WWE NXT New Year's Evil: New Champions crowned; Big matches announced

Bengaluru, January 5: A new era started on WWE NXT last night in an episode that was dubbed as the New Year’s Evil 2022 special in which the main event of the night saw Bron Breakker defeat Tommaso Ciampa to win the NXT Title.

For the past few months, Breakker has been built up to become the new face of the NXT 2.0 era and it’s fitting that he took away the title from a former multi-time NXT Champion in Ciampa who used to be the cornerstone figure of the old NXT era.

The title change was hinted prior to the match when Breakker smashed through the old NXT’s X-sign in the entrance way. Then in a tough back & forth encounter, he won by submission after applying the Steiner Recliner (made famous by his father Rick Steiner).

The legendary Steiner himself cheered for his son, throughout the match who also joined him in the ring for a post-match celebration after the main show of NXT went off the air.

Ciampa also greeted Steiner after the match in a moment of respect. This was the first appearance on NXT by the former World Tag Team Champion, former WCW World Television Champion, and the former WCW United States Champion while his brother Scott Steiner missed out on the occasion.

This is Breakker’s first-ever title reign on NXT while Ciampa held the belt for 111 days after defeating LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Von Wagner in a Fatal 4 Way for the vacant title on September 14 episode.

In more news from last night’s New Year’s Evil, North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defeated Cruiserweight Roderick Strong in a Title vs. Title Unification Match. The new champion will simply be called the NXT North American Champion instead of the earlier planned NXT North American Cruiserweight Champion.

Hayes held the original North American Title for 83 days after winning it by cashing in his Breakout Tournament contract win on Isaiah “Swerve” Scott during the October 12 edition of NXT.

On the other hand, Strong held the Cruiserweight Title for 105 days after winning it from Kushida during the September 21 NXT episode.

On the upcoming edition of WWE NXT 2.0, top Raw Superstar AJ Styles will feature in a singles contest against Grayson Waller to culminate in the ongoing feud between the two. Styles originally wanted to face Waller at New Year’s Evil but Grayson postponed the match until next week’s main event slot.

Pete Dunne will get a chance to seek revenge on Tony D’Angelo as they will battle in a crowbar on a pole match. The feud began after a mouthpiece of Pete’s possession was stolen by Tony during the 2022 WarGames match. Now a crowbar will be showcased on a pole with the two superstars fighting to pull it out for the win.

Also, Elektra Lopez announced that Legado del Fantasma’s Santos Escobar will take on Xyon Quinn, next week as she plans on leaving with the winner.

Here is how the lineup for the January 11 episode stands:

– AJ Styles vs. Grayson Waller

– Pete Dunne vs. Tony D’Angelo (Crowbar on a pole match)

– Xyon Quinn vs. Santos Escobar