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WWE NXT Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights After New Year's Evil 2026
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE NXT New Year's Evil on January 13.
Last week, Oba Femi vacated the NXT Championship so he could head to the main roster, so Ava addressed the future of the title on this week's show.
Here's a look at what was advertised for Tuesday's NXT:
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode.
A Brand Without a Champion
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NXT opened with a recap of last week's New Year's Evil episode before we went live in the arena with Ava holding the NXT title. She said Oba Femi relinquished the title. We saw most of the men's roster surrounding the ring, but once man felt the need to have his own entrance.
Ricky Saints made his way out and said he should still be the champion and seemed to think Ava should just hand him the title.
Ava said there would be qualifying matches next week to determine who would fight for the NXT Championship in a six-man Ladder match on February 3.
A huge brawl broke out for no reason, but it was kind of fun to watch one of the Evolve stars throw people around and powerbomb someone through the announce table.
All in all, this segment could have been an email. Keanu Carver from Evolve made the biggest impression as the last man standing in the ring, but a lot of fans in the arena were probably confused about who was beating everyone up.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
Kelani Jordan vs. Lola Vice
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Last time in action: Jordan defeated Jordynne Grave (NXT, Dec. 9), Vice defeated Dame (NXT, Dec. 17)
Jordan got an early advantage by hitting Vice with a dropkick while she was entering the ring during her entrance. The ref finally called for the bell once they were both in the ring.
Both women were unloading on each other as soon as they made contact. They kept the pace quick and tried to make this feel like a personal rivalry with their aggression.
Vice had a power and striking advantage, but Jordan had her beat with speed and agility, so it felt like an even fight, which made it hard to predict. Not being able to tell who is going to win ahead of time always make a match more engaging.
The quick pace led to a couple of moments that didn't look great, but most of what they did in this match worked. Vice and Jordan are two bright young stars who are still growing, so it will be interesting to see where both are in their journey a few years from now.
They did a good job keeping the crowd invested and both women came close to winning at different points, but it was Vice who ended up scoring the win with a brutal spinning backfist.
Result: Vice defeated Jordan
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Tony D'Angelo was shown walking behind Ava during a moment backstage.
- There was a moment when Jordan fell but it didn't look like Vice did anything to knock her down.
- Booker T actually did a good job breaking down the history between these two.
- Vice's finisher looked great.
Jasper Troy vs. Tavion Heights
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Last time in action: Heights defeated Lexis King (NXT, Dec. 17), Troy defeated El Grande Americano (NXT, Nov. 11)
The men's Speed Championship was on the line when Heights battled Troy this week.
The big man was caught off guard when Heights came at him quick and tried to take control, but after about 45 seconds, Troy regained his footing and started dominating.
When we got to the halfway mark in the five-minute time limit, Troy had Heights grounded in a submission. Heights began to make a comeback and had the champion down for a big splash with about a minute left, but Troy kicked out.
They used just over four of the five minutes in the match, but Troy emerged victorious after hitting a Black Hole Slam for the pin.
This was obviously a quick match by design, but it was better than most of the Speed matches we have seen on NXT. Troy looked good, but Heights was the star of this one.
King showed up and attacked Heights after the match was over to add insult to injury, so it looks like their feud will continue.
Result: Troy defeated Heights
Grade: C-plus
Notable Moments and Observations
Blake Monroe
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After a break, Blake Monroe was out to talk about what has happened recently with the North American title she lost a few weeks ago to Thea Hail, who lost it last week to Dame.
Monroe said she may have attacked Hail before their scheduled match, but she shouldn't have even had to compete for her own title in the first place.
She claimed that she is the most complete woman in NXT and the only reason she isn't the champion is because she lost her patience last week and got kicked out of the building.
Jaida Parker got a nice pop when she came out to interrupt the promo. They barely said two words to each other before a fight started. Parker took out Monroe with a running hip strike to end the scuffle.
The promo portion of this segment was pretty standard stuff from Monroe, but she did well enough with what she had. Parker coming out injected some energy into the segment at the end.
Grade: C-plus
Notable Moments and Observations
- Elio Lefleur got another video package this week.
- Ethan Page has good chemistry with Ava. Their backstage segment was funny.
- The crowd went nuts for Parker. She is incredibly over with the NXT audience.
- It's hard to tell if the videos from Hill are supposed to make us like him or not.
