NXT Title Match Set For New Year’s Evil

Looks like he’s next. For a minor league title, the NXT Championship has turned into something pretty special. Becoming the NXT Champion has a tendency to turn a wrestler into a near can’t miss main roster prospect and that is quite the accomplishment to hold. That makes gaining a title shot a big deal and now we know who is up next for a chance to become champion.

Finn Balor is the reigning NXT Champion and one of the most unique champions in the title’s history. Balor is a former Universal Champion who has returned to NXT for a change, making him all the bigger target. He successfully defended the title back at Takeover: 31 in October but has not been in the ring since due to a broken jaw. That means he is going to need an opponent, and now he has a familiar one.

This week on NXT, Kyle O’Reilly defeated Pete Dunne to become the new #1 contender for the NXT Title, with his title shot coming on January 6 at New Year’s Evil. The match will mark O’Reilly’s second shot at the title after Balor defeated him at Takeover: 31. During the match, both Balor and O’Reilly were injured, with Balor’s jaw being broken in two places to put him out of action for over a month.

That could work again. Check out how the first one went:

Opinion: Works for me. These two beat the fire out of each other at Takeover and putting a Takeover main event on free TV is a good way to start off the new year. I’m not sure what to expect from the match and that’s a very good thing. Hopefully we get a match even close to what they did the first time, though not having the same amount of injuries this time around would help a lot.

What do you expect from the match? Who leaves with the titles? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!