Ahead of WWE NXT New Year’s Evil, Bradley Jay ranks the matches in order of his predicted enjoyment!

You know the drill. I rank the matches in order of my excitement to see them. After show, I’ll re-rank them to see what did or didn’t exceed expectations.

6. Santa Claus Ice Cream Bar versus Gran Metalik

This match was thrown together at the last minute, for reasons that escape me. It’s cotton candy, nothing to sink my teeth into. I would like Ice Cream Bar more if he wrestled in that jacket. 

5. Damian Priest versus Doomsday Saito

If they destroy each other for 8 minutes, this will be a fun sprint. If it goes longer than that, it will be a not-so-fun marathon. There’s no backstory to turn this into anything special. I’m not even sure why Saito targeted Priest to begin with. It’s a puzzling feud. Saito isn’t losing his first match back from injury. They spent most of 2020 building Priest, so why is he in a feud he can’t win? 

4. Timothy Thatcher versus Tommaso Ciampa

The only reason this is ranked higher than Priest-Saito is because of the Fight Pit. It’s a bad ass structure. So far the best part of the feud has been the emergence of Tyler Rust. I’m disappointed Fight Pit is being used so early in 2021, because I don’t want it overused & watered down. Maybe I’m worried for nothing. When was the last time WWE took a good idea and beat it to death?

3. Rhea Ripley versus Raquel Gonazalez

If not for Pete Dunne/Kyle O’Reilly, this would have been the Rivalry of the Year for 2020. It was already on fire, then they dropped that promo Wednesday night. Hot Damn! Two people (Priest/Saito) can beat each other up all day long, but there is no way to manufacture the story and history that RNR share. They have matching finger tattoos!!! There was a moment in the promo that I thought Ripley was going to go full blown mental and break from reality. If she brings that intensity to the ring, then we are in for something special.  

2. Kyle O’Reilly versus Finn Balor

O’Reilly’s promo Wednesday night was the best of his NXT career. It gave me goosebumps. I was ready to jump in the ring and slap Balor in his smug, broke jaw. Wrestling is at its best when it blurs the line between real and fake. A man seeking revenge for a broken jaw is real. A man on a 15 year journey to shed the label of “tag team specialist” is real. I fully expect a MOTY candidate. I fully expect O’Reilly to win and I fully expect to shed many tears of joy in his honor.

1. Overall, this card is a mixed bag. There are two matches that should be early MOTY leaders. Then we have some stuff that could either be surprisingly good or poop the bed. And did I mention our host is a guy who never talks? Just your average hump night.