Channing Lorenzo vs. Shiloh Hill
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Last time in action: Shiloh Hill and Skylar Raye defeated Arianna Grace and Channing Lorenzo (NXT, Dec. 17)
Grace accompanied Lorenzo to the ring for his TNA International Championship match against Hill, who did not have anyone in his corner. Grace gave Hill a quick slap before the match got started.
Hill smiled before going after Stacks in the corner. The champion gained the upper hand and started taunting Hill as he threw him from corner to corner. The newcomer surprised him with a rollup that almost got him the win.
Hill hit a rolling dive from the steps to the floor to take down Stacks as the show went to a break.
Hill has been a very weird character since he was introduced, but he has tried hard to make it work while also looking decent in the ring for his first few outings. Even if the match was a little forgettable, they had a few fun moments sprinkled in to make it entertaining.
With a little help from Grace, Stacks was able to reverse an inside cradle to get the pin and the win. The ending was a little sloppy, but they made it work.
Result: Lorenzo defeated Hill
Grade: C-plus
Notable Moments and Observations
- The entrance music WWE gave Stacks isn't very good. It doesn't feel like it fits his character at all. Hill's music isn't much better, but it goes with his character.
- The gimmick with Hill's missing tooth isn't as funny as WWE thinks it is, but the moment when it fell out onto Grace last week was hilarious.
- Grace is really good at playing her part at ringside without drawing too much attention away from the performers in the ring.
- Hill's standing forward roll into a senton was a nice spot.
The New Champion Speaks
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After a break, Dame came out to talk about winning the women's North American Championship last week.
She asked the crowd why they were happy to see her lose to Tatum Paxley last week. She said she has been watching how everyone in NXT works so she could use it against them.
Dame said losing to Paxley gave her clarity and helped led to her becoming a champion. She mentioned a few names that she knows want a title shot, but she also said they don't know what they are walking into.
Paxley came out and rushed the ring to attack Dame, but security held her back so the champ could escape. Paxley hit a ref and the announcers mentioned that it would cost her. The segment just sort of ended there without any resolution.
The promo from Dame was kind of bland, which is unfortunate because she is usually good on the mic. Paxley coming out at the end was predictable, but it made the crowd happy.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- It was weird to see Dame out there without Shawn Spears and Niko Vance.
Joe Hendry vs. Dion Lennox
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Last time in action: Lennox lost a Fatal 4-Way (NXT, Dec. 16), Hendry defeated The Miz (NXT, Dec. 19)
Hendry has had a few run-ins with DarkState recently, so he requested a singles match against Lennox with no disqualifications and no countouts.
Ava pointed out to him that this would give Lennox an advantage, so Hendry recruited Lucien Price and Bronco Nima to be in his corner for backup.
The match started with an energetic lockup as OTM and the rest of DarkState watched from ringside. It almost felt more like a Lumberjack match at first because both men were trying to avoid being tossed out near their opponent's allies.
It took a lot longer for the people at ringside to get involved than expected, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing because it allowed the focus to remain on Hendry and Lennox in the ring.
It looked like Lennox was going to win, but OTM pulled him out of the ring to break up the pin. DarkState and OTM fought each other until they were all backstage, leaving Hendry and Lennox to fight alone.
Hendry kicked out of a spinebuster on a steel chair, and Lennox kicked out of a chokeslam on the same chair. Tony D showed up and hit Lennox with a chair followed by a chokeslam. He helped Hendry up only to chokeslam him, too.
He put Hendry on top of Lennox to give him the win, making this one of the more confusing endings to a match in quite a while. Tony D took out several security guards Ava tried to send out to the ring as the show was ending.
Result: Hendry defeated Lennox
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- We should note that the dates we include for a lot of previous matches are the dates they were filmed, not necessarily when it aired.
- Paxley was kicked out of the building after hitting an official, which isn't a very severe punishment when there is only 20 minutes left in the show.
- Booker T singing Hendry's music is the funniest thing he does every week.
The Final Word
8 of 8This week's NXT was a normal episode on paper, but it felt like it lacked something big to get people interested in seeing it.
The Speed title isn't established enough to make people care, and the main event, while entertaining, didn't have big enough names to draw an audience.
None of the matches really stood out as memorable, but Hendry vs. Lennox had enough entertaining moments to make it worth watching.
There aren't any big shows on the horizon for the black and gold brand, so it needs to start making the weekly episodes feel special again. This was one of the weaker episodes of NXT in recent memory, so let's hope things turn around next week.
Grade: C
