December 29, 2023) [December 28, 2023]. "WWE show axed from TNT Sports schedule with new home for UK fans". Metro. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ Moore, John (December 9, 2023). "NXT Deadline results: Moore's live review of Ilja Dragunov vs. Baron Corbin for the NXT Title, Iron Survivor Challenge matches, Dominik Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee for the NA Title, Carmelo Hayes vs. Lexis King". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Moore, John (December 12, 2023). "NXT TV results (12/12): Moore's review of the Deadline fallout show with Dijak vs. Eddy Thorpe, Wolfgang and Mark Coffey vs. Hank Walker and Tank Ledger, the men's Breakout Tournament begins". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c Moore, John (December 19, 2023). "NXT TV results (12/19): Moore's review of Dragon Lee defending the NXT North American Title, Tiffany Stratton vs. Fallon Henley, NXT Breakout Tournament quarterfinal matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Moore, John (December 26, 2023). "NXT TV results (12/26): Moore's review of Noam Dar vs. Josh Briggs for the NXT Heritage Cup, Eddy Thorpe vs. Dijak in an Underground match, NXT Breakout Tournament semifinal matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (January 1, 2024). "Dragon Lee Announces He Will Miss NXT New Year's Evil Due To Visa Issues, Promises A Big Surprise". Fightful. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (January 2, 2024). "WWE Announces Ilja Dragunov Is Not Cleared To Compete On 1/2 WWE NXT". Wrestlezone. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (2023-12-19). "Ilja Dragunov Stretchered Out Of 12/19 WWE NXT Following Match With Ridge Holland | Fightful News". Fightful. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
- ^ Powell, Jason (January 2, 2024). "NXT TV results (1/2): Moore's review of New Year's Evil with Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship, Lyra Valkyria vs. Blair Davenport for the NXT Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
- ^ Brennan, Corey (December 9, 2023). "Blair Davenport Wins Women's Iron Survivor Challenge At NXT Deadline". Fightful. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 26, 2023). "No Quarter Catch Crew To Face LWO At NXT New Year's Evil". Fightful. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
- ^ a b c Tessier, Colin (December 26, 2023). "Roxanne Perez vs. Arianna Grace, Ridge Holland Interview, More Added To NXT New Year's Evil 2024". Fightful. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
- ^ Moore, John (January 2, 2024). "NXT TV results (1/2): Moore's review of New Year's Evil with Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams for the NXT Championship, Lyra Valkyria vs. Blair Davenport for the NXT Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 2, 2024.