wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NXT New Year’s Evil 2022 Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...NXT New Year’s Evil
January 4th, 2022 | Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida
I was going to spend my time reviewing Wrestle Kingdom but those cards look rough so I decided against it. Let’s get to it with New Year’s Evil.
NXT Cruiserweight & North American Championship Unification Match: Carmelo Hayes [c] vs. Roderick Strong [c]
I am here for this as the opener. Roddy had the crowd behind him, while Hayes wore a Roddy shirt to the ring for some mind games. Although this is the end of the Cruiserweight Title again, I appreciate that it’s getting a sendoff and isn’t just forgotten. I really appreciated the quality back and forth wrestling we got to start this. It’s not a heated feud or anything like that, just two guys trying to be the best. It was Roddy who first took it to the next level with strikes but Hayes had it scouted and hit his springboard leg drop. Hayes hit a big slingshot DDT on the apron just before a break. The idea here was the fast-paced Hayes against the hard-hitting and sometimes ground based style of Roddy. I will never tire of seeing Roddy throw out backbreakers, hitting a trio of them here. The wildest moment came when Roddy did an Explex off the top on Hayes that looked like it might kill him. Or did Hayes hit it? It was wild either way. Hayes added a diving Fameasser to claim the gold in 15:41. That was a hell of a match as Roddy continues to be one of the more unheralded greats of our time and Hayes takes a big step forward as a top star of the brand. The finish was a bit abrupt though. [****]
Backstage, AJ Styles had a conversation with Tommaso Ciampa and they were both basically like, “Yeah, Grayson Waller is an ass.”
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is coming back even though NXT’s tag division is rough.
Speaking of AJ Styles, he hit the ring following the break. He called out Waller, who responded by saying he’s old. Styles dared him to test him but Waller declined. They set up a match for next week and got into it a bit but Waller scurried and saved the fight for next week. Nothing to this segment as it was really generic.
Pete Dunne had a promo where he said he wanted another match with Tony D’Angelo next week.
Backstage, Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta went back and forth with Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Carter, and Amari Miller about being the next Tag Champions. It nearly set up a handicap match but Tiffany Stratton declined to help and called her dad to say the girls are “eww.” Behind Tiffany was narcoleptic Wendy Chu. I don’t see how this gimmick is going to be a good one.
Imperium vs. MSK and Riddle
Imagine being such a dweeb that you boo MSK purely because the parents of some fan tell you to. Couldn’t be me. If you know anything about the guys in this match, then you knew this would be good. MSK and Imperium are total opposites who work incredibly well together and play off each other nicely. Meanwhile, Riddle and WALTER have a rich history with some of the best matches of the decade while they were in PROGRESS. The faces got going with their fast-paced, high impact stuff but once WALTER got involved, he started kicking ass all over the place. Imperium held serve during the commercial but then Carter found an opening to make the hot tag to Riddle. That led to a big breakdown including MSK hitting stereo tope suicidas as Riddle nailed a springboard Floating Bro. At least that’s what it looked like. The things done during this section were great from German suplexes to Brainbusters and more. Aichner took a barrage of offense before Riddle planted Barthel with the RKO, winning in 13:51. That was pretty great and a ton of fun, with everyone delivering. [***¾]
Joe Gacy and Harland will be in the Dusty Tag Team Classic.
Elektra Lopez was interviewed and basically said next week, it’ll be Santos Escobar vs. Xyon Quinn and the winner goes home with her. Oof, way to make yourself more like a prize than a person.
NXT Women’s Championship: Mandy Rose [c] vs. Cora Jade vs. Raquel Gonzalez
Mandy Rose arrived in a helicopter. It was a lot like WrestleMania 35where Charlotte did that. There wasn’t really anything about this match that stood out. The issue here was that they didn’t seem to mesh well at all, making for some really sloppy moments. Raquel played the dominant part, kicking both of their asses though the two smaller ladies surprisingly didn’t do much as a unit to combat it. Cora Jade had some cool spots like a rana on both women but it didn’t really make for much of a cohesive match or story. It was just attempts at dope stuff that kind of missed over and over again. When there was a Codebreaker near fall that led to the classic trademark WWE shocked face, it was odd since that wasn’t really a finisher or anything. Anyway, Raquel came close to winning but Cora dumped her and tried a rollup. You’d think Cora would have a better offensive move for this situation. Mandy blocked the rollup and scored her own pin to win in 12:28. That was disappointing and kind of a mess but it kept me entertained. [**]
Boa was seeing things in the mirror again. I don’t get this at all.
Riddle said farewell to MSK before the Creed Brothers came up saying they’d win the Dusty Cup and that MSK would only get a shot if they won it.
Andre Chase came out to talk about how proud he was of his student last week for trying to help him. Von Wagner interrupted to say that this was a “Von Wagner Watch Party” now and his delivery was beyond wooden. He then beat up Chase, his student, and a random planted fan. Wagner is still someone I’m not getting.
A vignette aired to hype Cameron Grimes’s 2021 and he has plans to win gold in 2022.
NXT Championship: Tommaso Ciampa [c] vs. Bron Breakker
If anyone has stood out since NXT 2.0 began, it’s Bron Breakker. He has picked up on wrestling incredibly quickly and feels like a major future star. Alas, other than the WALTER match last year, Ciampa hasn’t totally grabbed me in singles stuff. This was another case of that though it was still good. Bron laughed early on at how easy it was for him to take down Ciampa and work him over. A lot of the action was Bron in charge, tossing Ciampa around and focusing on the back. Ciampa crotched him up top, swinging the momentum due to a minor mistake made by the young challenger. Bron busted out a moonsault that was better than you might expect. I appreciated Ciampa exposing the floor outside before the match got taken to the next level with Bron nailing an Alabama Slam through the announce table. Ciampa survived everything thrown at him and hit the Fairytale Ending but Bron kicked out. Bron nailed a flying bulldog off the top and won with the Steiner Recliner like his uncle in 15:29. This was a good match that never sniffed being anything more. [***]
