WWE NXT continued the New Year’s extravaganza by delivering a special first episode of the year dubbed New Year’s Evil 2024. The main event of the night was supposed to be an NXT Championship match that never happened as it was announced that the title-holder Ilja Dragunov wasn’t medically cleared to compete.
As seen on last night’s episode of WWE NXT, his challenger Trick Williams, was penciled in for another match instead, dubbed the Battle of the Iron Survivors where Williams went up against Grayson Waller. Thus, the only two Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge winners got to battle in a singles contest.
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WWE NXT: Two Iron Survivor winners battled in main event match
This main event match had added high stakes to it as Williams put his number one contender-ship on the line where Waller had the opportunity to challenge for the WWE NXT Championship if he would have emerged victorious. Ultimately, he came up short and it came via a surprising appearance by a former NXT cum Universal Champion in the WWE.
As seen in the main event of WWE NXT New Year’s Evil, Trick Williams defeated Grayson Waller to remain the Number-One Contender for the NXT Championship after Kevin Owens made a surprise return to NXT and cost Grayson the match.
WWE NXT New Year’s Evil: Trick Williams retains his title opportunity
The closing moments of this match saw Williams gaining control after which Carmelo Hayes arrived at ringside backstage in the locker room. As Williams and Hayes were talking to each other, Waller got to catch his breath but before he could reenter the ring, he received a forearm to the face from Kevin Owens, someone who had been feuding with her on Smackdown. Williams just had to cover Waller to get a three-count win and keep himself in line for an opportunity to the WWE NXT Championship.
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Until the end of New Year’s Evil, WWE is yet to announce the date for Dragunov’s title defense against Williams. Dragunov has been sidelined with a storyline injury for two weeks now after suffering a DDT from Ridge Holland on the December 19 episode of WWE NXT. There’s no update if he’s dealing with a legit injury or not.
