Time to look at the latest NXT special New Year's Evil:
-Chase U runs down the card-As usual, I love these segments with Chase berating his students as they try to ask him about the upcoming matches in store while hyping up Thea's chance in the Battle Royal later tonight.
-Tony D'Angelo vs. Dijack-Far more high-energy than I expected between these two as I was thinking it'd be a slow, methodical beatdown. Instead, some fine energy and spots here kept this one engaging through, Stacks got involved at the right spots to help Tony before being shot down and I had some fun with this. I question why the big spot, Dijack handcuffing Stacks to the rope was done during the break but still had some a lot to like here as Tony repayed Stacks' loyalty to take the boot and save his underling that pays off their storyline quite well.
-Toxic Attraction Spoil the Battle Royal-In theory, I shouldn't mind this with Gigi and Jacy backstage talking about the upcoming match and how they're going to take out their anger and frustration on the other competitors to get their shot at Roxanne. I just feel like they've given away the finish by the insistence on asking what happens if they're the only two left which signals that happening a mile away. They'll either be two of the final three or the actual final pair and be forced to go against each other which I'm fine with but don't highlight it like this.
-Indus Sher punks out The Creed Brothers-A lovely swerve here with Sanga saying he's ready to fight them even though Veer isn't there, and after some words from The Creeds are attacked by Jinder Mahal surprisingly getting a bigger pop than the faces and leading to a beatdown. Prolonging a fun feud, giving Jinder something to do and a fun segment all around make this pretty enjoyable.
-Pretty Deadly continue their quest-A harmless backstage bit about them getting ready for a shot later in the night only to learn it's up next and they have to leave despite not being ready.
-Backstage confrontation between Sanga, Jinder, Valentina Ferozz, and Electra Lopez-A short bit with Valentina confronting Sanga and Jinder after beating Creeds and talking about respect that needs to be earned. This prompts Electra to warn her about that in the Royal later tonight which is a nice callback to their friendship from last year before the creation of Indus Sher and gets more fuel for the big Battle Royal.
-Tag-Team Gauntlet-A generally fun affair, with Pretty Deadly taking on the goofy team before New Day arrive and sets them straight with proper teams going forward. The first one, with Blade and Enolfe, is fine for what it is showing off their high-ranking moves but falling to the experience of PD. The second one, scheduled to be Briggs and Jensen but turns out to be a returning Gallus who runs through PD in short order, is a fun swerve that adds another solid team to the mix and sets up a potential match with everyone down the line.
-Julius Creed is done with it all-A short backstage bit with Julius wanting a match with Jinder before Ivy, preparing for her own match, leaves him to his devices. Not that it's needed and could've been explained on commentary but a realistic scenario that could happen.
-Carmelo and Trick stop at a local diner-The two visit a local diner and talk about their past few months dealing with Apollo and Axiom as well as what the future holds for them so I don't mind this on the whole.
-Tiffany Stratton returns-The countdown clock reveal is Tiffany Stratton, which isn't a huge secret, and starts to run down the rest of the jealous roster about her skills allowing her to be irreplaceable following the injury. Short, sweet, and to the point which I have no issues with.
-Katana and Kayden Backstage-Simply them arriving backstage to be informed they've got the Women's Tag-Title reign record and that they'll now aim to hold it for the men's record before Tiffany blows by the cameraman angrily and leaves in a limo.
-Bron Breakker vs. Grayson Waller -Another fun, high-energy affair between the two who have some great chemistry together providing the basis for a raucous match. The stuff with the ropes breaking and allowing them to brawl at ringside while that was fixed is a new take on the ring-collapse spot used to give some ring action while also prolonging a match which I think is the case here as I don't see this ending on that kind of screwiness.
-Roxanne hypes up the Battle Royal-A short interview about the hopes for potential challengers of the upcoming Royal which is fine but again they're shoving the Toxic Attraction connection coming for her it's so obvious.
-Axiom and Apollo form a bond-The two talk about how they got each other's back after last week and that they need to get ready to face Carmelo and Trick. A potentially fun team alliance that makes sense and could go somewhere in the future.
-Hank Walker vs. Charlie Dempsey-Wow, Hank looked somewhat decent here, utilizing the submission approach to get the upper hand on each other and led to some fine mat-work between them. Some fine stuff here, getting Dempsey a win while continuing the fireworks between him and Gulak so I'm good with this.
-Sol Ruca and Alba Fyre set up a match-Basically getting the two together to put their interrupted match a few weeks ago and providing it for next week.
-Julius Creed vs. Jinder Mahal-Set in place from the backstage bit from earlier (again, I get that segment is realistic but why do that when commentary could've done the same thing) but this was a bit uneven with Julius looking much better and more athletic than Jinder who just hit his finisher and ended it so he's apparently learned nothing. Creed should've won to set some counterpart to the series of ambush attacks and start realigning the feud a little more.
-Fallon Henley and Kiana James check on Briggs and Jensen-Backstage with them icing down from the earlier Gallus attack as the women try to help out but have to leave for the upcoming match. Continues Kiana flirting with Jensen while setting up a potential match next week with the men which is now starting to really develop into a solid tag division.
-Battle Royal #1 Contenders Match-A generally fun if oddly structured one that immediately takes out the heavy-hitter in Cora right from the onset yet you keep Lash Legend in there to eliminate a couple so that got this off to a weird start. Seemed like Sol Ruca, Alba Fyre and Lyra Valkiyria were the big winners as they looked the best here and got the most chances to shine while following up on feuds involving Zoey and Nikita, Fallon and Kiana as well as potentially starting programs with Cora and Lyra and Elektra and Sol which could be fun. The final four included Toxic Attraction like I figured and the teased dissension was quite odd as they didn't play into it beyond them climbing the top rope at the end. That just seemed to highlight how there's never a consistent rule for what happens in this situation as you either do the triple-threat in the event of a tie or redo it to confirm a solitary winner which happens in both occasions so it's a bit off-putting not to see consistent ruling here which is always my problem with these types of matches but I'm not too mad at this since the match can be fun if they play into the dissension more in the coming days.
-HBK confirms a rematch-Backstage with Bron and Grayson we learn that there's going to a Steel Cage match at the upcoming PLE which is a fine way to tie into the rope-break scenario from earlier and continue their feud so I'm fine with it.
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